Utah 115, Phoenix 108 Preview - Box Score - Recap By DOUG ALDEN, AP Sports Writer January 13, 2005 SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Phoenix Suns ran so much early they had nothing left at the end. Utah rallied after falling behind by 14 and held off the Suns 115-108 on Wednesday night, the Jazz's second straight win over one of the top teams in the Western Conference. ``Those are signs of what we can do and those are signs of the team that we have if we do the right thing,'' said Raja Bell, who scored 19 points off the bench after missing five games with inflammation in his right knee. Utah's bench and rebounding wore down the Suns, who beat Miami 122-107 the night before. Utah's reserves outscored the Suns' 67-6, and the Jazz won the rebounding battle 55-35. Mehmet Okur, whose last-second offensive rebound and putback gave Utah a 97-96 win over San Antonio on Monday night, finished with 21 points and 17 rebounds -- 10 on the offensive glass. ``Right place, right time. It's all about effort. I'm going (after) every ball,'' Okur said after his second straight double-double. After losing nine straight, the Jazz have won two in a row over the teams with the top two records in the West. Keith McLeod finished with 10 points and 11 assists, and Matt Harpring had 16 points and eight rebounds for Utah. Despite the huge victories, Utah only improved to 13-24, and coach Jerry Sloan wasn't going to let the celebration on the team flight to Sacramento for a game Thursday get too rowdy. ``If they don't realize where we are and what a hole we've dug ourselves in, it's a sad commentary because we have a long way to go to fight out of this hole,'' Sloan said. ``Hopefully, it'll be important enough for them to try to do that. Basketball can be a lot of fun when everybody's involved with us.'' Steve Nash had 22 points and 11 assists for the Suns, who had won seven in a row and 18 of 19. All five Suns starters finished in double figures, but Nash was the only one who appeared to have anything left at the end. Quentin Richardson scored 24, Shawn Marion finished with 20 points and Amare Stoudemire had 19. Joe Johnson added 17 for the Suns. ``I don't think we had the same energy,'' Marion said. ``We came out of the gates on fire tonight and I think we just relaxed a little bit. And as soon as we relaxed, they became the aggressors and they started getting all the calls.'' Actually, Phoenix was called for seven fouls in the second half to Utah's 15. And in the third quarter, the Suns were only called for three fouls while the Jazz drew nine, incensing Sloan and the home crowd of 19,209. The home fans who booed the officiating so loudly had plenty to cheer at the end. ``We needed something like this,'' said Utah's Raul Lopez, who had 14 points and four assists off the bench. We need more wins like these.'' Phoenix was able to run at will early, but the Jazz took control in the second quarter and held off everything the Suns had down the stretch. After falling behind by 11, the Suns cut Utah's lead to 83-82 on a three-point play by Stoudemire with 51 seconds left in the third quarter. But Utah closed the quarter with six straight points, getting two fee throws by Curtis Borchardt, a layup from Howard Eisley on a goaltending call and Kris Humphries' layup just before the buzzer after stealing an inbounds pass. After Nash cut it to 94-86, Kirk Snyder went in for a dunk off a pass from Eisley to put the Jazz back up by 10 with 8:50 remaining. Jake Voskuhl scored his only points of the night to get the Suns back within single digits, but Borchardt hit a field goal and Lopez added back-to-back 3-pointers during an 8-2 run for the Jazz. Every time the Suns made a run and cut into the lead, the Jazz answered. Stoudemire's two free throws with 3:25 left cut the margin to 110-100, and Utah came right back with a 3-pointer by the 7-foot Okur, who had just tipped in the Jazz's previous basket. After a 3-pointer by Marion, Harpring made a layup to make it 115-103 and Gordan Giricek, who had 10 points, made a steal at the 2-minute mark on the other end that finally knocked out the Suns. Notes Utah point guard Carlos Arroyo, in trouble with Sloan lately and the subject of trade rumors, dressed but did not play. ... McLeod tied his career high for assists. ... The Suns had 36 free-throw attempts to Utah's 16. http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap;_...k1ODYxOTQ4BHNlYwN0aA--?gid=2005011226&prov=ap Surprised nobody was talking about this, the Jazz now have a win over the Spurs and the Suns in the past week or so, huh?
Great wins for Utah. I think what is interesting about this particular game is that it is worth noting that the Suns were coming off a back to back situation where they played the Heat the night before. Clearly they put ALL of their energy into that Heat game. It was a litmus test for them. Then, the next night after playing all of their starters 40+ mins they play a team in Utah that pushed the ball as well. I think what we saw here is the effects of Phoenix's lack of bench depth and thus players were tiring out. I saw some of the game and it looked like Utah just out hustled the Suns. It will be interesting to see how the Suns do later in the year and see if the extended minutes catch up with them. They are young so I am sure they will be able to handle it more than most teams. But NASH in particular it will be interesting to see how it effects him. He always wore down in Dallas and in Phoenix he seems to be running a heck of a lot more than he ever did in Dallas.
Great points, the Suns are running their starters for nearly the entire game. Nash will wear down a lot faster than he did in Dallas. I don't remember the exact stat but Utah's bench outscored the Suns by an insanse amount.
The starters are averging 38.42mpg with what looks like an 8 man rotation. Barbosa didn't look too bad last year so you would think they could give Nash more time to rest but so far he's only getting 13.7mpg. go figure...
