azdad1978
Championship!!!!
Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 28, 2005 12:00 AM
It's as obvious as stating that the West's No. 1 seed had a better season than the No. 8 seed.
But Wednesday night the Suns' home-court advantage, gained from a season of hard work, was slipping away.
Memphis took away Phoenix's three-point prowess and its preferred fast pace. But Memphis could not take the Suns' home-court edge.
Steve Nash crouched down and assisted his team's mind-set. "We're a better team," Nash reminded his young cohorts.
Order was restored and a 14-4 run erased a five-point hole in Game 2's final 4:18, giving Phoenix a 108-103 victory that sent the series back to Tennessee with the Grizzlies still looking for the franchise's first playoff win.
Memphis has the 0-2 series blues, having lost despite its black-and-blue tactics. The Grizzlies got Phoenix out of its comfort zone. The Suns got almost no offense from the bench, making only three three-pointers in the first 3 1/2 quarters.
But the Suns found a way.
"To me, it's a great win when things aren't going your way in the playoffs and you still win," Nash said. "It shows we have some resiliency."
After a Game 1 in which there were no first-quarter fouls, Memphis delivered a different intensity from the start and wound up fouling Phoenix 28 times. The Grizzlies stretched their defense farther to the perimeter, giving Amaré Stoudemire the space to roar back from a single-digit scoring performance.
Getting a whopping 18 points at the free-throw line on a Suns-playoff-record-tying 22 attempts (much to Memphis coach Mike Fratello's chagrin), Stoudemire's 34-point game was the best Phoenix playoff scoring performance since Rex Chapman went for 42 against Seattle in 1997.
"Some people saw the game differently than I did," Fratello said.
Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said Wednesday morning that Stoudemire was walking around with smoke coming out of him and nostrils flaring. The bull in him emerged with more aggressiveness. On a night when Memphis shoved, Phoenix growled back like pit bulls - despite its supposed greyhound pedigrees.
"It was tough out there with a lot of hard fouls," Stoudemire said. "We had to fight back and let them know we weren't going to go away. We had to attack."
Phoenix dug in for two critical stretches of half-ending defense. Trailing 46-41 in the first half, Phoenix went on a 14-4 run where their defensive energy converged like it often does with a revved-up offensive effort. When the Memphis lead was 99-94, the Grizzlies missed seven of their final eight shots. Even more critically, the Grizzlies missed 3 of 4 free throws in that span on an 11-of-19 game at the free-throw line.
The Suns scored 31 points on free throws.
After Shawn Marion swatted away Pau Gasol's first two second-half shots, Gasol got rolling, finishing with 18 points in the half.
In Memphis' fourth-quarter rally from five down to five up, Gasol went to work on the post against all comers. Steven Hunter, Stoudemire and Marion all had their turns until Quentin Richardson rescued the Suns in the final seconds.
With Phoenix ahead 103-100 because of a 9-0 run fueled by Richardson's three and back-to-back jumpers from Marion, Richardson came from the weak side to swat away a Gasol layup. Richardson then came up with an offensive rebound on the opposite end and converted a free throw and two more to end the game.
"We just toughed it up," D'Antoni said. "They're a physical team with a lot of pride. They're not going anywhere."
View from Press Row
Live and die by the three? Can't do it without a bench? Well, Phoenix's threes were not falling and the bench offered up only one successful field-goal attempt. The starting five showed that they are just that good, not letting a more physical Memphis effort derail them from another 100-plus point game out of the starters alone.
- Paul Coro
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0428sunsnew0428.html
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 28, 2005 12:00 AM
It's as obvious as stating that the West's No. 1 seed had a better season than the No. 8 seed.
But Wednesday night the Suns' home-court advantage, gained from a season of hard work, was slipping away.
Memphis took away Phoenix's three-point prowess and its preferred fast pace. But Memphis could not take the Suns' home-court edge.
Steve Nash crouched down and assisted his team's mind-set. "We're a better team," Nash reminded his young cohorts.
Order was restored and a 14-4 run erased a five-point hole in Game 2's final 4:18, giving Phoenix a 108-103 victory that sent the series back to Tennessee with the Grizzlies still looking for the franchise's first playoff win.
Memphis has the 0-2 series blues, having lost despite its black-and-blue tactics. The Grizzlies got Phoenix out of its comfort zone. The Suns got almost no offense from the bench, making only three three-pointers in the first 3 1/2 quarters.
But the Suns found a way.
"To me, it's a great win when things aren't going your way in the playoffs and you still win," Nash said. "It shows we have some resiliency."
After a Game 1 in which there were no first-quarter fouls, Memphis delivered a different intensity from the start and wound up fouling Phoenix 28 times. The Grizzlies stretched their defense farther to the perimeter, giving Amaré Stoudemire the space to roar back from a single-digit scoring performance.
Getting a whopping 18 points at the free-throw line on a Suns-playoff-record-tying 22 attempts (much to Memphis coach Mike Fratello's chagrin), Stoudemire's 34-point game was the best Phoenix playoff scoring performance since Rex Chapman went for 42 against Seattle in 1997.
"Some people saw the game differently than I did," Fratello said.
Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said Wednesday morning that Stoudemire was walking around with smoke coming out of him and nostrils flaring. The bull in him emerged with more aggressiveness. On a night when Memphis shoved, Phoenix growled back like pit bulls - despite its supposed greyhound pedigrees.
"It was tough out there with a lot of hard fouls," Stoudemire said. "We had to fight back and let them know we weren't going to go away. We had to attack."
Phoenix dug in for two critical stretches of half-ending defense. Trailing 46-41 in the first half, Phoenix went on a 14-4 run where their defensive energy converged like it often does with a revved-up offensive effort. When the Memphis lead was 99-94, the Grizzlies missed seven of their final eight shots. Even more critically, the Grizzlies missed 3 of 4 free throws in that span on an 11-of-19 game at the free-throw line.
The Suns scored 31 points on free throws.
After Shawn Marion swatted away Pau Gasol's first two second-half shots, Gasol got rolling, finishing with 18 points in the half.
In Memphis' fourth-quarter rally from five down to five up, Gasol went to work on the post against all comers. Steven Hunter, Stoudemire and Marion all had their turns until Quentin Richardson rescued the Suns in the final seconds.
With Phoenix ahead 103-100 because of a 9-0 run fueled by Richardson's three and back-to-back jumpers from Marion, Richardson came from the weak side to swat away a Gasol layup. Richardson then came up with an offensive rebound on the opposite end and converted a free throw and two more to end the game.
"We just toughed it up," D'Antoni said. "They're a physical team with a lot of pride. They're not going anywhere."
View from Press Row
Live and die by the three? Can't do it without a bench? Well, Phoenix's threes were not falling and the bench offered up only one successful field-goal attempt. The starting five showed that they are just that good, not letting a more physical Memphis effort derail them from another 100-plus point game out of the starters alone.
- Paul Coro
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/0428sunsnew0428.html
