It's 10.30 in the morning, is the Sun already setting? This is how the Phoenix Suns off-season has gone. These were my last words in this blog after the game 5 loss against the Spurs.
"But eventually, this might end up being the start of something great and not just the end of the 2004-2005 season."
How un-prophetic these words have been rendered. First, one of my favorite player Q is gone. For some reason, I always liked Q even as a Clipper. his stupid antenna move notwithstanding. He is smart, articulate and has a fun personality. So his trade was kind of a "personal" loss for me. This was explained by saying this frees up the cap space to go after Joe Johnson and also brings us an inside presence which should help Amare and the front-court. I kind of bought this, though an old, 30+ year old Kurt Thomas doesn't sound like a great fit for the run-and-gun Suns. Still a big body is valuable in this league and Kurt is one of the under-rated ones. I just wish he was younger and more athletic. Overall, the Suns were OK at this point.
Then came the bomb-shell. Joe Johnson came out of the blue and said he wants to sign with Atlanta and he didn't want the Suns to match. This supposedly was the player the Suns said were their first priority this off-season. This was the guy they always claimed they'll match any contract offered. We don't know what happened in this soap-opera. There are rumors of how the Suns didn't want to pay. They just wanted to scare the other teams away by saying they'll match any offer. Apparently Joe was upset that the Suns tried to do this after low-balling him twice, last off-season and now. He also apparently doesn't like being the fourth option in this team, doesn't like Amare and is sick of being Nash's decoy at the corner. This last one is funny. It has gotten him the nick-name "Decoy" Johnson among Suns fans. I am not going to go in to all this though I think almost all of these stories are true.
The bottom-line is the Suns are losing their 24 year old starting shooting guard who was one of the bright young talent in the league. They get nothing in return. They still don't have any cap space. They traded both their off-guards and signed Raja Bell. Raja Bell is not a starting off-guard in a championship team and neither is Jim Johnson at this age. The draft picks they are getting in return for Joe from Atlanta are nice, but championship contenders should not be accumulating 2007 draft picks. They should be building a champion for this season. Now they are talking about bringing in Finley. Though old and shaky, he is at least talented enough to start for them with the other guards gone. But the word is, Miami will probably out-bid the Suns for Finley's services. There's also talk of getting Brian Grant with his pair of broken legs.
So basically an young and upcoming team with tonnes of talent and fresh legs at all 5 positions has been converted into a old, slow team. One web-site has ranked them 15-th in the league. Nowhere near the top of the Western conference where they finished last season. It's a really sad situation for the Suns fan. They have gone from the best Suns season ever to this nightmare in just 2 months. The whole thing is surreal and feels like a bad dream.
All is not gone yet. the Suns still have Amare and are working on signing him long-term. He looks like the future. Not just for the Suns, but may be the NBA. So they should be good as long as they have him and Nash. They also got Marion who is no joke. So there's still talent and hope, but they definitely have taken a step back and there are question marks as far as how the new pieces fit in. The fans are clearly pissed. Suns not only lost some young talent, they are not bringing in great new guys either. Kurt Thomas, Raja Bell and Brian Grant are not exciting anyone. I hope that this guy Boris Diaw is a player and performs well playing next to Nash. May be these are the kind of "no-hype all-effort" type guys championship teams are made of. But I hope they bring in some athletic, young players to help them continue this style of play which won them a tonne of games last season. If you are going to lose Q and Joe, at least throw me a Demarr Johnson, Gerald Wallace, Speedy Claxton or Michale Finley. I'll be watching the rest of the off-season closely, but I am beginning to lose hope.
Is there any way we could revoke the "GM of the year" award given to Bryan Collangello for screwing things up the very next year?
Friday, August 12, 2005
Monday, August 08, 2005
Dan "my man" Marino
Last weekend was the NFL hall of fame weekend. Apart from signalling the start of the 2005 NFL season, this HOF ceremony was also special because my favorite NFL player was being enshrined in the Hall - Dan Marino. I caught bits and pieces of the ceremony and the whole Marino clan conducted themselves with great class as always. I wanted to capture an excellent article By Greg Cote in Miami Herald. It's reproduced here in it's entirety. Enjoy.
A memorable toast by Marino in an unforgettable setting
GREG COTE
gcote@herald.com
CANTON, Ohio -- A proud franchise quiet for too long rose up and roared here Sunday, toasting its better days, toasting its best man. Dan Marino had asked Dolphins fans to flood this place for his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and it may as well have been God speaking.
The people appeared from all over in impassioned droves, and most wore No. 13 jerseys -- a roiling aqua sea of them, thousands upon thousands -- and so stunning was the sight you'd have not believed it if you weren't seeing it for real.
''Overwhelming,'' was Marino's word for it, and the way he worked to hide the emotion from his voice, you knew he wasn't lying. ''I challenged Dolphins fans to overrun Canton,'' he said, to a swooning eruption, ``and you know what? We've taken it over!''
More than 20,000 people, a record, packed the bleachers and field seats of this high school stadium next to the Hall, and Dolfans dominated the day as unsubtly as Marino used to dominate a defense, back when Miami was electric with the ball, and everybody knew from whence the lightning came. I'd have thought it impossible, but Marino jerseys had to outnumber those of fellow quarterback-inductee Steve Young by 100-to-1. At least. No lie.
It was heart-rending and comical, all at once, to see five or six guys all in matching aqua Marino shirts spill out of a rented SUV parked (for a reasonable $5) on somebody's front lawn. And to see them fall in with their clones in a mass pilgrimage through tree-lined neighborhoods toward the spot where their hero was about to step into sporting immortality.
You'd have been longer finding a grain of sand on the beach than finding a Dan Marino disciple on this day, in this place.
PLENTY TO REMEMBER
It reminded you that what this one player did, maybe above it all -- even above the NFL-record 420 career touchdown passes and 61,361 yards -- was turn the Dolphins into a national team. And it verified that the durable memory of Marino alone makes him the franchise's greatest asset, by far, to this day and beyond.
I'd witnessed that phenomenon covering the Dolphins fulltime, in 1990-91, in a hotel lobby in, say, Indianapolis. The team wasn't arriving. Marino was.
Rare magical players can do that. They have that power. And if they have that power despite the absence of a Super Bowl, it just means their magic is all the greater.
Marino flat-out made it a Dolphins home game here Sunday, circa mid-'80s, when anything was possible because the football was in the right hand. Other Miami Hall of Famers introduced were received heroically in the partisan lovefest. Coach Don Shula stood and waved as the stadium chanted his name.
If this 40-year-old franchise has celebrated a single greater day than Sunday since those back-to-back Super Bowl titles in halcyon 1972-73, I must have forgotten it.
Tonight may have a decided back-to-Earth quality, when the latter-day Dolphins, the ones coming off a 4-12 record and predicted to spend a fourth straight season out of the playoffs, compete in the Hall of Fame game.
Sunday, though? Better days, oh yes. The kind of memories you hope you dream about tonight.
Can you feel ebullient and wistful all at once? Cry while you cheer?,
Marino has that power. To make fans miss him so much, they cry.
It isn't just the rifle arm they are missing. It is the aura, the command. The way he swaggered standing still. The way his eyes breathed. The way anything was possible.
But it is more than that, too. Much. And this particular more is why No. 13 jerseys dominated Sunday with such enormity.
Steve Young? Great QB, but not even most beloved by his own 49ers fans, to whom Joe Montana is eternal saint.
Marino? Way different. He was preceded into the Hall by another Miami passer, Bob Griese; Griese, who wears a Super Bowl ring. No comparison, though. None. South Florida lived Marino's career-span, raised him in a way, from the cocky, curly-haired kid out of Pitt to the aging, limping warhorse whose decline somehow spoke of our own mortality. Our golden child, this one. Ours, fiercely.
SWARM OF FANS
''Oh Danny Boy,'' one of the myriad home-drawn signs bobbing in Sunday's crowd read simply.
Fans flocked in from South Florida, obviously, but more remarkably from . . . everywhere.
Teddy Schnurr drove in with a buddy from Raleigh, N.C., and traipsing up to honor No. 13, said, ``He was a gunslinger, man. Pop, pop! He was your fantasy QB before they invented fantasy football.''
A handful of Brits, reformed soccer fans evidently, caromed past holding aloft a British flag on which they'd written, ``Dolphins U.K.''
Behind them, four guys in yellow Pitt hardhats. Soon after, Marino jerseys in odd colors, blue and gold. Central Catholic. His old high school.
I stopped a woman because her No. 13 Dolphins jersey looked like it might have been 20 years old. Like she'd invested in this day. She turned out to be Jen Langrishe, who drove up with her husband from Tampa.
''We've been Dolphin fans from the beginning,'' she said. ``But, at some point, it was like you were Marino fans, mostly.''
Marino's oldest child, Danno, 18 and headed off to college, interested in theater, not sports, gave a great presenter's speech for his dad Sunday, emphasizing his father was a great father to him more than a great football star, which was saying something.
Marino did great, too, on this day he must have privately prepared for since the late'80s, when it must have been obvious to him he wasn't just pretty good, but history-book good. Even a calloused, ostensibly neutral journalist had to fight his own tears when the man at the lectern thanked his wife of 21 years, and Claire hitched, and reached under her sunglasses with a handkerchief.
Whatever Marino said on Sunday, though, it won't resonate, for me, as much as the frozen snapshots of the people who came to hear him, that mass, that irrefutable evidence of the depth and breadth -- and durability -- of the adoration one man inspired.
A memorable toast by Marino in an unforgettable setting
GREG COTE
gcote@herald.com
CANTON, Ohio -- A proud franchise quiet for too long rose up and roared here Sunday, toasting its better days, toasting its best man. Dan Marino had asked Dolphins fans to flood this place for his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and it may as well have been God speaking.
The people appeared from all over in impassioned droves, and most wore No. 13 jerseys -- a roiling aqua sea of them, thousands upon thousands -- and so stunning was the sight you'd have not believed it if you weren't seeing it for real.
''Overwhelming,'' was Marino's word for it, and the way he worked to hide the emotion from his voice, you knew he wasn't lying. ''I challenged Dolphins fans to overrun Canton,'' he said, to a swooning eruption, ``and you know what? We've taken it over!''
More than 20,000 people, a record, packed the bleachers and field seats of this high school stadium next to the Hall, and Dolfans dominated the day as unsubtly as Marino used to dominate a defense, back when Miami was electric with the ball, and everybody knew from whence the lightning came. I'd have thought it impossible, but Marino jerseys had to outnumber those of fellow quarterback-inductee Steve Young by 100-to-1. At least. No lie.
It was heart-rending and comical, all at once, to see five or six guys all in matching aqua Marino shirts spill out of a rented SUV parked (for a reasonable $5) on somebody's front lawn. And to see them fall in with their clones in a mass pilgrimage through tree-lined neighborhoods toward the spot where their hero was about to step into sporting immortality.
You'd have been longer finding a grain of sand on the beach than finding a Dan Marino disciple on this day, in this place.
PLENTY TO REMEMBER
It reminded you that what this one player did, maybe above it all -- even above the NFL-record 420 career touchdown passes and 61,361 yards -- was turn the Dolphins into a national team. And it verified that the durable memory of Marino alone makes him the franchise's greatest asset, by far, to this day and beyond.
I'd witnessed that phenomenon covering the Dolphins fulltime, in 1990-91, in a hotel lobby in, say, Indianapolis. The team wasn't arriving. Marino was.
Rare magical players can do that. They have that power. And if they have that power despite the absence of a Super Bowl, it just means their magic is all the greater.
Marino flat-out made it a Dolphins home game here Sunday, circa mid-'80s, when anything was possible because the football was in the right hand. Other Miami Hall of Famers introduced were received heroically in the partisan lovefest. Coach Don Shula stood and waved as the stadium chanted his name.
If this 40-year-old franchise has celebrated a single greater day than Sunday since those back-to-back Super Bowl titles in halcyon 1972-73, I must have forgotten it.
Tonight may have a decided back-to-Earth quality, when the latter-day Dolphins, the ones coming off a 4-12 record and predicted to spend a fourth straight season out of the playoffs, compete in the Hall of Fame game.
Sunday, though? Better days, oh yes. The kind of memories you hope you dream about tonight.
Can you feel ebullient and wistful all at once? Cry while you cheer?,
Marino has that power. To make fans miss him so much, they cry.
It isn't just the rifle arm they are missing. It is the aura, the command. The way he swaggered standing still. The way his eyes breathed. The way anything was possible.
But it is more than that, too. Much. And this particular more is why No. 13 jerseys dominated Sunday with such enormity.
Steve Young? Great QB, but not even most beloved by his own 49ers fans, to whom Joe Montana is eternal saint.
Marino? Way different. He was preceded into the Hall by another Miami passer, Bob Griese; Griese, who wears a Super Bowl ring. No comparison, though. None. South Florida lived Marino's career-span, raised him in a way, from the cocky, curly-haired kid out of Pitt to the aging, limping warhorse whose decline somehow spoke of our own mortality. Our golden child, this one. Ours, fiercely.
SWARM OF FANS
''Oh Danny Boy,'' one of the myriad home-drawn signs bobbing in Sunday's crowd read simply.
Fans flocked in from South Florida, obviously, but more remarkably from . . . everywhere.
Teddy Schnurr drove in with a buddy from Raleigh, N.C., and traipsing up to honor No. 13, said, ``He was a gunslinger, man. Pop, pop! He was your fantasy QB before they invented fantasy football.''
A handful of Brits, reformed soccer fans evidently, caromed past holding aloft a British flag on which they'd written, ``Dolphins U.K.''
Behind them, four guys in yellow Pitt hardhats. Soon after, Marino jerseys in odd colors, blue and gold. Central Catholic. His old high school.
I stopped a woman because her No. 13 Dolphins jersey looked like it might have been 20 years old. Like she'd invested in this day. She turned out to be Jen Langrishe, who drove up with her husband from Tampa.
''We've been Dolphin fans from the beginning,'' she said. ``But, at some point, it was like you were Marino fans, mostly.''
Marino's oldest child, Danno, 18 and headed off to college, interested in theater, not sports, gave a great presenter's speech for his dad Sunday, emphasizing his father was a great father to him more than a great football star, which was saying something.
Marino did great, too, on this day he must have privately prepared for since the late'80s, when it must have been obvious to him he wasn't just pretty good, but history-book good. Even a calloused, ostensibly neutral journalist had to fight his own tears when the man at the lectern thanked his wife of 21 years, and Claire hitched, and reached under her sunglasses with a handkerchief.
Whatever Marino said on Sunday, though, it won't resonate, for me, as much as the frozen snapshots of the people who came to hear him, that mass, that irrefutable evidence of the depth and breadth -- and durability -- of the adoration one man inspired.
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Suns-Spurs Game 5 - Adios
The season has finally come to an inglorious end. Losing to the Spurs 4-1 at home is disappointing. I always thought we could predict who won a Suns game by just looking at the Suns score. That was true in this game. They just scored 95 points and they don't win when they score 95. The Spurs turned up their defense once again and Duncan came to play after a bad game. He was unbelievable. The rest of the team chipped in and they closed out the Suns. The Suns kept it close, but couldn't finish. Nash had a good game, but he couldn't finish some of those shots in the second half. It was one of those things were they just didn't go in. He got to the rim, but the ball bounced out. That was unfortunate for the Suns since some of those scores would have tightened things up for the Spurs. But the Spurs were just better and they won this one rather easily.
The real story for the Suns was probably Amare Stoudemire. Once again he was other-worldly. There was no stopping this guy. For him to consistently score over 30 and hit his shots at a 50% clip is amazing. It's not like he's doing this against some scrubs either. We are talking about Tim Duncan and the Spurs D. Nobody seem to be able to stop him. He is quicker or stronger or more athletic than the guy usually guarding him and in most cases, he is quicker AND stronger AND more athletic than anybody else on the court. His mid-range game has improved just during this season to the point where he started consistently hitting the jumpers in the playoffs. He never even attempted those shots in Nov or Dec. It got to a point where I felt very comfortable when he took those shots. The Suns are understandably excited about him and his future. There was a lot of talk about him after the game and both Pop and Duncan were very high on him. He seem to dominate the game without any go to moves or a polished low-post game. He is only 23 and it's scary how good he can be in a few years. In fact, he was so good this series, I am not even sure if he can get any better offensively ! Of course he has a long way to go defensively and in other subtleties of the game.
Anyways, the great Suns season is over. It hurts right now. But eventually, this might end up being the start of something great and not just the end of the 2004-2005 season.
SAN ANTONIO (101) AT PHOENIX (95)
SAN ANTONIO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
B BOWEN F 36 3-6 1-2 1 2 3 3 2 0 1 9
T DUNCAN F 41 14-24 3-4 6 9 15 4 4 0 4 31
N MOHAMMED C 17 1-3 2-3 1 1 2 0 5 1 1 4
T PARKER G 38 8-21 0-0 1 0 1 2 3 0 2 18
E GINOBILI G 35 6-15 5-6 0 8 8 6 1 3 4 19
B BARRY 25 1-3 0-0 0 4 4 0 0 0 2 3
R HORRY 36 3-11 1-1 3 8 11 5 2 3 0 7
B UDRIH 10 3-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 8
T MASSENBURG 2 1-1 0-0 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 2
G ROBINSON DNP - COACH'S DECISION
R NESTEROVIC DNP - COACH'S DECISION
D BROWN DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 40-87 12-16 14 33 47 21 20 7 14 101
(.460) (.750) TEAM REBS: 5 TOTAL TO: 14 (12 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 28 0-3 0-0 1 1 2 0 1 1 1 0
S MARION F 41 4-8 0-0 1 9 10 0 1 2 1 8
A STOUDEMIRE C 46 16-32 10-11 7 9 16 2 4 1 3 42
S NASH G 42 9-20 3-4 0 4 4 10 2 1 3 21
J JOHNSON G 42 6-17 0-0 1 3 4 4 2 1 1 14
J JACKSON 28 3-5 0-0 1 5 6 0 4 2 2 9
S HUNTER 13 0-2 1-2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
L BARBOSA DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 38-87 14-17 12 31 43 16 14 8 11 95
(.437) (.824) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 12 (13 PTS)
SAN ANTONIO 24 25 29 23 - 101
PHOENIX 24 26 20 25 - 95
BLOCKED SHOTS: SAN ANTONIO - T DUNCAN 3, R HORRY, N MOHAMMED, B BOWEN.
PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE 4, S MARION, J JOHNSON.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: SAN ANTONIO 9-21 (.429), B BOWEN 2-3, T DUNCAN 0-
1, T PARKER 2-5, E GINOBILI 2-6, B BARRY 1-2, R HORRY 0-2, B UDRIH 2-
2. PHOENIX 5-17 (.294), Q RICHARDSON 0-1, S MARION 0-4, A STOUDEMIRE 0-
1, S NASH 0-3, J JOHNSON 2-4, J JACKSON 3-4.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: DICK BAVETTA, EDDIE F. RUSH, GREG WILLARD.
A - 18,422. T - 2:36.
The real story for the Suns was probably Amare Stoudemire. Once again he was other-worldly. There was no stopping this guy. For him to consistently score over 30 and hit his shots at a 50% clip is amazing. It's not like he's doing this against some scrubs either. We are talking about Tim Duncan and the Spurs D. Nobody seem to be able to stop him. He is quicker or stronger or more athletic than the guy usually guarding him and in most cases, he is quicker AND stronger AND more athletic than anybody else on the court. His mid-range game has improved just during this season to the point where he started consistently hitting the jumpers in the playoffs. He never even attempted those shots in Nov or Dec. It got to a point where I felt very comfortable when he took those shots. The Suns are understandably excited about him and his future. There was a lot of talk about him after the game and both Pop and Duncan were very high on him. He seem to dominate the game without any go to moves or a polished low-post game. He is only 23 and it's scary how good he can be in a few years. In fact, he was so good this series, I am not even sure if he can get any better offensively ! Of course he has a long way to go defensively and in other subtleties of the game.
Anyways, the great Suns season is over. It hurts right now. But eventually, this might end up being the start of something great and not just the end of the 2004-2005 season.
SAN ANTONIO (101) AT PHOENIX (95)
SAN ANTONIO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
B BOWEN F 36 3-6 1-2 1 2 3 3 2 0 1 9
T DUNCAN F 41 14-24 3-4 6 9 15 4 4 0 4 31
N MOHAMMED C 17 1-3 2-3 1 1 2 0 5 1 1 4
T PARKER G 38 8-21 0-0 1 0 1 2 3 0 2 18
E GINOBILI G 35 6-15 5-6 0 8 8 6 1 3 4 19
B BARRY 25 1-3 0-0 0 4 4 0 0 0 2 3
R HORRY 36 3-11 1-1 3 8 11 5 2 3 0 7
B UDRIH 10 3-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 0 8
T MASSENBURG 2 1-1 0-0 2 0 2 0 1 0 0 2
G ROBINSON DNP - COACH'S DECISION
R NESTEROVIC DNP - COACH'S DECISION
D BROWN DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 40-87 12-16 14 33 47 21 20 7 14 101
(.460) (.750) TEAM REBS: 5 TOTAL TO: 14 (12 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 28 0-3 0-0 1 1 2 0 1 1 1 0
S MARION F 41 4-8 0-0 1 9 10 0 1 2 1 8
A STOUDEMIRE C 46 16-32 10-11 7 9 16 2 4 1 3 42
S NASH G 42 9-20 3-4 0 4 4 10 2 1 3 21
J JOHNSON G 42 6-17 0-0 1 3 4 4 2 1 1 14
J JACKSON 28 3-5 0-0 1 5 6 0 4 2 2 9
S HUNTER 13 0-2 1-2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
L BARBOSA DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 38-87 14-17 12 31 43 16 14 8 11 95
(.437) (.824) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 12 (13 PTS)
SAN ANTONIO 24 25 29 23 - 101
PHOENIX 24 26 20 25 - 95
BLOCKED SHOTS: SAN ANTONIO - T DUNCAN 3, R HORRY, N MOHAMMED, B BOWEN.
PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE 4, S MARION, J JOHNSON.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: SAN ANTONIO 9-21 (.429), B BOWEN 2-3, T DUNCAN 0-
1, T PARKER 2-5, E GINOBILI 2-6, B BARRY 1-2, R HORRY 0-2, B UDRIH 2-
2. PHOENIX 5-17 (.294), Q RICHARDSON 0-1, S MARION 0-4, A STOUDEMIRE 0-
1, S NASH 0-3, J JOHNSON 2-4, J JACKSON 3-4.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: DICK BAVETTA, EDDIE F. RUSH, GREG WILLARD.
A - 18,422. T - 2:36.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Suns-Spurs Game 4 - About Time
Finally the Suns team we have all been expecting to see showed up. Apparently Amare went into the locker room after game 3 shouting "we are not getting swept". I guess he meant it. He was unbelievable. He has scored over 30 in every game this series and this game was no different. He dominated the 4-th quarter and that block he had on Duncan at the end was one of the most amazing thing I have ever seen. He got up in a hurry and blocked the shot as it was almost being dunked. His wrist was bent backwards as he blocked it and Timmy didn't know what hit him. Amare made several key plays on both ends of the floor and clinched the game for the Suns as the Spurs made a push in the fourth quarter as usual. Nash was back to being his usual self. Joe Johnson was sensational. He showed what we were missing this series. This guy is an integral part of the Suns offense and his high-percentage outside shooting is key to their success. He made a clutch shot coming out of a timeout with Bruce Bowen all over him. That showed his talent and also Mike D'Antoni's confidence in him.
For the Spurs, Timmy had a sub-par game. Ginobli was unbelievable as always. The Suns came up with a new strategy for Parker. They laid off of him and gave him the outside shot. They packed it in and forced him to shoot. This combined with Joe Johnson on him, made it difficult for him. I always thought he was a good enough shooter, but seems like his range is limited and letting him take the outside shot is the lesser of two evil. Apparently Joe Johnson went back to the huddle during a timeout in game 3 and said he didn't know Parker was this quick. He really is very quick and the Suns packing it in against him worked fine, at-least for one day. More than all of this, for the first time this series, the Suns played their game for an extended stretch in the 3-rd quarter. They were running and gunning. Nash was pushing, Marion was finishing and Joe Johnson and Q were hitting those outside jumpers. This was the stretch that won them the game. Hope they can do it more consistently. Now back to Phoenix hoping to win one more. I think they can do it and may be this series becomes real interesting. I am not expecting a RedSox-repeat, but may be I am hoping for one :-)
PHOENIX (111) AT SAN ANTONIO (106)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 40 5-12 1-1 0 6 6 2 4 0 1 14
S MARION F 45 5-12 0-0 3 11 14 2 2 0 1 11
A STOUDEMIRE C 37 13-23 5-6 3 2 5 1 4 2 4 31
J JOHNSON G 41 10-15 3-4 0 5 5 4 3 1 3 26
S NASH G 42 6-10 5-5 0 4 4 12 2 2 2 17
S HUNTER 14 2-2 0-0 1 0 1 0 3 0 2 4
J JACKSON 21 3-3 0-0 0 2 2 2 3 0 1 8
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
L BARBOSA DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 44-77 14-16 7 30 37 23 21 5 14 111
(.571) (.875) TEAM REBS: 3 TOTAL TO: 14 (16 PTS)
SAN ANTONIO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
B BOWEN F 44 6-11 0-0 0 5 5 1 4 1 0 15
T DUNCAN F 39 6-12 3-12 7 9 16 3 2 0 3 15
N MOHAMMED C 24 4-8 0-0 6 2 8 0 3 1 0 8
T PARKER G 35 5-17 3-4 1 2 3 5 1 2 6 13
E GINOBILI G 37 11-22 3-4 0 4 4 7 2 1 0 28
B BARRY 15 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 1 1 3
R HORRY 33 5-13 2-3 6 1 7 4 1 2 0 15
B UDRIH 13 4-9 0-0 0 1 1 2 1 1 1 9
T MASSENBURG DNP - COACH'S DECISION
G ROBINSON DNP - COACH'S DECISION
R NESTEROVIC DNP - COACH'S DECISION
D BROWN DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 42-95 11-23 20 25 45 22 18 9 11 106
(.442) (.478) TEAM REBS: 15 TOTAL TO: 12 (16 PTS)
PHOENIX 26 26 35 24 - 111
SAN ANTONIO 23 36 21 26 - 106
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - S MARION 3, S HUNTER 2, A STOUDEMIRE. SAN ANTONIO -
T DUNCAN 2, B BARRY, N MOHAMMED, B UDRIH.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 9-18 (.500), Q RICHARDSON 3-7, S MARION 1-
2, J JOHNSON 3-6, S NASH 0-1, J JACKSON 2-2. SAN ANTONIO 11-25 (.440),
B BOWEN 3-6, T PARKER 0-2, E GINOBILI 3-6, B BARRY 1-3, R HORRY 3-
4, B UDRIH 1-4.
TECHNICAL FOULS: PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE. SAN ANTONIO - E GINOBILI.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: BERNIE FRYER, JOE DEROSA, MIKE CALLAHAN.
A - 18,797. T - 2:30.
For the Spurs, Timmy had a sub-par game. Ginobli was unbelievable as always. The Suns came up with a new strategy for Parker. They laid off of him and gave him the outside shot. They packed it in and forced him to shoot. This combined with Joe Johnson on him, made it difficult for him. I always thought he was a good enough shooter, but seems like his range is limited and letting him take the outside shot is the lesser of two evil. Apparently Joe Johnson went back to the huddle during a timeout in game 3 and said he didn't know Parker was this quick. He really is very quick and the Suns packing it in against him worked fine, at-least for one day. More than all of this, for the first time this series, the Suns played their game for an extended stretch in the 3-rd quarter. They were running and gunning. Nash was pushing, Marion was finishing and Joe Johnson and Q were hitting those outside jumpers. This was the stretch that won them the game. Hope they can do it more consistently. Now back to Phoenix hoping to win one more. I think they can do it and may be this series becomes real interesting. I am not expecting a RedSox-repeat, but may be I am hoping for one :-)
PHOENIX (111) AT SAN ANTONIO (106)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 40 5-12 1-1 0 6 6 2 4 0 1 14
S MARION F 45 5-12 0-0 3 11 14 2 2 0 1 11
A STOUDEMIRE C 37 13-23 5-6 3 2 5 1 4 2 4 31
J JOHNSON G 41 10-15 3-4 0 5 5 4 3 1 3 26
S NASH G 42 6-10 5-5 0 4 4 12 2 2 2 17
S HUNTER 14 2-2 0-0 1 0 1 0 3 0 2 4
J JACKSON 21 3-3 0-0 0 2 2 2 3 0 1 8
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
L BARBOSA DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 44-77 14-16 7 30 37 23 21 5 14 111
(.571) (.875) TEAM REBS: 3 TOTAL TO: 14 (16 PTS)
SAN ANTONIO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
B BOWEN F 44 6-11 0-0 0 5 5 1 4 1 0 15
T DUNCAN F 39 6-12 3-12 7 9 16 3 2 0 3 15
N MOHAMMED C 24 4-8 0-0 6 2 8 0 3 1 0 8
T PARKER G 35 5-17 3-4 1 2 3 5 1 2 6 13
E GINOBILI G 37 11-22 3-4 0 4 4 7 2 1 0 28
B BARRY 15 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 1 1 3
R HORRY 33 5-13 2-3 6 1 7 4 1 2 0 15
B UDRIH 13 4-9 0-0 0 1 1 2 1 1 1 9
T MASSENBURG DNP - COACH'S DECISION
G ROBINSON DNP - COACH'S DECISION
R NESTEROVIC DNP - COACH'S DECISION
D BROWN DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 42-95 11-23 20 25 45 22 18 9 11 106
(.442) (.478) TEAM REBS: 15 TOTAL TO: 12 (16 PTS)
PHOENIX 26 26 35 24 - 111
SAN ANTONIO 23 36 21 26 - 106
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - S MARION 3, S HUNTER 2, A STOUDEMIRE. SAN ANTONIO -
T DUNCAN 2, B BARRY, N MOHAMMED, B UDRIH.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 9-18 (.500), Q RICHARDSON 3-7, S MARION 1-
2, J JOHNSON 3-6, S NASH 0-1, J JACKSON 2-2. SAN ANTONIO 11-25 (.440),
B BOWEN 3-6, T PARKER 0-2, E GINOBILI 3-6, B BARRY 1-3, R HORRY 3-
4, B UDRIH 1-4.
TECHNICAL FOULS: PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE. SAN ANTONIO - E GINOBILI.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: BERNIE FRYER, JOE DEROSA, MIKE CALLAHAN.
A - 18,797. T - 2:30.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Suns-Spurs Game 3 - Nauseating
This was probably the worst Suns game of the season. Less said and written about this game the better. The Suns went to San Antonio and nobody thought it was gonna be easy. But I was expecting a better effort. With Joe Johnson coming back, there was some hope for the Suns fan. I was very curious to see what happens with him in the lineup. The results were not encouraging. He seemed to have a decent game, but the Suns seem to face the same problems as games 1 and 2, only worse. The Spurs played even better at home and were clearly superior to the Suns in all phases of the game. The only positive thing was Amare ending up with respectable numbers with some spirited performance in the 4-th quarter. But it was too little too late. The Suns cut it to 6 late in the final quarter, but for the most part this game was a blowout. All you need to know is Nash had 3 assists and 6 turnovers ! Ugly numbers.
It's sad that the Suns can't give the World a better series for the conference finals. Now it's all about pride. The Suns better win game 4 and avoid getting swept. I'll just leave it at that for now.
PHOENIX (92) AT SAN ANTONIO (102)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 39 4-8 3-4 1 5 6 0 3 1 0 13
S MARION F 33 3-9 0-0 5 4 9 2 3 2 1 6
A STOUDEMIRE C 46 15-30 4-6 5 6 11 1 4 1 3 34
S NASH G 40 8-18 3-4 0 2 2 3 2 1 6 20
J JOHNSON G 37 6-14 1-1 0 2 2 3 3 2 1 15
J JACKSON 29 2-6 0-0 0 3 3 1 3 1 1 4
S HUNTER 16 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
L BARBOSA DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 38-86 11-15 12 23 35 10 20 8 12 92
(.442) (.733) TEAM REBS: 10 TOTAL TO: 12 (14 PTS)
SAN ANTONIO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
B BOWEN F 31 2-4 0-0 0 3 3 1 2 0 0 6
T DUNCAN F 42 9-17 15-15 5 10 15 3 1 1 4 33
N MOHAMMED C 19 4-6 1-2 2 2 4 1 4 1 0 9
T PARKER G 41 7-18 4-6 1 0 1 7 3 1 4 18
E GINOBILI G 35 6-12 6-7 2 7 9 2 3 4 3 18
R HORRY 31 3-9 0-0 3 8 11 3 2 1 1 7
B BARRY 31 4-7 0-0 2 2 4 2 0 1 0 11
B UDRIH 8 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0
R NESTEROVIC 2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
T MASSENBURG DNP - COACH'S DECISION
G ROBINSON DNP - FAMILY BUSINESS
D BROWN DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 35-76 26-30 16 33 49 19 16 9 13 102
(.461) (.867) TEAM REBS: 3 TOTAL TO: 15 (12 PTS)
PHOENIX 29 10 24 29 - 92
SAN ANTONIO 38 18 24 22 - 102
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE 2, S HUNTER. SAN ANTONIO - T DUNCAN 3,
E GINOBILI.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 5-13 (.385), Q RICHARDSON 2-4, A STOUDEMIRE 0-
1, S NASH 1-3, J JOHNSON 2-3, J JACKSON 0-2. SAN ANTONIO 6-20 (.300),
B BOWEN 2-4, T DUNCAN 0-1, T PARKER 0-1, E GINOBILI 0-2, R HORRY 1-
5, B BARRY 3-5, B UDRIH 0-2.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: DERRICK STAFFORD, RON GARRETSON, STEVE JAVIE.
A - 18,797. T - 2:30.
It's sad that the Suns can't give the World a better series for the conference finals. Now it's all about pride. The Suns better win game 4 and avoid getting swept. I'll just leave it at that for now.
PHOENIX (92) AT SAN ANTONIO (102)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 39 4-8 3-4 1 5 6 0 3 1 0 13
S MARION F 33 3-9 0-0 5 4 9 2 3 2 1 6
A STOUDEMIRE C 46 15-30 4-6 5 6 11 1 4 1 3 34
S NASH G 40 8-18 3-4 0 2 2 3 2 1 6 20
J JOHNSON G 37 6-14 1-1 0 2 2 3 3 2 1 15
J JACKSON 29 2-6 0-0 0 3 3 1 3 1 1 4
S HUNTER 16 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
L BARBOSA DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 38-86 11-15 12 23 35 10 20 8 12 92
(.442) (.733) TEAM REBS: 10 TOTAL TO: 12 (14 PTS)
SAN ANTONIO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
B BOWEN F 31 2-4 0-0 0 3 3 1 2 0 0 6
T DUNCAN F 42 9-17 15-15 5 10 15 3 1 1 4 33
N MOHAMMED C 19 4-6 1-2 2 2 4 1 4 1 0 9
T PARKER G 41 7-18 4-6 1 0 1 7 3 1 4 18
E GINOBILI G 35 6-12 6-7 2 7 9 2 3 4 3 18
R HORRY 31 3-9 0-0 3 8 11 3 2 1 1 7
B BARRY 31 4-7 0-0 2 2 4 2 0 1 0 11
B UDRIH 8 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0
R NESTEROVIC 2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
T MASSENBURG DNP - COACH'S DECISION
G ROBINSON DNP - FAMILY BUSINESS
D BROWN DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 35-76 26-30 16 33 49 19 16 9 13 102
(.461) (.867) TEAM REBS: 3 TOTAL TO: 15 (12 PTS)
PHOENIX 29 10 24 29 - 92
SAN ANTONIO 38 18 24 22 - 102
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE 2, S HUNTER. SAN ANTONIO - T DUNCAN 3,
E GINOBILI.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 5-13 (.385), Q RICHARDSON 2-4, A STOUDEMIRE 0-
1, S NASH 1-3, J JOHNSON 2-3, J JACKSON 0-2. SAN ANTONIO 6-20 (.300),
B BOWEN 2-4, T DUNCAN 0-1, T PARKER 0-1, E GINOBILI 0-2, R HORRY 1-
5, B BARRY 3-5, B UDRIH 0-2.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: DERRICK STAFFORD, RON GARRETSON, STEVE JAVIE.
A - 18,797. T - 2:30.
