Nash - Clutch

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"...if my head were shaved, my strength would leave me,

and I would become as weak as any other man."

-Samson

Steve Nash has seen a few razors in his day so perhaps the analogy to Samson my be inaccurate. However, as part of the Steve Nash day festivities, I was given the task to analyze Steve's play in relation to the length of his hair. And.....after a rigorous, painstakingly complete scientific analysis, I now believe I have the hard evidence to prove some shocking truth to the Steve Nash's hair saga. The following is the undeniable truth my friends:

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More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

The Suns played much improved basketball, but couldn't grab a W versus the Mavericks. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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The fun part of playing the Mavericks in Dallas is watching Steve Nash pull magic out of a hat. Without him tonight, we wouldn't all be sitting here saying, we should have just won that game.

This one stings. It stings because we had many, many, many chances to win down the stretch. One or two or three shots made here and there, and well...

The Suns came out ready to play. You could sense how much they wanted this one by the speed and aggressiveness of their play in the opening quarter.  Jason Richardson was active early playing the full first quarter and bucketing 8 points and 5 rebounds.  Steve Nash chipped in 8 of his own while Amare Stoudemire scored 6.

Early foul trouble led to early appearances from Lou Amundson and Jared Dudley. The Suns ended the first quarter led by Dudley and Nash on a 9-2 run.

In the second, the Suns continued to shoot over 50% and execute. A Dragic 3 led to a Suns 8-point lead at the midway point of the second period.

But Dallas fought back. Dirk Nowitzki  made a variety of impossible shots and benefited by a clear ghost call on a three point play (he wasn't touched). For some reason the Suns either didn't recognize Jose Juan Berea asa member of the opposing team or couldn't make the rotation to cover him as he scored 12 early points, 3 of his baskets came on wide open looks. The Suns led 50-49 at the half.

In the third quarter, Nowitzki and Howard went to work on the Suns, scoring 13 points while Stoudemire and Nash kept things within striking range.

Down the stretch, the Suns had many chances to erase the Mav's lead. But every time they began a small run off of a defensive stop or Mavericks turnover, they couldn't make the shots. Down by 5, Channing Frye was left open for a three and bricked one from long range. Jason Richardson stole a Jason Terry pass and attempted to out run 3 Mavericks to the rim, but instead ran over Jason Kidd for a charge.

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More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

Mr. Gentry was not in the holiday spirit Sunday night.(AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)

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Tonight was deemed "Mission Impossible Part 2" by a respected Suns journalist. The local commentators were hoping for a rain out (hur, hur). While there was no rain or Tom Cruise sightings at the game, winning was to be a monumental task. The "tired" Suns on the second night of a back to back didn't play a perfect game, and even if they did, they probably still would have lost to the defending champions.

There was certainly some good that came out of this game, and there of course, was some bad.

The Suns at least competed tonight. The first quarter witnessed an active Suns team, combatting a nearly flawless Lakers attack. Amare Stoudemire showed up, feeling his outside game and battling inside for rebounds. But five turnovers leading to a 9-2 Lakers run in the first 7 minutes left the Suns in an early hole.

The Lakers D held, as it did for the rest of the game, limiting any Suns inside penetration. Pau Gasol switched off on Steve Nash, thus alleviating any pick 'n roll success.

Still the Suns were making shots, ad held close. A Jared Dudley three brought the Suns back to a 2 point deficit, the Lakers still held a 29-26 first quarter lead. 

The Suns battled in the second quarter as well, going on a nice little 6-0 run. Yet the Suns struggled on D, allowing Laker penetration and two wide open threes. Robin Lopez left his man too early, allowing the first, while Steve Nash went underneath a screen allowing the second. The Suns were still playing respectable and even managed a free throw, their first with 3.49 to play in the second. But this was as good as it was to get for Phoenix on this night as they ended the first half down 54-44.

 The Suns were outscored by 11 in the third quarter and all was, well, finished at that point. The lakers continued to attack and get what they wanted on the offensive end while the Suns went cold from outside, and continued to have trouble getting in the lane.

The Suns second unit closed the lead to 13 midway through the 4th quarter, but back to back three pointers by Shannon Brown ended the Suns small run.

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Will Nash look to shoot first like last night? (Photo by Max Simbron)

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Ah the dreaded second game in back to back nights. The Suns flew out of Phoenix last night after the Kings victory to Los Angeles to play the Lakers tonight at 7:30 tonight. The Lakers are still very pleased with themselves after a last second Kobe three finished the Heat, 108-107. 

The Lakers hold a game edge on the Suns atop the Pacific Division and are currently on an 8 game winning streak. Are you all worried? I am not. And here is why. The Suns can gain a moral victory tonight without scoring more points than the Lakers at the end of 48 minutes. Here's how:

• Play with confidence (unlike last time out vs. the Lakers)
• Make shots we should make (shoot the three, and a respectable FG%)
• Battle on the boards (put bodies on Bynum, Odom, and Artest)
• Play some defense (let Kobe get his 30, but don't let Pau and the others kill you)
• PLAY COMPETITIVE BASKETBALL FOR 48 MINUTES

Simple, yes? Look, there has been much made of late about the Suns and their confidence. From Gentry to Nash to Stoudemire, the sentiment echoed is the same. Against the Knicks and Cavaliers the Suns were tired and lacked confidence. (They also didn't make any shots). While we cannot say that the Suns won't be tired, it's a fact of NBA life. There's a game scheduled, and the Suns have to play it. Why not down an extra red bull before the opening tip?

