| Suns Can't Hold Onto Lead, Lose Pivitol Game 4 Authored by JT Magee - April 30, 2006 - 7:19 pm
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In one of the best games of this young playoff season in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns couldn't hold a five point lead with less than ten seconds, losing 99-98 in overtime. Bryant sent the game into overtime off a Steve Nash tunrover and made the game-winning shot as the buzzer sounded.
Steve Nash led the way for the Suns, scoring 22 points, dishing out a game-high 11 assists and committed just two turnovers. But one of those was costly. Boris Diaw finally awoke from his slumber, scoring 21 points, grabbing 8 rebounds and dishing out seven assists. He was the player every Suns fan saw in the regular season, but he committed a team-high 5 turnovers. Shawn Marion scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, both series-highs for him. Tim Thomas shook off a knee injury to score 12 points off the bench for the Suns.
Lamar Odom led another balanced attack against Phoenix. He scored 25 points, grabbed eight rebounds and shot 11-14 from the free throw line. Kobe Bryant hit the two biggest shots for the Lakers and ended up with 24 points, eight assists and 5 assists and turnovers. Kwame Brown had another double-double, scoring 12 points and received 10 rebounds. Smush Parker scored only five points, but three of those came on a three-pointer that brought the game within two with 7.9 seconds left in the game.
One thing is clear in this series: Phoenix took the Lakers lightly and never made the necessary adjustments. When they did, they just couldn't close out the game. They were up by five point with less than ten seconds to go. Parker hits a three, then they can't even hold the ball for a foul. The refs were pretty bad, but the Suns can't let the refs dictate a game and they let them do just that tonight. This turned out to be an unfortunate series for Phoenix, but at least they have three more games to make it up.
Phoenix came into this game knowing it was a must-win and the players made sure they did enough to make that happen. Diaw was amazing. He was the versatile player everyone remember him being in the regular season. Marion finally showed enough energy on both ends of the floor. They used pump fakes to attack the basket. They still didn't make enough shots, but they attacked the offensive glass and kept the Lakers off theirs. The Suns did everything but win the game to win.
In Game 5, one thing is simple: play with fire and don't let them come back. The Lakers still used their balanced attack, but the Suns played like themselves for the first time since Game 1. If they want to win three games (if they are lucky) or two of three from here on out, they must do what they were doing in this game except they must close out the game, whether the point difference is two points or 20. A lot of their shots rattled in and out, which is very unfortunate for a jump-shooting team. If they can make their shots and keep the Lakers off the boards like they did in Game 4, they have a chance to win this series. But their chances just got a lot slimmer.
A lot slimmer. |