Friday, May 27, 2005
Suns-Spurs Game 2 - Shocked
Game 2 was the most important game of the season up to this point. You can probably say that about every game at this stage of the playoffs, but game 2 was the biggest challenge the Suns have faced all season. It’s was a must-win game if ever there was one. You don’t want to go down 0-2 at home to the San Antonio Spurs in the playoffs. The Suns came out and played well, but as always the Spurs had an answer for everything. It was frustrating to see the Suns play so hard, but still not quite be able to out-perform the Spurs at either end of the floor. They always have somebody contesting shots, somebody back on transition D, somebody hitting 3’s and somebody crashing the boards for offensive rebounds. In the first half of game 2, it was Nazr Mohammed who was rebounding and scoring on put-backs for the Spurs. For all their efforts, the Suns had the same 10 point deficit going into the second quarter. Both teams had scored one point more than their game 1 first quarter. So clearly the Suns were not stopping the Spurs.
But just as in the first game, the Suns got back into this one in quarters 2 and 3. They were trying hard to get Q and Marion involved with mixed results. They made some buckets in the first half, but they struggled a little bit too. There was one stretch where Q looked real bad. He missed shots, mishandled a pass and turned the ball over on the dribble, all in a span of few minutes. The turnover was a bad call and he got a T too. I was glad that when they came out in the third quarter, Q was able to stroke a couple of threes and get back into a rhythm. Tim Duncan had a sub-par first half and the Suns got him in foul trouble as well. The Suns put Timmy on the bench in Q3 with a lot of time left. This is when the crowd got into it, the Suns were rolling and they built the lead to 9. I was thinking that this is when they should step on the gas and blow the game open before Timmy comes back in Q4. But the Suns probably lost the game right there. They came of a Spurs timeout and once again the Spurs execution was flawless. Ginobli got going and even had a thunderous dunk down the lane. The Suns didn’t score for a couple of possessions and the game was back on track for the Spurs.
I couldn’t help but think that this game looks eerily similar to game 1. They went into Q4 with the same kind of lead as game 1, when they should have blown the game open in late Q3. Amare and Nash were still rolling and Q and Marion had better game 2 than game 1. Still they just could not contain the Spurs. It’s amazing how efficient these Spurs are. They got Timmy in the low block and the Suns have no answer for him. Steven Hunter played well on him, but nobody stops Timmy I guess. For all of the greatness of Steve Nash, he is not a defensive stopper. So they can’t lock up Tony Parker. Both in game 1 and 2, there were really exciting stretches when Nash and Parker just went at each other and scored at will at both ends. Obviously, the Spurs will live with that. But the most amazing guy has been Ginobli. The Suns seem to have no match-up for him. He dropped 48 on them even in the regular season. This guy is a baller and he finished off the Suns down the stretch in game 2. If the Suns can’t stop any of their top 3 options, it’s hard to win. On top of that, Barry and Horry seem to always hit the open threes. So the Suns are in deep trouble.
I hate Robert Horry. People call him “big shot Bob” these days, and rightfully so. But he has been killing the Suns since his Houston days in 94-95. On top of that, who can forget him throwing the towel in Ainge’s face when Ainge was the coach and Horry was the Suns “go-to-guy” for a few months after the Barkley trade? Now he is back hitting threes again. He nailed a crucial one in the fourth quarter and the Suns never really got back after that. Ginobli took over from there and the game was over. The Suns could have tied it up with a 3 at the end, but it didn’t quite work out.
Now the Suns have to go to San Antonio trailing 0-2. Experts are not even sure if the series comes back to Phoenix for game 5. I am pretty sure it does. Of course, as a Suns fan, I hope it comes back all tied up! But seriously, I think they win one, may be game 3 and lose game 4. I still think this series goes 6 with the Spurs winning. I think Suns can extend it for 3 reasons. One, they are better on the road than home. Two, their offense is still flowing and should help them win at least one game. And three, Joe Johnson should be back. I am thinking he’s going to give them a huge lift. So, looking forward to getting the series back to Phoenix.
SAN ANTONIO (111) AT PHOENIX (108)
SAN ANTONIO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
B BOWEN F 33 1-5 0-0 1 3 4 2 3 0 0 3
T DUNCAN F 36 10-19 10-11 2 6 8 2 5 2 1 30
N MOHAMMED C 28 5-10 1-2 5 3 8 0 1 3 1 11
T PARKER G 40 12-20 0-0 0 3 3 5 2 1 4 24
E GINOBILI G 38 10-18 3-5 0 4 4 4 2 1 2 26
R HORRY 28 3-6 1-2 2 1 3 2 2 0 3 10
B BARRY 25 2-5 0-1 2 1 3 4 0 1 0 5
B UDRIH 9 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 2
R NESTEROVIC 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
T MASSENBURG DNP - COACH'S DECISION
G ROBINSON DNP - PERSONAL REASONS
D BROWN DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 44-86 15-21 12 22 34 21 16 8 11 111
(.512) (.714) TEAM REBS: 10 TOTAL TO: 12 (15 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 36 7-13 1-2 1 1 2 1 4 1 4 18
S MARION F 44 5-11 1-1 2 10 12 0 4 2 1 11
A STOUDEMIRE C 42 14-23 9-10 4 4 8 2 3 1 5 37
S NASH G 46 13-22 2-2 0 5 5 15 2 1 5 29
J JACKSON G 39 2-4 0-0 0 3 3 1 2 0 0 6
S HUNTER 30 3-6 1-2 2 2 4 1 4 0 1 7
W MCCARTY 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
L BARBOSA 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 44-79 14-17 9 25 34 20 19 5 16 108
(.557) (.824) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 17 (24 PTS)
SAN ANTONIO 31 22 27 31 - 111
PHOENIX 21 33 31 23 - 108
BLOCKED SHOTS: SAN ANTONIO - N MOHAMMED 2, R HORRY, T PARKER. PHOENIX -
J JACKSON 4, S HUNTER 3, S MARION 2.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: SAN ANTONIO 8-18 (.444), B BOWEN 1-3, T PARKER 0-
1, E GINOBILI 3-7, R HORRY 3-4, B BARRY 1-2, B UDRIH 0-1. PHOENIX 6-
12 (.500), Q RICHARDSON 3-7, S NASH 1-2, J JACKSON 2-3.
TECHNICAL FOULS: PHOENIX - Q RICHARDSON, A STOUDEMIRE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: BENNETT SALVATORE, BILL SPOONER, KEN MAUER.
A - 18,422. T - 2:41.
But just as in the first game, the Suns got back into this one in quarters 2 and 3. They were trying hard to get Q and Marion involved with mixed results. They made some buckets in the first half, but they struggled a little bit too. There was one stretch where Q looked real bad. He missed shots, mishandled a pass and turned the ball over on the dribble, all in a span of few minutes. The turnover was a bad call and he got a T too. I was glad that when they came out in the third quarter, Q was able to stroke a couple of threes and get back into a rhythm. Tim Duncan had a sub-par first half and the Suns got him in foul trouble as well. The Suns put Timmy on the bench in Q3 with a lot of time left. This is when the crowd got into it, the Suns were rolling and they built the lead to 9. I was thinking that this is when they should step on the gas and blow the game open before Timmy comes back in Q4. But the Suns probably lost the game right there. They came of a Spurs timeout and once again the Spurs execution was flawless. Ginobli got going and even had a thunderous dunk down the lane. The Suns didn’t score for a couple of possessions and the game was back on track for the Spurs.
I couldn’t help but think that this game looks eerily similar to game 1. They went into Q4 with the same kind of lead as game 1, when they should have blown the game open in late Q3. Amare and Nash were still rolling and Q and Marion had better game 2 than game 1. Still they just could not contain the Spurs. It’s amazing how efficient these Spurs are. They got Timmy in the low block and the Suns have no answer for him. Steven Hunter played well on him, but nobody stops Timmy I guess. For all of the greatness of Steve Nash, he is not a defensive stopper. So they can’t lock up Tony Parker. Both in game 1 and 2, there were really exciting stretches when Nash and Parker just went at each other and scored at will at both ends. Obviously, the Spurs will live with that. But the most amazing guy has been Ginobli. The Suns seem to have no match-up for him. He dropped 48 on them even in the regular season. This guy is a baller and he finished off the Suns down the stretch in game 2. If the Suns can’t stop any of their top 3 options, it’s hard to win. On top of that, Barry and Horry seem to always hit the open threes. So the Suns are in deep trouble.
I hate Robert Horry. People call him “big shot Bob” these days, and rightfully so. But he has been killing the Suns since his Houston days in 94-95. On top of that, who can forget him throwing the towel in Ainge’s face when Ainge was the coach and Horry was the Suns “go-to-guy” for a few months after the Barkley trade? Now he is back hitting threes again. He nailed a crucial one in the fourth quarter and the Suns never really got back after that. Ginobli took over from there and the game was over. The Suns could have tied it up with a 3 at the end, but it didn’t quite work out.
Now the Suns have to go to San Antonio trailing 0-2. Experts are not even sure if the series comes back to Phoenix for game 5. I am pretty sure it does. Of course, as a Suns fan, I hope it comes back all tied up! But seriously, I think they win one, may be game 3 and lose game 4. I still think this series goes 6 with the Spurs winning. I think Suns can extend it for 3 reasons. One, they are better on the road than home. Two, their offense is still flowing and should help them win at least one game. And three, Joe Johnson should be back. I am thinking he’s going to give them a huge lift. So, looking forward to getting the series back to Phoenix.
SAN ANTONIO (111) AT PHOENIX (108)
SAN ANTONIO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
B BOWEN F 33 1-5 0-0 1 3 4 2 3 0 0 3
T DUNCAN F 36 10-19 10-11 2 6 8 2 5 2 1 30
N MOHAMMED C 28 5-10 1-2 5 3 8 0 1 3 1 11
T PARKER G 40 12-20 0-0 0 3 3 5 2 1 4 24
E GINOBILI G 38 10-18 3-5 0 4 4 4 2 1 2 26
R HORRY 28 3-6 1-2 2 1 3 2 2 0 3 10
B BARRY 25 2-5 0-1 2 1 3 4 0 1 0 5
B UDRIH 9 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 2 1 0 0 2
R NESTEROVIC 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
T MASSENBURG DNP - COACH'S DECISION
G ROBINSON DNP - PERSONAL REASONS
D BROWN DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 44-86 15-21 12 22 34 21 16 8 11 111
(.512) (.714) TEAM REBS: 10 TOTAL TO: 12 (15 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 36 7-13 1-2 1 1 2 1 4 1 4 18
S MARION F 44 5-11 1-1 2 10 12 0 4 2 1 11
A STOUDEMIRE C 42 14-23 9-10 4 4 8 2 3 1 5 37
S NASH G 46 13-22 2-2 0 5 5 15 2 1 5 29
J JACKSON G 39 2-4 0-0 0 3 3 1 2 0 0 6
S HUNTER 30 3-6 1-2 2 2 4 1 4 0 1 7
W MCCARTY 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
L BARBOSA 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 44-79 14-17 9 25 34 20 19 5 16 108
(.557) (.824) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 17 (24 PTS)
SAN ANTONIO 31 22 27 31 - 111
PHOENIX 21 33 31 23 - 108
BLOCKED SHOTS: SAN ANTONIO - N MOHAMMED 2, R HORRY, T PARKER. PHOENIX -
J JACKSON 4, S HUNTER 3, S MARION 2.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: SAN ANTONIO 8-18 (.444), B BOWEN 1-3, T PARKER 0-
1, E GINOBILI 3-7, R HORRY 3-4, B BARRY 1-2, B UDRIH 0-1. PHOENIX 6-
12 (.500), Q RICHARDSON 3-7, S NASH 1-2, J JACKSON 2-3.
TECHNICAL FOULS: PHOENIX - Q RICHARDSON, A STOUDEMIRE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: BENNETT SALVATORE, BILL SPOONER, KEN MAUER.
A - 18,422. T - 2:41.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Suns-Spurs Game 1 - Barry'ed!
These are exciting times for the Phoenix Suns. They are in the conference finals and there's great excitement all-around. It's no secret that the NBA probably wants them to make it to the Finals. A Miami-Phoenix finals would be a lot more exciting than the San Antonio-Detroit finals. There's a lot of talk about Nash and Stoudemire too. They are becoming the top combo in the league and Amare seems like the future at the 4 spot for the NBA. With all that said, the Spurs are a great team and they showed why in game 1. Flawless execution, aided by poor Suns D helped them win game 1 down the stretch. They led by 10 after the first quarter. The Suns looked bad. But it was not anything the Spurs D was doing, because the Suns came back and dominated quarter 2 and 3.
They led going into the fourth and then the roof caved in on them. Suns kept scoring, but they couldn't do anything to stop the Spurs. Spurs shot 70+ percent in the quarter and the Suns could just watch. Brent Barry killed them from the outside as they had to help out on Duncan, Parker and Ginobli. Barry and Horry got wide-open shots which they kept making. It was Brent Barry show for the most part as he scored 21 pts on 8-of-12 shooting. Amare and Nash were great, but the others didn't show up much like it has been the case since Joe Johnson went down. But the problem was the Spurs offense. The Spurs are a greatly under-rated offensive team. They are good defensively, but they are much better offensively since the days of David Robinson. Parker and Ginobli have helped re-define this team and now they can do it all. They can play any style, score and defend, play inside or outside. In fact, this is how they dealt with the Suns in the regular season as well. They just outscored them by 20+ though the Suns score 100+.
I was afraid this was going to happen since the Suns don't have any answer to Ginobli or Duncan. I was glad the Suns at least played well, scored a bunch and both Nash and Amare looked great. They were probably a little tired too after Friday's win. So I am hoping they can come back and win game 2. But clearly their problem is stopping the Spurs. Pop was joking after the game about how Parker (and probably Ginobli and Barry) might like to score 180 pts every night. The point is, the Spurs can do it if Pop lets them to. And they have proved it against the Suns all season long. Hope the trend stops in game 2. Also, the Suns need Joe Johnson back. They are missing his versatility. They have to find a way to get Q untracked. He makes a couple of nice plays every game, but they need more. It's amazing how the 3 pointers disappear this time of the year. I thought this team will not fall prey to all that, but the pressure gets even to the best I guess.
SAN ANTONIO (121) AT PHOENIX (114)
SAN ANTONIO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
B BOWEN F 27 1-5 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 2
T DUNCAN F 40 10-21 8-10 3 12 15 4 3 0 3 28
N MOHAMMED C 23 4-7 1-2 4 3 7 1 5 0 1 9
T PARKER G 36 13-22 1-4 2 5 7 2 4 2 4 29
E GINOBILI G 37 5-10 9-13 0 6 6 5 3 1 2 20
B BARRY 34 8-12 0-0 1 1 2 1 2 3 0 21
R HORRY 27 4-7 2-2 3 4 7 3 2 2 0 12
B UDRIH 12 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0
R NESTEROVIC 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
T MASSENBURG DNP - COACH'S DECISION
G ROBINSON DNP - PERSONAL REASONS
D BROWN DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 45-87 21-31 13 32 45 18 23 9 11 121
(.517) (.677) TEAM REBS: 10 TOTAL TO: 11 (12 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 42 3-9 0-0 1 2 3 1 5 2 0 7
S MARION F 38 1-6 1-2 2 7 9 1 4 1 1 3
A STOUDEMIRE C 36 13-21 15-18 6 3 9 1 2 0 2 41
S NASH G 40 12-22 5-5 0 4 4 13 5 1 6 29
J JACKSON G 41 8-16 0-0 0 8 8 1 1 1 1 20
S HUNTER 30 3-6 3-4 4 4 8 0 4 0 1 9
L BARBOSA 13 2-6 0-0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 5
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 42-86 24-29 13 28 41 19 22 5 12 114
(.488) (.828) TEAM REBS: 5 TOTAL TO: 12 (18 PTS)
SAN ANTONIO 30 25 23 43 - 121
PHOENIX 20 29 33 32 - 114
BLOCKED SHOTS: SAN ANTONIO - N MOHAMMED 2, R HORRY, T DUNCAN. PHOENIX -
S NASH, S HUNTER, A STOUDEMIRE.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: SAN ANTONIO 10-23 (.435), B BOWEN 0-3, T DUNCAN 0-
1, T PARKER 2-5, E GINOBILI 1-2, B BARRY 5-8, R HORRY 2-4. PHOENIX 6-
15 (.400), Q RICHARDSON 1-5, S MARION 0-1, J JACKSON 4-8, L BARBOSA 1-
1.
TECHNICAL FOULS: SAN ANTONIO - COACH POPOVICH.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: JACK NIES, JIM CLARK, JOE CRAWFORD.
A - 18,422. T - 2:39.
They led going into the fourth and then the roof caved in on them. Suns kept scoring, but they couldn't do anything to stop the Spurs. Spurs shot 70+ percent in the quarter and the Suns could just watch. Brent Barry killed them from the outside as they had to help out on Duncan, Parker and Ginobli. Barry and Horry got wide-open shots which they kept making. It was Brent Barry show for the most part as he scored 21 pts on 8-of-12 shooting. Amare and Nash were great, but the others didn't show up much like it has been the case since Joe Johnson went down. But the problem was the Spurs offense. The Spurs are a greatly under-rated offensive team. They are good defensively, but they are much better offensively since the days of David Robinson. Parker and Ginobli have helped re-define this team and now they can do it all. They can play any style, score and defend, play inside or outside. In fact, this is how they dealt with the Suns in the regular season as well. They just outscored them by 20+ though the Suns score 100+.
I was afraid this was going to happen since the Suns don't have any answer to Ginobli or Duncan. I was glad the Suns at least played well, scored a bunch and both Nash and Amare looked great. They were probably a little tired too after Friday's win. So I am hoping they can come back and win game 2. But clearly their problem is stopping the Spurs. Pop was joking after the game about how Parker (and probably Ginobli and Barry) might like to score 180 pts every night. The point is, the Spurs can do it if Pop lets them to. And they have proved it against the Suns all season long. Hope the trend stops in game 2. Also, the Suns need Joe Johnson back. They are missing his versatility. They have to find a way to get Q untracked. He makes a couple of nice plays every game, but they need more. It's amazing how the 3 pointers disappear this time of the year. I thought this team will not fall prey to all that, but the pressure gets even to the best I guess.
