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).
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