[sbjensen]

Many of the Suns' offensive rebounds came during second half, when the Mavs were playing zone. As long-time Mavs' followers know all too well, it is very difficult to get proper rebounding position from the zone.

Of course, the primary reason they went to zone was b/c Dampier was not available, and Bradley is best in a zone (especially against a quick, athletic interior team like Phoenix).

So, I agree that Damp's absence hurt -- a lot. Despite that, I also agree that Bradley was great last night. He disrupted Phoenix's offense. Ultimately, however, I think he ran out of steam. Plus, playing a zone against a good team for more than about 8 minutes at a time will ultimately lead to the zone being picked apart. The Sun's field goal percentage tailed way off by the end of the third quarter, but climbed back during the last 8-9 minutes of the game. I think that was the combined effect of Bradley running out of gas, Hendu being overwhelmed by Stoudemire for the few minutes he was in and the Mavs went back to a man-to-man, and the Suns finally getting the hang of executing against the zone.

I disagree that the answer is some Najera-type small forward. Josh Howard does just fine at that position, and we are highly unlikely to get a defensive upgrade from him. Damp's physical presence in the middle would have been a big factor last night, if he could have managed to stay out of foul trouble (a BIG "if").