SAN ANTONIO (121) AT PHOENIX (114)
SAN ANTONIO
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
B BOWEN F 27 1-5 0-0 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 2
T DUNCAN F 40 10-21 8-10 3 12 15 4 3 0 3 28
N MOHAMMED C 23 4-7 1-2 4 3 7 1 5 0 1 9
T PARKER G 36 13-22 1-4 2 5 7 2 4 2 4 29
E GINOBILI G 37 5-10 9-13 0 6 6 5 3 1 2 20
B BARRY 34 8-12 0-0 1 1 2 1 2 3 0 21
R HORRY 27 4-7 2-2 3 4 7 3 2 2 0 12
B UDRIH 12 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0 0
R NESTEROVIC 4 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
T MASSENBURG DNP - COACH'S DECISION
G ROBINSON DNP - PERSONAL REASONS
D BROWN DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 45-87 21-31 13 32 45 18 23 9 11 121
(.517) (.677) TEAM REBS: 10 TOTAL TO: 11 (12 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 42 3-9 0-0 1 2 3 1 5 2 0 7
S MARION F 38 1-6 1-2 2 7 9 1 4 1 1 3
A STOUDEMIRE C 36 13-21 15-18 6 3 9 1 2 0 2 41
S NASH G 40 12-22 5-5 0 4 4 13 5 1 6 29
J JACKSON G 41 8-16 0-0 0 8 8 1 1 1 1 20
S HUNTER 30 3-6 3-4 4 4 8 0 4 0 1 9
L BARBOSA 13 2-6 0-0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 5
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 42-86 24-29 13 28 41 19 22 5 12 114
(.488) (.828) TEAM REBS: 5 TOTAL TO: 12 (18 PTS)
SAN ANTONIO 30 25 23 43 - 121
PHOENIX 20 29 33 32 - 114
BLOCKED SHOTS: SAN ANTONIO - N MOHAMMED 2, R HORRY, T DUNCAN. PHOENIX -
S NASH, S HUNTER, A STOUDEMIRE.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: SAN ANTONIO 10-23 (.435), B BOWEN 0-3, T DUNCAN 0-
1, T PARKER 2-5, E GINOBILI 1-2, B BARRY 5-8, R HORRY 2-4. PHOENIX 6-
15 (.400), Q RICHARDSON 1-5, S MARION 0-1, J JACKSON 4-8, L BARBOSA 1-
1.
TECHNICAL FOULS: SAN ANTONIO - COACH POPOVICH.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: JACK NIES, JIM CLARK, JOE CRAWFORD.
A - 18,422. T - 2:39.
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Suns-Mavs Game 6 - Speechless!
If game 3 was one of the most satisfying Suns game I have ever seen, game 6 was even better. Steve Nash was just spectacular. Mark Cuban's worst fears came to fruition as the guy he let go, Steve Nash, not only met and beat the Mavs in the playoffs, Nash actually dominated the series and he might have single-handedly killed the Mavs. I have never seen Nash play this good. I never knew he was this great. Every expert on TV says the same thing about him. This was one of the most dominating performances I have seen in a playoff series in a long time, especially from the point guard position. As great as Amare Stoudemire was and Shawn Marion was in game 6, Nash was the storyline of this series. His imprint was all over these playoffs, especially since the time Joe Johnson went down. I wish I was in Dallas listening to their callers on the radio talk about Nash and Cuban. Nash is a class guy who was real popular in Dallas and now he is with the Suns and is the MVP of the league. And in this series against Dallas, he actually looked even better than a league MVP! The fans should have been stunned by what they saw in game 6.
As expected, Dallas started game 6 with a lot of energy. The Suns were not bad themselves. Jason Terry was on fire and Nowitzki and Josh Howard were effective as always. Howard was killing them on the boards as usual and Suns had problems containing Dallas. Amare, Shawn and Nash were scoring on the offensive side, but none of them looked real spectacular in the first half. Suns went in to half-time trailing by 9. I was not too concerned because I always look at how much they score more than how much they are trailing by. They should score more than 50; otherwise something is wrong with their offense. As for the deficit, they can make it up in no time if their offense is rolling. But they came out in the third quarter and quickly fell behind by 16. Amare was in foul trouble and things really looked bleak for the Suns. Then they went on one of their trademark runs and before you know it, the game was tight. Jim Jackson again chipped in with great plays and the Suns went into the fourth quarter on a roll and trailing by just 7. Fourth quarter was nip and tuck and Nash was making plays all over for the Suns. Amare had an extended stint on the bench due to foul trouble. At one point, the Suns looked like they had clinched it, but the Mavs got some stops and hit some shots and suddenly it looked like they are gonna win and push the series back to Phoenix. Amare came back, but quickly fouled out. The Suns were trailing in the last few minutes and Nash hit one big shot after another and kept them close. But Jason Terry was matching him shot for shot. Finally, with just 10+ secs remaining, Suns were trailing by 3. Nash rushed up the court, pulled up and hit a three to push the game to overtime.
In the overtime, it was the Nash-Marion show. Without Amre, they ran the pick and roll for Marion and he was terrific. The Suns won at the end and the Mavs were absolutely shocked. Nash had 39 points and 12 assists in one of the truly spectacular performances. The Mavs had all kinds of problems. Nowitzki was yelling at Terry for giving Nash too much space on that game-tying 3 at the end of regulation. I guess he wanted him to guard the 3 point line. But that was not the last mistake. The Mavs had 5 secs even after that. They didn’t take a timeout and Jerry Stackhouse just dribbled the ball up-court a-la Steve Nash and took an ill advised 3 that missed. In the overtime, Nowitzki took a bad 3 himself when they could have gotten a better look to tie the game. Nowitzki took some criticism for such open expression of disgust at Terry. Apparently people in Dallas have also criticized his friendship with Nash and how the Mavs are probably playing soft on Nash because of that. I don’t buy that, though Nash and Nowitzki seem to be tighter than I thought. Apparently they visited each other throughout the series in both cities and met several times. Nowitzki had spoken openly about it it in the Mavs website as well.
Now onto San Antonio. Suns have looked impressive so far and I hope they take the Spurs series in 6. I can’t wait to see how Amare and Nash play against the Spurs D. Who defends Duncan? And who stops Ginobli? There are intriguing match-ups all over the court and I still think the Suns can pull it off.
PHOENIX (130) AT DALLAS (126)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 52 4-13 3-4 3 10 13 3 5 1 3 11
S MARION F 51 13-28 8-9 4 12 16 1 4 2 1 38
A STOUDEMIRE C 32 7-11 4-7 1 5 6 0 6 0 5 18
S NASH G 50 14-24 6-6 5 4 9 12 5 0 4 39
J JACKSON G 43 6-14 0-0 1 6 7 0 6 0 1 16
L BARBOSA 9 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 2 1 1 0 4
S HUNTER 16 2-2 0-2 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 4
W MCCARTY 12 0-0 0-2 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 265 48-97 21-30 15 40 55 18 31 4 14 130
(.495) (.700) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 15 (10 PTS)
DALLAS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
J HOWARD F 46 7-14 7-8 3 11 14 3 4 2 3 21
D NOWITZKI F 51 9-25 8-10 3 10 13 6 5 0 2 28
E DAMPIER C 30 6-8 1-2 2 4 6 1 4 1 0 13
M FINLEY G 31 2-10 2-2 2 3 5 1 4 2 0 7
J TERRY G 48 13-25 6-9 0 5 5 2 4 2 1 36
J STACKHOUSE 38 4-13 11-12 0 2 2 0 0 0 2 19
D ARMSTRONG 6 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 1 1 0
A HENDERSON 15 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 2
S BRADLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
K VAN HORN DNP - SPRAINED LEFT ANKLE
D HARRIS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
M DANIELS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 265 42-97 35-43 11 36 47 13 26 8 9 126
(.433) (.814) TEAM REBS: 11 TOTAL TO: 9 (8 PTS)
PHOENIX 28 25 24 34 19 - 130
DALLAS 32 30 22 27 15 - 126
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - S HUNTER 2, W MCCARTY, S NASH, A STOUDEMIRE,
S MARION. DALLAS - E DAMPIER 2, D ARMSTRONG, J TERRY, J HOWARD.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 13-27 (.481), Q RICHARDSON 0-4, S MARION 4-
7, S NASH 5-8, J JACKSON 4-7, L BARBOSA 0-1. DALLAS 7-20 (.350), J HOWARD 0-
1, D NOWITZKI 2-5, M FINLEY 1-5, J TERRY 4-7, J STACKHOUSE 0-2.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: BERNIE FRYER, DERRICK STAFFORD, RON GARRETSON.
A - 20,915. T - 2:59.
As expected, Dallas started game 6 with a lot of energy. The Suns were not bad themselves. Jason Terry was on fire and Nowitzki and Josh Howard were effective as always. Howard was killing them on the boards as usual and Suns had problems containing Dallas. Amare, Shawn and Nash were scoring on the offensive side, but none of them looked real spectacular in the first half. Suns went in to half-time trailing by 9. I was not too concerned because I always look at how much they score more than how much they are trailing by. They should score more than 50; otherwise something is wrong with their offense. As for the deficit, they can make it up in no time if their offense is rolling. But they came out in the third quarter and quickly fell behind by 16. Amare was in foul trouble and things really looked bleak for the Suns. Then they went on one of their trademark runs and before you know it, the game was tight. Jim Jackson again chipped in with great plays and the Suns went into the fourth quarter on a roll and trailing by just 7. Fourth quarter was nip and tuck and Nash was making plays all over for the Suns. Amare had an extended stint on the bench due to foul trouble. At one point, the Suns looked like they had clinched it, but the Mavs got some stops and hit some shots and suddenly it looked like they are gonna win and push the series back to Phoenix. Amare came back, but quickly fouled out. The Suns were trailing in the last few minutes and Nash hit one big shot after another and kept them close. But Jason Terry was matching him shot for shot. Finally, with just 10+ secs remaining, Suns were trailing by 3. Nash rushed up the court, pulled up and hit a three to push the game to overtime.
In the overtime, it was the Nash-Marion show. Without Amre, they ran the pick and roll for Marion and he was terrific. The Suns won at the end and the Mavs were absolutely shocked. Nash had 39 points and 12 assists in one of the truly spectacular performances. The Mavs had all kinds of problems. Nowitzki was yelling at Terry for giving Nash too much space on that game-tying 3 at the end of regulation. I guess he wanted him to guard the 3 point line. But that was not the last mistake. The Mavs had 5 secs even after that. They didn’t take a timeout and Jerry Stackhouse just dribbled the ball up-court a-la Steve Nash and took an ill advised 3 that missed. In the overtime, Nowitzki took a bad 3 himself when they could have gotten a better look to tie the game. Nowitzki took some criticism for such open expression of disgust at Terry. Apparently people in Dallas have also criticized his friendship with Nash and how the Mavs are probably playing soft on Nash because of that. I don’t buy that, though Nash and Nowitzki seem to be tighter than I thought. Apparently they visited each other throughout the series in both cities and met several times. Nowitzki had spoken openly about it it in the Mavs website as well.
Now onto San Antonio. Suns have looked impressive so far and I hope they take the Spurs series in 6. I can’t wait to see how Amare and Nash play against the Spurs D. Who defends Duncan? And who stops Ginobli? There are intriguing match-ups all over the court and I still think the Suns can pull it off.
PHOENIX (130) AT DALLAS (126)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 52 4-13 3-4 3 10 13 3 5 1 3 11
S MARION F 51 13-28 8-9 4 12 16 1 4 2 1 38
A STOUDEMIRE C 32 7-11 4-7 1 5 6 0 6 0 5 18
S NASH G 50 14-24 6-6 5 4 9 12 5 0 4 39
J JACKSON G 43 6-14 0-0 1 6 7 0 6 0 1 16
L BARBOSA 9 2-5 0-0 0 1 1 2 1 1 0 4
S HUNTER 16 2-2 0-2 1 0 1 0 2 0 0 4
W MCCARTY 12 0-0 0-2 0 2 2 0 2 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 265 48-97 21-30 15 40 55 18 31 4 14 130
(.495) (.700) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 15 (10 PTS)
DALLAS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
J HOWARD F 46 7-14 7-8 3 11 14 3 4 2 3 21
D NOWITZKI F 51 9-25 8-10 3 10 13 6 5 0 2 28
E DAMPIER C 30 6-8 1-2 2 4 6 1 4 1 0 13
M FINLEY G 31 2-10 2-2 2 3 5 1 4 2 0 7
J TERRY G 48 13-25 6-9 0 5 5 2 4 2 1 36
J STACKHOUSE 38 4-13 11-12 0 2 2 0 0 0 2 19
D ARMSTRONG 6 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 1 1 0
A HENDERSON 15 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 2
S BRADLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
K VAN HORN DNP - SPRAINED LEFT ANKLE
D HARRIS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
M DANIELS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 265 42-97 35-43 11 36 47 13 26 8 9 126
(.433) (.814) TEAM REBS: 11 TOTAL TO: 9 (8 PTS)
PHOENIX 28 25 24 34 19 - 130
DALLAS 32 30 22 27 15 - 126
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - S HUNTER 2, W MCCARTY, S NASH, A STOUDEMIRE,
S MARION. DALLAS - E DAMPIER 2, D ARMSTRONG, J TERRY, J HOWARD.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 13-27 (.481), Q RICHARDSON 0-4, S MARION 4-
7, S NASH 5-8, J JACKSON 4-7, L BARBOSA 0-1. DALLAS 7-20 (.350), J HOWARD 0-
1, D NOWITZKI 2-5, M FINLEY 1-5, J TERRY 4-7, J STACKHOUSE 0-2.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: BERNIE FRYER, DERRICK STAFFORD, RON GARRETSON.
A - 20,915. T - 2:59.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Suns-Mavs Game 5 - Satisfying
Suns win game 5 to take a 3-2 lead. It was a very interesting game from start to finish. The Suns didn't look too good in the first half. It looked like an extension of game 4 except for the fact that they were rebounding a little better. Otherwise, they might have been trailing by 15 just like game 4. Offensively they looked the same. It was the Steve Nash show again and nothing else. They couldn't get Stoudemire involved and the outside shooters were not doing much. They went into half time trailing 55-48. Not only were they trailing, they just scored 48. Amare was rebounding better, but had 3 fouls. The third quarter was not too different. Amare got going a little bit and Nash was awesome as always. They took the lead, but couldn't hold it up as Stackhouse was killing them. Suns ended the 3-rd quarter badly and turned a 5 pt lead into a 1 pt deficit.
Then came the fourth quarter! Nash was on the bench resting, and everybody was expecting Dallas to build on their lead. But what happened was exactly the opposite. The Suns put the ball in Jim Jackson's hand and he scored almost every possession and the Suns got stops at the other end. It looked like finally the Suns coaching staff decided to use Jim Jackson very similar to Joe Johnson. Joe Johnson is the go-to-guy when Nash sits and in this game it was Jim Jackson. They let him drive the lane, they ran pick and rolls for him and he finished in the paint every time. It was amazing to see a new guy dominate for the Suns and it deflated the Mavs completely. They now looked lost and confused. There was a perceptible momentum shift in the early part of the 4-th quarter and you could feel the Suns winning this game. If you were a Suns fan, you just hoped this momentum would carry over to game 6. Suns built a lead and the Mavs kept it close, but once Nash got back in, the game was over. It was a great win and a great game for Nash, Jim J and Amare. Amare picked it up in the second half and ended up with monster numbers. The Suns fast-break worked real well in the second half as well.
Overall, a happy ending for the Suns. Nash had a triple double and scored 34 points and proved once again why he was the league MVP. To quote Dan Bickley from the Arizona Republic, no one in the NBA shoots so well yet is content to shoot so little. The only other guy I am reminded of is John Stockton. He could have scored a LOT more if he wanted to. So Avery's idea of letting Nash shoot and cut off everybody else both on the inside and outside did not work this time. Not sure if it worked in game 4 either. So I am very curious to see what he does in game 6. Now all eyes are focused on game 6. We know the Mavs are going to come out like gang-busters. It's going to be very similar to game 4. Now, whether the result is going to be the same are different is going to depend on how the Suns come out and play. If they bring the energy and a sense of urgency, they can wrap this thing up. Hopefully they don't want to play a game 7. A twisted ankle here or a foul trouble there can kill your season when you get into those game 7s.
The Spurs and the Pistons wrapped up their series yesterday, and this worries me a little bit. I am concerned the zebras will "manufacture" a game 7 out of this series. Remember the Lakers-Kings game 6 from a few years back? Kings were in control of the series and they got screwed at LA in game 6. Game 7 was fairly officiated, but the Kings lost the game anyways at home. It was the hottest rivalry in the NBA and the league knew a game 7 would be great for TV ratings. The circumstances are a little different here. The Suns-Mavs are not a great rivalry, at least not yet. Also the league probably secretly wishes the Suns advance as opposed to that series where they didn't mind the Lakers winning. Suns' style of play would put more fans in front of the TV, though the Mavs aren't bad themselves. So hopefully the game is called fairly and the players decide the outcome.
DALLAS (108) AT PHOENIX (114)
DALLAS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
J HOWARD F 36 8-13 1-2 2 8 10 4 2 1 3 19
D NOWITZKI F 41 11-22 11-14 2 8 10 1 4 3 2 34
E DAMPIER C 36 0-7 2-4 8 6 14 1 4 2 0 2
J TERRY G 42 8-17 0-0 0 1 1 8 4 0 2 17
M FINLEY G 35 3-11 0-0 0 1 1 2 4 2 1 7
J STACKHOUSE 36 11-21 4-4 1 5 6 2 1 1 0 29
D ARMSTRONG 6 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
M DANIELS 8 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
A HENDERSON DNP - COACH'S DECISION
S BRADLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
K VAN HORN DNP - SPRAINED LEFT ANKLE
D HARRIS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 41-94 18-24 13 29 42 19 21 9 8 108
(.436) (.750) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 8 (2 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 33 3-11 1-2 5 0 5 3 5 1 0 7
S MARION F 48 7-18 1-2 5 5 10 2 4 1 2 16
A STOUDEMIRE C 44 10-17 13-15 5 13 18 1 3 0 3 33
S NASH G 42 13-26 6-6 0 13 13 12 0 1 5 34
J JACKSON G 45 9-14 1-1 2 3 5 0 5 0 1 21
L BARBOSA 13 1-5 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 1 1 2
S HUNTER 7 0-3 1-2 2 0 2 0 0 1 1 1
W MCCARTY 8 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 43-96 23-28 20 36 56 19 18 5 13 114
(.448) (.821) TEAM REBS: 11 TOTAL TO: 13 (15 PTS)
DALLAS 29 26 22 31 - 108
PHOENIX 25 23 28 38 - 114
BLOCKED SHOTS: DALLAS - E DAMPIER 3, J TERRY 2, J STACKHOUSE, D NOWITZKI.
PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE 3, S MARION 2.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: DALLAS 8-22 (.364), J HOWARD 2-3, D NOWITZKI 1-
3, J TERRY 1-4, M FINLEY 1-3, J STACKHOUSE 3-6, D ARMSTRONG 0-3. PHOENIX 5-
19 (.263), Q RICHARDSON 0-4, S MARION 1-3, S NASH 2-5, J JACKSON 2-
4, L BARBOSA 0-3.
