Dragic Unstoppable in the Fourth

Goran Dragic of the Phoenix Suns, a player drafted 45th in the 2008 NBA draft by the San Antonio Spurs, made the Spurs think twice about giving him up. Dragic was unstoppable in game three between the Suns and Spurs, scoring 26 points off the bench, and going 5-5 from three point range. While his numbers were impressive, it was the timing of his play that was significant. Dragic scored all of his points in the final 14 minutes of the game (23 of 26 in the fourth quarter) and he gave the Suns their first lead at 73-72. Because of Dragic’s fourth quarter explosion, the Suns big three, Stoudemire, Richardson, and Nash, only played 98 minutes combined compared to an average of over 110 minutes in the first two games of the series (Stoudemire and Richardson watched the entire fourth quarter from the bench and Nash played the final 3 minutes of the quarter). Alvin Gentry’s decision to go with the hot hand over playing his regular fourth quarter unit payed off as the Suns not only won the game, but also the starters reduced their minutes – rest is key in the playoffs as they are a long, hard fought battle.

It will be interesting to see if Jerry Sloan, head coach of the Utah Jazz, follows Gentry’s lead in game three between the Jazz and Lakers. In the first two games of the series, Ronnie Price led a fourth quarter comeback, but Sloan decided to replace Price with starting point guard Deron Williams to close out the game. The Jazz came up short in both games which begs the question - should Sloan have stuck with Ronnie Price? We will see what he decides to do in game 3 tonight between the Jazz and Lakers. It seems like going with the hot hand might be the way to go.