Marion expects to play Wednesday
Associated Press
Apr. 26, 2005 04:00 PM
PHOENIX - Phoenix's turbocharged version of small-ball wouldn't work without Shawn Marion.
So the Suns and their fans should be relieved that a sprained right wrist probably won't keep the high-flying forward out of Game 2 against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night.
"Right now, it's feeling better, so that's a good thing," Marion said Tuesday.
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If he feels similar improvement on Wednesday, there's no doubt that he will play, he said.
"I'll probably play anyway," Marion said. "I don't like to sit out. If I can walk, I'm going to play. That's the way I feel about it."
Marion had 26 points and 13 rebounds in the Suns' 114-103 victory over Memphis in the opener of the best-of-seven series Sunday night.
In that game, he fell to the court writhing in pain when he was hit hard by Shane Battier on a breakaway layup. Marion stayed in the game but did not practice Monday and Tuesday.
Marion admittedly has a low pain threshold. "I hate pain," he said.
So Suns coach Mike D'Antoni has downplayed the significance of the injury.
"He's going to be fine," D'Antoni said. "There's nothing broke. He could be a little sore but once he gets revved up and ready to go, I don't see a problem. Now it could happen during the game he gets hit again. That's probably the biggest worry."
Marion's ability to, as a natural small forward, play the power forward spot has been crucial to the Suns' ability to play a racehorse version basketball, winning 62 games and averaging 110 points.
"He's probably one of the most underrated all-stars in recent memory," Battier said, "but guys who play against him know what he can do. He's a double-double waiting to happen. You really can't put a big guy on him, he just runs around him. When you go small, it sort of plays into their hands."
Memphis coach Mike Fratello has toyed with the idea of going with a smaller lineup, but said it's difficult to make any big changes at this stage of the season.
"I'm not sure that when you get to the playoffs, you can take a whole plan and throw it away," he said. "You build on things. You build to try to get better at and execute better at both ends of the floor. You may need adjustments, but a lot of it sometimes comes down to just do it better, just do it harder - quicker, faster, better."
Besides, if Memphis goes small, "it just goes down to who's got the better smalls," Steve Nash said.
There's no doubt who that would be.
The Grizzlies, then, probably will stay with their plan to clog the middle to slow the pick-and-roll that Nash and Amare Stoudemire run so well, while at the same time doing a better job of defending the perimeter, where the Suns made a franchise playoff record 15 3-pointers in 32 attempts.
Stoudemire, who averaged 26 points per game this season, scored just nine in his playoff debut, and it wasn't all because of the Memphis defense.
"I don't think he had a great game, personally," D'Antoni said. "I think he missed some things that would have given him maybe 18 points. But if they're not going to allow him to go to the basket and get easy dunks and things like that, that just means that they have allowed us to shoot outside."
Stoudemire acknowledged that he was a bit too tense at the start.
"I really wanted to go to the rack pretty strong and put a little pressure on the defense," he said, "but I think Game 2 I'll be more relaxed and more comfortable out there and play my style of game."
That style includes the mid-range jumpers that made him so much more of a threat this season.
"I was trying to go into them and draw some fouls in the paint," Stoudemire said. "I had a couple of opportunities to shoot the jumper and I turned it down to get to the basket. It's going to be a little different tomorrow night."
