GDT: Phoenix Suns visit Dallas

[DarenG]

Originally Posted by Lor20

it took the suns a 10% higher FG rate to beat the mavs - they were CRUSHED on the boards. I still wouldnt fear the suns in the playoffs because shooting percentages go up and down, but rebounding is much more fundamental.

What?? A big reason the FG% was higher wasn't because of outside shooting. It was Amare in the paint. Damp or Diop cannot guard that guy. We owned them on the boards but they owned us in the paint. Field goal percentages are not going to go down unless we protect the paint better. Rebounding might be fundamental but protecting the paint is essential. We didn't lose this game on a few plays and give it away as some are saying. We had our chances throughout the game. If you take care of business during the course of the game then it can't come down to a couple plays. They took the game as much as we gave it away.

All I know is when it comes to defensive stats for both these teams in the end it doesn't matter. These teams can enforce their will against each other for stretches. That back and forth last night KILLED me last night. The Suns have proven no matter what they can play with the Mavs which means mentally they don't fear the Mavs. I think that was the Suns last hurdle. I think they feared the Mavs in terms of how good is this team and can we compete? They don't think that anymore.

Aside from all the doom and gloom doesn't this help the Mavs? I mean, if your the Mavs don't you go into the next game or in the playoffs feeling like you want to prove something again? I don't know about you guys but I would much rather the Mavs go into a series against that team feeling like they have something to prove versus "hey were the best team, prove you can beat us". To me its 2 different mind sets.

[MavsMandy]

Originally Posted by Julius

I learned over the years that you have to foul when you lead by 3 and the other team has the ball for a last shot. Türkoglu did it to germany, now Nash the 2nd time vs the Mavs. I cant stand it anymore. Give them 2fts and get the ball back.

i remember a game a couple of years back against miami. mavs up by 3 with about 5 seconds left, and they intentionally foul. miami hits the first ft, misses the second, but gets the rebound and hits a three at the buzzer for the win.

not saying fouling is the wrong decision, but it doesn't always end the way you want it to either.

[dallas85]

Originally Posted by Lor20

it took the suns a 10% higher FG rate to beat the mavs - they were CRUSHED on the boards. I still wouldnt fear the suns in the playoffs because shooting percentages go up and down, but rebounding is much more fundamental.

Oddly enough the Suns are a very up and down rebounding team...

Just look at the rebounding margin against the Clips in last years playoffs:

Game one: -5
Game two: -31
Game three: -1
Game four: -18
Game five: -7
Game six: -20
Game seven: 0

For the Suns it really comes down to hustle if they hustle a lot they can keep the rebounding margin close... if they play lackadazically on the defensive end (which they did for long periods yesterday) they can get beat pretty bad on the boards. If they play with a lot of energy they can play you even... and if they play you even you will lose. The scary thing is the Mavs crushed the Suns rebounding wise and still lost... what if they don't get that big of a margin next time?

[And1]

Originally Posted by Dtownsfinest

I know i'll probably get hate for this but sadly I think this game won Nash more votes for MVP. IMO, I saw another guy on that Phoenix team that had one of the most dominant performances in the paint that i've seen in awhile.

when I see the mavs vs suns now, I always think my God....just think how good the mavs would be if cuban would have payed up and kept nash.

[mkat]

Originally Posted by pkdumas

Amare's increased free throw percentage and midrange jumper percentage will prove to be BIG for Phoenix in the playoffs. Since when could a guy attack the rim like that AND shoot 80% from the FT line? It's like Shaq with a good FT shot.

he still missed some big FTs. had the mavs won, that would've been why the suns lost...amare didn't hit his FTs. it's all perspective.

[mkat]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

but we were talking about the 4th quarter at the time. How many did they score in the 4th quarter?

55 pts between the two teams. 35 for PHX, 20 for Dallas. and they were playing half court sets about 90% of that 4th quarter. i don't think it was slowing it down...if anything, they succeeded in slowing it down enough to slow Phoenix in the 3rd quarter. they weren't playing Detroit-ball out there...

[DarenG]

Originally Posted by mkat

he still missed some big FTs. had the mavs won, that would've been why the suns lost...amare didn't hit his FTs. it's all perspective.

He did? He missed 1 free throw down the stretch I thought. I agree though that over an entire series a center shooting 80% is huge. Then again, it didn't seem to hurt the Heat.

Originally Posted by mkat

55 pts between the two teams. 35 for PHX, 20 for Dallas. and they were playing half court sets about 90% of that 4th quarter. i don't think it was slowing it down...if anything, they succeeded in slowing it down enough to slow Phoenix in the 3rd quarter. they weren't playing Detroit-ball out there...

This also destroys the notion the Suns can't play half court sets. They dropped 40 playing mostly half court sets. It's not like the Suns had 20 points off of fast breaks in the 4th.

[mkat]

Originally Posted by DarenG

He did? He missed 1 free throw down the stretch I thought. I agree though that over an entire series a center shooting 80% is huge. Then again, it didn't seem to hurt the Heat.



This also destroys the notion the Suns can't play half court sets. They dropped 40 playing mostly half court sets. It's not like the Suns had 20 points off of fast breaks in the 4th.

amare missed at least one or two in those OTs i thought. i could be wrong, however.

i think the suns can play halfcourt, but the 3rd quarter is evidence that they aren't comfortable with it. they played it well in the fourth and 2OTs last night, but in a playoff series i don't think they want it to come down to half court sets.

[fluid.forty.one]

I still want to vomit because of this game.

[DarenG]

Originally Posted by mkat

amare missed at least one or two in those OTs i thought. i could be wrong, however.

i think the suns can play halfcourt, but the 3rd quarter is evidence that they aren't comfortable with it. they played it well in the fourth and 2OTs last night, but in a playoff series i don't think they want it to come down to half court sets.

They really only ran in the 1st quarter. So if you count OT, they ran half court sets for 4 qtrs. I would say that's pretty comfortable. It's a misconception this team doesn't want to play half court sets. Sure they would rather run on you but that doesn't mean they don't like playing half court sets. Just ask them when Nash and Amare are running the pick and roll. The key here is stopping them in the paint. When DG gets back, that should be 18 fouls between our big men that can hopefully wear Amare down in the playoffs.

[MavsX]

worst game ever.

[MavsX]

i am back down to 25 vcash....damnit