| L.A. Will See Us For Another Game 7 Authored by J.T. Magee - May 19, 2006 - 1:51 am
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Brand, Corey Maggette and a surprising offensive performance from Quinton Ross helped the Los Angeles Clippers set a franchise record in route to their 118-106 victory. The Clippers shot 61.5% from the floor, an all-time record for field-goal percentage in a game. Los Angeles could not miss from anywhere and those two were the two big reasons why.
Leading the Suns for a second-straight game was Marion. He finished with 34 points, nine rebounds and a career-high 6 steals. He shot 13-22 from the floor and 4-7 from the 3-point line, ending his shooting woes from beyond the arc. Barbosa, a.k.a. S.T.U.D., scored 25 off the pine for the Suns. He was 10-20 from the floor and 4-8 from behind the line.
Steve Nash finished with 17 points for the second-straight night. He added 11 assists and committed just one turnover. Boris Diaw had an all-around night in the box score, finishing with 14 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, two steals and a block. Raja Bell, playing a team-high 46 minutes, scored 13 points on 8-10 shooting from the line but just 2-9 from the floor. He made only one of his his 3-point attempts. Tim Thomas, the only other Sun to score, made one basket, a 3-pointer.
Brand, Maggette and Ross were amazing on offense tonight. Brand finished with 30 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks, all team-highs. Maggette led the bench with 25 of their 31 points. He missed one shot in the entire game, going 7-8 from the floor, 2-3 from the 3-point line and 9-9 from the foul line. He added eight rebounds and four assists. (Talk about efficiency). Ross scored a career-high 18 points, shooting 9-11 in the first half but went 0-3 after that. He scored a bucket as time expired in the first half.
Chris Kaman had another double-double in the series with 15 points and ten rebounds. He also committed four turnovers but missed just one shot in the process. Sam Cassell scored 15 points, dished out eight assists and committed a game-high six turnovers. Mobley had a quite game, scoring nine points, grabbing four rebounds and handing out six assists.
This game was all about a Game 7 for both teams. The Clippers wanted another chance at making history for their fans and franchise. The Suns wanted the rest, but they could've done a better job at convincing everyone that it should've been closer. They shot a paltry 43.7%. Take out Barbosa and Marion's shooting and the Suns shot 33% between the other five players.
There are two ways to look at this. One, the Suns aren't going to miss as many shots as they did. And two, the Clippers aren't going to make that many shots. When the Suns lose by four missed 3-pointers, it usually bodes well for the Suns going to their home court for Game 7.
While Marion kept up the pace for the Suns, it was Barbosa's continuos attacking of the basket that gave Phoenix a chance here and there. He did miss ten shots, which can be a good thing. He was able to get high-percentage shots and Head Coach Mike D'Antoni likes high-percentage shots out of his guards. But the Clippers will take ten misses as a possible total of 240 seconds they can run out the game with.
If they were to get each rebound from that missed shot, the amount of time they could've used up was 6 minutes of game time. Phoenix does not want to give L.A. one-eighth of the game off one player's misses.
Even though he shot a lot, Barbosa still made the best of what was given to him. He was able to drive it and he got a lot of shots he's comfortable taking. If everyone else is missing shots, it helps when the scoring punch off the bench tries to make up for it.
Hats off to S.T.U.D. (Sailing Through Ur Defense) for trying to help lift the Suns out of their offensive woes.
As much as Phoenix wanted to say they were remotely happy with this outcome, they were not ecstatic with Brand's performance. He was an absolute force on the inside. He was able to score at will on whoever was guarding him. Although Thomas is a big body, he's never been known as a post-up defender and tonight was a good reason why. Brand was able to square up for his shot whenever he wanted to and there was nothing Phoenix could do. They were able to coax him into stop dribbling here and there, but it was not enough to stop his confidence on both ends of the floor.
Everyone seems to forget that the lesser-known players like Ross were scorers at their college. If an unknown player wants to stay in the NBA, they have to be able to stand out in one aspect while still being able to contribute in other areas. Ross was a fairly good scorer at Southern Methodist, but when the Clippers signed him, they told him to become a defender if he even wanted to stay on the team. Two years later, they realized that, by attacking the worst defenders Phoenix has on the floor, they could open up their offense. Thomas was one of the defenders and the other was guarding Ross (Nash). Ross just came into his own and made his open jumpers. It wasn't just set shots, but he was comfortable with taking a dribble if he needed to feel more confident it was going in. It went in for him.
In Game 7, it's all about who can come out early and establish themselves, Phoenix made sure they did against the Lakers on their home turf and they will make sure they do so against the Clippers. This L.A. team has a much better big man in the post, so it would be better for the Suns to not change how they approach him except to double the second he stops dribbling and attack the open spaces in L.A.'s defense like they did in Game 5. If they can that, as well as make their shots at a higher clip, they will have a little more time to rest. Otherwise, they will have to wait until Amare Stoudemire is fully healthy, which won't be until next season. |
