The Suns somehow overachieved. So, I'm not as sad as I thought I'd be after the loss.
As I said before the way the team is composed of and how the rotation is so short plus without a true go-to scorer, it's only a question of time till they were worn down physically. Without legs, no 3s, no real spreading of the floor, they will be forced into one-on-one's at some point in the playoff. Last year, Spurs won this way vs us despite the heroics of Amare. This year, it's already a miracle that we passed by the Clippers.
Some people may say, it's just bad luck that Bell got injured. But I see it as inevitable due to the heavy min. asked for the starters. Marion didn't have much energy this game; besides LB, nobody could hit the 3s due to tired legs; no fresh energy from the bench; JJ never got the touch in the playoffs, etc.
On the other hand, Mavs' whole team are much better one-on-one players on average, Dirk, Howard, JT, Stack, Harris. They will always find someone whose 1-1 game works, with Dirk being the reliable last resort like Barkley in his prime. And with our legs gone, this advantage allowed them to creep back for the win.
To avoid the same fate next year, we gotta expand the bench and get some more players capable of certain level of one-on-one games, say, at least better than Marion's. We also need to play a longer rotation in the regular season to give the bench players experience and confidence. Can our 9th man as good as Griffin or Daniels of the Mavs? We really need that insurance too.
Go Suns!
