| Suns Were Nowitznesses In Game 5 Loss Authored by J.T. Magee - June 2, 2006 - 12:36 pm
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He joined a group which includes Bob McAdoo and Karl Malone in leading the Dallas Mavericks to a 117-101 win over the Suns. Phoenix came back in the second quarter and was contending until Dirk started to go on his 22-point fourth quarter tear. He missed one shot in the entire quarter, including his eight trips to the free throw line. He also scored 13 points in the first quarter.
Leading the Suns was the en fuego Tim Thomas. Thomas scored a playoff career-high 26 points. He was 9-14 from the floor and 6-8 from beyond the arc. Shawn Marion and Steve Nash each scored 20 points and had a 10+ effort in a statistical category. Marion led the way with ten rebounds and Nash led them with 11 assists. Nash added six rebounds, a steal and a block to go along with shooting 9-9 from the free throw line. He shots just 5-17 from the field, while Marion shot 9-13 from the floor.
Boris Diaw failed to score 20 points for the first time in the series, finishing with 16 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. He committed three turnovers and even made his only 3-point attempt on the night. Leandro Barbosa came off the bench to score 14 points, but only two other points, scored by James Jones, were from the bench as well. Raja Bell did not look 100% and scored just three points.
Dallas improved its record to 23-0 when Josh Howard scored 20+ points. He helped lead the way for the Mavericks along with Nowitzki. He scored 23 points, added seven rebounds and two steals. Jerry Stackhouse came off the bench to score 16 points and dish out five assists. Jason Terry, who is mostly known for his scoring capabilities, scored 14 but added a series-high nine assists. Desagana Diop, assigned Diaw, scored just seven points but grabbed nine rebounds, five of which were offensive.
This game was all about Nowitzki. He started off strong and finished strong. I jokingly predicted he would score 50 to a friend because I felt he needed to have a great game if Dallas was going to win. Phoenix kept it relatively close until Dallas decided to give the ball to him and it paid major dividends. He created and got to the basket with ease. As talented as Tim Thomas is, his biggest weakness is post defense because he lacks the drive to bang consistently against the trees. Nowitzki was all about banging in the paint and getting high percentage shots. Turns out, that’s all Dallas needed.
For however many games, Phoenix let another close one slip away. Granted, there was nothing they could’ve done defensively to stop Nowitzki. He was able to find open teammates, so it’s better to have just one player score all the points than the whole team, right? In this case, it was, but they could’ve done more offensively. For Game 5, it started and ended with Thomas.
He was unconcious from the floor in the third quarter. When he squared up for his 3-point shot, it was in. He scored 11 of his 26 points in the third quarter, so why not carry that over into the fourth? Dallas made some goood adjusments on him rotating to him first rather than letting him stay open at the top of the key after he set a pick for Nash. The Suns went away from him too early and should’ve ridden his shooting touch to the gorund. He was on fire like Nowitzki was in the fourth. He has just one shot attempt in the fourth and one turnover. Not the recipe for success.
Besides the fact they couldn’t get their offense going at the right time, the fact Dallas started Dipo instead of Keith Van Horn made the difference on the glass. Diop got to the basket and got offensive rebound after offensive rebound after offensive rebound. That type of rebounding rubs off on teammates and it helped the Mavs obtain a 14-rebound edge, including a 10-rebound edge on the offensive glass. Kinda ahrd to get those fast breaks going when the frontcourt can’t boxout a 7’1” beast in Diop. The least they could’ve done is make sure that once he got the board, he wasn’t going anywhere with it.
Aside from the rebounding margin, the bench was non-existent. Barbosa scored 14, but it was an unnoticable 14. He was 5-12, which ins’t bad, but he wasn’t making plays for his teammates. Most of his assists don’t show up on the boxscore because his pass always leads to a pass that just rotates to the open man along the wing. So almost everyone touches the ball when he’s getting to the hoop with ease. But he was too hesitant. Maybe it was Craig Sager’s outfit that made him lose his confidence, but Barbosa was not confident Barbosa. It’s too bad because they needed his presence to balance out how poor Bell played.
Bell may be the energy guy that helps feed the machine, but he wasn’t there and the Suns weren’t, either. He was hesitant to drive because of his calf. He wasn’t playing the same rigorous defense. Raja was a mellow Bell, almost like a Keith Bogans: strong, defensive-minded player but just can’t piece everything together. Phoenix needs his defensive tenacity because he helps control the opposing guards. The Sun don’t have Steven Hunter to help man the shot blocking helm and James Jones will not get the pt needed to become the roving shot blocker he was in Game 2.
If Phoenix cannot have the Bell that flops and hustles and, most importantly, shoot the lights out from 3, they don’t have the championship team Amare Stoudemire envisioned them having at the beginning of the season. The team may be different, but the team name is still the Phoenix Suns. It’s not just Bell. Everyone has to step up. Nash can’t shoot 17 shots and not have at least three or four of those shots get a second opportunity. Plain and simple: if Phoenix really approached this as a Game 7, then they made a huge mistake. Good thing they get to play on Saturday.
Magee@RealGM.com |
