Suns beat Magic, remain perfect at home

by PanamaSun on Dec 12, 2009 3:24 AM MST in Phoenix Suns: Game Coverage

Amar'e's reaction after dunking the winning basket. (Photo by Max Simbron)

US Airways Center it's starting to become a dangerous place for opposing teams. The Phoenix Suns are the only team in the NBA yet to lose at home. They have won 17 straight games in the desert, dating to last season.

Some of us could say that tonight's game was fun, exciting and entertaining. Others could describe it as frustrating, nerve-wracking and bittersweet. What I'm certain about is that all of us went through a rollercoaster of emotions and that this game had so many WTF moments that you couldn't count them even if you tried really hard.

At the end of the day a win is a win and the Suns nailed some big shots down the stretch and got an offensive rebound that proved to be the defining play of the game. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and let's take a look at what happened before it came down to that exciting play.

1^st Half

The Suns were hot in the first quarter. They were hitting shots, moving the ball well and Steve Nash was finding wide open teammates with a variety of passes that made me jump from my seat on several occasions. They looked sharp and with a lot of energy. On the other hand, the Magic seemed tired and a step slower than the Suns. They were careless with the ball, having six turnovers and only scoring 9 points with three minutes to play in the quarter. Eventually their offense picked up and they managed to end the 17-0 run by the Suns with a run of their own. At the end of the quarter the score was Suns 33 and the Magic 22. Although they cut the lead to eleven, I had the feeling that Phoenix was in the driver's seat and that they would put the game away at any moment. Boy was I wrong.

Gentry decided to go with his bench to start the second quarter. Jared Dudley made a three pointer and Amar'e, who remained on the floor, got a nice feed from Dragic aka Frosty. This great play prompted Van Gundy to call a timeout as the Suns were pulling away and extending their lead to 19.

The Magic would not back down and they showed everyone why they are the best road team in the NBA, shooting accurately from the perimeter and fighting their way back in the game. At this point, Howard had been a non factor. The Suns were double teaming him as soon as he put the ball on the floor. The plan was working until Howard started to find open teammates who did what they do best...hit outside shots.

At the half, the Suns had shot 52% from the field while the Magic managed to stay close despite shooting 43%. Orlando had 13 turnovers and the Suns 6.

2^nd Half

If I was Alvin Gentry I would be really disappointed with the effort shown in the third quarter. The Magic got the lead down to eight points thanks to a great shooting performance by Mickael Pietrus. He was absolutely phenomenal, scoring 15 points in the quarter.

Suddenly we had a ball game. The Magic erased what was once a 19 point lead and got it down to three. All of this happened with Vince Carter on the bench. Carter, who seldom hurts himself while playing the game of basketball, went to the bench due to a sore knee early in the Q. The Magic closed out the third trailing just 85-81.

4^th Quarter Madness

Basketball is a crazy game. When you are in practice (Yeah, I'm talking about practice) you run drills, shoot the ball a hundred times, box out etc. You do all these things thinking that at some point of the season, these little things will help you win close games. But the truth is that sometimes you just need a little luck.

With the Suns ahead by one point, The Magic stole the ball from Amar'e. Anthony Johnson was leading the fast break and he dribbled the ball off of Pietrus' foot giving the ball back to the Suns. Steve Nash found an open Jared Dudley who shot the three ball but was closed out by Dwight Howard. With him nowhere near the paint, Amar'e was able to get the rebound off the missed shot by Jared. Offensive rebound leads to a dunk. Dunk lead to Amar'e's scream. Scream leads to the Win.

Interesting facts

Despite the comments that I saw on the game thread, Robin Lopez had a very bad game. He had only 2 points and 5 fouls in just under 5 minutes of playing time. It's very frustrating to see him play.
Jared Dudley had a monster game. He hit big boy shots in the 4^th quarter and scored 19 points to match his career high.
The Magic shot 38 free throws. Dwight Howard alone shot 17 while being held to only one field goal attempt.
Rashard Lewis didn't refuse to play in this game.

Final Thoughts

This was a game that the Suns desperately needed. They were rested and playing at home. The Magic were playing the second game of a back to back. True, wasting a 19 point lead is nothing to be happy about but remember that Orlando is a hell of a team and they showed it tonight.

Protect your home court. I bet that's on every championship team's check list. The Suns are certainly doing their best to comply with that statement.

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Comments

As stated

a much needed win. How in the world does Howard have one field goal attempt?
I have a bad feeling this is what Lopez is, he is basically a average to poor backup center. How can is brothers makeup be so much different then him is frustrating. Robin should be a servicable player, I just don’t see that happening. Yes it is early, I just have a gut feeling he is what he is.
Tough back to back again tonight. Will be interesting to see how they perform.
Dudley is the shit off the bench!!!

by Grockcubs on Dec 12, 2009 7:38 AM MST reply actions

At the end of the game is was past midnight here and I was falling asleep

Until Amare dunked it with about three seconds left. I was up and wide awake, trying not to scream. In the words of Butthead, “That was cool.”

