Suns Trip Up Kings for 1-0 Lead
1
|
0
|
Shawn Marion and Jason Kidd led the charge with 45% of the Suns' offense, as they helped give the Suns a 1-0 lead in the series versus the Kings. Although Marion led the team in scoring, Kidd led the team to victory. Kidd's game has really improved, and I'm not thinking just because he is stepping up for the playoffs. He was taking mid range jump shots that I've never seen him make before, and he's knocking them down with consistency. He has matured as a great player and he knows that this is the right time to step up. The game wasn't very high scoring, due to the fact that Phoenix was playing great overall defense, despite the 27 point, 15 rebound game Chris Webber had. "We made it as tough as possible on them. We had to make sure they didn't get comfortable in their style. It might have been ugly, but we thought it was fun to watch." Kidd said after the game.
Despite the loss, Chris Webber had a pretty good game, tallieing 27 points and 15 rebounds, although he was obviously hampared by his sprained ankle.
The Suns lead the series 1-0 now, but the series is far from over. The Kings looked a little slow for much of the game. "We didn't even come close to playing our style of basketball," King's Shooting Guard Doug Christie said. "They just had more flow than we did from the tipoff. We have to play our style, and we will on Wednesday." Like much of the analysts following this series, Sacramento feels that they will bounce right back. Phoenix will probably try slowing things down and try to control the tempo, just like they did in game 1. The Kings will make a quick first quarter charge, but Phoenix needs to hold off the storm and try and take the game in the 4th quarter. I like their chances in Wednesday's Nationally televised game (7:30 Eastern on TNT).
My Game 2 Prediction: Suns 96 Kings 90