When was the last time that a pure point guard scored near 50 points in a game?

Cause the refs thought that it was Yao that was playing for the Suns.

 

Like some have already mentioned, Nash took what the defense gave him. Rather than the defense collapsing on him, they stayed at home on who they were guarding making it very difficult to pass to an open teammate.

Another sublety is how effective the Suns are early in the shot clock. There was a graphic displayed during the game and their offensive efficiency dropped markedly in the last 7 or so seconds. Dallas' defensive strategy emphasized pushing Nash and the Suns later into the clock.

On the subject of how the game was called. Am I the only one to notice that 2 of the 3 officials were Joe DeRosa and Bennet Salvatore?

 

i disagree...though i said they lost...and i'm disappointed because of that...it's not the reason they lost.

defense was.

a team that scores over 100 has to keep the other team below 119.

 

That has really been the story of this series. Dirk has been put in the post a lot more and hasn't been able to draw "Dirk" fouls this series. Amare has been receiving the ball a little below the free throw line and driving to the basket and he has gotten a ton of free throws. When Dallas stays on Amare on the pick and roll, it forces him to post up a little more and Amare hasn't shown the ability to get good shots with his back to the basket.

 

Mavs played the passing lanes. When that happens, a PG should score and penetrate. That's exactly what Nash did.

Nash got his turnovers BECAUSE he was trying to involve his
teammates. But when Dallas plays the passing lanes, attempts to get the ball to teammates results in turnovers.

PHX needed other players to create plays for themselves (jumpshots, pull-up jumpers, off the dribble, penetrating, etc.) and make Dallas pay for playing the passing lanes.

Ultimately, though, I agree that a lack of defense lost the game for PHX.

 

I have to say watching last night's game gave me a lot more respect for Dallas and Johnson. They played a lot better than any game I saw against Houston and I think adjustments Avery made had a lot to do with it.

Also- Phoenix's lack of defense lost them that game and Steve Nash is just insanely talented. Even though Dallas decided to focus on the other Sun's, Nash was still forced to take some very difficult shots and he was making them. It reminded me of McGrady.

 

I was pretty astonished to learn that this was the first game of the entire season in which Nash had more TOs than assists...

 

Suns lost because

1. They play no D

2. Their 3pt didn't pour in

3. Their bench sux. The only players who got some mins were McCarty and Barbosa. And even these two have no offense (Barbosa made only 1 of 7 yesterday) and couldn't play defense. You know how pathetic their bench are. So if their starters don't play well, they have no lift from bench. These will hurt them more than anything, especially they are short-handed with Joe Johnson out indefinitely.

Nash shot 20 of 28 last night, 71% shooting. He wasn't the reason they lost last night. Marion, Amare and he still combined for 82pts. I don't think it is far below their average.

 

you could also add that Mike D'Antoni sucks as a coach. Why?


1.Sure playing a helter skelter offense where everyone feeds off the PG could be a good idea, but at least have some plays hidden in your pocket man. There wasn't anything out there that resembled a set offense besides the screen and roll by Amare/Nash. When they needed some sort of organized play, they didn't have one. I hate to say it, but Avery Johnson is doing a better job coaching than D'Antoni.

2.This is where a coach could help his star players that are struggling. Set up some easy plays and get him some easy buckets so he can try and get into the flow. Nash...more importantly D'Antoni...just stopped giving the ball to Amare at the end of the game. Sure Amare was hounded, but you cannot tell me he couldn't have drawn up a backdoor play or anything of the like. And Marion, he's been underutilized this season. He's only getting points off of other people's misses.

Depth is a real problem for them but I think, more than anything, it's their lack of set offense that kills them. Like one analyst said in game 2, if you make the Suns keep the ball for more than 7 seconds, they look lost out there.

 

After a statement like that you should be carefull of calling others "morons".

BTW I think Nash played a great game but I didn't think the Suns as a team played smart. Lots of times just when things just got working inside or inside-outside they would jack up shots right away and not get Amare touches. Q and Barbosa were the biggest problems, but Nash here and there could have managed the team better too. They missed some layup ups too only to lead to Dallas fast breaks. Lots of little things.

