Suns playoff BLOG

Suns win game 1 against the Memphis Grizzlies pretty easily. I was pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of the Suns attack. Nothing has changed since the regular season. The Suns made 15 threes. Nash and Amare had average games, but the Suns still didn't miss a beat. Marion and Q played very well. I was really impressed with Q's game. I thought he made great plays at both ends of the floor and stepped up his game for the playoffs. The most scary moment was when Marion was fouled hard by Shane Battier and Marion lay on the floor holding his wrist. My heart stopped for a moment ! Marion might be the most under-rated player on the Suns roster and they are not going anywhere in these playoffs without him. In fact, Suns might be the one team in the playoffs that can't afford an injury to anybody on their roster given their lack of depth. But luckily for the Suns nation, Marion got up and continued to play.

On the Memphis side, I thought Mike Miller was hitiing every shot he took and I was surprised the Czar didn't play him more. Other than that, they did their best, but on this day, that was not enough to upset the top-seeded Suns. Here's the box score from game 1

MEMPHIS (103) AT PHOENIX (114)

MEMPHIS

REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === ==

S BATTIER F 36 4-9 0-1 4 5 9 1 3 0 0 8
P GASOL F 26 8-19 0-1 4 3 7 2 1 0 2 16
L WRIGHT C 20 2-7 1-2 1 6 7 3 1 0 0 5
J WILLIAMS G 31 7-13 1-1 0 4 4 5 2 2 2 17
M MILLER G 32 7-10 0-0 0 3 3 4 1 0 1 19
J POSEY 27 3-7 3-3 0 4 4 0 5 0 3 11
S SWIFT 16 3-6 0-0 1 2 3 1 0 0 1 6
B WELLS 16 2-5 4-4 0 2 2 3 0 2 0 8
E WATSON 17 3-7 0-0 0 4 4 4 1 1 1 6
B CARDINAL 19 2-5 3-3 1 2 3 0 3 0 1 7
A BURKS DNP - COACH'S DECISION
D JONES DNP - COACH'S DECISION

TOTALS 240 41-88 12-15 11 35 46 23 17 5 11 103
(.466) (.800) TEAM REBS: 4 TOTAL TO: 13 (13 PTS)

PHOENIX

REBOUNDS
PLAYER POS MIN FGM-FGA FTM-FTA OFF-DEF-TOT AST PF ST TO PTS
====== === === ======= ======= =========== === ==

Q RICHARDSON F 34 7-20 4-4 2 3 5 3 2 2 0 22
S MARION F 43 11-19 1-2 5 8 13 1 4 1 4 26
A STOUDEMIRE C 30 3-9 3-4 2 8 10 2 5 1 1 9
S NASH G 36 3-11 4-4 0 5 5 13 0 0 3 11
J JOHNSON G 43 6-13 1-2 0 7 7 6 3 1 0 16
J JACKSON 19 3-7 0-0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 8
S HUNTER 20 7-11 2-2 4 1 5 1 0 0 1 16
L BARBOSA 12 1-2 0-0 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 3
W MCCARTY 3 1-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3
B OUTLAW DNP - COACH'S DECISION
J VOSKUHL DNP - COACH'S DECISION
P SHIRLEY DNP - COACH'S DECISION

TOTALS 240 42-93 15-18 14 34 48 28 17 5 9 114
(.452) (.833) TEAM REBS: 6 TOTAL TO: 9 (6 PTS)

MEMPHIS 28 22 28 25 - 103
PHOENIX 39 20 28 27 - 114

BLOCKED SHOTS: MEMPHIS - S BATTIER 2, P GASOL 2, B WELLS, M MILLER.
PHOENIX - S HUNTER 2, Q RICHARDSON, A STOUDEMIRE, J JOHNSON.
3-PT. FIELD GOALS: MEMPHIS 9-21 (.429), J WILLIAMS 2-5, M MILLER 5-
7, J POSEY 2-4, E WATSON 0-3, B CARDINAL 0-2. PHOENIX 15-32 (.469),
Q RICHARDSON 4-11, S MARION 3-5, S NASH 1-3, J JOHNSON 3-5, J JACKSON 2-
5, L BARBOSA 1-2, W MCCARTY 1-1.
TECHNICAL FOULS: NONE.
FLAGRANT FOULS: MEMPHIS 1 (S BATTIER, 8:29 3RD).
OFFICIALS: BENNETT SALVATORE, BOB DELANEY, SEAN CORBIN.
A - 18,422. T - 2:24.