Suns believe they can run all the way to the Finals
Posted: Thursday February 1, 2007
Since Steve Nash arrived in Phoenix in 2004, Mike D'Antoni has won 73 percent of the games he's coached with the Suns.
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images
The numbers are staggering. Two winning streaks of at least 15 games. A 20-1 record against the Eastern Conference. An 8½-game lead in the Pacific Division. A winning percentage of .800.
By any measure, the Phoenix Suns are blazing a trail through the 2006-07 season that few teams have ever traversed.
But as daunting as the arrival of Steve Nash and his running partners are in an opponent's locker room, the challenge the Suns face in graduating from regular-season carnival act to NBA champion is equally onerous. For all that the Suns have dazzled under coach Mike D'Antoni's European-flavored run-and-gun system -- leading the league in scoring for the third consecutive season, winning at a pace that could secure homecourt advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs for the second time in three years -- Phoenix has to prove its style can win in June. Indeed, the past two seasons have seen the Suns stopped in the conference finals by the Spurs and Mavericks, respectively. Further, the recent body of NBA evidence doesn't lead one to conclude titles are won with flash.
Over the last three campaigns, defense has won the day. The Pistons of 2003-04 and the Spurs of '04-05 each led the league in scoring defense en route to the trophy, while last season's Heat team was second in that category in the playoffs.
D'Antoni, now in his fourth season in the desert, believes a win in the Finals isn't a matter of style as much as timing.
"Two years ago the geniuses said this system wouldn't work through December," D'Antoni said. "Then [after a 62-win regular season] it was, 'It's definitely not going to work in the playoffs,' and that Memphis would sweep us. Well, we swept them. Then it was, 'It's not going to work against Dallas.' Well, we beat them 4-2. Then it was, 'It won't work the next year without Amaré [Stoudemire]'. Well, it did work. So now until we win the Finals, it will be, 'Well, it doesn't work in the Finals.'
"Give me a break. It doesn't work in the Finals because there are other great teams and other great players. If we hit the right shots and get lucky, we can win it all."
Every champion needs its steppingstone, every Bulls needs its Pistons. But the Suns face a conference with a host of accomplished rivals -- three alone in Texas -- every bit as talented as D'Antoni's group. And unlike an entire conference of Eastern teams too bogged down by its own inconsistent play to slow down the Suns, the West's likely playoff participants know this Phoenix team like a next-door neighbor. And if this season's results are any measure, it appears they want the lawn mower back; the Suns entered Thursday's matchup with San Antonio a combined 0-6 against the Mavs, Spurs, Jazz and Lakers.
Truth be told, though, all but one of the losses came in the opening weeks of the season, when Phoenix was getting reacquainted with Stoudemire after the 24-year-old big man missed all but three games in '05-06 while recuperating from microfracture knee surgery. His presence, and return to playing 31 minutes a game, has given Phoenix a boost defensively, helping the Suns rank 13th in the league in defensive field-goal percentage, an improvement from 17th last season. That growth has been obscured, though, by the Suns' fast pace, which provides both teams more chances to score, and hence, more points.
"Our goal is to play a little bit better defense than the team we're playing," D'Antoni said during the Suns' recent trip to New York. "If we score more points than them, then that means that we played better defense, and we're doing it a lot of the time. ... We don't have strength in a lot of places and we don't overpower people defensively, but if you watch [us] skating around, [we] are playing good team defense."
With perhaps the best defensive team of D'Antoni's tenure, a 36-9 start, Stoudemire's return to good health and the sublime play of two-time MVP Nash, the championship window has never seemed more open in Phoenix.
"We want to win it now; that was our goal coming into the season," said Raja Bell, Nash's backcourt mate. "We understand we were real close last year minus an injury or two. [But] there's always a little luck that goes into it, so if it's not your year, it's not your year."
Just how many years this Phoenix unit has, though, is in question, as Nash reaches further into his mid-30s -- with a notoriously balky back. A rotation that is effectively only eight deep doesn't figure to help ease the burden on Nash or his teammates. Nonetheless, Nash, who hasn't missed more than seven games since the '00-01 season, doesn't seem concerned.
"We feel like there's no reason we can't be a great team next year," Nash said. "[But] we aren't looking at the future. We're looking at this year, not because of any window but because of the opportunity in front of us. ... The return of Amare has helped combined with having a better understanding of what we're trying to do and when we're at our best."
For a club that averages 111.6 points, the Suns are at their best not merely because they run. Heck, even the woebegone Grizzlies run nowadays. But when the Suns take off, they do so with five players who average better than 15 points. They do so shooting 50 percent as a team. And they do so averaging more assists than any team in the NBA.
"[Our success] doesn't have anything to do with the system," D'Antoni said. "We have the personnel to fit this type of style. ...With Steve, and Amare and Shawn [Marion], we're able to go back to a fast-breaking, more wide-open kind of game that everybody played in the '70s and '80s. That system worked because everybody played it. Nobody plays this way [anymore]."
And should this attack -- which strives to shoot with 14 clicks left on the shot clock while forcing an opponent to decide whether to stick to its defensive principles or try to outshoot the Suns -- falter again this year, D'Antoni is ready to retool the best way he knows how.
