That was a tough one.
To be honest, I was surprised the Mavs hung around that long. They needed lucky shots and they got them. They just didn't have enough at the end of the game, and it they only lost by two. They didn't really deserve to have the game go this long, and unfortunately, the right team won last night. Phoenix was the better team. What can you say about Steve Nash? The guy, who I miss dearly, is incredibly annoying when playing for another team. And there was simply no answer for Amare Stoudemire. No answer. He was 16/19 for 41 points. It wasn't just the points, it was how easily he racked them. He made 12 straight shots and they were all right by the basket. He was not being challenged whatsoever until it was too late. What a dominating performance. It's scary, because the Suns had no inside presence during last year's playoffs, and if they would have, they very well could have won the series against Dallas and won the Championship. Now they have it, and they played like the better team last night.
Aside from Stackhouse, who just went OFF last night for a season-high 33 points, nobody really impressed me for the Mavs. Sure, Terry hit a big shot and made a few more, but it wasn't enough. Nowitzki had plenty of points, but they seemed pretty empty to me. He had 30 points and 16 rebounds (many in the overtime periods) but I wasn't impressed. Outside of the one-step dunk SLAMDOWN, there wasn't much of his play that excited me. I thought he ran his mouth too much and worried about things that were outside of his control.
Josh Howard in particular did not play well. He had 19 points and 9 rebounds, which surprised me, but he missed many shots. His defense was very solid, though, and when he fouled out, that was a big shift in the game. And then Dampier fouled out. So with those two out, things were going to be hard. Dampier, I was definitely not impressed with whatsoever. He played too recklessly, threw the ball away, consistently missed easy shots. He did go CRAZY on the rebounds, though. And that was huge. But otherwise, he offered nothing.
Here's the big picture: for all the talk about how great the Dallas Mavericks are, for all the talk about one of the greatest regular seasons of all time, all the talk about how the team functions as a team with each player having a role that fits perfectly with everyone else, for all the talk about all the streaks and all the stats they are breaking along the way, the Suns are now only 2.5 games behind Dallas. The Spurs are only 6.5 games behind, which is going to be 6 after they win tonight. So it's not like Dallas is all alone on their little island being the best team, they are one of three incredible teams right now. So they need to dig down and figure some things out and win again. The loss against Golden State, I brushed off, saying they needed to lose because it would be better for them. Not so in this case. This was a tough one.
