After a pair of impressive victories over the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers, the Phoenix Suns were thumped in Miami, losing to the Heat 123-96. The problem wasn’t strictly that Phoenix’s defense was its usual sieve, but that the offense wasn’t prodigious enough to compensate. Let’s examine the specific performances by Phoenix’s cast to discover the biggest culprits.
Excluding fast breaks, extreme early offense, broken plays and the extended garbage time of the fourth quarter, I’ve charted Phoenix’s defensive responsibilities and offensive sets to assign credit or blame to Suns players.
Taking a look at the Suns defense first, they had too many breakdowns to stay competitive with a potent team like the Heat. Charting possessions and assigning individuals as the most important defenders to specific plays (the individual defender in an iso or post up, either the ball handler or screen defender on a screen/roll, and the appropriate player in a zone, a closeout or a rotation), you can see the disappointing totals on an individual basis.
Jason Richardson was the second most egregious defender, allowing 15 points in ni ...
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Article written by Erick Blasco
Phoenix Suns Breakdown: Lack of D Means Suns Need To Open Up Second Front
November 19th, 2010 by Erick Blasco Leave a reply »
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