Non-Conformists

Well, shit, that sure changed fast.

Last night, the Phoenix Suns, thanks to the play of (wait for it...) NOT 2-time MVP Steve Nash, (wait for it...) NOT super athletic freak Amar'e Stoudemire, and (wait for it..) NOT any of the starters, evened this bad boy of a series up. That bench, especially in the fourth quarter, came out scorching, for lack of a better word, schooling the starters of the Lakers squad en route to a 115-106 victory.

Back-door cuts, slash and kicks, crashing the offensive glass, putting opposing players through the wash. It was incredible:



Damn, does Phoenix Head Coach Alvin Gentry have stones or what? Every convention says to sit your starters the first few minutes of the fourth (or more, depending on fatigue), bringing them in with 8-9 minutes left, so they're fresh come crunch time. Screw that, Gentry thought. He let them play until the final two minutes, letting the starters back in only when the game was pretty much sealed. His bench was rolling--why stop a good thing?

All too often, we see coaches make that blunder. A bench player comes in and has the opposing teams number, but, once his allotted 4 minutes in the second quarter are up, he gets pulled. When I attended a Dallas Mavericks game this year I saw it: in a mid-December game against the Hornets, JJ Barea was having his way inside. He went 10-13 from the field, dropping 23 points in only 25 minutes. But Rick Carlisle pulled him in crunch time for... Jason Terry, who proceeded to miss 3 jumpers in a row. Why? Because Carlisle had a certain rotation and was sticking to it. Sure, having resolve is good, as is believing in your game plan, but if a guy is playing well, why not just keep him in?

Bill Simmons, in his recent 800-page tome The Book of Basketball, elaborates on this. He wonders why no one in The Association uses full-court traps anymore. Sure, ball-handling is way superior in the pros than at the college level, but he argues that an effective trap could still work wonders. Imagine, Simmons says, a team calls up 3-4 super athletic wingmen from the D-league. They don't have to be all-universe talents by any stretch, just athletic freaks. At the beginning of the second and fourth quarters, they unleash this full-court trap on the opposing team. If they don't force turnovers (although they probably will, seeing as at these two times in the game, per convention, bench players are getting their minutes), they will certainly tire the opposing bench out. A couple quick, easy buckets off of turnovers for the pressing team and the momentum shifts. The opponent bench players get tired and the starters have to come back in early, preventing the stars from getting their full rest.

Why don't more teams do this? Especially the bad ones? Shit, it's not like doing this would lower the chance of victory for teams like the T'Wolves, Nets, and Pacers.

Oftentimes coaches out-coach themselves. They keep tinkering with things instead of keeping it simple stupid. And that's the beauty of the Suns, right now. They aren't over-thinking things. They know that the Lakers have more talent at the individual level, so any advantage has to be exploited. And this bench play is a prime example.

Jared Dudley celebrates after making a huge 3 in the fourth. All possible because of some superb team-play.

The back-up squad of Barbosa, Dudley, Amundson, Frye, and Dragic is electrifying. It's the best back-up five the league has seen since the stacked Kings squad of the early 2000s (look that second-squad up; it was better than most first teams in its hey-day). All corner threes, all hustle, and all humble. No sense of undue entitlement from those guys. They are thankful to be out there, and, pardon the cliche, are leaving it all out on the hardwood.

Most notably was Goran Dragic. I mocked him earlier this month and I must admit now how wrong I was. Eating my words as I type this. He is incredible. He is pure speed. Last night, he was by far the quickest guy on the floor, no question. I would even argue he's the quickest guy left in the post-season (prove me wrong, Rondo). Not to mention he can get way more physical than the aging Steve Nash. Phoenix found its successor at the Point Guard position this post-season.

Not only is Gentry coaching like a fiend, he also looks quite sharp in a suit.

I haven't even mentioned that Phoenix zone defense, which has been getting a lot of media burn this last week. It's odd; breaking down a zone defense isn't exactly rocket surgery (or brain science, for that matter), but for some reason, those in the Lakers camp can't seem to decipher it. Perhaps it's a lack of an explosive point guard that can force a zone to collapse. Or perhaps it's the jarring revelation that the zone is negating Jackson's triangle offense by cutting off passing lanes, neutering a brutal half-court powerhouse. Or maybe they can beat it, but are just too stubborn and prideful to mix things ups. That whole situation is an enigma wrapped up in an anomaly.

Damn exciting play regardless, from top-to-bottom, for the Suns, and they even weathered a Kobe Bryant offensive onslaught, who was making every outside shot imaginable. It's back to LA for game 5, and thank the heavens. Because of Gentry's willingness to laugh in the face of convention by using all the guys on his roster and sticking with a zone defense, the Western Conference Finals is now a series. Please let it go the distance.