Western Conference Semifinals Game 6- Suns @ Mavericks Game Thread

[George O'Brien]

Amare twisted his ankle and was slugged in the face. After that he wasn't nearly as effective. Plus the refs were brutal.

 

[Evil Ash]

Amare twisted his ankle and was slugged in the face. After that he wasn't nearly as effective. Plus the refs were brutal.

He wasn't that effective before that. It was just one of those game where Amare had his head somewhere else.

His effort even before getting hurt was disappointing

 

[elindholm]

His effort even before getting hurt was disappointing

And his effort in the first half of Game 5 was terrible as well. Basically the Suns won the last two games in spite of getting only half of one good performance from Stoudemire. That's remarkable.

 

[RichDawg]

This season has some eerie similarities to the 92-93 season. Here's what I've noticed so far:

62 wins, best in the league (as in 93). The NBA's MVP (Barkley). An injury to a key player in the playoffs (Ceballos). A dramatic Semifinals game 6 win on the road in Texas (Barkley's shot over Robinson).

I know they're just coincidences, but it's fun to point out.

 

[az1965]

The strange thing was after we had a run early 4th quarter then Amare came back with 5 fouls. We started to turn the ball over and missing shots and they took the lead. I was quietly hoping DA takes Amare out because his head was not in the game tonight for whatever reason. Maybe he was too tight or something.

 

[Chaz]

Amare just looked a step slow tonight.

Like he was moving at half speed. He really hurt us on defense.

The good news is he usually follows up a bad game with a good one.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Great game, guys. Best of luck versus the Spurs!!



BIM

 

[AZZenny]

Everyone believes in themselves, because Nash believes in them, and he's playing so well that everyone assumes he must be right.

May have found a new sig line.

Refs do seem to get into Amare's head - and he needed to step out to let Shawn really come to life. Noticed Amare was very animated and quite a cheerleader after he fouled out. He was giving Steve a shoulder rub before OT - may not have been a totally bad thing for him to watch the Maestro conduct the orchestra for a while with no thought to 'my turn, my turn.' Hope so, anyhow.

Just imagine if this team really starts clicking on all cylinders in unison. WAAA-HOOO!

 

[fordronken]

Amazing. I love this team, and if somebody told me the circumstances of this game late in the third quarter I wouldn't have thought they had a chance to win. Down 16, no JJ, Amare playing awfully, no bench production, Q can't shoot, in Dallas. Suns win. Nash plays 50 something minutes and didn't even seem tired at all, carrying the team on his back.

The overtime, plus the upcoming game being in the afternoon, by the way, is a ludicrous turnover. Extremely, extremely unfair. Why can't the Heat play on Sunday? Shaq won't be ready yet? Are they waiting for something?

 

[cly2tw]

Actually, Amare almost got it going again in the 4th. We posted him a couple of times with one kickout leading to a 3pt and one score over Dampier. On two other drives he didn't get the calls, the rest is history.

Yet, with Hunter in there, the defense is much better in that we contained the most potent weapon by the Mavs, their drives with Stack and Howard.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

Here is Amare's problem he is still a bit one dimensional on offense, it's a pretty damn good one dimension most nights but when he get frustrated on no calls he makes stupid fouls on D and then it's punch out time. he has to improved vastly on his mid jumper. He needs to stick that thing like Malone used to then there will be no lulls in his O. That gets him fired up on all ends of the floor.

So next season Amare will
1. work on and vastly improve his midrange
2. start to improve his post passing
3. learn techniques to help him become dominant on the boards.

But hey I don't care about that right now, Sunday is going to be awesome and I think Amare will come out strong.

 

[Cheesebeef]

what's actually puzzled me a bit in this last round was Amare's reluctance to stick that outside jumper. He's been hitting it fairly well all season and that opens his game up/ Seemed like he hada one track mind in this series - and it worked pretty well being a HUGE factor in winning 3 games, but I think he'll need both his inside and outaside game if we're gonna have a shot to beat the Spurs.

Also - guys, we've got to remember - this is only his third year in the league and only his second playoff appearance - the kid's doing pretty damn well considering... I can't wait to see what this monster is gonna be like in just two years - oh my God!

 

[Treesquid PhD]

Jesus Christ Cheese stop making posts I can agree with you on.

 

[JCSunsfan]

On the final score in regulation:

Why don't teams foul when up by three? Cotton did this regularly.

On that play, mysteriously, Jason Terry dropped back as Nash approached the 3 point line, leaving him open for a virtually uncontested 3 to put it into over time. At that point, a rebound or driving the lane did not matter. A layup or a tip in by the Suns would result in a Suns loss.

Bad mental mistake by the Mavs. They deserved to lose.

 

[RichDawg]

I believe the Mavs got caught on their heels, as the Suns did not call timeout and just ran the play. We just caught them by surprise.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Jesus Christ Cheese

 

[Cheesebeef]

That's right BIM - I AM NOW YOUR GOD!

 

[Brian in Mesa]

That's right BIM - I AM NOW YOUR GOD!

That's wrong on so many levels.

 

[justAndy]

...

Amare just needs mentoring and practice at the mental aspects of the game.
he is still a young guy who never had the structure of the college environment.
Like Yogi says "90% of this game is 1/2 mental"

 

[Joe Mama]

I think the reason that Amare wasn't taking that midrange jumper is because that's not really what the defense was giving him. They were jumping two and three defenders out on him, and oftentimes when they didn't do it immediately you waited for it. Once he is getting that much defensive focus outside of the Lane the only choice for him really is to pass the ball. They did a pretty good job of moving the ball around to find the open shooter or someone that could get their defenders off their feet and drive to the basket. I just wish they would cut to the basket more often in those situations and when Nash is drawing three and four defenders in the middle of the lane.

San Antonio doesn't like to double-team (they don't really need to most of the time), so I expect Amare Stoudemire will be incredibly productive. I think we will see some very physical defense on Steve Nash. They might get called for fouls for awhile, but they know that eventually the referees will swallow their whistles. San Antonio plays great defense, and they have a lot of depth, especially in the frontcourt. They are capable of putting up a lot of points though. This is going to be an extremely difficult series for Phoenix even if Tim Duncan is somewhat hobbled. Q is going to need to shoot much, much better, and hopefully JJ cannot knock down shots like he did during the regular season.

Go Suns!

Joe Mama