| Nash’s Three Falls Short, Suns Lose Game 2 Authored by J.T. Magee - May 25, 2005 - 1:03 am
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Nash and Amare Stoudemire once again led the way for Phoenix, but it was not enough to close out the game against the Spurs, who got three 20 point games from their three main stars. Phoenix was unable to close the game out when they had the lead coming into the fourth quarter.
Stoudemire scored 37 points and eight rebounds, but had a costly technical foul called against him late in the game. Stoudemire shoved Spur Robert Horry to the ground after a foul call causing Horry to react with a minor flop, but it was enough to get the call against Stoudemire. He also committed a team-high five turnovers, as did Nash.
Nash became the first player in NBA history to score at least 25 points and collect 10 assists in four consecutive playoff games, finishing with 29 points, 15 assists and five rebounds. Quentin Richardson had his best game of the playoffs, scoring 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting. It was the first game where he recorded over 6 made field goals. It was also the first game where shot over 50% when shooting at least 10 field goals. Shawn Marion recovered slightly from Game 1, getting his ninth double-double of the playoffs with 11 points and 12 rebounds. He also recorded two of Phoenix’s 9 blocks. Steven Hunter came off the bench to score seven points, grab four rebounds, two offensive, and block 3 shots. Jim Jackson scored just six points, grabbed three rebounds and blocked a team-high 4 shots. But it wasn’t enough to stop the power that is San Antonio.
Tim Duncan overcame five fouls late in the game to finish with 30 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Just a 79% free throw shooter during the regular season, Duncan scored a third of his points from the free throw line, shooting 10 of 11. Manu Ginobili scored 26 points, including the game-winning free throw with less than 5 seconds in the game. Nash was unable to finish after running the length of the court for a decent three pointer. Nash’s counterpart, Tony Parker, finished with 24 points and five assists. Center Nazr Mohammad, acquired at the trade deadline for fan favorite Malik Rose, finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, 3 steals and two blocks. Each of those steals came when he was guarding Amare Stoudemire in the post. Horry came off the bench to score just ten points, but three of those came on a three pointer that put the Spurs ahead for good.
Phoenix once again had trouble closing out the game. What makes this loss stick from Game 1 is that they have to travel back to San Antonio for Games 3 and 4. The Spurs have only been beaten four times during the whole season, including the playoffs. Those three teams were Memphis, Denver and Seattle. Just to prove how hard it will be to beat San Antonio at home, even with a returning Joe Johnson, San Antonio eliminated both Denver and Seattle in the playoffs. Phoenix is going to need to eliminate each little mental mistake they made and run their butts off if they want to beat San Antonio. For instance, Nash needs to pick his spots as far as when he dribbles around the baseline, looking for a teammate. On one play, Steven Hunter was anticipating a pass and stepped into Nash, forcing him to commit a turnover, which led to a Spurs basket.
Little mistakes like these add up against a team like San Antonio. They have been able to get away with it against Memphis and Dallas, but they need to learn when to drive and when to get their opportunities to get easy shots. On some possessions, Horry was forced to guard Richardson. Exploit this match-up as much as possible. Richardson is too fast for Horry. He can get by him with ease. Tonight, he showed a little bit of why the Suns signed him away from the Clippers. He needs to do this more often to open up the Suns’ outside game. This will force San Antonio to choose whether to trap inside or play on the wing players.
San Antonio can be beaten, but Phoenix needs everyone to step up on offense, including Richardson and especially Marion, who was averaging over 23 points and 12 rebounds coming into the Western Conference Finals. Both of them, as well as Jim Jackson and Joe Johnson need to play their hearts out in both games if they want to stand a chance the rest of the way. If they lose even one game, then they have a very small shot of winning the series. If Phoenix were to win a game and bring back to America West Arena and win, they still have to go back to San Antonio for Game 6.
That’s why tonight’s loss was such a crucial blow to their chances at making it to the Finals for the first time since 1993.
Phoenix can do it. They have to do it. All they need is Johnson to come back strong, for everyone one to at their best and to run and run and run. Otherwise, San Antonio could get some much needed rest for Duncan heading into the NBA Finals while they await their opponent.
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