10 Reasons the Phoenix Suns Will Win Game Six

Most scribes are outlining the eulogy of the Phoenix Suns from this year’s playoffs after last night’s gut-wrencher. It is perceived as an insurmountable task for the Suns to come back from a depressing game five loss.

Admittedly, that viewpoint stands to some logical ingredients. Having said so, there are a lot more nuggets for enthusiasm for the Suns to feel encouraged for game six.

So in no particular order, here is my take on 10 aspects of game five that the Suns will take as elements of positivism.

Freakish Missed Free Throws

Steve Nash is hitting 91 percent of his FTs in the post-season, following his league-leading 93 percent for the regular season. He missed two throws last night (one on a technical foul), and that will not happen again. He might miss two of ten, but not two of five again.

Same with Richardson, who was 1-3 yesterday—after being a relatively stable 73 percent on the season. The reason for my getting so nitpicky about four missed FTs by typically-lights-out guys is the final margin. A two-point loss at the buzzer tends to magnify the impact of missed gimmes, such as free throws.

Dragic and Amundson Went AWOL

Thus far in the series, the Suns bench has been either collectively good (in Games Four and Two), or collectively bad (Games One and Three).

Collective is the key word here, because Gentry often uses the bench as a stand-alone unit during the second and fourth quarters. It really throws the team off if a couple of their bench players have awful games; and that is what happened with Lou and Dragic.

While Frye and Dudley had their games intact, Dragic and Amundson had weirdly fidgety outings—Lou seemed to have trouble holding on to the ball (two TOs in 10 minutes), and Dragic seemed incapable of going around the first line of defense. I am pretty sure they will redeem themselves in game six at home, where even a partial uptick in Dragic and Lou’s performance will mean a huge upgrade for the Suns bench overall.

Amare and Lopez Had Forgettable Outings

Both had their worst games of the series. With Lopez, that seems obvious, given that he failed to score and picked up some silly fouls. In Amare’s case, he did get his quota of points (19) and shot a pretty good percentage (7/12). He even started the game really active on D with two quick blocks.

The problem was that Amare never seemed to get engaged thereafter and was frequently out-dueled on the boards by Odom. In fact, eight of Odom’s 13 boards were wrestled away from Amare’s reasonable grasp. I say that at least half of those effort-moments are won by Amare in Game Six.

Suns Got Out-Dimed by Nine

The Suns had been out-assisted by the Lakers by seven assists total in games one through four. That number more than doubled after last night, as the Lakers had nine more assists than Phoenix in game five.

Obviously, the two biggest drivers to that were Nash having to take so many shots and Dragic being totally ineffective. It is a virtual lock that Nash tries to find his teammates a lot more in the early going in Game Six—I will not be surprised if he approaches double digits by halftime.

Too Many Long-Range Misses

The Suns have not been at their optimal best from downtown in the playoffs, and in back-to-back games (games four and five), have missed 37 total attempts. Sanity needs to be restored. 

Look for fewer attempts and more makes in game six. I feel especially sure about this one as most of their missed shots have been un-guarded attempts —the law of averages has to catch up.

The Lakers' Big Three Scored and the Suns Were Still in It 

Kobe had 30 points and was close to a triple-double, Gasol went for 21/9, and Odom had 17 and 13. For the first time since game two, the Lakers’ Big Three all did their due—which is why it is really encouraging that the Suns still held on and were in the game until the last 0.5 seconds.

Positivity of Coming Back from 18-Down

The carryover effect of games has been well-documented and often-debated. But just as much as people talk about psychological impact of a gut-wrenching loss, I am sure there is a positive boost on the team’s psyche when they realized that they were able to tie it after being down by as many as 18 points.

After the game, the Suns players looked upbeat, even relaxed, and appeared to be looking forward to Saturday with relish. They have to feel good about not rolling over on the road, down by a bunch. Most importantly, the comeback was keyed-in by the bench and did not depend on a flurry of threes. There was a steady, methodical manner by which the Suns trickled back into the game, and then Nash took over at the end.

Nash’s Cool Head Is Ideal Potion

After the game, Nash passed his first dime of game six by stating very coolly, and very genuinely, that he wanted the team to forget about this game. In his words, “We lost and they held home court. We'll go back home and do the same and we'll come back here for Game Seven.”

Determination and confidence, personified. Given the fact that this man does not usually call-out victories in advance, I am a follower through and through.

Dagger Games Have No Long-Term Effect

ESPN’s JA Adande had a fabulous piece on how there is minimal impact of psychologically-scarring losses, or “dagger games ”, on the subsequent games. Based on his analysis, in most cases, the team that gets victimized by these defeats has ended up winning the following game.

This point is further accentuated in the case of the Suns, because here is a team that is cohesive and collegial to the core, a truly “loosey-goosey” bunch, as Kobe puts it . There is no way they get mowed by last night. On the contrary, they might rev-up their collective engines to an all-time high. Let us hope that is the case

WE R ORNG

Playing at home is the ultimate panacea. Never more so, after such a gut-wrenching loss. Knowing that this might turn out to be the last home game of the season, and possibly the last time Suns fans see Amare in a Phoenix jersey, the Phoenicians will be a crazed bunch, offering up a deadly mix of clamor and cheer. Suns fan need to stand up to the ultimate WE R ORNG test, and I am sure they will be ready to be a factor.