TECHNICAL FOULS: DALLAS - J HOWARD.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: MIKE CALLAHAN, STEVE JAVIE, TOM WASHINGTON.
A - 18,422. T - 2:32.
Then came the fourth quarter! Nash was on the bench resting, and everybody was expecting Dallas to build on their lead. But what happened was exactly the opposite. The Suns put the ball in Jim Jackson's hand and he scored almost every possession and the Suns got stops at the other end. It looked like finally the Suns coaching staff decided to use Jim Jackson very similar to Joe Johnson. Joe Johnson is the go-to-guy when Nash sits and in this game it was Jim Jackson. They let him drive the lane, they ran pick and rolls for him and he finished in the paint every time. It was amazing to see a new guy dominate for the Suns and it deflated the Mavs completely. They now looked lost and confused. There was a perceptible momentum shift in the early part of the 4-th quarter and you could feel the Suns winning this game. If you were a Suns fan, you just hoped this momentum would carry over to game 6. Suns built a lead and the Mavs kept it close, but once Nash got back in, the game was over. It was a great win and a great game for Nash, Jim J and Amare. Amare picked it up in the second half and ended up with monster numbers. The Suns fast-break worked real well in the second half as well.
Overall, a happy ending for the Suns. Nash had a triple double and scored 34 points and proved once again why he was the league MVP. To quote Dan Bickley from the Arizona Republic, no one in the NBA shoots so well yet is content to shoot so little. The only other guy I am reminded of is John Stockton. He could have scored a LOT more if he wanted to. So Avery's idea of letting Nash shoot and cut off everybody else both on the inside and outside did not work this time. Not sure if it worked in game 4 either. So I am very curious to see what he does in game 6. Now all eyes are focused on game 6. We know the Mavs are going to come out like gang-busters. It's going to be very similar to game 4. Now, whether the result is going to be the same are different is going to depend on how the Suns come out and play. If they bring the energy and a sense of urgency, they can wrap this thing up. Hopefully they don't want to play a game 7. A twisted ankle here or a foul trouble there can kill your season when you get into those game 7s.
The Spurs and the Pistons wrapped up their series yesterday, and this worries me a little bit. I am concerned the zebras will "manufacture" a game 7 out of this series. Remember the Lakers-Kings game 6 from a few years back? Kings were in control of the series and they got screwed at LA in game 6. Game 7 was fairly officiated, but the Kings lost the game anyways at home. It was the hottest rivalry in the NBA and the league knew a game 7 would be great for TV ratings. The circumstances are a little different here. The Suns-Mavs are not a great rivalry, at least not yet. Also the league probably secretly wishes the Suns advance as opposed to that series where they didn't mind the Lakers winning. Suns' style of play would put more fans in front of the TV, though the Mavs aren't bad themselves. So hopefully the game is called fairly and the players decide the outcome.
DALLAS (108) AT PHOENIX (114)
DALLAS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
J HOWARD F 36 8-13 1-2 2 8 10 4 2 1 3 19
D NOWITZKI F 41 11-22 11-14 2 8 10 1 4 3 2 34
E DAMPIER C 36 0-7 2-4 8 6 14 1 4 2 0 2
J TERRY G 42 8-17 0-0 0 1 1 8 4 0 2 17
M FINLEY G 35 3-11 0-0 0 1 1 2 4 2 1 7
J STACKHOUSE 36 11-21 4-4 1 5 6 2 1 1 0 29
D ARMSTRONG 6 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
M DANIELS 8 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
A HENDERSON DNP - COACH'S DECISION
S BRADLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
K VAN HORN DNP - SPRAINED LEFT ANKLE
D HARRIS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 41-94 18-24 13 29 42 19 21 9 8 108
(.436) (.750) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 8 (2 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 33 3-11 1-2 5 0 5 3 5 1 0 7
S MARION F 48 7-18 1-2 5 5 10 2 4 1 2 16
A STOUDEMIRE C 44 10-17 13-15 5 13 18 1 3 0 3 33
S NASH G 42 13-26 6-6 0 13 13 12 0 1 5 34
J JACKSON G 45 9-14 1-1 2 3 5 0 5 0 1 21
L BARBOSA 13 1-5 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 1 1 2
S HUNTER 7 0-3 1-2 2 0 2 0 0 1 1 1
W MCCARTY 8 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 43-96 23-28 20 36 56 19 18 5 13 114
(.448) (.821) TEAM REBS: 11 TOTAL TO: 13 (15 PTS)
DALLAS 29 26 22 31 - 108
PHOENIX 25 23 28 38 - 114
BLOCKED SHOTS: DALLAS - E DAMPIER 3, J TERRY 2, J STACKHOUSE, D NOWITZKI.
PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE 3, S MARION 2.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: DALLAS 8-22 (.364), J HOWARD 2-3, D NOWITZKI 1-
3, J TERRY 1-4, M FINLEY 1-3, J STACKHOUSE 3-6, D ARMSTRONG 0-3. PHOENIX 5-
19 (.263), Q RICHARDSON 0-4, S MARION 1-3, S NASH 2-5, J JACKSON 2-
4, L BARBOSA 0-3.
TECHNICAL FOULS: DALLAS - J HOWARD.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: MIKE CALLAHAN, STEVE JAVIE, TOM WASHINGTON.
A - 18,422. T - 2:32.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Suns-Mavs Game 4 - Depressing!
If game 3 was amazing, game 4 was depressing. I am a little more disappointed in this loss than game 2. Game 2 was close, this one was not. This is the kind of game I feared Dallas would give the Suns before the series ever started. My worst fears came true in this game. Every Mavs player hitting shots, driving the lane, crashing the boards and basically dominating the Suns. Dallas got a lead and the Suns couldn’t stop the array of Dallas scorers. The Suns scoring picked up and Nash was just sensational, but they could never get that one stop that tightened things up for the Mavs. Also I thought the Suns missed Joe Johnson today. Suns half-court offense is usually either Nash-Amare pick-and-roll or Joe Johnson doing his thing. Now they are down to one thing and in this game the Mavs made sure they doubled Amare and it was just Steve Nash.
They made a concerted effort to double and triple team Amare and make a shooter out of Nash. Avery Johnson got a lot of credit for this and experts even say that’s why they won, but Nash scored 48 pts on 20/28 shooting. I am not sure it worked. I agree with Mike D’Antoni and Nash that the Suns lost mostly because of their defense and rebounding. They did score 109 and Nash more than made Dallas pay for letting him score. If they could have gotten a few more rebounds or defensive stops, I guarantee that Dallas would be regretting their decision to focus on Amare too much.
But I am glad Stevie Wonder went off. This guy is just amazing! I always knew that he can score anytime he wants. It's just that he is so unselfish that he passes first (and second), but today he showed everybody that he can score at will. I have never seen this kind of a scoring performance in the NBA lately. He looked almost MJ like in terms of how he dominated the game and the Mavs had no answer for Nash. T-Mac and Kobe probably had a few scoring explosions like this in recent years, but I don’t think they ever exerted their will on the game quite like Nash did in this game. Too bad all his efforts went to waste. It would have been awesome for the Suns and especially for Nash to have won the game against his ex-team by scoring 48 pts. I can’t imagine what the Mavs fans and even Mark Cuban would have said if that had happened. After seeing Nash score 27 in game 3, another loss in game 4 with him scoring 48 would have destroyed them.
From the Dallas side, everybody did well. Once again, Dampier played well and they won. It makes you wonder how much the 2 are related. There was a sequence in the 4-th quarter which probably put the game away for the Mavs. Jim Jackson and Amare had 3 or 4 shots from point blank range that Damp either blocked or bothered just enough. This ignited the whole Dallas contingent. He did foul Amare and I am not sure how the refs can miss that, but his block on Jim J was good and might have iced the game. Josh Howard was a pest as usual. He scored 29 and had a bunch of offensive rebounds.
It’s the rebounds that’s killing the Suns. Even the bad defense I can live with. But they got to rebound better if they want to advance. Dallas is having it both ways. They play small. For some reason they are able to bother Amare with Josh Howard, Finley or Stack guarding him. Still, they are able to hit the offensive glass. This lineup also lets them run much like the Suns. I am afraid the Mavs might have found a magic potion here to beat the Suns, especially with Joe Johnson out. Even though the rebounding has been a season-long problem, 2 things make this different. One, the Mavs are not playing big when Damp is sitting. Secondly, when the Suns are running well, the defenses during the regular season usually fell back and did not hit the offensive glass. But Avery seems to be playing this differently. They seem to hit the offensive glass with ease.
Game 5 is back home in Phoenix. Everybody expects both Nash and Amare to play well in game 5. The officiating is getting on my nerves as well. I thought game 4 was badly officiated. The Mavs were aggressive and they got all the calls. Another problem for the Suns has been that the only super-star in this series is Nowitzki. Nash is not perceived as a scorer and Amare is a future super-star. So as of today, Dirk gets all the calls. Suns deserve more calls. Mike D'antoni also looked pretty frustrated in game 4. I hope the Suns become the aggressors and get all the calls in game 5 at home. They have to set the tone early. Amare has to rebound better and dominate the smaller guys on the offensive end. I never understood why Marion consistently out-rebounds Amare. This has been my one criticism of Amare all season long. May be Mike asks him to lay off the boards a little bit because Amare has a tendency to pick up fouls because of his raw athleticism. But it’s time for him to crash the boards and make Dallas pay. I am really glad Charles Barkley called Amare out on these points on TNT. He wants Amare to rebound better. If anybody has the credibility to talk about rebounding, it’s Barkley.
Also the Suns need more from Q and another guy if we are gonna win the series. Q needs to fill in for Joe Johnson now. I wish Charles had called him out too. In any case, I can’t wait for game 5 and it’s a must-win for the Suns.
PHOENIX (109) AT DALLAS (119)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 34 5-10 1-4 3 4 7 1 5 1 0 13
S MARION F 46 9-18 1-2 4 8 12 3 3 1 1 19
A STOUDEMIRE C 43 3-8 9-11 1 4 5 2 5 0 4 15
S NASH G 44 20-28 4-4 1 4 5 5 4 3 9 48
J JACKSON G 44 4-10 2-2 3 3 6 3 3 0 0 11
L BARBOSA 22 1-7 0-0 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 3
W MCCARTY 5 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0
S HUNTER 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 42-82 17-23 13 24 37 16 25 7 15 109
(.512) (.739) TEAM REBS: 6 TOTAL TO: 15 (18 PTS)
DALLAS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
J HOWARD F 40 13-21 3-6 6 4 10 2 5 2 4 29
D NOWITZKI F 44 9-15 6-7 2 6 8 3 4 2 4 25
E DAMPIER C 32 6-8 1-4 4 7 11 2 4 1 1 13
M FINLEY G 31 3-8 2-2 0 3 3 1 2 0 1 9
J TERRY G 37 3-9 0-0 0 1 1 8 2 3 1 7
J STACKHOUSE 34 7-16 6-6 2 5 7 2 3 0 1 22
D ARMSTRONG 12 2-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 0 1 5
M DANIELS 10 3-3 3-4 2 1 3 1 1 0 2 9
A HENDERSON DNP - COACH'S DECISION
S BRADLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
K VAN HORN DNP - SPRAINED LEFT ANKLE
D HARRIS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 46-83 21-29 16 27 43 21 23 8 15 119
(.554) (.724) TEAM REBS: 5 TOTAL TO: 15 (17 PTS)
PHOENIX 22 28 29 30 - 109
DALLAS 30 36 27 26 - 119
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - J JACKSON, S NASH, A STOUDEMIRE. DALLAS -
E DAMPIER 4.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 8-21 (.381), Q RICHARDSON 2-7, S MARION 0-
2, A STOUDEMIRE 0-1, S NASH 4-6, J JACKSON 1-3, L BARBOSA 1-1, W MCCARTY 0-
1. DALLAS 6-14 (.429), J HOWARD 0-2, D NOWITZKI 1-2, M FINLEY 1-1,
J TERRY 1-2, J STACKHOUSE 2-5, D ARMSTRONG 1-2.
TECHNICAL FOULS: PHOENIX - COACH D'ANTONI. DALLAS - J HOWARD.
FLAGRANT FOULS: PHOENIX 1 (L BARBOSA, 1:10 2ND).
OFFICIALS: BENNETT SALVATORE, JOE DEROSA, MARK WUNDERLICH.
A - 20,894. T - 2:28.
They made a concerted effort to double and triple team Amare and make a shooter out of Nash. Avery Johnson got a lot of credit for this and experts even say that’s why they won, but Nash scored 48 pts on 20/28 shooting. I am not sure it worked. I agree with Mike D’Antoni and Nash that the Suns lost mostly because of their defense and rebounding. They did score 109 and Nash more than made Dallas pay for letting him score. If they could have gotten a few more rebounds or defensive stops, I guarantee that Dallas would be regretting their decision to focus on Amare too much.
But I am glad Stevie Wonder went off. This guy is just amazing! I always knew that he can score anytime he wants. It's just that he is so unselfish that he passes first (and second), but today he showed everybody that he can score at will. I have never seen this kind of a scoring performance in the NBA lately. He looked almost MJ like in terms of how he dominated the game and the Mavs had no answer for Nash. T-Mac and Kobe probably had a few scoring explosions like this in recent years, but I don’t think they ever exerted their will on the game quite like Nash did in this game. Too bad all his efforts went to waste. It would have been awesome for the Suns and especially for Nash to have won the game against his ex-team by scoring 48 pts. I can’t imagine what the Mavs fans and even Mark Cuban would have said if that had happened. After seeing Nash score 27 in game 3, another loss in game 4 with him scoring 48 would have destroyed them.
From the Dallas side, everybody did well. Once again, Dampier played well and they won. It makes you wonder how much the 2 are related. There was a sequence in the 4-th quarter which probably put the game away for the Mavs. Jim Jackson and Amare had 3 or 4 shots from point blank range that Damp either blocked or bothered just enough. This ignited the whole Dallas contingent. He did foul Amare and I am not sure how the refs can miss that, but his block on Jim J was good and might have iced the game. Josh Howard was a pest as usual. He scored 29 and had a bunch of offensive rebounds.
It’s the rebounds that’s killing the Suns. Even the bad defense I can live with. But they got to rebound better if they want to advance. Dallas is having it both ways. They play small. For some reason they are able to bother Amare with Josh Howard, Finley or Stack guarding him. Still, they are able to hit the offensive glass. This lineup also lets them run much like the Suns. I am afraid the Mavs might have found a magic potion here to beat the Suns, especially with Joe Johnson out. Even though the rebounding has been a season-long problem, 2 things make this different. One, the Mavs are not playing big when Damp is sitting. Secondly, when the Suns are running well, the defenses during the regular season usually fell back and did not hit the offensive glass. But Avery seems to be playing this differently. They seem to hit the offensive glass with ease.
Game 5 is back home in Phoenix. Everybody expects both Nash and Amare to play well in game 5. The officiating is getting on my nerves as well. I thought game 4 was badly officiated. The Mavs were aggressive and they got all the calls. Another problem for the Suns has been that the only super-star in this series is Nowitzki. Nash is not perceived as a scorer and Amare is a future super-star. So as of today, Dirk gets all the calls. Suns deserve more calls. Mike D'antoni also looked pretty frustrated in game 4. I hope the Suns become the aggressors and get all the calls in game 5 at home. They have to set the tone early. Amare has to rebound better and dominate the smaller guys on the offensive end. I never understood why Marion consistently out-rebounds Amare. This has been my one criticism of Amare all season long. May be Mike asks him to lay off the boards a little bit because Amare has a tendency to pick up fouls because of his raw athleticism. But it’s time for him to crash the boards and make Dallas pay. I am really glad Charles Barkley called Amare out on these points on TNT. He wants Amare to rebound better. If anybody has the credibility to talk about rebounding, it’s Barkley.
Also the Suns need more from Q and another guy if we are gonna win the series. Q needs to fill in for Joe Johnson now. I wish Charles had called him out too. In any case, I can’t wait for game 5 and it’s a must-win for the Suns.
PHOENIX (109) AT DALLAS (119)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 34 5-10 1-4 3 4 7 1 5 1 0 13
S MARION F 46 9-18 1-2 4 8 12 3 3 1 1 19
A STOUDEMIRE C 43 3-8 9-11 1 4 5 2 5 0 4 15
S NASH G 44 20-28 4-4 1 4 5 5 4 3 9 48
J JACKSON G 44 4-10 2-2 3 3 6 3 3 0 0 11
L BARBOSA 22 1-7 0-0 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 3
W MCCARTY 5 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0
S HUNTER 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 42-82 17-23 13 24 37 16 25 7 15 109
(.512) (.739) TEAM REBS: 6 TOTAL TO: 15 (18 PTS)
DALLAS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
J HOWARD F 40 13-21 3-6 6 4 10 2 5 2 4 29
D NOWITZKI F 44 9-15 6-7 2 6 8 3 4 2 4 25
E DAMPIER C 32 6-8 1-4 4 7 11 2 4 1 1 13
M FINLEY G 31 3-8 2-2 0 3 3 1 2 0 1 9
J TERRY G 37 3-9 0-0 0 1 1 8 2 3 1 7
J STACKHOUSE 34 7-16 6-6 2 5 7 2 3 0 1 22
D ARMSTRONG 12 2-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 2 0 1 5
M DANIELS 10 3-3 3-4 2 1 3 1 1 0 2 9
A HENDERSON DNP - COACH'S DECISION
S BRADLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
K VAN HORN DNP - SPRAINED LEFT ANKLE
D HARRIS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 46-83 21-29 16 27 43 21 23 8 15 119
(.554) (.724) TEAM REBS: 5 TOTAL TO: 15 (17 PTS)
PHOENIX 22 28 29 30 - 109
DALLAS 30 36 27 26 - 119
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - J JACKSON, S NASH, A STOUDEMIRE. DALLAS -
E DAMPIER 4.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 8-21 (.381), Q RICHARDSON 2-7, S MARION 0-
2, A STOUDEMIRE 0-1, S NASH 4-6, J JACKSON 1-3, L BARBOSA 1-1, W MCCARTY 0-
1. DALLAS 6-14 (.429), J HOWARD 0-2, D NOWITZKI 1-2, M FINLEY 1-1,
J TERRY 1-2, J STACKHOUSE 2-5, D ARMSTRONG 1-2.
TECHNICAL FOULS: PHOENIX - COACH D'ANTONI. DALLAS - J HOWARD.
