The Suns and Spurs met again in the 2008 NBA Playoffs. Anticipation of the renewal of the rivalry was high. “The Phoenix-San Antonio matchup is going to be an absolute bloodbath,” said the Houston Rockets' Shane Battier. In May 2008, ESPN.com columnist John Hollinger named the Spurs Hack-a-Shaq use as the "Best Tactic" of the first two rounds of the 2008 NBA Playoffs. Hollinger wrote that Popovich was the "first to really master how to use this weapon to his advantage." He explained that Popovich used the tactic "to eliminate 3-point attempts" and with 25 seconds or less at the end of quarters to get the ball back for the Spurs to gain the last possession. Hollinger stated "This should be a Eureka! moment for other coaches, and I expect it will be the league's most widely copied tactic next year." After eliminating the number 2 seeded Dallas Mavericks, the Spurs qualified to the Western Conference Semifinals to meet the number 3 seeded Suns. It marked the 3rd time in 4 years the teams would meet in the playoffs. Steve Nash led the Suns with 33 points and 10 assists for a Game 1 victory, 111–102. Amar'e Stoudemire led the Suns with 23 points and 11 rebounds as the Suns defend home-court advantage and go up 2–0 over the Spurs. The Suns won Game 3 110–96 with Goran Dragić scoring 23 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to take a 3-0 lead in the series. Suns also went in to sweep the Spurs in 4–0 with Nash scoring 20 points with 10 of them being scored when his right eye was swollen shut. The managing director of Team USA basketball is Jerry Colangelo. Colangelo is the past Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Phoenix Suns and is in charge of hiring the coach for the national team that represents the United States in world competitions, including the Olympics. Popovich had a long history working with Team USA when he was in the military and as an assistant to Larry Brown when he was the coach of the 2004 Olympic basketball team. Colangelo chose Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. Despite Popovich's stated desire to coach the 2008 team, Colangelo suggested publicly that Popovich wasn't as enthusiastic about the job as Duke's coach, that he didn't seem to want it as badly. These statements infuriated the Spurs coach to the point that he wrote an open letter to the league stating his desire to coach the team, and led many to speculate that the motivation for Colangelo's decision was that "the Spurs-Suns rivalry precluded Colangelo from truly considering Popovich for the job."