Phoenix Suns Stiffed In Final Minutes By Stout Houston Defense, A Breakdown

by Seth Pollack on Feb 10, 2012 11:00 AM MST in Phoenix Suns: Game Coverage

The Phoenix Suns had a chance to beat the Houston Rockets on Thursday night. The bench unit got torched in the second quarter but the Suns shot well in the third and got back in the game. In the fourth quarter, however, Phoenix only scored 13 points. Eight came with Nash on the bench and five when Nash came back in the game.

Suns were down 83-84 when Nash came back in at the 6:20 mark, making it a very winnable game. From there, Houston finished on a 13-5 run, mostly thanks to their active defense.

Houston employed the same strategy the Lakers used to shut down the Suns on the 10th of January. They went small with Scola/Patterson, Budinger, Parsons, Lowry and Dragic. That's a four playing the five and a three playing the four.

After getting killed on the glass 37-21 through the first three quarters, the small Houston lineup allow the Suns to win the boards 10-7 and Phoenix gave up no offensive rebounds and no second chance points in the fourth quarter (Houston had 12 OReb and 22 second chance points for the game).

By going small, however, the Rockets were able to switch some pick and rolls and basically created havoc by rotating quickly.

Lowry took two charges and had a great block in the stretch. Budinger was solid on his weak side rotations. And like in the Lakers game, the Suns weren't able to take advantage of the extra size Gortat and Frye had because they are not post players. Gortat missed a make-able shot and twice was fouled on open layups and went 1-4 from the line.

Here's a breakdown of all the Suns possessions from the time Nash came back in with 6:20 to go in the game. Details and screenshots come from mySynergySports.com, which is an awesome service if you are so inclined.

1. High p/r results in Nash layup, 85-84 Suns

2. Hill iso, kicks to wing, deflected out

3. Hill inbound to cutting Dudley, great block by Lowry

4. Hill turnover on the baseline OOB

5. High p/r w/ Nash and Gortat. Dragic trailed over the screen, Scola hedged, Dragic stole the pass, 85-87 Rox

6. Wing p/r w/ Nash and Gortat. Parsons switched on to cutting Gortat, Scola switched on to Frye at top of the arc, Gortat missed 8ft hook

7. High p/r with Nash and Gortat. Parson's switched on to Nash, entry pass to Gortat deflected by Budinger who rotated over, ball of Gortat. Turnover. 90-85, Rox. (Screen shots below)

8. High p/r with Nash and Gortat. Defense sucked in from wings, Gortat kicks to Dudley, good rotation back to prevent three, Dudley drives and passes to cutting Gortat. Gortat fouled, missed both free throws. 90-85

9. High p/r with Nash and Gortat. Nash rejects screen and drives lane for open layup. 92-87

10. Nash curls baseline off a couple screens, catches and pump fakes Dragic, Scola rotates up to help, Nash finds open Gortat cutting, Budinger fouls. Gortat 2-2 free throw. 92-89, Rox (Screen shots below)

11. Curl into side p/r with Nash. Pass to Gortat in the post, quickly doubled, bad pass leads to turnover and runout. 94-89, Rox

12. High p/r with Nash using Frye and Gortat double screen. Rockets switch , Nash drives on Parsons, stopped, backs out resets side p/r , Nash trapped by Parsons and Patterson, pass to open Gortat, Lowry rotates and takes charge. 94-89, Rox

13. Hill iso drive, charge. 94-89, Rox

14. Hill iso, miss. 94-89, Rox

15. Quick three from Frye, miss. 96-89

This possession starts with a quick screen from Frye on Dragic. Parson switched on to Nash. In this screen shot you see Gortat setting up the p/r bring his man, Scola into the play. Note where Budinger is at the top of the key.

Parsons and Scola trap Nash, Gortat is open but Budinger quickly rotates over and deflects the pass and causes a turnover.

This was a pretty play. Frye holds the ball at the top of the arc as Nash runs off a couple of screens.

Dragic is screen by Gortat so Nash has space when he catches the ball here. He pump fakes Dragic out of the play, forcing Scola to leave Marcin open.

Nash finds the open Gortat (of course) but Budinger quickly rotated over and fouled Gortat and prevented the layup.

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Comments

15 possessions, 5 points...

In the fourth quarter, however, Phoenix only scored 13 points. Seven came with Nash on the bench and five when Nash came back in the game.

13 – 7 = 5?

9. High p/r with Nash and Gortat. Nash rejects screen and drives lane for open layup. 92-87

10. Nash curls baseline off a couple screens, catches and pump fakes Dragic, Scola rotates up to help, Nash finds open Gortat cutting, Budinger fouls. Gortat 1-2 free throw. 92-89, Rox (Screen shots below)

I think MM’s recap listed that Gortat made these two (he missed two eariler). It would make sense since the score went from 87 to 89.

