Monday, April 12th, 2010 at 11:52 am  |  2 responses

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Game Notes: Rockets at Suns

Steve Nash would make a decent Jedi.

by Dennis Tarwood / @tuffyr

On a night when US Airways Arena entertained retread acts like Star Wars homages and Smash Mouth postgame, a collection of plucky overachievers couldn’t overcome the only stars in the building: Amar’e Stoudemire and Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns. The Suns won 116-106 over the Houston Rockets Sunday and kept alive hopes of first-round home court advantage.

Stoudemire abused the undersized Rockets under the rim for 35 points and 13 rebounds while Nash amassed 23 points and 11 assists. The Rockets took advantage of slower closeouts at the game’s start to target womp rats from long-range (7-11 3 pts in the first).

But they lost track of their own perimeter defenses late in the fourth quarter to allow four straight three-pointers in 90 seconds from the Suns, completing the NBA’s version of the Kessel Playoff Run in less than 12 parsecs.

Neither coach intended to change patterns with only a few regular season games left, looking to earn positive reinforcement through wins. “We’re just trying to win games right now,” noted Rockets coach Rick Adelman. “We’re playing people, but we’ve been doing that right along.”

Gentry, with postseason aspirations to balance as well, couldn’t agree more. “We’re playing great… my philosophy is to keep playing and play right through the Playoffs.”

Despite the best of intentions, though, a limited Rockets squad found themselves without their nominal offensive leader, Kevin Martin, for much of the second half. Adelman told the media after the game Martin has the flu, which seemed to explain his miserable statistical night (2-12 in 20 minutes) and his general sluggishness.

The Rockets did keep the game close on the strength of Luis Scola’s nimble feet on the interior. Better ball movement and sharper cuts loosened up passing lanes just enough for Scola to dip’n'flip home 16 points in the third (30/8/4 overall). But a 7-21 fourth quarter left enough long rebounds for the Suns to mount their 90-second comeback.

Rockets forward Trevor Ariza reflected on the cause of the fatal shots down their reactor core shaft. “We got too comfortable focusing on Amar’e and, late in the game, they started hitting big, big shots…. They’re a good team, a smart team. They know what to do and when to do it.”

Season-long frustrations bubbled through momentarily for the Rockets as they earned a bench warning on Adelman, a delay-of-game warning, and a technical foul on Aaron Brooks midway through the second quarter. Hey now, Rockets, you’re All-Stars. Get your game on; go play.

Amar’e Stoudemire is looking forward to a long Playoff run after last season’s frustrations. “It was bitter for me to watch with one eye (last season). Now that we’re back full force and guys are playing well, we’re going to attack these Playoffs with a vengeance.”

The Suns find themselves unable to do worse than fifth slot in the West after Sunday’s close of business and have a strong chance at home-court advantage in the first round with games against Denver Tuesday and a visit to Salt Lake City Wednesday to finish the season. The Rockets travel to Sacramento Monday and welcome the Hornets to Houston Wednesday to reach 82 games.

OTHER NOTES

– Shane Battier broke out his Masters jacket knockoff again, barely beating out his Emperor Palpatine outfit for the road trip.

– Jared Dudley helped Jason Richardson kick off his new shoe sponsorship by arranging to take a microphone from the local NBC affiliate and interviewing Richardson postgame in the locker room about his new foot warmers. Dudley, however, would ignore our advice to demand payment for such media work. Leandro Barbosa backed Dudley up, insisting such good works were in the name of friendship. We worry for Dudley’s budding multi-platform career if he doesn’t get a second agent soon.

– Nash and Ariza tussled a bit with 23 seconds left in the game when an Ariza screen sent Nash sprawling. Nash claimed malicious intent after the game but came away unharmed.

Image via dustinpwatson.wordpress.com