Monday, May 29, 2006

"Attack the basket, get the foul"

That's what I kept yelling during the Dallas Maverick's game yesterday with the Phoenix Suns. Right now, the Suns are missing Amare Stoudemire, a huge piece of their arsenal, and they're also without Raja Bell. There's very little that the Suns can do to stop attacks to the basket, and if the Mavs draw fouls on top of that, then all the better. That, plus the fact that the Suns are so shorthanded on the bench, would make the Suns hesitant to be too aggressive in getting fouls to stop drives to the basket; because they simply can't afford to lose players by being fouled out.

Right now, the Mavs' depth on the bench looks to be an important deciding factor, because they can keep putting in fresh bodies, while the Suns are basically stuck on rotating about 7 players. For the next game, the Mavs need to keep being aggressive, and to win the next game, which will affect the Suns psychologically. At this level, these are head games as much as they are physical games, and right now, the Mavs have the psychological edge.

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