FLAGRANT FOULS: PHOENIX 1 (L BARBOSA, 1:10 2ND).
OFFICIALS: BENNETT SALVATORE, JOE DEROSA, MARK WUNDERLICH.
A - 20,894. T - 2:28.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Suns-Mavs Game 3 - Amazin!
This was probably one of the most satisfying Suns game I have seen in a LONG time, may be ever. They came out on the road and just dominated. They showed once again that they can play their style and play it well on the road. As always, the Mavs had no answer for Amare Stoudemire. He just destroyed them in the first half. And Nash put on a clinic in the second half. He showed why he is the MVP. Though the game was close, it always felt like the Suns were in control. They couldn't stop Amare and in the second half, Nash was toying with them. He has gotten more aggressive offensively in the absence of Joe Johnson and ended up with 27 points and 17 assists ! That's MVP numbers folks. Nash shot 12-21 and Amare scored 13-24. That's high percentage shooting. The Suns just blew the Mavs away late in the fourth quarter. Q and Jim Jackson hit crucial 3 pointers to put the Mavs away. Jim J had a good game - starting, playing 42 mins and scoring 17 points.
Dallas was thoroughly outplayed at home and the Suns took back the home court as I had expected. One thing that bothers me and many Suns fans is that they never call fouls on Nash. I thought he got butchered in the lane a few times both in game 2 and 3. My theory is that they don't call fouls since he is not looking to score. The refs know that he is a pass-first guy and they just let the play go. Whatever it is, I hope they call more fouls on Nash. Other than this, it was a great game. The Suns didn't look like they missed Joe Johnson. The Mavs looked lost against both Amare and Nash. Not sure what they can do to stop the bleeding. The big story between game 1 and 2 was the whole Nowitzki-Dampier thing. Nowitzki had openly called out Damp and asked him to step up. Damp had a good game 2, but he was back to being Damp in game 3. He played 13 mins and scored only 4 points. This was still 4 more than what he scored in game 1 :-)
PHOENIX (119) AT DALLAS (102)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 42 4-10 0-0 0 5 5 2 3 4 1 12
S MARION F 41 7-14 2-2 1 8 9 2 4 2 1 21
A STOUDEMIRE C 46 13-24 11-15 8 6 14 0 3 0 3 37
S NASH G 42 12-21 2-3 0 3 3 17 1 2 7 27
J JACKSON G 42 8-15 0-0 3 5 8 1 2 0 0 17
L BARBOSA 16 2-4 1-2 0 4 4 2 2 0 1 5
S HUNTER 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
W MCCARTY 9 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 5 0 1 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 46-89 16-22 12 32 44 25 21 8 14 119
(.517) (.727) TEAM REBS: 11 TOTAL TO: 14 (12 PTS)
DALLAS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
J HOWARD F 27 5-9 5-6 1 5 6 2 4 1 2 15
D NOWITZKI F 42 8-24 5-5 4 9 13 4 2 1 2 21
E DAMPIER C 13 2-4 0-0 2 2 4 0 3 0 2 4
M FINLEY G 43 4-14 3-4 2 1 3 0 1 2 2 11
J TERRY G 41 7-14 0-0 3 6 9 7 3 2 0 14
A HENDERSON 13 1-3 0-0 3 1 4 0 2 1 1 2
J STACKHOUSE 33 6-18 7-8 5 2 7 1 0 1 2 20
M DANIELS 21 5-11 3-4 3 1 4 2 2 3 2 13
S BRADLEY 2 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0
D ARMSTRONG 4 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
D HARRIS 1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
K VAN HORN DNP - SPRAINED LEFT ANKLE
TOTALS 240 39-100 23-27 24 28 52 18 17 11 13 102
(.390) (.852) TEAM REBS: 7 TOTAL TO: 14 (13 PTS)
PHOENIX 27 33 27 32 - 119
DALLAS 31 28 23 20 - 102
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE 5, J JACKSON, W MCCARTY, S MARION,
Q RICHARDSON. DALLAS - D NOWITZKI 3, E DAMPIER 2, J TERRY, J HOWARD,
M DANIELS.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 11-22 (.500), Q RICHARDSON 4-6, S MARION 5-
7, S NASH 1-5, J JACKSON 1-3, W MCCARTY 0-1. DALLAS 1-18 (.056), J HOWARD 0-
1, D NOWITZKI 0-2, M FINLEY 0-5, J TERRY 0-3, J STACKHOUSE 1-4, M DANIELS 0-
2, D HARRIS 0-1.
TECHNICAL FOULS: PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE. DALLAS - COACH JOHNSON.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: EDDIE F. RUSH, JIM CLARK, SEAN CORBIN.
A - 20,896. T - 2:28.
Dallas was thoroughly outplayed at home and the Suns took back the home court as I had expected. One thing that bothers me and many Suns fans is that they never call fouls on Nash. I thought he got butchered in the lane a few times both in game 2 and 3. My theory is that they don't call fouls since he is not looking to score. The refs know that he is a pass-first guy and they just let the play go. Whatever it is, I hope they call more fouls on Nash. Other than this, it was a great game. The Suns didn't look like they missed Joe Johnson. The Mavs looked lost against both Amare and Nash. Not sure what they can do to stop the bleeding. The big story between game 1 and 2 was the whole Nowitzki-Dampier thing. Nowitzki had openly called out Damp and asked him to step up. Damp had a good game 2, but he was back to being Damp in game 3. He played 13 mins and scored only 4 points. This was still 4 more than what he scored in game 1 :-)
PHOENIX (119) AT DALLAS (102)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 42 4-10 0-0 0 5 5 2 3 4 1 12
S MARION F 41 7-14 2-2 1 8 9 2 4 2 1 21
A STOUDEMIRE C 46 13-24 11-15 8 6 14 0 3 0 3 37
S NASH G 42 12-21 2-3 0 3 3 17 1 2 7 27
J JACKSON G 42 8-15 0-0 3 5 8 1 2 0 0 17
L BARBOSA 16 2-4 1-2 0 4 4 2 2 0 1 5
S HUNTER 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
W MCCARTY 9 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 1 5 0 1 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J JOHNSON DNP - FRACTURED ORBITAL BONE
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 46-89 16-22 12 32 44 25 21 8 14 119
(.517) (.727) TEAM REBS: 11 TOTAL TO: 14 (12 PTS)
DALLAS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
J HOWARD F 27 5-9 5-6 1 5 6 2 4 1 2 15
D NOWITZKI F 42 8-24 5-5 4 9 13 4 2 1 2 21
E DAMPIER C 13 2-4 0-0 2 2 4 0 3 0 2 4
M FINLEY G 43 4-14 3-4 2 1 3 0 1 2 2 11
J TERRY G 41 7-14 0-0 3 6 9 7 3 2 0 14
A HENDERSON 13 1-3 0-0 3 1 4 0 2 1 1 2
J STACKHOUSE 33 6-18 7-8 5 2 7 1 0 1 2 20
M DANIELS 21 5-11 3-4 3 1 4 2 2 3 2 13
S BRADLEY 2 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0
D ARMSTRONG 4 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2
D HARRIS 1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
K VAN HORN DNP - SPRAINED LEFT ANKLE
TOTALS 240 39-100 23-27 24 28 52 18 17 11 13 102
(.390) (.852) TEAM REBS: 7 TOTAL TO: 14 (13 PTS)
PHOENIX 27 33 27 32 - 119
DALLAS 31 28 23 20 - 102
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE 5, J JACKSON, W MCCARTY, S MARION,
Q RICHARDSON. DALLAS - D NOWITZKI 3, E DAMPIER 2, J TERRY, J HOWARD,
M DANIELS.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 11-22 (.500), Q RICHARDSON 4-6, S MARION 5-
7, S NASH 1-5, J JACKSON 1-3, W MCCARTY 0-1. DALLAS 1-18 (.056), J HOWARD 0-
1, D NOWITZKI 0-2, M FINLEY 0-5, J TERRY 0-3, J STACKHOUSE 1-4, M DANIELS 0-
2, D HARRIS 0-1.
TECHNICAL FOULS: PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE. DALLAS - COACH JOHNSON.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: EDDIE F. RUSH, JIM CLARK, SEAN CORBIN.
A - 20,896. T - 2:28.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Suns-Mavs Game 2 - First Loss
As expected, Dallas came out with a lot of fire and energy. The Suns lost for the first time this playoffs. But overall not a big loss in my opinion. They did not have a big problem running their offense and getting their shots in the first quarter, but the shots just didn't go in. They fell behind the Mavs by 12. As you might expect, the Suns made their run and closed the gap even before halftime. The big problem was Joe Johnson's injury seconds before halftime. Stackhouse tried to block his fast-break dunk and Johnson fell down on his head. He was shaken up and he got up just to shoot the free throws and left the floor. Stack shook his hand though it was not a dirty play.
The Suns tied it up in Q3 even without Joe Johnson and they briefly led. The game was back and forth from that point on and I thought the Suns had come back and they would close it out. But Michael Finley was on FIRE ! He kept the Mavs in it single handedly. Finley can do this from time to time though he doesn't do it every game. For the Suns, Nash stepped up his scoring in the absence of Joe J. He had 23 pts, but shot only 9/22. The game was close going in to the last minute and Nash tied it up on a jumper with 29 secs to go. As expected Avery put the ball in Nowitzki's hand and he took Q down to the block and scored on a jumper to put the Mavs up by 2. Suns still had 7 secs and they ran a pick and roll for Nash, but Nowitzki met him inside and Nash kicked it out to Q. Q faked Josh Howard away and took a wide-open three. It was close, but it didn't go in.
I thought the Suns kept it close. May be they could have won with Joe Johnson. I was not too scared by this defeat. But Joe Johnson situation is a little frustrating. I hope he is 100 % soon. It would be a shame if the Suns lose a key player at this stage. Looks like this is another problem with playing an up-tempo style. The exposure to injury is high in the playoffs when teams tend to foul hard during fast-breaks. Shawn Marion almost got killed a couple of times against Memphis and now this. The problem with Suns is that they are extremely thin and they are playing even "thinner" this series with Mike not finding much of a role for Steven Hunter. Essentially, looks like he just wants to play 6 guys and now he's down to 5. I didn't quite like the Barbosa-Nash back-court look either. It would be interesting to see if he uses LB more or plays Walter McCarty more. I hope Walter plays and steps up. I also hope they play well on the road as always.
DALLAS (108) AT PHOENIX (106)
DALLAS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
J HOWARD F 35 5-10 0-2 0 2 2 1 5 0 0 10
D NOWITZKI F 39 8-18 6-9 1 11 12 2 4 0 3 23
E DAMPIER C 27 7-8 1-4 7 5 12 0 5 1 1 15
J TERRY G 36 5-10 2-2 0 3 3 2 2 0 4 12
M FINLEY G 40 12-18 2-2 0 6 6 5 4 2 2 31
J STACKHOUSE 31 2-11 4-4 0 2 2 5 3 0 2 8
M DANIELS 29 4-12 1-1 4 4 8 3 3 2 3 9
A HENDERSON 1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
D ARMSTRONG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
S BRADLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
K VAN HORN DNP - SPRAINED LEFT ANKLE
D HARRIS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 43-87 16-24 12 34 46 18 26 5 15 108
(.494) (.667) TEAM REBS: 5 TOTAL TO: 15 (19 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 33 4-10 1-2 3 4 7 1 5 1 1 12
S MARION F 45 9-18 5-5 4 11 15 0 5 1 2 23
A STOUDEMIRE C 43 9-20 12-17 7 9 16 1 4 0 4 30
S NASH G 42 9-22 5-5 0 3 3 13 2 0 3 23
J JOHNSON G 21 3-8 1-3 1 1 2 1 1 0 1 8
J JACKSON 34 3-7 0-0 0 2 2 5 3 5 0 9
S HUNTER 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
W MCCARTY 8 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 0
L BARBOSA 10 0-2 1-2 1 2 3 0 1 0 0 1
B OUTLAW 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 37-89 25-34 16 34 50 21 22 7 12 106
(.416) (.735) TEAM REBS: 12 TOTAL TO: 13 (13 PTS)
DALLAS 34 20 26 28 - 108
PHOENIX 22 24 36 24 - 106
BLOCKED SHOTS: DALLAS - D NOWITZKI 2, J STACKHOUSE, E DAMPIER. PHOENIX -
S MARION 6, S HUNTER 2, J JACKSON, J JOHNSON.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: DALLAS 6-13 (.462), J HOWARD 0-1, D NOWITZKI 1-
2, J TERRY 0-2, M FINLEY 5-6, J STACKHOUSE 0-2. PHOENIX 7-18 (.389),
Q RICHARDSON 3-5, S MARION 0-2, S NASH 0-5, J JOHNSON 1-2, J JACKSON 3-
4.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: DALLAS 1 (J STACKHOUSE, 0:19 2ND).
OFFICIALS: DICK BAVETTA, GREG WILLARD, TONY BROTHERS.
A - 18,422. T - 2:46.
The Suns tied it up in Q3 even without Joe Johnson and they briefly led. The game was back and forth from that point on and I thought the Suns had come back and they would close it out. But Michael Finley was on FIRE ! He kept the Mavs in it single handedly. Finley can do this from time to time though he doesn't do it every game. For the Suns, Nash stepped up his scoring in the absence of Joe J. He had 23 pts, but shot only 9/22. The game was close going in to the last minute and Nash tied it up on a jumper with 29 secs to go. As expected Avery put the ball in Nowitzki's hand and he took Q down to the block and scored on a jumper to put the Mavs up by 2. Suns still had 7 secs and they ran a pick and roll for Nash, but Nowitzki met him inside and Nash kicked it out to Q. Q faked Josh Howard away and took a wide-open three. It was close, but it didn't go in.
I thought the Suns kept it close. May be they could have won with Joe Johnson. I was not too scared by this defeat. But Joe Johnson situation is a little frustrating. I hope he is 100 % soon. It would be a shame if the Suns lose a key player at this stage. Looks like this is another problem with playing an up-tempo style. The exposure to injury is high in the playoffs when teams tend to foul hard during fast-breaks. Shawn Marion almost got killed a couple of times against Memphis and now this. The problem with Suns is that they are extremely thin and they are playing even "thinner" this series with Mike not finding much of a role for Steven Hunter. Essentially, looks like he just wants to play 6 guys and now he's down to 5. I didn't quite like the Barbosa-Nash back-court look either. It would be interesting to see if he uses LB more or plays Walter McCarty more. I hope Walter plays and steps up. I also hope they play well on the road as always.
DALLAS (108) AT PHOENIX (106)
DALLAS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
J HOWARD F 35 5-10 0-2 0 2 2 1 5 0 0 10
D NOWITZKI F 39 8-18 6-9 1 11 12 2 4 0 3 23
E DAMPIER C 27 7-8 1-4 7 5 12 0 5 1 1 15
J TERRY G 36 5-10 2-2 0 3 3 2 2 0 4 12
M FINLEY G 40 12-18 2-2 0 6 6 5 4 2 2 31
J STACKHOUSE 31 2-11 4-4 0 2 2 5 3 0 2 8
M DANIELS 29 4-12 1-1 4 4 8 3 3 2 3 9
A HENDERSON 1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
D ARMSTRONG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
S BRADLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
K VAN HORN DNP - SPRAINED LEFT ANKLE
D HARRIS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 43-87 16-24 12 34 46 18 26 5 15 108
(.494) (.667) TEAM REBS: 5 TOTAL TO: 15 (19 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 33 4-10 1-2 3 4 7 1 5 1 1 12
S MARION F 45 9-18 5-5 4 11 15 0 5 1 2 23
A STOUDEMIRE C 43 9-20 12-17 7 9 16 1 4 0 4 30
S NASH G 42 9-22 5-5 0 3 3 13 2 0 3 23
J JOHNSON G 21 3-8 1-3 1 1 2 1 1 0 1 8
J JACKSON 34 3-7 0-0 0 2 2 5 3 5 0 9
S HUNTER 3 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
W MCCARTY 8 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 0
L BARBOSA 10 0-2 1-2 1 2 3 0 1 0 0 1
B OUTLAW 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 37-89 25-34 16 34 50 21 22 7 12 106
(.416) (.735) TEAM REBS: 12 TOTAL TO: 13 (13 PTS)
DALLAS 34 20 26 28 - 108
PHOENIX 22 24 36 24 - 106
BLOCKED SHOTS: DALLAS - D NOWITZKI 2, J STACKHOUSE, E DAMPIER. PHOENIX -
S MARION 6, S HUNTER 2, J JACKSON, J JOHNSON.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: DALLAS 6-13 (.462), J HOWARD 0-1, D NOWITZKI 1-
2, J TERRY 0-2, M FINLEY 5-6, J STACKHOUSE 0-2. PHOENIX 7-18 (.389),
Q RICHARDSON 3-5, S MARION 0-2, S NASH 0-5, J JOHNSON 1-2, J JACKSON 3-
4.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: DALLAS 1 (J STACKHOUSE, 0:19 2ND).
OFFICIALS: DICK BAVETTA, GREG WILLARD, TONY BROTHERS.
A - 18,422. T - 2:46.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Suns-Mavs Game 1 - Too Easy!
Suns Western Conference Semi-final series opener against the Mavs was a lot easier than I had expected. The Suns were well rested and the Mavs looked tired after their 7 game series against the Rockets. I had expected the Mavs to be a lot tougher matchup than what they showed in game 1. It's too early to close the book on the series, but as a Suns fan, I do feel better about their chances now. The Suns looked a little rusty in Q1. They seemed to score their usual number, but it felt like they were not able to run at their usual speed. But things improved and the offense flowed freely in Q3. They looked in control all the way and Stoudemire was unstoppable. He had scored 30+ in all the 3 regular season games against the Mavs and he continued his brilliance in this game. He had 25 in the first half. For a while it looked like he was playing 1 on 5. But when Amare and Nash went to the bench, Joe Johnson and others had no problem scoring and keeping the game out of Mavs reach.
Once again Joe Johnson was impressive. The guy showed how effective he is even though he rarely looks spectacular. Joe is an absolute STUD! Back in the day, I used to hate it when he came in for Penny. He was still young and raw and I thought penny made his teammates much better. But this year has been a coming out party for Joe Johnson. He is probably the slowest and the least athletic of the starters, but it goes to show athleticism and "game" are not one and the same. The guy can shoot the 3, drive in, handles the ball very well and can get a shot off anytime, anywhere and his floaters and runners almost never miss! He has worked very hard to get to where he is now. I hope the Suns lock him up this off-season.
