PG rating favors the Kings

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PG rating favors the Kings
Sacramento's Bibby winning point guard battle against Nash

By DAVID MOORE / The Dallas Morning News

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Ask too many questions, and Rick Adelman squirms the way Donald Trump does when someone quizzes him about his hair.

The Sacramento coach knows that his team has done a good job on Steve Nash. He realizes that Mike Bibby has outplayed the Mavericks point guard in the first two games of the Western Conference quarterfinals series, particularly when the outcome has been in doubt in the fourth quarter.

But there's nothing for Adelman or the Kings to gain by pointing out the obvious. All it does is make them look foolish when Nash does come up big.

"If I said, 'Boy, we did a great job on him,' Nash is liable to break that 19-assist [single-game] record he had against us the last time we were in Dallas," Adelman said.

No one expects Steve Nash to play like Steve Alford for the rest of the series. He's too talented and too competitive for that to happen. But the Kings don't intend to give Nash enough room to lead his team on a comeback from its 0-2 deficit in the best-of-7 series.

The Nash-Bibby matchup has proved to be a sort of postseason litmus test. Bibby owned the upper hand when Sacramento won in 2002. Nash returned the favor last season. This is the rubber match.

"I think that will be a big key to this series, because Nash is the head of the team," Sacramento's Chris Webber said. "As the head goes, the rest of the team goes."

Is Bibby getting the best of Nash? The answer is yes. But it's only a partial answer.

The Kings have put Doug Christie on Nash during significant stretches in this series. He's three-inches taller than Nash, stronger and just as quick.

Sacramento's defensive emphasis is to stop the high pick-and-roll that Nash runs with Dirk Nowitzki. Christie does a much better job of that than Bibby.

If the Mavericks force Bibby to switch on that play, he has no chance of stopping Nowitzki. Christie does. His size and feel for how to play the passing lanes also make it more difficult for Nash to get the Mavericks into their half-court offense.

Adelman will use Christie on Nash for the remainder of the series. But he will pick his spots.

Defending Nash is a full-time commitment. A player can't leave him to help out on someone else. If Christie's sole responsibility were Nash, the Kings' team defense would suffer because the veteran guard wouldn't be allowed to rotate and disrupt.

Bibby will continue to be the primary defender. But Nash will see more of Christie than he would like.

"It hasn't been all successful, but it hasn't been all bad," Christie said. "We're able to see different things that he likes to do when he's playing me or he's playing Mike.

"But Steve is such a clever, clever player. I talked to [assistant coach] John Wetzel about that. He got open in the fourth quarter a couple of times [in Game 2], and you could see he's been looking at the tape of how to get open. I'll have to take some tape home and watch him.

"He's coming off. He's hesitating. He's attacking, switching back, coming back over the pick and getting into the lane."

Bibby isn't the defender Christie is. You get the sense that Nash can blow by him and break down the Sacramento defense any time he wants. What Bibby must do – and has done – is attack Nash offensively.

It was back-to-back 3-pointers by Bibby and Peja Stojakovic to open the fourth quarter that propelled the Kings to victory in Game 1. The point guard scored 10 points in the final 5:41 of Tuesday's win over Dallas.

"I just wanted to be aggressive," Bibby said. "I think I was standing out there a lot in the third, looking at things happening. I wanted to be a part of the game."

Bibby has outscored Nash, 17-5, in the fourth quarter of this series. He has hit nearly half of his shots in the pivotal period, while Nash is 2-for-12.

Advantage Bibby.

Advantage Kings.

"Steve is what makes their team go," Bibby said. "I think when you keep him under control, it's tougher for their team."