Bad execution, good defense, or both?

Gortat played 41 minutes, was he gassed? Nash with one field goal attempt in the last 14 possessions, should he be forcing the issue?

I count 6 turnovers on those 15 possessions. Did I count right? Credit to the rockets for playing such parsimonious defense down the stretch, but also censure the Suns for pathetic execution.

It was only called the mildly irritated house on McDowell until I showed up.

by Jim Coughenour on Feb 10, 2012 12:04 PM MST reply actions

Nash definitely needs to shoot more down the stretch.

"I'm a nobody." - Steve Nash in 1997

by PHXSunsRunNGun on Feb 10, 2012 12:15 PM MST up reply actions

It's not really fair of us to expect Nash to do everything...

But life isn’t fair.

So here goes “Nash, we expect you to do everything and carry the rest of this ~~dead weight~~ team across the finish line on a nightly basis even though you’re old enough to be Markieff’s father.”

It was only called the mildly irritated house on McDowell until I showed up.

by Jim Coughenour on Feb 10, 2012 1:09 PM MST up reply actions

Coaching has to carry some of the load, too

I’ve seen this before this season: athletic teams trap in the back court during the final minutes of the game, and the Suns have no answer. In older days, the Suns BEGGED for opposing teams to try to double team, because the ball handler (KJ or Nash) would get the ball to the open man in the front court for a rousing and swift dunk.

sententia Platonis semper in ore illius fuit, florere civitates si aut philosophi imperarent aut imperantes philosopharentur

by NASCARbernet on Feb 10, 2012 8:02 PM MST up reply actions

I get that

But it is hard for me to expect Nash to carry us in scoring every night when he is running around and dribbling the most and he is now 38. I like shooty Nash but I don’t expect to see it every night because he is not as young as he used to be. I do think he could be shooting more since our offense can get shut down at times and he is such a good shooter.

"If Gortat pulls off a real Dream Shake in-game this year I will shave my head.
Mark my words." Piotr Szczesniak 12/12/11 2:12 PM
Cardinals, Suns, D-backs for life!

by Airwave on Feb 10, 2012 2:04 PM MST up reply actions

It seemed to me the Suns coaching staff made a conscious effort to de-emphasis the Gortat/Nash PnR – and play Nash off ball more, and the results were pretty poor.

We ran Nash on a number of long, Reggie Miller like multiple screen slaloms, and we never really got him the ball – well, once, and that got Gortat two FTs.

It makes sense to run Steve off screens, give him the ball with a step and he is dangerous. Sadly, the player passing to Nash was inevitably inept.

The number of charges late was the shocking part. Almost every second play was a charge.

by MMotherwell on Feb 10, 2012 3:29 PM MST up reply actions

yes…the mystery point!

Twitter me at: @sethpo

by Seth Pollack on Feb 10, 2012 12:18 PM MST up reply actions

and….math

thanks

Twitter me at: @sethpo

by Seth Pollack on Feb 10, 2012 12:32 PM MST up reply actions

At least your story had a mystery point - intriguing...

The arcanum of the misplaced point…

Most of my comments don’t have any kind of point whatsoever….

It was only called the mildly irritated house on McDowell until I showed up.

by Jim Coughenour on Feb 10, 2012 1:12 PM MST up reply actions

Jim, I'll add my thoughts here and hope not to divide us, or subtract from the wisdom you brought.

Gortat played 41 minutes, was he gassed?

It sure looked that way to me. Gortat expends a lot of energy on the floor since he’s asked to be our primary rebounder and screen setter. It’s a lot to expect of him to bring that same energy at the end when he’s been out there the whole half. Is Lopez back in the dog house? Even a short breather would have helped Gortat, and you can’t convince me that five minutes of Lopez in the second half would have doomed us.

Nash with one field goal attempt in the last 14 possessions, should he be forcing the issue?

I thought the same thing. 7-7? Go to that more often. But the Suns do occasionally have other players who can score and the others on the floor out there with him down the stretch (Frye, Gortat, Hill and Dudley) had all scored fairly well up to that point. It’s not so much a question of whether it’s fair to ask Nash to do everything: it’s more that it’s not sustainable for Nash to do everything.

Blogging Suns basketball for Bright Side of the Sun from California wine country.
Twitter: @EastBayRaymundo

by East Bay Ray on Feb 10, 2012 2:10 PM MST up reply actions

It's good to see you differentiate

between possible causes and effects in the game.

