The Suns got it done twice at home to tie their series up. It was an amazing home-stand for the Suns. Neither game was easy, but they made it look easier than it actually was. The key to both games was the Suns playing the zone. They had to give it a shot given how bad their defense was against the bigger Lakers. But it was surprising to see how effective the zone was. Typically, it messes up an offense for a quarter or 2 and then they adjust. It was surprising to see how effective the zone was for almost the entirety of game 3 and also through game 4. The zone helped the Suns in game 4, but not as much as their bench. The Suns bench came through again and I love how Gentry plays 5 bench guys all at the same time. I don't think I have never seen that with any coach. Definitely not with Mike D'Antoni and the Suns of the past. Not only did the Suns bench play, they played forever in the 4-Th quarter as Gentry even pulled back Nash and Amare from the scorer's table.
The spin move Dragic dropped on Fish was awesome and the highlight of game 4. And Barbosa is looking good too. If the Brazilian Blur is on, the Suns are that much better. The Suns bench really defend better and if they can score offensively, then it does make sense to keep them in ahead of even the studs like Nash and Amare - both shaky defensive players though awesome offensively. Speaking of Amare and offense, he got killed in the media for a couple of day after his performance in the first 2 games, but his 42 in game 3 shut fools up. He was unstoppable and the Suns need that on the road too if they want to win this series. The Suns will try the zone in game 5 for sure and we will see how it goes. The zone works as good as the jump shots attempted in that zone - if those are bricks, the zone "works", if they go in, the zone is busted. And of course the jump shooters always do well at home. That explains the success of the suns bench at home and that will decide what happens to their zone on the road. Can't wait for game 5.
In the East, Boston lost game 3 at home and of course lost game 4 on the road. Now all the pressure is on the Celtics. They have to win game 6 at home. Otherwise, they are looking at a game 7 on the road. Thats not something to look forward to. We now have 2 interesting series in our hands while we had none about a week back. The problem for Boston now is, they have multiple bodies in trouble - injuries, technicals etc. I am pretty sure the league will rescind one of the 2 techs handed out to Perkins. Otherwise, he is out since he has gotten his 7-Th technical. I still think Boston closes the deal in game 6. If they can't win at home, they don't deserve to win the series anyways. It will be ironic if Boston is the first team to lose a 0-3 lead after what the RedSox did in 2004. Of course the Bruins just lost a series they were leading 3-0 just 2 weeks back. But it is not unfathomable in the NHL as much as in the NBA or the MLB.
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