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Amare brought his gorilla game tonight. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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A win is a win is a win. The Suns performance tonight through 3.5 quarters was nothing to write home about. But led by Amare Stoudemire's 21 rebounds, and Steve Nash's 32 points, along with some timely 4th quarter shooting by Channing Frye, the Suns came out on top with a 115-107 victory against the Sacramento Kings to keep their undefeated home record in tact. 

The Suns needed Amare Stoudemire tonight. Pure and simple. They needed the gorilla game, they needed the Artest game, the Sun Tzu game. They needed Nash to be aggressive on the offensive end, and they got it, and a little extra in the 4th quarter to finish off a gritty Kings team that was a far cry from the squad the Suns bludgeoned by 48 points last year.

Tonight the Suns struggled from the field, shooting in the high 30's for much of the game. Nash struggled with his shot, Amare didn't get the ball on the offensive end (unless it was one of his 9 offensive rebounds) for the first 2 quarters but the Suns were strong from the free throw line, which, along with the Kings poor shooting, kept the game close for much of the night. 

But in the fourth quarter a series of Suns threes and some excellent defense both on the offensive boards and on the defensive end sealed the victory. The difference in the game went a little something like this:

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More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

New York Knicks' Danilo Gallinari (8), of Italy, destroys the Suns. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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The best thing about this game was that we get to play tomorrow night and erase this mess. Of course the Phoenix Suns play the Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James. That won't be too easy, but the victory will be all the sweeter.

There are a lot of different reasons for this loss. I'm not going to go through it all, but I'll tell you, when you give up 71 first half points, you aren't  playing good basketball.

The Knicks seemed to make nearly everything they hoisted up tonight. The trio of Al Harrington, David Lee, and Danilo Gallinari went a combined 28-46 (73 points). Even more disheartening was Jared Jeffries, who finished with a +30. 

UGH

The Suns were never in this game,  giving up 39 points in the first period. It was if they were playing, like, the Suns or something. I t was enough for Danil Gallinari to gush: "I think we are a great team with many offensive weapons."

Well, let's not overdo it, Danilo. The Suns helped out by shooting 23% from three point range (4-17), getting out rebounded 40-50, and turning the ball over 17 times.

Another bad sign for your team is when you allow Larry Hughes 11 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals.

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More photos » by Jim Prisching - AP

"Please Santa, please bring me a Steve Nash for Christmas." (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

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Tonight the Suns play game three of their current 4 game road trip against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The Suns enter the game on a 4 game win streak, but are facing the next couple weeks without Leandro Barbosa.

While the Knicks as a basketball team aren't incredibly interesting, this match-up interests all of us for one particular reason: Mike D'Antoni.

The architect of 7SOL in Phoenix is attempting the East Coast version on a cash strapped, Isiah Thomas/James Dolan destroyed franchise that can only look to the future for any kind of hope. The Knicks are currently 3-14, in the midst of a 5 game slide, in which they most recently lost to the Orlando Magic. While the Knicks and their fans do not have much to be happy about this season, at least they can say they aren't in last place, thanks to the 0-17 New Jersey Nets.

Since both squads emphasize the offensive side of things, here is a little statistical comparison:

OK, that's pretty boring. So why don't we try something a bit different in this preview? I'd now like to introduce, perhaps, for the third or fourth time on BSOTS, the most used FIVE-MAN FLOOR UNITS for the Knicks and Suns. This is a statistic I found out there on the inter-wide web that basically measures the effectiveness of a particular group of players by combined average +/-:

New York Knicks

Ouch. the most commonly used unit for the Knicks throws down a whopping +/- of -25.

Phoenix Suns:

Our starting five, and most often used unit averages a +40.

Obviously the numbers don't tell the whole story here, and we can argue that +/- has its significant flaws, but heck, it looks good right now!   Now, on to the players

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Louis Amundson had a great defensive game for the Suns finishing with 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal and the Suns were a +14 during his time on the floor. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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Tonight, the Suns used a balanced, dominating attack to defeat the road weary Detroit Pistons.The Suns controlled the game in virtually every category tonight-they defended, they rebounded, they made shots, they even looked respectable from the free throw line.

The Suns started hot, at one point shooting over 80% midway through the first quarter (9-11). Still, the Pistons hung around, keeping things close until the Suns bench took over in the second, extending the lead to 10.

This one was a sleeper, a pleasant sleeper mind you, from the third quarter on. The Suns played well on both ends of the floor and Detroit quickly discovered they were tired. Ben Gordon and Rodney Stuckey were non factors as the Suns held Gordon to 10 points and Stuckey to 8. The two combined for 7-26 from the floor.

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More photos » by Bill Haber - AP

about 1 month ago: Phoenix Suns coach Alvin Gentry reacts on the sidelines in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Hornets in New Orleans, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009. The Hornets defeated the Suns 110-103. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)

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Tonight the Suns look to bounce back from a pathetic tough loss agains the Hornets Thursday night and test their 4-0 home record vs. the Detroit Pistons. Like the Suns, the Pistons are coming off a loss, with Detroit falling in overtime to Utah, 100-97. Tonight marks the end of the Pistons four game West Coast road trip, in which they are 0-3 thus far, losing to the LA Lakers, Utah, and Portland by an average of nearly 5 points. The only double digit loss was to the Lakers.  

The Pistons should be tired after a tough loss to the Jazz last night. Ben Gordon, Rodney Stuckey, and Ben Wallace all played over 40 minutes.  Look for the Suns to push the tempo early and try to run Detroit out of the building.

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