Sorry late game officiating aside, let's look at the stuff we CAN control...
We lost this game in the third when we went from 6 up to 10 down.
Why do I single out Pop and Tony?
Tony started out the third quarter clanging 6 straight shots, and sprinking in 2 turnovers along the way.
Tony played 11:36 of the 12:00 minutes of the third.
Meanwhile, Pop pulled Manu at about the 8 minute mark of the third, and Manu didn't return until there was under 2 minutes left and the damage had been done.
Manu was tearing it up in the third, and got one touch on offense in the pivotal third quarter. Meanwhile Parker was missing left and right.
And the other kicker is Phoenix started out the third by going on a monster run, including a 10-0 spurt at one point.
Did Pop call a single timeout to stem the flow? He called one at the 10:30ish mark, nothing thereafter.
Manu spent entirely too much of the third, and subsequently the fourth, quarters on the bench. He should have been inserted to stem the tide in the third, but Pop went with a cold Parker over a hot Manu (16 in the first half), stupid.
The FTs, I think they go without any elaboration necessary, but I'll give it anyway...
When Tim bricks his FTs, he gets passive on offense, and it showed the second half. But we kept forcing it to him anyway, when you had Manu, Horry, and Bowen of all people hitting their shots consistently.
Tonight Pop had a brainfart personnel wise, his subs utions sucked, and I don't get the whole switching on the pick and roll thing leaving Tony to guard Amare Stoudemire.
In games 1-3 in this series, we trapped Nash hard on the pick and roll. I don't get why Pop decided to get cute with the switch tonight.
I hope to God that we learn from this, but past indications tell me we're in for a long series now. Pop will pucker on offense, which means a heavy dose of 4down into the teeth of the Phoenix zone in game 5.
Time to start praying.
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