Republic: "Suns irritate Mavs again"

[George O'Brien]

Republic

Suns irritate Mavs again
Win streak reaches 10 with rally in 4th quarter

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 6, 2006 12:00 AM

DALLAS - During the All-Star break, Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki said the Mavericks felt they had a better team than the Suns in last season's playoff series but just did not show it.

Four Suns wins in the six-game series argue otherwise. The Mavericks were not better than that team, and given what happened Sunday at American Airlines Center, they may not be better than this Phoenix team with only three of the same Suns.

Sunday's 115-107 victory against Dallas, Phoenix's 10th straight win, will not help out the Suns' clutch column. They still have that scarlet 0-6 mark in games decided by a possession. But regular-season wins don't get much more clutch than this.

Phoenix rallied from an eight-point hole by outscoring Dallas 32-16 in the final 9:36 in an arena in which the Mavericks had won 16 in a row. The defense was fashionably late again, prompting Dallas to miss 12 of its last 16 shots.

"Those two teams are still better than us right now," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said in addressing a question about conference leaders San Antonio and Dallas. The straight face lasted as long as Shawn Marion's feet stay on the floor. A smile and mischievous look cracked before a poker face returned to say: "We know we're a team to be reckoned with and San Antonio is still the best, and we'll pick it up a little later."

Dallas talked about how much it missed Josh Howard and Devin Harris in this style of game. Phoenix asks you to note Amaré Stoudemire, Kurt Thomas and Brian Grant in suits and James Jones hobbling on a bum foot to the point he will shut it down indefinitely.

Fans and commentators have spent the past four months talking about how good the Suns will be when Stoudemire returns. How good is this team now with Boris Diaw posting a triple-double in 42 minutes at center and Leandro Barbosa hitting 14 of 16 shots in the past two games?

"If he (Stoudemire) doesn't come back, we are giving up a lot of size and I think you saw it in the first half today, but we also proved we can be really difficult to defend," Suns guard Steve Nash said. "When we really get determined, like in the fourth quarter, we can overcome a size disadvantage. It's a lot of hard work for us. We're giving up size, but we're not giving up."

Phoenix started an afternoon of playing from behind with no transition game and an eight-minute stretch without a three-point try.

The Suns calmed down offensively, perhaps mostly from the emotion Nash still gets in Dallas, and made only six turnovers in the final three quarters. The offense had to carry them because the Mavericks scored 42 points in the paint in the first half. Nowitzki scored 16 in the first half without a fallaway jumper, but Marion locked him down to 1-for-5 shooting in the fourth.

"I was trying to be a pest," Marion said.

The Suns defense allowed 61 percent shooting in the first three quarters but adjusted to slip under screens and trap Nowitzki to make players such as Jerry Stackhouse (4-for-16 shooting) beat them. Dallas made 7 of 24 shots in the fourth quarter.

With the Suns down 91-83 and 9:55 to play, the Eddie House /Barbosa combination spurred them to score on six straight possessions to take the lead. Nash returned and assisted or scored on Phoenix's final six baskets, beating his buddy Nowitzki for a reverse layup and dishing for Diaw's three-point play.
View from Press Row
The starters had the dazzling stat lines, but give the bench credit for this one. With James Jones hurting, Leandro Barbosa essentially stepped in as the fifth starter with 20 points. Tim Thomas' sudden NBA comeback may have hit some reality Sunday, but do the Suns win the game without him? With Eddie House at point, the Suns erased big Dallas leads in the second and fourth quarters. - Paul Coro

 

[jibikao]

Leandro Barbosa hitting 14 of 16 shots in the past two games

 

[scotsman13]

you know the funny thing about the mavs is that they almost all play a one on one game. i.e ball goes in to dirk and then he scores or tries to, stackhouse gets the ball and then he works on scoring. they really dont score as a team. no one seems to want to creat for others. personally i dont see dallas of having a real chance to take the west. they just dont have the people and i dont see anyway they can get past the suns or the spurs.

 

[Louis]

Don't overlook the little line about James Jones shutting it down indefinitely. *Whoops didn't see it was threaded already.*

How much more obstacles will this team have to face? Luckily they built a team with lots of depth this season and that planning is paying off.

I was wondering why his PT had dipped during the past few games to near nonexistent. I thought it was TT disrupting the rotation.

Thankfully, Barbosa has played brilliantly off the bench and House while not shooting great isn't playing bad at PG when Nash rests. Couldn't believe the Suns come back was stoked while Nash on the bench.
As mentioned in another thread, this team better get the Pacific locked up and then think about resting some of their key guys. It seems like Jones has been hobbled all season and of course Nash seems to be hampered by something every other week.

Great 12 minutes of basketball last night. Nearly obstructed by 36 minutes of no defense.

I hope TT doesn't move into the starting lineup at this point, even with all the injuries. He seems to clog the offensive chemistry and flow of the team. Nearly every time he gets the ball he shoots. Even House who has the consumate green light will pass. Also TT has zero jumping ability and lateral movement.

Keep him playing minutes off the bench since he has to be there.

 

[George O'Brien]

TT presents a really an interesting problem. Even with him in the rotation, the Suns have only 7 guys to play unless they use Burke or Barrett. Moving Bell to forward is a possibility, but it does not alter the fact that this is a tiny lineup.

 

[Chaz]

Jones hasn't been right since he turned his ankle against the Clippers in January. It has just been one thing after another.

I think "irritate" is the correct word. As I mentioned in another thread, the Mavs and their fans seem to think they are better than Phoenix and mentally can't deal with losing to the Suns.
Like they see the Suns as a pebble in their shoe rather than the bolder that is going to run them over.