Marion was great as always. I was also impressed with Amare's rebounding as he ended with 40 points and 16 rebounds. Unless the Mavs find an answer for Amare, this series will be over soon. They don't have anybody to stop him. Their only hope might be to get him in foul trouble by matching him up against Dirk Nowitzki or something.
As always Suns lost interest after building a big lead. The Mavs closed in and Mike had to put Nash back in and take control of the game again. But it's good that the game was so easy for the Suns to actually lose interest like it was some kind of a regular season game against the Clippers. The one guy who scared me a little bit was Jerry Stackhouse. His final numbers didn't look too impressive, but it felt like he hit a lot of shots and the Suns had matchup problems against him. All in all, it was a surprisingly easy win for the Suns even without Steve Nash not having to do too much. He was clearly glad to leave all the MVP talk and trophies behind and actually win a game. He is one of those guys who probably felt that all of that was a distraction.
DALLAS (102) AT PHOENIX (127)
DALLAS (102)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
J Howard 28 6-13 0-0 5-8 1 5 12
D Nowitzki 40 13-24 1-1 3-13 4 2 28
E Dampier 15 0-2 0-0 1-5 0 4 0
J Terry 32 6-10 0-0 0-3 3 2 13
M Finley 36 5-13 2-2 1-3 3 3 13
A Henderson 16 1-2 0-0 2-3 0 2 2
J Stackhouse 32 5-15 3-5 1-6 3 2 14
D Harris 8 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 3
M Daniels 18 5-13 3-4 3-4 2 0 13
S Bradley 9 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2
D Armstrong 6 1-3 0-0 1-1 0 0 2
K Van Horn DNP - SPRAINED RIGHT ANKLE
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 240 44-98 9-12 17-46 18 22 102
_____________________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.449, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals:
5-18, .278 (D Nowitzki 1-2, J Terry 1-4, M
Finley 1-5, J Stackhouse 1-4, D Harris 1-1, M
Daniels 0-1, D Armstrong 0-1). Team Rebounds:
9. Blocked Shots:4 (D Nowitzki 2, S Bradley,
M Daniels). Turnovers:16 (J Howard 5, J
Stackhouse 3, D Nowitzki 3, E Dampier 2, J
Terry 2, D Harris). Steals: 4 (J Terry 2, M
Daniels, D Nowitzki).
PHOENIX (127)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Q Richardson 40 4-10 0-0 0-2 4 3 12
S Marion 39 9-16 3-3 3-11 0 1 23
A Stoudemire 38 13-21 14-17 6-16 0 4 40
S Nash 31 4-10 2-2 1-6 13 4 11
J Johnson 43 9-17 4-6 0-4 4 2 25
J Jackson 23 0-4 0-0 0-0 1 3 0
S Hunter 10 3-3 0-0 0-4 0 0 6
W Mccarty 9 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1 3
L Barbosa 5 3-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 7
B Outlaw 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
J Voskuhl DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P Shirley DNP - COACH'S DECISION
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 240 46-88 23-28 10-43 25 18 127
_____________________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.523, FT-.821. 3-Point Goals:
12-22, .545 (Q Richardson 4-8, S Marion 2-2,
S Nash 1-2, J Johnson 3-4, J Jackson 0-2, W
Mccarty 1-3, L Barbosa 1-1). Team Rebounds:
6. Blocked Shots:3 (A Stoudemire 2, S
Marion). Turnovers:11 (S Nash 4, J Jackson 2,
A Stoudemire 2, S Marion, Q Richardson, J
Johnson). Steals: 10 (J Johnson 4, S Marion
2, J Jackson, A Stoudemire, B Outlaw, W
Mccarty).
Once again Joe Johnson was impressive. The guy showed how effective he is even though he rarely looks spectacular. Joe is an absolute STUD! Back in the day, I used to hate it when he came in for Penny. He was still young and raw and I thought penny made his teammates much better. But this year has been a coming out party for Joe Johnson. He is probably the slowest and the least athletic of the starters, but it goes to show athleticism and "game" are not one and the same. The guy can shoot the 3, drive in, handles the ball very well and can get a shot off anytime, anywhere and his floaters and runners almost never miss! He has worked very hard to get to where he is now. I hope the Suns lock him up this off-season.
Marion was great as always. I was also impressed with Amare's rebounding as he ended with 40 points and 16 rebounds. Unless the Mavs find an answer for Amare, this series will be over soon. They don't have anybody to stop him. Their only hope might be to get him in foul trouble by matching him up against Dirk Nowitzki or something.
As always Suns lost interest after building a big lead. The Mavs closed in and Mike had to put Nash back in and take control of the game again. But it's good that the game was so easy for the Suns to actually lose interest like it was some kind of a regular season game against the Clippers. The one guy who scared me a little bit was Jerry Stackhouse. His final numbers didn't look too impressive, but it felt like he hit a lot of shots and the Suns had matchup problems against him. All in all, it was a surprisingly easy win for the Suns even without Steve Nash not having to do too much. He was clearly glad to leave all the MVP talk and trophies behind and actually win a game. He is one of those guys who probably felt that all of that was a distraction.
DALLAS (102) AT PHOENIX (127)
DALLAS (102)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
J Howard 28 6-13 0-0 5-8 1 5 12
D Nowitzki 40 13-24 1-1 3-13 4 2 28
E Dampier 15 0-2 0-0 1-5 0 4 0
J Terry 32 6-10 0-0 0-3 3 2 13
M Finley 36 5-13 2-2 1-3 3 3 13
A Henderson 16 1-2 0-0 2-3 0 2 2
J Stackhouse 32 5-15 3-5 1-6 3 2 14
D Harris 8 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 3
M Daniels 18 5-13 3-4 3-4 2 0 13
S Bradley 9 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2
D Armstrong 6 1-3 0-0 1-1 0 0 2
K Van Horn DNP - SPRAINED RIGHT ANKLE
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 240 44-98 9-12 17-46 18 22 102
_____________________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.449, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals:
5-18, .278 (D Nowitzki 1-2, J Terry 1-4, M
Finley 1-5, J Stackhouse 1-4, D Harris 1-1, M
Daniels 0-1, D Armstrong 0-1). Team Rebounds:
9. Blocked Shots:4 (D Nowitzki 2, S Bradley,
M Daniels). Turnovers:16 (J Howard 5, J
Stackhouse 3, D Nowitzki 3, E Dampier 2, J
Terry 2, D Harris). Steals: 4 (J Terry 2, M
Daniels, D Nowitzki).
PHOENIX (127)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Q Richardson 40 4-10 0-0 0-2 4 3 12
S Marion 39 9-16 3-3 3-11 0 1 23
A Stoudemire 38 13-21 14-17 6-16 0 4 40
S Nash 31 4-10 2-2 1-6 13 4 11
J Johnson 43 9-17 4-6 0-4 4 2 25
J Jackson 23 0-4 0-0 0-0 1 3 0
S Hunter 10 3-3 0-0 0-4 0 0 6
W Mccarty 9 1-3 0-0 0-0 2 1 3
L Barbosa 5 3-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 7
B Outlaw 2 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
J Voskuhl DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P Shirley DNP - COACH'S DECISION
_____________________________________________________
TOTALS 240 46-88 23-28 10-43 25 18 127
_____________________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.523, FT-.821. 3-Point Goals:
12-22, .545 (Q Richardson 4-8, S Marion 2-2,
S Nash 1-2, J Johnson 3-4, J Jackson 0-2, W
Mccarty 1-3, L Barbosa 1-1). Team Rebounds:
6. Blocked Shots:3 (A Stoudemire 2, S
Marion). Turnovers:11 (S Nash 4, J Jackson 2,
A Stoudemire 2, S Marion, Q Richardson, J
Johnson). Steals: 10 (J Johnson 4, S Marion
2, J Jackson, A Stoudemire, B Outlaw, W
Mccarty).
Friday, May 06, 2005
Suns - Grizzlies Game 4
Another game, another impressive victory for the Suns. They crushed the Grizzlies 123-115 in game 4 to earn a first round sweep. Now they can rest for a while and await the winner of the Rockets-Mavs series. Either way, their second round series will be brutal. Hopefully they can pull it off. Suns played real well in game 4. They started off hot and dropped 40+ in the first quarter. They quickly built a 21 point lead, but as always, relaxed a little bit and with Nash on the bench the Grizz narrowed down the gap. I was very impressed with the fight in the Grizzlies. They didn’t give up and they fought all the way back to tie it up in the third quarter. As always Pau Gasol, Mike Miller and Jason Williams were all on fire, but the Suns were even better on this day. When the game was tied, the Suns took off on another run and pushed it back to a double digit lead. They never let Memphis close in after that and they just wrapped the game up in the fourth quarter.
The Suns looked very good scoring 125 points. When they are hitting threes, they are virtually unstoppable. And they usually do hit their threes because, for one, they have good shooters in Joe J, Jim J, Nash and Q and secondly, their threes are wide open because of a fast-break or penetration and dish by Nash. Memphis tried to slow the game down in game 2 and they couldn’t stop Amare and it appeared like they tried to play up-tempo in game 4 and that’s a game you don’t want to play against the Suns. You can’t outscore the Suns playing their game. It’ll be tempting and it’ll even work for a while, but over
the course of an entire game, you can’t run and gun like the Suns. Amare had some good dunks as always and Marion was fouled hard again, but this time by Dahntay Jones (the rookie from Duke). Mike Fratello had asked Bonzi Wells to stay home and Jayson Williams had a minor incident with a Memphis reporter after the game. Aside from all these minor events, this was an easy win for the Suns.
I might have finally found out why the Coaches don’t play Jayson Williams for long in spite of his terrific shooting. Too many mistakes, bad decisions and poor shot selection in addition to bad defense makes Earl Watson an attractive alternative to J-Will. Not sure what’s going to happen to him long-term. Another thing I learnt was from D’Antoni’s post game comments when he talked about the huge free throw discrepancy. He says that the Suns go out of the way to make sure they don’t foul too often. It seems Amare gets in foul trouble now and then mostly because of his own aggressiveness, but strategically, the Suns apparently don’t want to foul. This makes perfect sense. Coaches like the Czar want to foul and stop the game against the Suns. So it’s in the best interest of the Suns to keep the game flowing and run up and down. D’Antoni was saying that given this difference in approaches to the game, the Suns always shoot more free throws than their opponent and it’s no big deal. This might also explain some of their weak defense (for better or for worse!).
Name Min FG 3Pt FT Off Reb Ast TO Stl Blk PF Pts
Q. Richardson 39 4-7 2-4 4-6 1 5 3 1 2 0 3 14
S. Marion 43 10-13 0-3 3-5 2 11 4 2 3 3 1 23
A. Stoudemire 40 5-10 0-0 8-12 0 7 3 4 1 5 5 18
S. Nash 37 6-10 4-6 8-10 1 4 9 7 0 0 1 24
J. Johnson 41 7-12 2-3 9-11 0 4 4 3 0 0 3 25
J. Jackson 23 6-10 3-7 4-5 0 3 2 1 0 0 3 19
S. Hunter 13 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 0
L. Barbosa 4 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
W. McCarty DNP - Coach's Decision
B. Outlaw DNP - Coach's Decision
P. Shirley DNP - Coach's Decision
J. Voskuhl DNP - Coach's Decision
Totals 240 38-63 11-24 36-49 5 37 26 19 6 10 17 123
Percentages: .603 .458 .735 Team Rebounds: 13
Name Min FG 3Pt FT Off Reb Ast TO Stl Blk PF Pts
S. Battier 30 1-7 0-2 0-0 2 5 3 1 2 0 5 2
P. Gasol 36 12-23 1-1 3-3 2 4 2 1 1 0 4 28
L. Wright 10 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 2
J. Williams 29 8-15 4-6 0-0 1 2 8 3 1 0 2 20
M. Miller 26 5-10 1-3 2-2 0 2 5 1 0 0 1 13
B. Cardinal 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0
J. Posey 28 3-6 3-6 3-4 0 3 2 1 2 1 5 12
E. Watson 19 4-6 1-2 2-2 2 3 5 1 1 1 3 11
D. Jones 34 5-10 3-4 1-2 2 5 0 2 1 0 4 14
S. Swift 22 6-9 0-0 1-3 1 3 0 1 1 0 2 13
A. Burks DNP - Coach's Decision
B. Wells DNP - Coach's Decision
Totals 240 45-89 13-24 12-16 10 28 26 11 9 2 32 115
Percentages: .506 .542 .750 Team Rebounds: 8
The Suns looked very good scoring 125 points. When they are hitting threes, they are virtually unstoppable. And they usually do hit their threes because, for one, they have good shooters in Joe J, Jim J, Nash and Q and secondly, their threes are wide open because of a fast-break or penetration and dish by Nash. Memphis tried to slow the game down in game 2 and they couldn’t stop Amare and it appeared like they tried to play up-tempo in game 4 and that’s a game you don’t want to play against the Suns. You can’t outscore the Suns playing their game. It’ll be tempting and it’ll even work for a while, but over
the course of an entire game, you can’t run and gun like the Suns. Amare had some good dunks as always and Marion was fouled hard again, but this time by Dahntay Jones (the rookie from Duke). Mike Fratello had asked Bonzi Wells to stay home and Jayson Williams had a minor incident with a Memphis reporter after the game. Aside from all these minor events, this was an easy win for the Suns.
I might have finally found out why the Coaches don’t play Jayson Williams for long in spite of his terrific shooting. Too many mistakes, bad decisions and poor shot selection in addition to bad defense makes Earl Watson an attractive alternative to J-Will. Not sure what’s going to happen to him long-term. Another thing I learnt was from D’Antoni’s post game comments when he talked about the huge free throw discrepancy. He says that the Suns go out of the way to make sure they don’t foul too often. It seems Amare gets in foul trouble now and then mostly because of his own aggressiveness, but strategically, the Suns apparently don’t want to foul. This makes perfect sense. Coaches like the Czar want to foul and stop the game against the Suns. So it’s in the best interest of the Suns to keep the game flowing and run up and down. D’Antoni was saying that given this difference in approaches to the game, the Suns always shoot more free throws than their opponent and it’s no big deal. This might also explain some of their weak defense (for better or for worse!).
Name Min FG 3Pt FT Off Reb Ast TO Stl Blk PF Pts
Q. Richardson 39 4-7 2-4 4-6 1 5 3 1 2 0 3 14
S. Marion 43 10-13 0-3 3-5 2 11 4 2 3 3 1 23
A. Stoudemire 40 5-10 0-0 8-12 0 7 3 4 1 5 5 18
S. Nash 37 6-10 4-6 8-10 1 4 9 7 0 0 1 24
J. Johnson 41 7-12 2-3 9-11 0 4 4 3 0 0 3 25
J. Jackson 23 6-10 3-7 4-5 0 3 2 1 0 0 3 19
S. Hunter 13 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 0
L. Barbosa 4 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
W. McCarty DNP - Coach's Decision
B. Outlaw DNP - Coach's Decision
P. Shirley DNP - Coach's Decision
J. Voskuhl DNP - Coach's Decision
Totals 240 38-63 11-24 36-49 5 37 26 19 6 10 17 123
Percentages: .603 .458 .735 Team Rebounds: 13
Name Min FG 3Pt FT Off Reb Ast TO Stl Blk PF Pts
S. Battier 30 1-7 0-2 0-0 2 5 3 1 2 0 5 2
P. Gasol 36 12-23 1-1 3-3 2 4 2 1 1 0 4 28
L. Wright 10 1-3 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 0 0 0 4 2
J. Williams 29 8-15 4-6 0-0 1 2 8 3 1 0 2 20
M. Miller 26 5-10 1-3 2-2 0 2 5 1 0 0 1 13
B. Cardinal 6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0
J. Posey 28 3-6 3-6 3-4 0 3 2 1 2 1 5 12
E. Watson 19 4-6 1-2 2-2 2 3 5 1 1 1 3 11
D. Jones 34 5-10 3-4 1-2 2 5 0 2 1 0 4 14
S. Swift 22 6-9 0-0 1-3 1 3 0 1 1 0 2 13
A. Burks DNP - Coach's Decision
B. Wells DNP - Coach's Decision
Totals 240 45-89 13-24 12-16 10 28 26 11 9 2 32 115
Percentages: .506 .542 .750 Team Rebounds: 8
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Suns - Grizzlies Game 3
Suns won Game 3 pretty easily. Very impressive considering the fact this was on the road. As expected, the Grizz came out hot and with a lot of energy backed by their home crowd, but the Suns weathered the storm pretty well. By the second quarter, the game had turned around for good and the Suns were rolling. Amare was amazing. He dominated the game in both halves. He threw some ferocious dunks and the first half dunk on Stromile Swift was nasty!
The Suns got their what appears to be their daily dose of injury scare when Nash bumped into a screen and hurt his arm. Luckily, he was fine and came back to finish the game. The impressive thing about Amare's game lately has been how he consciously tries to play under control at both ends of the floor to avoid foul trouble. He still has a tendency to jump and crash into people and pick up fouls because of his great athleticism. But he seems to really play under control especially on offense where a lot of guys just try to stand there while he's jumping and hope for an offensive foul. It probably takes away some of his aggressiveness and a few highlight-reel dunks, but since his mid-range game is growing, he is doing just fine without having to dunk every possession.
Another issue I noticed in this game and has been true the entire season is how the Suns play together on defense. Obviously, the Suns are not a great defensive team. They don't control the boards that well either. Marion and Q rebound well for their size, but then again Amare doesn't get too many rebounds on some days. They play small and so they are not that good defensively or on the boards. But they do play well together and play as a team on defense. Given their deficiencies, they have to help each other out and they do a great job of that. They may not always be effective, but they play hard on defense and the players and the coaches deserve a lot of credit for it. Whats even more impressive is how they get out and run after spending so much energy on defense, that too for mediocre results. It should be pretty tiring and a lot of fun playing for these Suns. Here's hoping the Suns can wrap up the series on Sunday and stay fresh for the rest of the playoffs.
