Why zone worked for a while vs PHO
I see all these posts about how the Mavs went to a zone and it did well. Then it ran out of steam, or Nellie lost faith, or blah blah blah...Bradley did well, then wasnt so good, etc ...
NONSENSE.
There is one factor that no one seems to notice, that allowed the zone (and Bradley) to do well. And when it changed, it was over. And it had nothing to do with Mavs rotations, fatigue, lineup, or whatnot.
Here is the main reason why the zone stopped working, why Bradley wasnt as effective after the 8:30 mark in the 4th, and why the Mavs lost the lead ....
...drumroll, please ....
...and the answer is ...
...Stoudemire came back into the game!
That's it. They couldnt stop Stoudemire with a zone, a man, anything. He went out for a rest about the time Bradley came in and the Mavs went to a zone, and it looked real effective. But when he came back in, whoosh the Mavs got killed no matter what defense they tried on him.
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