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Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Sayson: The quick Suns’ Nash jumps over the lazy Mavs
By Homer Sayson
Second Overtime
CHICAGO – Patience is a virtue that helps us tremendously as we seek to attain some of life’s wonderful rewards. Rome, as they say, wasn’t built in a day. But don’t tell that to the always-in-a-hurry Phoenix Suns.
Fresh from their 4-0 sweep over Memphis in the opening round, the Suns’ quest for the Larry O’Brien trophy continued to navigate on warp speed yesterday. This time, it was the Mavericks from Texas who got ran over by the offensive juggernaut.
The visiting Mavs lost a gory 127-102 shootout in Game 2 of the West semis at the America West Arena. And typical of previous Suns games, this one was over almost immediately after it began.
Led by the 11 points and 13 assists of recently-crowned MVP Steve Nash, Phoenix surged ahead 29-22 in the first quarter. The Suns made 46-of-88 shots (52.3 percent) and 12 of their 22 treys.
They were up 63-49 at halftime, and before the Mavs could even catch their breath, Phoenix already built a 99-73 bulge heading into the fourth quarter.
Led by Dirk Nowitzki’s 28 points and 13 rebounds, the Mavs had quite a decent night from the floor, shooting 44-of-98 field goals for a 44.9 percent clip. But they stunk beyond the arc, going only 5 of 18, and Dallas took just 12 free throws to the Suns’ 28.
Dallas had never been able to stop Amare Stoudemire during the regular season, surrendering over 32 points per game to the 6-foot-10, 240-pound power forward. The song remained the same last night as Stoudemire finished with 40 points and 16 rebounds. He shot 17 free throws, five more than the entire Dallas crew.
As if Stoudemire wasn’t enough of a problem, Joe Johnson had 25 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the arc, while Shawn Marion thrived in the open floor with 23 points.
But it was a Steve Nash show. He was the engine to every Suns fastbreak, the trigger to every halfcourt set they occasionally ran.
Dallas had the chance to keep Nash during the off-season, but billionaire owner Mark Cuban balked at paying the fleet-footed Canadian the five-year, $65-million deal he got from Phoenix. As he watched Nash dismantle every fiber of the Mavericks defense, Mark Cuban must have felt a terrible knot in his stomach.
That’s what happens when you let a gem go, it always seem to sparkle even more in somebody else’s arms.
E-MAILS. From sanmiguelbeermen@yahoo.com: “Detroit will beat Miami in the East Finals. Shaq, Zoe and Eddie Jones are old and Dwayne Wade is a ballhog. They can’t beat a team that plays good teamwork.”
You sound like someone who has pretty much made up his mind against the Heat, so I’m not even going to bother swaying your mind. However, let me rectify some of the erroneous points you raised.
Shaq and Jones are both only 33-years-old, while Zo is 35. None of the three permanently resides in the NBA’s geriatric ward, in fact, each of them are doing well in this postseason. Shaq norms 18.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per, while Jones chips in 15.4 points.
Only Zo, a kidney-transplant patient, comes off the bench and he has been superb thus far with nine points and 4.6 rebounds per game.
Wade isn’t a ballhog by any stretch of the imagination. The 6-4, 212lb guard average only 18.7 field goals a game, or four more than Shaq’s 13.7. Wade relishes in the task of setting up his teammates, and that’s why he has 8.8 assists per game.
Ballhogs are guys like Kobe Bryant and Paul Pierce, not Dwayne Wade.
From jmsolhz@mysmart.com.ph: “You were darn right in predicting the Mavs over the Rockets. I salute you. You’re my idol! What’s going to be next now?”
Picking Dallas over Houston wasn’t exactly rocket science. The Mavs have a deeper bench, they generate points from all positions, and they have more playoffs experience than T-Mac, Yao Ming and the Rockets.
I like the Spurs over the Sonics in five, the Suns dispatching the Mavs in six, and Detroit over Indy also in six.
(homsay@hotmail.com)
(May 11, 2005 issue)
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