PHOENIX (110) AT MEMPHIS (90)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == ==
Q RICHARDSON F 37 3-9 1-3 1 3 4 1 2 2 0 9
S MARION F 39 5-15 3-4 1 12 13 3 3 0 1 14
A STOUDEMIRE C 37 11-19 8-12 3 6 9 1 3 1 2 30
S NASH G 35 6-9 0-0 0 3 3 8 3 1 2 13
J JOHNSON G 42 9-15 0-0 1 2 3 4 1 0 0 20
J JACKSON 27 6-11 0-0 3 1 4 3 3 0 0 17
S HUNTER 20 3-4 1-2 1 1 2 1 4 0 0 7
L BARBOSA 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 43-82 13-21 10 28 38 22 19 4 5 110
(.524) (.619) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 5 (7 PTS)
MEMPHIS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === ==
S BATTIER F 25 4-6 2-4 3 5 8 1 3 0 2 10
P GASOL F 32 6-12 1-2 0 3 3 1 2 0 2 13
L WRIGHT C 30 7-9 0-0 2 6 8 2 2 1 1 14
J WILLIAMS G 25 4-10 1-1 0 3 3 6 3 1 1 10
M MILLER G 33 5-12 2-2 0 2 2 2 1 0 2 13
B CARDINAL 20 3-6 0-1 0 2 2 1 2 0 0 6
E WATSON 20 1-7 0-0 1 1 2 3 4 0 0 2
J POSEY 25 2-6 2-2 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 7
D JONES 8 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
S SWIFT 10 3-5 3-4 5 3 8 0 1 0 0 9
B WELLS 9 2-4 2-2 0 2 2 0 1 0 1 6
A BURKS 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 240 37-80 13-18 11 28 39 18 21 2 10 90
(.463) (.722) TEAM REBS: 10 TOTAL TO: 11 (11 PTS)
PHOENIX 31 26 26 27 - 110
MEMPHIS 30 17 20 23 - 90
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE 3, S MARION 2, S HUNTER 2, J JACKSON.
MEMPHIS - P GASOL 4, M MILLER 2, L WRIGHT, S BATTIER.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 11-19 (.579), Q RICHARDSON 2-4, S MARION 1-
2, S NASH 1-1, J JOHNSON 2-5, J JACKSON 5-7. MEMPHIS 3-16 (.188), S BATTIER 0-
1, J WILLIAMS 1-5, M MILLER 1-4, E WATSON 0-3, J POSEY 1-3.
TECHNICAL FOULS: PHOENIX - J JOHNSON, DEFENSIVE THREE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: JOE FORTE, STEVE JAVIE, TIM DONAGHY.
A - 18,119. T - 2:19.
The Suns got their what appears to be their daily dose of injury scare when Nash bumped into a screen and hurt his arm. Luckily, he was fine and came back to finish the game. The impressive thing about Amare's game lately has been how he consciously tries to play under control at both ends of the floor to avoid foul trouble. He still has a tendency to jump and crash into people and pick up fouls because of his great athleticism. But he seems to really play under control especially on offense where a lot of guys just try to stand there while he's jumping and hope for an offensive foul. It probably takes away some of his aggressiveness and a few highlight-reel dunks, but since his mid-range game is growing, he is doing just fine without having to dunk every possession.
Another issue I noticed in this game and has been true the entire season is how the Suns play together on defense. Obviously, the Suns are not a great defensive team. They don't control the boards that well either. Marion and Q rebound well for their size, but then again Amare doesn't get too many rebounds on some days. They play small and so they are not that good defensively or on the boards. But they do play well together and play as a team on defense. Given their deficiencies, they have to help each other out and they do a great job of that. They may not always be effective, but they play hard on defense and the players and the coaches deserve a lot of credit for it. Whats even more impressive is how they get out and run after spending so much energy on defense, that too for mediocre results. It should be pretty tiring and a lot of fun playing for these Suns. Here's hoping the Suns can wrap up the series on Sunday and stay fresh for the rest of the playoffs.
PHOENIX (110) AT MEMPHIS (90)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == ==
Q RICHARDSON F 37 3-9 1-3 1 3 4 1 2 2 0 9
S MARION F 39 5-15 3-4 1 12 13 3 3 0 1 14
A STOUDEMIRE C 37 11-19 8-12 3 6 9 1 3 1 2 30
S NASH G 35 6-9 0-0 0 3 3 8 3 1 2 13
J JOHNSON G 42 9-15 0-0 1 2 3 4 1 0 0 20
J JACKSON 27 6-11 0-0 3 1 4 3 3 0 0 17
S HUNTER 20 3-4 1-2 1 1 2 1 4 0 0 7
L BARBOSA 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 43-82 13-21 10 28 38 22 19 4 5 110
(.524) (.619) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 5 (7 PTS)
MEMPHIS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === ==
S BATTIER F 25 4-6 2-4 3 5 8 1 3 0 2 10
P GASOL F 32 6-12 1-2 0 3 3 1 2 0 2 13
L WRIGHT C 30 7-9 0-0 2 6 8 2 2 1 1 14
J WILLIAMS G 25 4-10 1-1 0 3 3 6 3 1 1 10
M MILLER G 33 5-12 2-2 0 2 2 2 1 0 2 13
B CARDINAL 20 3-6 0-1 0 2 2 1 2 0 0 6
E WATSON 20 1-7 0-0 1 1 2 3 4 0 0 2
J POSEY 25 2-6 2-2 0 1 1 1 2 0 1 7
D JONES 8 0-3 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
S SWIFT 10 3-5 3-4 5 3 8 0 1 0 0 9
B WELLS 9 2-4 2-2 0 2 2 0 1 0 1 6
A BURKS 3 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 240 37-80 13-18 11 28 39 18 21 2 10 90
(.463) (.722) TEAM REBS: 10 TOTAL TO: 11 (11 PTS)
PHOENIX 31 26 26 27 - 110
MEMPHIS 30 17 20 23 - 90
BLOCKED SHOTS: PHOENIX - A STOUDEMIRE 3, S MARION 2, S HUNTER 2, J JACKSON.
MEMPHIS - P GASOL 4, M MILLER 2, L WRIGHT, S BATTIER.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: PHOENIX 11-19 (.579), Q RICHARDSON 2-4, S MARION 1-
2, S NASH 1-1, J JOHNSON 2-5, J JACKSON 5-7. MEMPHIS 3-16 (.188), S BATTIER 0-
1, J WILLIAMS 1-5, M MILLER 1-4, E WATSON 0-3, J POSEY 1-3.
TECHNICAL FOULS: PHOENIX - J JOHNSON, DEFENSIVE THREE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: NONE.
OFFICIALS: JOE FORTE, STEVE JAVIE, TIM DONAGHY.
A - 18,119. T - 2:19.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Suns - Grizzlies Game 2
Suns and the Grizz played the second game of their round 1 playoff series. This was very different from game 1 except for the result. Memphis pretty much did everything it wanted to (except win at the end). They slowed the game down by making it more physical. The Suns were never allowed to play at their pace. It was interesting to see how coach Fratello actually encouraged his players to foul the Suns. This stops the game, slows down the pace and disrupts the Suns flow. Interesting strategy, considering the fact that teams usually should be in trouble if they commit too many fouls. But in this case, they wanted to foul more going in. The strategy worked all right for them, though I think the whole thing is a compliment to how good the Suns are in running their free-flowing offense. There was virtually no fouls in the first quarter of game 1 and the Grizzlies felt that such a free-flowing game helped the Suns jump to a big lead.
So the Grizzlies made sure the game was slowed down. They also did a great job of involving Pau Gasol. Pau was great. He scored a bunch and also got Amare in foul trouble. I wanted the Suns to have Marion guard Gasol. Marion is their best defender and he can handle Gasol considering the fact that Marion usually draws tougher assignments. Mike D'Antoni put Marion on him late in the second quarter and Gasol had some trouble immediately. At the least, this protects Amare from foul trouble. Gasol was going to get his anyways, but Marion at least bothered him a little more than Amare. Also J-Will got off. I mean he was hitting everything. This guy is a great shooter. I never understood why coaches don't let him play and shoot like that. The only guy who could stop him on this day was coach Czar, and he did it as I had expected:. He played him only 30 mins and Earl Watson didn't do much backing him up.
The game never picked up pace in the second half. Pau was still going off, Amare had trouble with him. But Amare was awesome on offense where Memphis kept fouling him and putting him on the line. Again, the Suns had to put Marion on Pau late in the game and I thought he did a decent job. Down the stretch, the game was real close and Nash missed a couple of threes. The crowd was ready to explode on those shots, but it didn't happen. But ultimately the Suns pulled it out. As in game 1, I was really impressed with the timely plays made by Q. Q was great and he came up with the pivotal play of the game. Gasol was on the low post and he backed his way up to the basket on Marion when Q jumped up from the weak side and swatted his shot. This was a huge stop and the Suns went on to win 108-103. At the end of the day, the Suns played a tough game at playoff pace, they hit only 5 threes as opposed to 15 in game 1 and still scored 108 and won the game. So they really could not be stopped despite all the things Memphis did.
Another interesting story of the game for me as a Suns fan was, how both coach John Thompson during the game and Charles and Kenny in the studio felt that this was some kind of a scare for the Suns and how they should have blown out the Grizzlies and sent them a message. According to them, this Suns win was more of a "success" for the Grizzlies than the Suns. I thought this was a bunch of baloney. The bottom-line is that all these experts are doubters of the Suns. They don't think their style, their tempo, their personnel or anything they do makes them a real contender. And sub-consciously they try to rationalize whatever happens with the Suns from that standpoint. So in my opinion, there was nothing the Suns could have done today that would have impressed the experts beyond a certain point. They could have won by 50 points or won on a buzzer beater by Nash, they still wouldn't think the Suns are in the same class as the Pistons, Spurs or the Heat. They may be right with that opinion. I am not arguing with that assessment or the conventional wisdom about defense winning championships and all that. What I have a problem with is that, this particular game showed nothing except that the Suns can win a playoff style game even if it's close in the 4-th quarter. I think it's all positive. The expert's opinion on how this game was some kind of a bad news for the Suns is wrong and it's based on their assumption that this is all going to end bad for the Suns. Like I said, they have made up their minds and are working backwards from their assumptions and are looking for reasons to explain why and how the Suns are in trouble. That's all I am saying. It's pretty ridiculous to expect playoff games to be blowouts even if it's a 1-8 match up. It seems to be happening a lot this season with the Heat, Pistons etc. But that's Eastern Conference where the bad teams are real bad. Even then, I would say this is an exception and not the rule. Typically some playoffs series are blow-outs but individual games are almost always pretty close. I think the Suns-Memphis series fall in this category. Nothing more, nothing less.
MEMPHIS (103) AT PHOENIX (108)
MEMPHIS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
S BATTIER F 28 4-9 0-0 1 4 5 1 3 0 1 9
P GASOL F 39 13-26 2-6 9 7 16 5 5 1 2 28
L WRIGHT C 25 6-9 0-0 3 2 5 3 3 0 1 12
J WILLIAMS G 29 9-15 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 2 2 21
M MILLER G 19 1-5 0-0 0 3 3 0 4 0 1 3
D JONES 29 3-8 2-2 0 4 4 1 4 0 0 8
B CARDINAL 33 4-12 5-7 1 5 6 1 4 3 0 13
E WATSON 18 0-4 0-0 0 1 1 3 3 1 0 0
J POSEY 20 3-6 2-4 1 4 5 1 2 0 0 9
B WELLS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
S SWIFT DNP - COACH'S DECISION
A BURKS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 43-94 11-19 15 30 45 17 28 7 7 103
(.457) (.579) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 8 (6 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 35 5-9 3-4 2 3 5 0 3 0 2 15
S MARION F 39 10-18 1-2 4 9 13 2 4 1 1 22
A STOUDEMIRE C 41 8-16 18-22 2 8 10 1 4 1 2 34
S NASH G 41 5-16 2-2 1 1 2 15 3 1 4 12
J JOHNSON G 45 7-14 4-6 4 4 8 0 0 1 0 20
J JACKSON 16 0-3 0-0 0 3 3 1 0 0 0 0
L BARBOSA 7 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0
S HUNTER 16 1-2 3-4 0 6 6 0 3 0 1 5
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 36-78 31-40 13 36 49 19 17 4 10 108
(.462) (.775) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 10 (12 PTS)
MEMPHIS 31 23 23 26 - 103
PHOENIX 29 31 22 26 - 108
BLOCKED SHOTS: MEMPHIS - S BATTIER, P GASOL. PHOENIX - S MARION 4,
Q RICHARDSON, J JOHNSON, S HUNTER, A STOUDEMIRE.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: MEMPHIS 6-18 (.333), S BATTIER 1-4, J WILLIAMS 3-
5, M MILLER 1-3, D JONES 0-1, B CARDINAL 0-2, E WATSON 0-1, J POSEY 1-
2. PHOENIX 5-17 (.294), Q RICHARDSON 2-5, S MARION 1-3, S NASH 0-4,
J JOHNSON 2-4, J JACKSON 0-1.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: PHOENIX 1 (A STOUDEMIRE, 6:55 4TH).
OFFICIALS: BLANE REICHELT, EDDIE F. RUSH, JOE DEROSA.
A - 18,422. T - 2:34.
So the Grizzlies made sure the game was slowed down. They also did a great job of involving Pau Gasol. Pau was great. He scored a bunch and also got Amare in foul trouble. I wanted the Suns to have Marion guard Gasol. Marion is their best defender and he can handle Gasol considering the fact that Marion usually draws tougher assignments. Mike D'Antoni put Marion on him late in the second quarter and Gasol had some trouble immediately. At the least, this protects Amare from foul trouble. Gasol was going to get his anyways, but Marion at least bothered him a little more than Amare. Also J-Will got off. I mean he was hitting everything. This guy is a great shooter. I never understood why coaches don't let him play and shoot like that. The only guy who could stop him on this day was coach Czar, and he did it as I had expected:. He played him only 30 mins and Earl Watson didn't do much backing him up.
The game never picked up pace in the second half. Pau was still going off, Amare had trouble with him. But Amare was awesome on offense where Memphis kept fouling him and putting him on the line. Again, the Suns had to put Marion on Pau late in the game and I thought he did a decent job. Down the stretch, the game was real close and Nash missed a couple of threes. The crowd was ready to explode on those shots, but it didn't happen. But ultimately the Suns pulled it out. As in game 1, I was really impressed with the timely plays made by Q. Q was great and he came up with the pivotal play of the game. Gasol was on the low post and he backed his way up to the basket on Marion when Q jumped up from the weak side and swatted his shot. This was a huge stop and the Suns went on to win 108-103. At the end of the day, the Suns played a tough game at playoff pace, they hit only 5 threes as opposed to 15 in game 1 and still scored 108 and won the game. So they really could not be stopped despite all the things Memphis did.
Another interesting story of the game for me as a Suns fan was, how both coach John Thompson during the game and Charles and Kenny in the studio felt that this was some kind of a scare for the Suns and how they should have blown out the Grizzlies and sent them a message. According to them, this Suns win was more of a "success" for the Grizzlies than the Suns. I thought this was a bunch of baloney. The bottom-line is that all these experts are doubters of the Suns. They don't think their style, their tempo, their personnel or anything they do makes them a real contender. And sub-consciously they try to rationalize whatever happens with the Suns from that standpoint. So in my opinion, there was nothing the Suns could have done today that would have impressed the experts beyond a certain point. They could have won by 50 points or won on a buzzer beater by Nash, they still wouldn't think the Suns are in the same class as the Pistons, Spurs or the Heat. They may be right with that opinion. I am not arguing with that assessment or the conventional wisdom about defense winning championships and all that. What I have a problem with is that, this particular game showed nothing except that the Suns can win a playoff style game even if it's close in the 4-th quarter. I think it's all positive. The expert's opinion on how this game was some kind of a bad news for the Suns is wrong and it's based on their assumption that this is all going to end bad for the Suns. Like I said, they have made up their minds and are working backwards from their assumptions and are looking for reasons to explain why and how the Suns are in trouble. That's all I am saying. It's pretty ridiculous to expect playoff games to be blowouts even if it's a 1-8 match up. It seems to be happening a lot this season with the Heat, Pistons etc. But that's Eastern Conference where the bad teams are real bad. Even then, I would say this is an exception and not the rule. Typically some playoffs series are blow-outs but individual games are almost always pretty close. I think the Suns-Memphis series fall in this category. Nothing more, nothing less.
MEMPHIS (103) AT PHOENIX (108)
MEMPHIS
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
S BATTIER F 28 4-9 0-0 1 4 5 1 3 0 1 9
P GASOL F 39 13-26 2-6 9 7 16 5 5 1 2 28
L WRIGHT C 25 6-9 0-0 3 2 5 3 3 0 1 12
J WILLIAMS G 29 9-15 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 2 2 21
M MILLER G 19 1-5 0-0 0 3 3 0 4 0 1 3
D JONES 29 3-8 2-2 0 4 4 1 4 0 0 8
B CARDINAL 33 4-12 5-7 1 5 6 1 4 3 0 13
E WATSON 18 0-4 0-0 0 1 1 3 3 1 0 0
J POSEY 20 3-6 2-4 1 4 5 1 2 0 0 9
B WELLS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
S SWIFT DNP - COACH'S DECISION
A BURKS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 43-94 11-19 15 30 45 17 28 7 7 103
(.457) (.579) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 8 (6 PTS)
PHOENIX
REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === == == == ===
Q RICHARDSON F 35 5-9 3-4 2 3 5 0 3 0 2 15
S MARION F 39 10-18 1-2 4 9 13 2 4 1 1 22
A STOUDEMIRE C 41 8-16 18-22 2 8 10 1 4 1 2 34
S NASH G 41 5-16 2-2 1 1 2 15 3 1 4 12
J JOHNSON G 45 7-14 4-6 4 4 8 0 0 1 0 20
J JACKSON 16 0-3 0-0 0 3 3 1 0 0 0 0
L BARBOSA 7 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0
S HUNTER 16 1-2 3-4 0 6 6 0 3 0 1 5
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
W MCCARTY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION
TOTALS 240 36-78 31-40 13 36 49 19 17 4 10 108
(.462) (.775) TEAM REBS: 8 TOTAL TO: 10 (12 PTS)
MEMPHIS 31 23 23 26 - 103
PHOENIX 29 31 22 26 - 108
BLOCKED SHOTS: MEMPHIS - S BATTIER, P GASOL. PHOENIX - S MARION 4,
Q RICHARDSON, J JOHNSON, S HUNTER, A STOUDEMIRE.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: MEMPHIS 6-18 (.333), S BATTIER 1-4, J WILLIAMS 3-
5, M MILLER 1-3, D JONES 0-1, B CARDINAL 0-2, E WATSON 0-1, J POSEY 1-
2. PHOENIX 5-17 (.294), Q RICHARDSON 2-5, S MARION 1-3, S NASH 0-4,
J JOHNSON 2-4, J JACKSON 0-1.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: PHOENIX 1 (A STOUDEMIRE, 6:55 4TH).
OFFICIALS: BLANE REICHELT, EDDIE F. RUSH, JOE DEROSA.
A - 18,422. T - 2:34.
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