Tag: Phoenix Suns (Page 6 of 21)

      WCF Game 4: What a second quarter!

      May 25, 2010 /

      The Suns lead 64-55 at halftime, but both teams were hot in the second quarter, combining for 73 points.

      Check out this series of jumpers:

      8:19 Kobe Bryant makes 21-foot jumper
      8:07 Leandro Barbosa makes 21-foot jumper
      7:52 Kobe Bryant makes 22-foot jumper
      7:30 Jared Dudley makes 15-foot two point shot
      7:01 Channing Frye makes 26-foot three point jumper
      6:09 Jared Dudley makes 24-foot three point jumper
      5:50 Kobe Bryant makes 25-foot three point jumper
      5:41 Leandro Barbosa makes 26-foot three point jumper
      5:24 Kobe Bryant makes 23-foot three point jumper
      4:41 Steve Nash makes 26-foot three point jumper
      4:11 Ron Artest makes 25-foot three point jumper
      3:59 Channing Frye makes 25-foot three point jumper
      3:10 Kobe Bryant makes 22-foot jumper
      2:58 Channing Frye makes 23-foot three point jumper
      2:36 Derek Fisher makes jumper
      2:03 Kobe Bryant makes 26-foot three point jumper
      1:53 Steve Nash makes 17-foot jumper

      That’s 17 made jumpers in 6:26 of gameplay. In other words, during this stretch, there was one made jumper every 21.5 seconds. Wow.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      WCF: Just like that, we have a series

      May 24, 2010 /

      It’s funny how much things can swing on a single game. Heading into Game 3, everyone pretty much wrote the Suns off and penciled the Lakers into their third-straight NBA Finals. But with last night’s 118-109 victory, the Suns proved a couple of things: 1) they can beat the Lakers in the playoffs, and 2) Amare Stoudemire can outplay Pau Gasol.

      The win gives the Suns confidence and essentially stops the sky from falling. This franchise has been snakebitten for some time, so when the Lakers got up 2-0, you could cut the desperation surrounding this Suns with a knife. Stoudemire was under fire for his play through the first two games, and there was already speculation that he wouldn’t re-sign with the team. Now, the Suns head into Game 4 with some confidence, and they know that if they can win tomorrow night, that they’ll head back to L.A. having won two-straight with an opportunity to steal home court advantage in Game 5.

      It’s going to be interesting to see how the Lakers respond to the Suns’ zone. It’s not like it shut L.A. down — the Lakers shot 48% from the field and scored 109 points. But the Lakers also committed 17 turnovers and shot just 28% from long range. In the first two games, the Suns’ problem wasn’t offense, so even though the zone is a little gimmicky, if they can slow the Lakers down at all, they have a shot.

      The zone took the Lakers out of the triangle and knocked L.A. on its heels a bit. Suddenly, they didn’t know where the defense was coming from and they finally had to adjust to something the Suns were throwing at them, instead of running the same offense that has been so productive all season. It was a desperation move by Phoenix, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

      The NBA playoffs are all about adjustments, and Phil Jackson is one of the best in the game at tweaking his strategy throughout a series. The Lakers should come out in Game 4 prepared for the zone, so the Suns will have to make some adjustments of their own if they hope to head back to Los Angeles with the series tied.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      WCF Game 3: Suns make it a series

      May 23, 2010 /

      I’ll write more about the game tomorrow — I have a “Lost” finale that is screaming my name — but the Suns played very well in Game 3 and have made this a series. They went to a zone on defense and it puzzled the Lakers a little bit, leading to a 118-109 win.

      Amare Stoudemire (justifiably) took a lot of heat over the last few days, but answered the critics by posting 42-11 on 14-of-22 shooting. Steve Nash went for 17-2-15 and Robin Lopez added 20 points.

      The Suns won despite Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol combining for 24-of-38 shooting and 59 points. Lamar Odom went just 4-of-14 from the field for 10 points and fouled out of the game.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      WCF Game 2: Lakers put Suns away late

      May 19, 2010 /

      Phoenix had a chance to win this one. They were tied heading into the fourth quarter, but with their normally productive reserves in, the Suns started to fall behind. Down four with 7:48 left to play, Alvin Gentry put Steve Nash (11-3-15) back in the game, and he promptly threw the ball out of bounds and gave up a wide open three to Jordan Farmer…Lakers up nine. L.A. goes on to win, 124-112.

      The other emerging edge for the Lakers is Pau Gasol (29-9-5). He’s simply better than Amare Stoudemire (18-6-1), or at least he looks better against the Suns’ porous defense. Lamar Odom (17-11-4, three steals) has also played well in this series, so well in fact that he forced Andrew Bynum (13-7 in 18 minutes) to the bench.

      As for Kobe, he was in pass-first mode tonight, posting 21-5-13 on the heels of his 40-point outing in Game 1.

      The Suns shot 49%, which is great, but L.A. shot 58%. They have to find a way to limit the Lakers easy shots as the series moves back to Phoenix for Game 3 and Game 4. The Suns desperately need to even the series. Otherwise, it’s over.

      External Sports, Fantasy Basketball, NBA

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