I guess the decision to pass or shoot is the dervative of Nash’s experience. Being consistently aggressive would alter the equation that makes Nash so tantalizingly nashty.

Somtimes I just wish he had more layers, like a multi-ply fabric, an onion, or an ogre, so that he could peel away the facilitating layer and expose the shooty layer when desired and at will.

Getting the maximum performance out of Gortat is integral to the success of this season. If his performance down the stretch can be improved as a function of more rest, then Gentry would be best advised to squarely root him to the bench for a couple extra minutes over the course of the game to keep him fresh.

It was only called the mildly irritated house on McDowell until I showed up.

by Jim Coughenour on Feb 10, 2012 2:50 PM MST up reply actions

We may be going off on a bit of a tangent here

But nevertheless, I cosine.

Blogging Suns basketball for Bright Side of the Sun from California wine country.
Twitter: @EastBayRaymundo

by East Bay Ray on Feb 10, 2012 3:46 PM MST up reply actions

Is Lopez back in the dog house?

Robin definitely didn’t have a very productive 6 and a half min out there, but I don’t think he’s in the dog house.

After a horrific showing by the bench in the first half (3 pts in 7 min while Nash sat), Gentry decided he couldn’t put an all-bench squad out there again. He chose to sit Nash/Hill (obviously need the rest) and Dudley (thinking Redd could hopefully provide some offense). Gortat and Frye were the 2 starters left who could stay out there and try to give the bench some help.

BAMF goes HAM.

by brian13 on Feb 10, 2012 4:00 PM MST up reply actions

Personally,

I’m fine with Nash playing the distributor most of the game, but in the final few possessions when they really need a hoop, I’m more confident in Nash throwing it up at the hoop over his head than I am in other guys in the lineup making plays, especially Grant Hill. I would have had Redd in the game over Hill on the final few possessions, at least on offense.

by wedge1039 on Feb 11, 2012 3:05 PM MST up reply actions

Should...

…Gortat be looking to pass to (hopefully) a cutting BAMF on that last picture? Or even out to Frye for an open 3? I’m thinking he should look to pass sometimes, especailly if he’s tired. It would add another positive element to his game.

Tough loss, but still good winning 4 of 6 this month. Houston, obviously, is the better team with a very good bench. Gortat should of probably got a little rest at some point in the second half. Looks like we need to have some new plays for when a team goes small on us late in close games.

by Think about it on Feb 10, 2012 12:19 PM MST reply actions

I was looking for an image, and I ran across this.

What does it mean?

"The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
"In the long run the pessimist may be proved right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip."

by haremoor on Feb 10, 2012 3:15 PM MST reply actions

It means that Ginobili has been hanging out with Reggie Evans

Steve Nash, the league's MVP, is a longhaired Canadian who spoke out against the war in Iraq and reads The Communist Manifesto. Quentin Richardson declared after a game-winning shot that it "was like Hamlet. It was a suspense thriller, and I killed them at the end." Amare Stoudemire, when asked to comment on a 22-point third quarter against the Kings, said, "I've got a tendency to jump over some guys' heads and throw it down."

by rsavaj on Feb 10, 2012 3:25 PM MST up reply actions

I didn't see the game but

Seth’s report is as always the very next best thing. It sounds to me like we were outcoached in the 4th quarter. Houston wisely went small and geared up to hound, trap and disrupt Steve and concentrate on fast defensive rotations. We know from other movies that it’s an effective strategy to play Nash physically and make him work to get the ball up court before he makes the critical pass. We didn’t adapt well. Our key guys were gassed after a very tough series of games. I realize it’s also about execution – but isn’t at least some of this on Gentry? Shouldn’t he be making sure that our main scorers, Steve and Gortat, are well rested at crunch time? Shouldn’t he switch up if we can’t score with the guys he has on the court? Methinks a Popovich type coach would have intervened. Anyone care to comment?

by Van2010 on Feb 10, 2012 3:57 PM MST reply actions

The botched Timeout play was kind of good

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o9I1o1cwE0 – the idea was to get it to Nash top of the arc, with a second option of Dudley. Sadly, Frye stuffed up, and when the play broke down, Hill got called for a charge.

In all those plays, we only looked good when Nash had the ball and created, with Dudley doing a few nice things. Hill, Frye and Gortat all made glaring errors.

As scary as it is, we need to find more ways to get Nash the ball in better spots, and then play off that. In the long run, maybe this sequence of plays will be good, as the team starts to balance Nash PnRs with plays where Nash gets the ball of screens and movement.

by MMotherwell on Feb 10, 2012 4:01 PM MST reply actions