Just wasn't a good game for them, but after winning game 3 in Dallas it was Dallas who had to perform to their best or start making vacation plans. Suns just needed to stay afloat over the weekend so they at least regain homecourt if not get Johnson back too. Like Game 4, Game 5 is a must for Dallas--but Phx is at the advantage being home and with the extra day rest even if Johnson is not cleared.

 

But then how in hades did Avery blow game 3 at home with the Suns adjusting to losing their leading MPG player in the regular season?

D'Antoni would take 1-1 in Dallas w/o Johnson in a heart beat. AJ lost a chance at a death grip on this series because Dallas lost its compusure in Game 3. As far as I could tell, the Suns did an OK job trying to fight back last night with just a few momentum killing plays (missed layups or jacked up bad shots turned into made 3point plays from Dallas) or they had a legit chance to steal another one.

I think W/O question D'Antoni fared better than AJ over the last two games considering the circumstances.

 

I didn't watch the game, but I do know that Steve Nash is a very smart basketball player. I keep reading about how Nash should have passed more and that Amare should have shot more. But did Nash shoot more because his teammates sucked last night or did his teammates suck because Nash shot more ? Like I said, I didn't watch the game so I don't know. But I would be surprised if it wasn't the former.

 

I don't think the great offensive players can play great defense necessarily. Bird wasn't a great defender not because he didn't want to play defense but because he just wasn't good at it. Magic wasn't a great defender because he was 6'9" trying to cover people much smaller (usually). Dominique Wilkins? Stunk on D. Now he probably didn't want to play it... The list goes on... Bernard King, Alex English, Reggie Miller, Chris Mullin, Kiki Vandeweghe, etc.

I honestly believe that the ability to play great defense is a God-given ability. You either have it or you don't. You can tap into it or you can't. You just don't out of the blue become a great defender when you were a sucky one because you want to. Coaches can improve your defense by helping you with positioning and the like, but no amount of defensive teaching, positioning, technique will make you a Hakeem or Jordan.

This is what make the Hakeems and Jordans great players - they did it on both sides of the floor.

 

Defense is largerly about desire. You obviously need the athleticism, but you wouldn't be in the NBA without it.

McGrady CAN be a defensive monster, but he quit trying while in Orlando because he was doing so much on offense. Kobe was outstanding for one year (2001?) when he decided to become a bulldog. Guys like Prince are frightening because it's more important to them each night to stop their man than to score. It has to be a pride thing.

Evan

 

Stephon Marbury 45 @ L.A. Lakers 03/29/05

 

Isnt AI a PG? If he isnt, who's the PG for Phily. Nash 50 pts, big deal, they still lost, just like the sixers.

 

Everyone's overlooking the question. Asking when a pure point guard scored close to 50.

Throwing out names like KJ, Barros, Marbury, etc. are fine and all, but they're nothing close to pure points. KJ was the closest of those, but he was still a scoring guard imo. Kinda close.

 

That loss wasn't Avery's fault. Nobody could shoot that game and Avery still managed to keep them in it until about five minutes left in the game. When the team shoots 1-18 from the three point line and can't make a layup, how do you blame the coach?

 

Is ANYONE else a bit surprised that the series is tied up at 2 apiece? I really thought Dallas would win in no more than 6 games, which is still feasible, but it is not easy to beat the Suns two games in a row.

I think Dallas is a weird team, they seem to just cruise the first couple of game in a series until they find out how their opponents play, identify their strengths/weaknesses and then implement a game plan to beat them.

They made two excellent adjustments so far in the playoffs: against the Rockets they found a way to beat the Rockets by shutting down our role players and letting T-Mac and Yao do their thing. It worked nicely for them.

With Pheonix now, they make a similar adjustment: let Nash score but render his passing ability ineffective by not letting his teammates get open and playing the passing lane. I think this will be the turning point of the series as well, and Dallas will win the series playing this way.

You gotta give the rookie coach his due, he has been probably the best coach in the playoffs so far, very impressive job. Of course, it helps to have the deepest team in the playoffs with so many tools to work with.

 

It was neither. Dallas forced Steve Nash to be a shooter instead of a distributor. This kept the ball out of everyone elses hands. If Nash has a free path to the basket or an open shot, he has to take it. It wasn't that Nash wasn't trying to get everyone involved. He really didn't have a choice.