More Suns/Spurs thoughts
October 30th, 2008, 3:16 pm · Post a Comment · posted by jerrybrown
*Amare Stoudemire had 11 points in the fourth quarter and seven down the stretch when the Suns won the game. But here are two quieter stats regarding STAT that stick out.
Stoudemire committed two fouls in the game. He was still at a loss when he had to guard Tim Duncan, but he wasn’t turning baskets into 3-point plays and he left himself plenty of fouls to be aggressive and carefree down the stretch.
Stoudemire also had two assists. That doesn’t seem like a big deal, but he did a better job of finding the open man when passing out of the post and would have had more assists if not for missed shots. “That’s a tribute to his experience,” guard Steve Nash said. “He made a couple of plays that maybe he hasn’t made in the past. It’s impressive.”
*Terry Porter talked about resting Steve Nash more in the first half so he could “bank” some minutes if he needed to stretch him out in the second half. Nash would up playing 34 minutes against the Spurs, but he splits were pretty even (16:24 in the first half, 17:33 in the second half). But when Nash wasn’t on the floor, the Suns plus/minus was a nasty minus-14 – and it would have been a lot worse if not for a couple of hot streaks by Leandro Barbosa.
Goran Dragic’s debut was forgetful. He had only one turnover in 14 minutes, but the offense often went through Grant Hill with Dragic floating on the wing. He didn’t score, which isn’t a big deal, but he was eaten up on defense by Tony Parker at the end of the third quarter, when Parker had nine points including a pair of 3-point plays. He has to be better there.
