boutons_
04-30-2006, 03:00 PM
April 30, 2006
Stressed Suns Will Try Jackson's Philosophy
By HOWARD BECK (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=HOWARD%20BECK&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=HOWARD%20BECK&inline=nyt-per)
SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 29 — One coach in this playoff series between the Lakers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangeleslakers/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and the Suns (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/phoenixsuns/index.html?inline=nyt-org) is renowned for invoking Eastern philosophy on the basketball court. It is the other one who now sounds like a yoga instructor.
"We need to get to halfcourt, take a deep breath and relax," he said. "Get your muscles untense after fighting, fighting and everything. And just play."
The breathing instructions were from Phoenix Coach Mike D'Antoni, whose team is suddenly, surprisingly, down, 2-1, to the Los Angeles Lakers in their first-round series.
The running, gunning, carefree Suns, the N.B.A.'s darlings one year ago, seem to have lost everything that made them so enjoyable — and so dangerous — last season. They are running at half speed, if at all. They are grinding instead of flowing, clenching their teeth at every misfire instead of grinning with every 30-point quarter. And they are unusually testy, evidenced by three technical fouls in Friday's 99-92 loss.
Even without the All-Star center Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix entered the playoffs as the second-seeded team in the Western Conference. The Suns had more experience and more depth than the seventh-seeded Lakers, who were presumed to be a one-dimensional show. Now D'Antoni is calling his team the underdog.
Game 4 will be played Sunday afternoon at the Staples Center, and it figures to be the pivotal moment for the Suns. Only seven N.B.A. teams have won a seven-game series after trailing, 3-1.
"We're not panicking," D'Antoni said. "I love these guys, because they understand the enormous task ahead."
Ordinarily, it is Lakers Coach Phil Jackson (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/phil_jackson/index.html?inline=nyt-per) who is preaching about breathing techniques, and reasonably, it should have been Jackson talking about the "enormous task" of winning a series. The Lakers missed the playoffs last season.
But the Suns hardly resemble the 62-victory team of 2004-5, or even the team that won 11 consecutive games in February and March. Stoudemire is recovering from surgery on both knees. Kurt Thomas, acquired last summer to bolster the interior defense, has been out since Feb. 22 with a stress fracture in his right foot.
So the Suns are smaller than they would prefer. The Lakers have taken advantage by pounding the ball inside to the 7-foot-1 Kwame Brown and the 6-10 Lamar Odom. When the Suns send help, the Lakers pick them apart with passes to open cutters. Brown had 5 assists Friday to go with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Odom had 4 assists, along with 15 points and 17 rebounds.
Steve Nash is averaging 22 points and 10 assists for the Suns, but at the moment he does not even appear to be the best orchestrator on the court. The Lakers' Kobe Bryant (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/kobe_bryant/index.html?inline=nyt-per) has stolen that mantle, sacrificing his usual 30- and 40-point efforts in favor of lifting up his teammates. All five Lakers starters are averaging double figures in scoring, and all but Bryant are shooting at least 46 percent.
For Phoenix, only Nash and Shawn Marion remain from last year's starting lineup, and Marion has struggled mightily. The Suns' No. 3 scorer is Tim Thomas, who just joined them on March 3.
"There's so many new faces and so many injuries that it's a totally different feeling," Nash said. "I think a lot of people picked the Lakers to beat us in the series, so we're kind of looking for the confidence that we displayed throughout the year."
Copyright 2006 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)
Stressed Suns Will Try Jackson's Philosophy
By HOWARD BECK (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=HOWARD%20BECK&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=HOWARD%20BECK&inline=nyt-per)
SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 29 — One coach in this playoff series between the Lakers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangeleslakers/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and the Suns (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/phoenixsuns/index.html?inline=nyt-org) is renowned for invoking Eastern philosophy on the basketball court. It is the other one who now sounds like a yoga instructor.
"We need to get to halfcourt, take a deep breath and relax," he said. "Get your muscles untense after fighting, fighting and everything. And just play."
The breathing instructions were from Phoenix Coach Mike D'Antoni, whose team is suddenly, surprisingly, down, 2-1, to the Los Angeles Lakers in their first-round series.
The running, gunning, carefree Suns, the N.B.A.'s darlings one year ago, seem to have lost everything that made them so enjoyable — and so dangerous — last season. They are running at half speed, if at all. They are grinding instead of flowing, clenching their teeth at every misfire instead of grinning with every 30-point quarter. And they are unusually testy, evidenced by three technical fouls in Friday's 99-92 loss.
Even without the All-Star center Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix entered the playoffs as the second-seeded team in the Western Conference. The Suns had more experience and more depth than the seventh-seeded Lakers, who were presumed to be a one-dimensional show. Now D'Antoni is calling his team the underdog.
Game 4 will be played Sunday afternoon at the Staples Center, and it figures to be the pivotal moment for the Suns. Only seven N.B.A. teams have won a seven-game series after trailing, 3-1.
"We're not panicking," D'Antoni said. "I love these guys, because they understand the enormous task ahead."
Ordinarily, it is Lakers Coach Phil Jackson (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/phil_jackson/index.html?inline=nyt-per) who is preaching about breathing techniques, and reasonably, it should have been Jackson talking about the "enormous task" of winning a series. The Lakers missed the playoffs last season.
But the Suns hardly resemble the 62-victory team of 2004-5, or even the team that won 11 consecutive games in February and March. Stoudemire is recovering from surgery on both knees. Kurt Thomas, acquired last summer to bolster the interior defense, has been out since Feb. 22 with a stress fracture in his right foot.
So the Suns are smaller than they would prefer. The Lakers have taken advantage by pounding the ball inside to the 7-foot-1 Kwame Brown and the 6-10 Lamar Odom. When the Suns send help, the Lakers pick them apart with passes to open cutters. Brown had 5 assists Friday to go with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Odom had 4 assists, along with 15 points and 17 rebounds.
Steve Nash is averaging 22 points and 10 assists for the Suns, but at the moment he does not even appear to be the best orchestrator on the court. The Lakers' Kobe Bryant (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/kobe_bryant/index.html?inline=nyt-per) has stolen that mantle, sacrificing his usual 30- and 40-point efforts in favor of lifting up his teammates. All five Lakers starters are averaging double figures in scoring, and all but Bryant are shooting at least 46 percent.
For Phoenix, only Nash and Shawn Marion remain from last year's starting lineup, and Marion has struggled mightily. The Suns' No. 3 scorer is Tim Thomas, who just joined them on March 3.
"There's so many new faces and so many injuries that it's a totally different feeling," Nash said. "I think a lot of people picked the Lakers to beat us in the series, so we're kind of looking for the confidence that we displayed throughout the year."
Copyright 2006 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)