Dissapointing the way we played in the second and third, treading water at the least, but an awesome start and an awesome finish. The Magic are a good team, I can’t expect anyone to dominate them wire to wire. Go Suns!

Fanaticism is not logical

by SunDolphin on Dec 12, 2009 7:47 AM MST reply actions

Yup

It was really late here too. But there was no way I would fall asleep watching that game. My heart was pouding at the end.

"Basketball doesn't build character. It reveals it"

by PanamaSun on Dec 12, 2009 10:11 AM MST up reply actions

By the way

Did anyone notice Kelly Dwyer somewhat acknowledged his “curse” on the team?

Sadly, the only curse on the Suns right now is ineffective defense for large stretches of games.

Contributor: Bright Side of the Sun Twitter: @MikeLisboa

by Mike Lisboa on Dec 12, 2009 8:38 AM MST reply actions

Some thoughts...

I dont get to see games very much, only when they are on ESPN or TNT so I have a bit of a different perspective than most people on this board. I read about Nash, Amare, JRich and the Suns but dont get to see them play much. Thus when I do, I expect certain things based on what I have read from you guys and others. So here are my thoughts.

1) Nash is, without a doubt, the one of the few things that makes this team run. I was nervous when he was on the bench. When he is on the court things run smoothly, guys seems to calm down. Even Dragic looked really good when Nash was out there with him. A few times during the game JRich handled the ball trying to create his own shot and the result was disastrous. (If you saw the game in the 4th you know what I am talking about…drive to the hoop, spin around hook that never even touches the rim…just awful.) We need Nash out there but he played waaaay too much last night. Hopefully thats just the way it is against ELITE teams, but not everyone else.

2) Amare may not be the offensive powerhouse of the previous years, but I would still take him. We are finally getting a glimpse of what “smart” Amare looks like and the results are great. Imagine with another year or so of fine tuning this game, he will be a stellar All-Star caliber PF. Worth paying top dollar for IMO. He made pretty good defensive plays, some nice rotations, played DHoward like a beast (when he did) and amazingly shot the ball like an animal. I would like to see him get to the rim a little more, but it was Orlando so I am not fretting too much about it.

3) The bench is good. Not great, but good. They can be really solid when they play hard and smart. I wonder if sometimes they play less smart than they should and try to keep the frenetic pace that the starting line has. In doing so, they seem to be more reckless. I am not sure what the identity of the bench team is, but I think it should be slower and more scrappy than the starters. When Nash goes out, slow down, put pressure on people, make em work for absolutely everything they want. Score a few points but dont get bogged down by it. Then they are tired and start missing their shots when Steve and the starters are on the floor.

4.) Lopez was not great. But I didn’t think he did that poorly either. Again, this is Orlando, and Lopez is a young inexperienced center. He played aggressively, got in the paint for some good rebounds in his short minutes, and even scored on a good play. If he can learn to be a little more finesse about his defense then I think we got what we need in a center. Whether or not that can happen is up for debate. But a high energy center who learned from Shaq to, at the very least, protect your paint at all costs is ok for now. I expect to see improvement.

Go read a book!

by N8lol on Dec 12, 2009 8:40 AM MST reply actions

Perhaps, and I’m just throwing this out there, the reason the Suns remain undefeated at home is in part because they’ve rarely been there. Seven weeks in and they’ve only had one a week on average. Thankfully a big homestand is coming up.

Great game, especially the end. I thought the Suns were going to lose it when Grant Hill? turned the ball over, but then Anthony Carter dribbled it off his foot? WTF? I expect that from D-League, not NBA. Whatever, great finish, I’m not sure why they put 1.9 on the clock for the jump ball re-do, but Amare did a good job slapping it down court.

Yet another Suns blog: http://phxsunsnews.com

by JasonEllis on Dec 12, 2009 11:00 AM MST reply actions

on dribble off foot

Replay shows he didn’t dribble it off his own foot, but I think it was pietrus who ran by him filling a passing lane..

by be-the-ball on Dec 12, 2009 11:58 AM MST via mobile up reply actions

On the 1.9 time put back on, that was just plain stupid. Did anyone notice the fucking small monitor used for replays? Seriously, they film in hd, the replays should be on a 60in screen off to the side..it’s not that hard to setup. And for what the players/teams make..

The replay clearly showed amare tippd it out of bounds with 0.7 seconds (less than 1 second) left. Suns caught a break

by be-the-ball on Dec 12, 2009 12:02 PM MST via mobile up reply actions

It was Amare

who lost the ball on two straight possessions although to be fair on the first one Pietrus blindsided him and made a nice steal. On the second, Amare just botched the catch.

The replay monitor is a decent size HD monitor at least 22in (which is bigger than it was last year). When you are standing that close to it, it is plenty large.

The lack of monitor doesn’t explain that call. My best guess is that Crawford thought the first bounce was out of bounds OR he for whatever reason went with the football rule and tried to judge when the ball crossed the line and not when it bounced out of bounds. Or maybe he’s just a dumb ass.

Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @phoenixstan

by Seth Pollack on Dec 12, 2009 12:16 PM MST up reply actions