RE:Why zone worked for a while vs PHO
It seems clear to me that there were two keys to the loss:
1) Improper use of the big men, specifically Bradley, and
2) Dirk's 5th foul coming so early on.
Bradley (and the zone) was VERY effective in containing Stoudemire. It wasn't until Henderson came in midway into the 4th that the Suns pulled away. Of course, if Bradley had gotten a breather with Stoudemire out, perhaps he would have been able to continue his excellent defensive work against Stoudemire when he came back from the bench.
It's hard to go from not playing ANY minutes to basically playing a whole half.
Just a thought.
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