Suns setting too early

April 24, 2008

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Andrew Johnson

Suns setting too early

The addition of Shaq hasn't changed the Suns late-game woes.  Throughout the year, and the past decade, the problem for the Suns has been finishing out games.  This has led to questions about age, ability, and tenacity.  Are these guys hard enough to win it all?  They need to reach down deep and find out what they are made of if they hope to pull themselves out of the two game hole they dug in San Antonio.  How do you give up two double digit leads in the playoffs?!  Where is the moxey, the guts?  The Suns are showing that they can score on San Antonio.  But can they when it counts?  Not so far.  Stoudemire is called for a charge with twelve seconds left in regulation of Game 1, the Spurs get the ball back down by three, and Tim Duncan hits his only three of the year!  Suns eventually lose in double OT.  Game 2: the Suns can only muster eleven points in the third quarter.  That's embarassing.  Eleven points...are you kidding me?!  They put up eleven in a couple of minutes with Nash on the bench...in the first half.  This Diesel truck hasn't shown that it is up for the long haul through the two halves of a game, let alone the two months of the playoffs.  If the Suns want to win, they'll have to be able to play man defense late in the game, which means playing smart through out the game, keeping Shaq and Amare out of foul trouble.  If the Spurs employ the hack a Shaq, either get him out and run the floor with Diaw, which means double teaming on Duncan at the other end, or use Shaq as a pick-setter, a rebounder, and let him kick it out to the perimeter quickly after a pass in.  The Suns are the fastest team in the league, and they'll have to use every gear they've got to get back into this.  The good news: the Suns are heading back to Phoenix, where they lost a total of seven games through out the regular season.

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