Marcin Gortat, Suns Hang On To Beat Hornets In Wild Finish, Win 104-102

If Marcin Gortat hasn't done enough to earn your respect and love, just watch the second half of tonight's game. Going into the half, he was limited by foul trouble and Robin Lopez playing well. But when he entered the game in the second half, he was an entirely different player. And he never looked back from there.

We saw a highly contested game in the first half, with the two teams seemingly trading baskets. If the Suns went on a run, New Orleans would answer with a run of their own. For every rebound a Suns big pulled down, Emeka Okafor would pull down two offensive boards. For every sweet assist from Suns newcomer Zabian Dowdell, Willie Green or Marcus Thornton would step up and drain a three.

The Suns then decided that they had had enough. Using a third quarter surge from center Marcin Gortat, Phoenix outscored the Hornets by 8 in the quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Suns bench came in and extended the lead to 10 when Nash came back in. It looked like the game was all but wrapped up, but when you're dealing with a top 10 team like New Orleans, you can't let off the gas pedal.

With the Suns up by 7 with just over a minute to go, the Hornets went on a nearly game-winning run. Click the jump for the full story.

The Final Minute

I'm going to basically give a play-by-play, because it's still just amazing to me that we were even this situation.

With 1:02 left in the game, Vince Carter missed a 26-foot three point jumper. Trevor Ariza pulled down the rebound, advanced the ball to Marcus Thornton, and Thornton drew a foul on Grant Hill. After sinking one of two free throws, New Orleans found themselves down by six. The Suns inbounded the ball to Steve Nash who was fouled and consequently sunk both free throws.

Suns are up by eight. Everyone on Planet Orange figured this was another mark for the win column.

However, after a Thornton miss and an Ariza offensive rebound, New Orleans found a wide open Chris Paul who drained a three pointer. At this point, New Orleans trails by only five points. Grant Hill then tries to inbounds the ball to Steve Nash, but it's picked off by Trevor Ariza. He swings it over to Chris Paul who draws the phantom foul on the three pointer. He steps up to the line and sinks all three. Hornets down by two.

After several failed inbounds attempts, Grant Hill throws a long pass to Nash who somehow saves it from going out of bounds, but gets it to Carter who then steps out. Turnover Suns. New Orleans has the ball with 10.4 seconds left. They get the ball to Marcus Thornton who missed a jumper from point blank range. Game over, right? Wrong. Chris Paul gets the rebound, pulls it out beyond the arc, and fires up a prayer at the buzzer. It misses.

Game over. Suns win.

Post-Insanity Thoughts

My heart is still racing over this game. In what should have been the Suns easily finishing the game with a win over a very solid New Orleans team, we found ourselves with one of the wildest finishes of the season. I'll let Seth or one of the other stat heads do the more in depth analysis of the final minute, but all I can say is this Suns team needs to know when to keep their intensity up.

Granted, I was one of the many who thought this game was over. However, when you're on the court launching three pointers and tossing lazy inbounds passes, you are basically setting yourself up for this kind of situation.

I can't exactly fault Gentry for keeping Gortat in the game. Gortat was playing out of his mind, posting a career high 25 points on a near perfect 9-10 shooting, and was coming up with some huge rebounds and defensive plays. However, after his second half explosion, he was very clearly gassed. I understand wanting to leave him in the game and let him ride off into the sunset, but when New Orleans started making their run, you have to wonder if the much fresher Robin Lopez would have been a better option down the stretch.

I'm not knocking on Gortat in the slightest. I'm not even sure if he and Lopez had switched spots for the final minute if it would have made any difference. But the lack of focus and intensity to finish off the game has me a bit worried. Had Thornton nailed that short range jumper with time running out, the game would have gone into overtime with all the momentum in the Hornets' favor.

The Suns are very clearly still a team in progress. Yes, this was a much needed win against an impressive New Orleans team, but there is simply no excuse for the breakdown in concentration. I sound more negative than I would probably like or than I actually am, but I'm simply trying to stress the importance for this team to realize that it cannot take even 60 seconds off against the better teams of the league. We're simply not good enough for that. And with each win inching us closer and closer to the playoff picture, this team needs to realize just how important those waning moments are.

That said, I'm impressed with the way the Suns came out of the locker room in the second half. They were a team focused. They made stops. They grabbed rebounds. They started knocking down the jumpers they were missing earlier in the game. There was a poise present that reminded me of the Boston game. We saw a team hungry for a win, and that's exactly what we needed to see.

Aside from that final minute, I was very impressed with the way this Suns team played.

Other Post Game Thoughts

• Zabian Dowdell did much better than I anticipated. He came in, allowed Nash to rest, and didn't lose the lead. Yes, the offense was stalled and generally out of sync, but his energy and poise allowed him to make the correct play. Usually.
• Vince Carter started the game attacking the hoop and playing pesky defense. His play dropped off as the game went on, but it was his attitude at the start of the game that set the team up for success.
• Steve Nash posted his 27th double double of the season. Is there any question that even at age 36 (37 in eight days) he's still one of the best point guards in the league?
• Chris Paul maintained his "Suns killer" status in today's game. He finished with 26 points, 12 assists, 3 rebounds, a steal on 50% shooting (50% from three point land). He also got to the free throw line 10 times, where he made all 10 free tosses.