| That Will Be It Los Angeles! Authored by J.T. Magee - May 23, 2006 - 2:51 am
| Current Featured Columns | | Merry Christmas, Raptors Fans The Raptors might not be playing good basketball right now, but there are plenty of things for Toronto fans to be thankful for this holiday season.
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The Suns, coming back from some much needed rest, closed out their Western Conference Semifinals series with the “other” L.A. team, beating the Clippers 127-107. Every Sun scored in double figures as they set an NBA record for 3’s made in a game with 15.
Leading the way were Shawn Marion and Steve Nash.
Marion scored 30 points to go along with nine rebounds, two blocks and 5 3-pointers made. He was 12-20 from the floor and recorded two offensive rebounds. Nash, admitting he wasn’t healthy for most of the series, looked healthy enough in Game 7. He scored 29 points, dished out a game-high 11 assists and made 4 3-pointers. He committed four turnovers, but his overall play overshadowed that.
Leandro Barbosa, a.k.a. S.T.U.D., led the other Suns with 18 points off the bench. He added three assists and missed only two shots, going 8-10 from the floor and 2-2 from the 3-point line. Tim Thomas had perhaps his best game overall on the stat sheet, scoring 16 points, grabbing six rebounds and adding a playoff-high six assists. Boris Diaw was his usual self in Game 7. He scored 14 points, grabbed eight rebounds, dished out five assists and collected two steals. Raja Bell and James Jones scored ten points, with Bell adding six assists in the process.
As great as the Suns were, the Clippers didn’t go out quietly. Elton Brand was his usual self, scoring a game-high 36 points and grabbing a team-high nine rebounds, seven on the offensive glass. Corey Maggette came off the bench to score 18 points and also grabbed nine rebounds. Shaun Livingston scored 14 points, Sam Cassell had eleven and six assists and both Chris Kaman and Cuttino Mobley had ten points.
If it wasn’t for the rest Phoenix got, they wouldn’t have won. Nash was his old self, bobbing and weaving down the court, either looking for his shot or a teammate’s. He shot the ball comfortably. He looked almost too healthy when he shot a one-foot, fade away 3-pointer that hit the back of the rim. Nash was everywhere he needed to be and made sure the rest of the Suns were right there, too.
One area where Phoenix capitalized on was rebounding, an area that plagued them too much in the regular season. They were a great rebounding team when they had Kurt Thomas on the floor, but once he injured his right foot, they weren’t the same. In Game 7, all of that changed. They knew if they wanted to go on to play against the winner of the Spurs-Mavs series, they would have to do a better job on the glass. Everyone stepped up in that area.
The rebounding numbers were low because of the high-percentage from the floor. But the Suns knew they had to crash the offensive glass when L.A. would try and sneak down or up the court for either their defense to set or their fast break to get going. They made the Clippers work for each rebound and it paid off. Each team recorded 32 rebounds, but on the offensive glass, the Suns won that battle. Sure, they were out-rebounded by two, but it was the fact that all of those second-chance opportunities gave them more time to shoot 3s and run on the other end of the court.
Phoenix played a great game, but considering whom they were playing, it was surprising to see this matchup in the first place. No one (except me) thought the Clippers would make the playoffs. But they brought in Cassell and Mobley, a backcourt who had been in the playoffs before. They had a coach who, as much as he’s known for not getting his teams past the hump, has been there more than 90% of the head coaches in the NBA. The Clippers overachieved because the entire team bought into the concept of working hard on both ends of the floor and making sure Brand would finally get his due. Hats off to the Clippers, who I hope continue the success they had this season.
Going into the WCF against the winner of the Spurs-Mavs, Dallas, Phoenix may think they have the upper hand because they play them many times and know what Dallas likes to do. But Dallas Head Coach Avery Johnson found a rotation that was deadly for the Spurs and could be just as deadly against the Suns. Devin Harris is the 1/2 the Suns have not had to face in a long time. He’s been playing like he did at Wisconsin but with a little more Johnson in him. Combine that with Jason Terry’s shooting, Dirk’s MVP play and the workhorses the Mavs have in the middle and Phoenix may not stand a chance.
Dallas won the first game of their matchup in Phoenix when the Suns blew a big lead and lost a double-OT game. The Suns must make sure that, because the Mavs are going to attack Nash with either Terry or Harris, that they adjust their defense to force them into late decisions. Each time Harris got the ball near the middle of the key, he would either go for the shot or hesitate because he may have seen someone open or a defender closing in on him. The Suns need to exploit his inexperience and make sure he doesn't have the series he did against San Antonio. If he does, it could be a quick one for the Suns.
For Phoenix, they must rebound the basketball like they did tonight. Even if they shoot 25% from the floor, if they rebound the ball like they did against the tough Clipper team, they have a chance to stay in each game with Dallas and get a chance to close out a game or two on the road. After all it does help having the announced MVP on your team, even if the real MVP is his best friend and standing on the other side of the line. |