"We'll just speed it up."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/paul_forrester/02/01/suns.notes/1.html
Posted: Thursday February 1, 2007
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Since Steve Nash arrived in Phoenix in 2004, Mike D'Antoni has won 73 percent of the games he's coached with the Suns.
Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images
You must be registered for see images
The numbers are staggering. Two winning streaks of at least 15 games. A 20-1 record against the Eastern Conference. An 8½-game lead in the Pacific Division. A winning percentage of .800.
By any measure, the Phoenix Suns are blazing a trail through the 2006-07 season that few teams have ever traversed.
But as daunting as the arrival of Steve Nash and his running partners are in an opponent's locker room, the challenge the Suns face in graduating from regular-season carnival act to NBA champion is equally onerous. For all that the Suns have dazzled under coach Mike D'Antoni's European-flavored run-and-gun system -- leading the league in scoring for the third consecutive season, winning at a pace that could secure homecourt advantage throughout the Western Conference playoffs for the second time in three years -- Phoenix has to prove its style can win in June. Indeed, the past two seasons have seen the Suns stopped in the conference finals by the Spurs and Mavericks, respectively. Further, the recent body of NBA evidence doesn't lead one to conclude titles are won with flash.
Over the last three campaigns, defense has won the day. The Pistons of 2003-04 and the Spurs of '04-05 each led the league in scoring defense en route to the trophy, while last season's Heat team was second in that category in the playoffs.
D'Antoni, now in his fourth season in the desert, believes a win in the Finals isn't a matter of style as much as timing.
"Two years ago the geniuses said this system wouldn't work through December," D'Antoni said. "Then [after a 62-win regular season] it was, 'It's definitely not going to work in the playoffs,' and that Memphis would sweep us. Well, we swept them. Then it was, 'It's not going to work against Dallas.' Well, we beat them 4-2. Then it was, 'It won't work the next year without Amaré [Stoudemire]'. Well, it did work. So now until we win the Finals, it will be, 'Well, it doesn't work in the Finals.'
"Give me a break. It doesn't work in the Finals because there are other great teams and other great players. If we hit the right shots and get lucky, we can win it all."
Every champion needs its steppingstone, every Bulls needs its Pistons. But the Suns face a conference with a host of accomplished rivals -- three alone in Texas -- every bit as talented as D'Antoni's group. And unlike an entire conference of Eastern teams too bogged down by its own inconsistent play to slow down the Suns, the West's likely playoff participants know this Phoenix team like a next-door neighbor. And if this season's results are any measure, it appears they want the lawn mower back; the Suns entered Thursday's matchup with San Antonio a combined 0-6 against the Mavs, Spurs, Jazz and Lakers.
Truth be told, though, all but one of the losses came in the opening weeks of the season, when Phoenix was getting reacquainted with Stoudemire after the 24-year-old big man missed all but three games in '05-06 while recuperating from microfracture knee surgery. His presence, and return to playing 31 minutes a game, has given Phoenix a boost defensively, helping the Suns rank 13th in the league in defensive field-goal percentage, an improvement from 17th last season. That growth has been obscured, though, by the Suns' fast pace, which provides both teams more chances to score, and hence, more points.
"Our goal is to play a little bit better defense than the team we're playing," D'Antoni said during the Suns' recent trip to New York. "If we score more points than them, then that means that we played better defense, and we're doing it a lot of the time. ... We don't have strength in a lot of places and we don't overpower people defensively, but if you watch [us] skating around, [we] are playing good team defense."
With perhaps the best defensive team of D'Antoni's tenure, a 36-9 start, Stoudemire's return to good health and the sublime play of two-time MVP Nash, the championship window has never seemed more open in Phoenix.
"We want to win it now; that was our goal coming into the season," said Raja Bell, Nash's backcourt mate. "We understand we were real close last year minus an injury or two. [But] there's always a little luck that goes into it, so if it's not your year, it's not your year."
Just how many years this Phoenix unit has, though, is in question, as Nash reaches further into his mid-30s -- with a notoriously balky back. A rotation that is effectively only eight deep doesn't figure to help ease the burden on Nash or his teammates. Nonetheless, Nash, who hasn't missed more than seven games since the '00-01 season, doesn't seem concerned.
"We feel like there's no reason we can't be a great team next year," Nash said. "[But] we aren't looking at the future. We're looking at this year, not because of any window but because of the opportunity in front of us. ... The return of Amare has helped combined with having a better understanding of what we're trying to do and when we're at our best."
For a club that averages 111.6 points, the Suns are at their best not merely because they run. Heck, even the woebegone Grizzlies run nowadays. But when the Suns take off, they do so with five players who average better than 15 points. They do so shooting 50 percent as a team. And they do so averaging more assists than any team in the NBA.
"[Our success] doesn't have anything to do with the system," D'Antoni said. "We have the personnel to fit this type of style. ...With Steve, and Amare and Shawn [Marion], we're able to go back to a fast-breaking, more wide-open kind of game that everybody played in the '70s and '80s. That system worked because everybody played it. Nobody plays this way [anymore]."
And should this attack -- which strives to shoot with 14 clicks left on the shot clock while forcing an opponent to decide whether to stick to its defensive principles or try to outshoot the Suns -- falter again this year, D'Antoni is ready to retool the best way he knows how.
"We'll just speed it up."
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/paul_forrester/02/01/suns.notes/1.html
