azdad1978
Championship!!!!
Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 4, 2005 12:00 AM
HOUSTON - Steve Nash is in a two-man race for the MVP award with Shaquille O'Neal as his addition to the Suns is the largest factor in engineering what became one of the six greatest turnarounds in NBA history with Sunday's 91-78 win over the Rockets.
Can Shawn Marion at least get a star sticker on the maximum-level paycheck? If you want examples of an impact that makes a team U-turn, look at Marion. In the only game Marion missed to injury this season, Houston made Phoenix look one-dimensional and frustrated March 11. It was a 127-107 Rockets victory, a score written on Sunday's visitors locker-room board with an adjoining, "We owe them."
Marion displayed spring and energy in corralling 17 of his 18 rebounds in the first three quarters and finished with a game-high 23 points in the Suns' fifth straight win. He helped Phoenix hold the Rockets, on their own court, to 49 less points than the last meeting.
"I don't know how many times I come into the dressing room after the game and go, 'Well, Shawn's OK,' " Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I look down and he has 23 and 18. If anyone else does that, you say, 'My gosh!' That's why he's unappreciated. You don't realize how good he is."
Marion led a defense that held Houston to 34 percent shooting, 1 percent off a season best.
It was more than him Sunday, particularly with Joe Johnson's work on Tracy McGrady, a tag-team effort from Steven Hunter, Amaré Stoudemire and others on Yao Ming and a plan that fits into Phoenix's defensive strengths.
Yes, Phoenix does have a plan on defense and does have strengths. The Suns pack the paint, don't foul and force teams to shoot from the perimeter. That fed right into stopping Houston, which had shot 26 percent from three-point range in the past nine games. The Rockets were worse there Sunday, hitting only 5 of 23 threes in what was the Suns' lowest points allowed since Nov. 9.
Houston scored just 53 points in the last three quarters, a much-needed Suns stand because they went six minutes without scoring in the second quarter for the second straight game.
"It was nice to win a game defensively," Nash said. "We prioritized it and carried it out with pride. It (the defense) has been more consistent and better than the month before."
Despite a 31-point first quarter, Phoenix trailed 42-41 at halftime because it set a season low for points in a quarter with 10. That made the Suns' halftime match a season-low first half set when Nash was out in January.
If this was a test of how playoff-style basketball might slow the Suns' offensive juggernaut, they passed by extending their remarkable club road record win total to 30.
"It was a grind," said Marion, who often left the likes of Ryan Bowen and Scott Padgett to help guard Yao and Dikembe Mutombo. "It was very physical inside and hard to get anything going. We got what we needed. We showed we could play defense."
McGrady scored 28 on Phoenix in the last meeting but was 6 for 21 on Sunday.
"I feel like I'm 40 years old," McGrady said. "I have tendinitis in both of my knees and it's real painful. It's hard for me do it on the basketball court."
View from press row
There was not much reaction for Jim Jackson's return to Houston, where he averaged 13 points for the Rockets during the past two seasons until a trade to New Orleans, where he never reported. Now, the Rockets can't make an outside shot to save their playoff seeding and Jackson was torrid with a first-quarter tear and seven straight clutch points in the fourth. "I'm so used to going back to play against an old team, it doesn't make any difference," said Jackson, who is playing for his 11th team.
- Paul Coro
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0404suns0404.html
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 4, 2005 12:00 AM
HOUSTON - Steve Nash is in a two-man race for the MVP award with Shaquille O'Neal as his addition to the Suns is the largest factor in engineering what became one of the six greatest turnarounds in NBA history with Sunday's 91-78 win over the Rockets.
Can Shawn Marion at least get a star sticker on the maximum-level paycheck? If you want examples of an impact that makes a team U-turn, look at Marion. In the only game Marion missed to injury this season, Houston made Phoenix look one-dimensional and frustrated March 11. It was a 127-107 Rockets victory, a score written on Sunday's visitors locker-room board with an adjoining, "We owe them."
Marion displayed spring and energy in corralling 17 of his 18 rebounds in the first three quarters and finished with a game-high 23 points in the Suns' fifth straight win. He helped Phoenix hold the Rockets, on their own court, to 49 less points than the last meeting.
"I don't know how many times I come into the dressing room after the game and go, 'Well, Shawn's OK,' " Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I look down and he has 23 and 18. If anyone else does that, you say, 'My gosh!' That's why he's unappreciated. You don't realize how good he is."
Marion led a defense that held Houston to 34 percent shooting, 1 percent off a season best.
It was more than him Sunday, particularly with Joe Johnson's work on Tracy McGrady, a tag-team effort from Steven Hunter, Amaré Stoudemire and others on Yao Ming and a plan that fits into Phoenix's defensive strengths.
Yes, Phoenix does have a plan on defense and does have strengths. The Suns pack the paint, don't foul and force teams to shoot from the perimeter. That fed right into stopping Houston, which had shot 26 percent from three-point range in the past nine games. The Rockets were worse there Sunday, hitting only 5 of 23 threes in what was the Suns' lowest points allowed since Nov. 9.
Houston scored just 53 points in the last three quarters, a much-needed Suns stand because they went six minutes without scoring in the second quarter for the second straight game.
"It was nice to win a game defensively," Nash said. "We prioritized it and carried it out with pride. It (the defense) has been more consistent and better than the month before."
Despite a 31-point first quarter, Phoenix trailed 42-41 at halftime because it set a season low for points in a quarter with 10. That made the Suns' halftime match a season-low first half set when Nash was out in January.
If this was a test of how playoff-style basketball might slow the Suns' offensive juggernaut, they passed by extending their remarkable club road record win total to 30.
"It was a grind," said Marion, who often left the likes of Ryan Bowen and Scott Padgett to help guard Yao and Dikembe Mutombo. "It was very physical inside and hard to get anything going. We got what we needed. We showed we could play defense."
McGrady scored 28 on Phoenix in the last meeting but was 6 for 21 on Sunday.
"I feel like I'm 40 years old," McGrady said. "I have tendinitis in both of my knees and it's real painful. It's hard for me do it on the basketball court."
View from press row
There was not much reaction for Jim Jackson's return to Houston, where he averaged 13 points for the Rockets during the past two seasons until a trade to New Orleans, where he never reported. Now, the Rockets can't make an outside shot to save their playoff seeding and Jackson was torrid with a first-quarter tear and seven straight clutch points in the fourth. "I'm so used to going back to play against an old team, it doesn't make any difference," said Jackson, who is playing for his 11th team.
- Paul Coro
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0404suns0404.html
