PORTLAND, Ore. — There is no secret to the Phoenix Suns’ success so far against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Offensively, it essentially boils down to an effective screen-and-roll before kicking the ball out to the perimeter. In the Suns’ case, the perimeter is Jason Richardson.
For the last two games of their first-round playoff series against the Blazers, the Suns’ strategy has worked perfectly.
Richardson had a career playoff-best 42 points — including eight 3-pointers — in a 108-89 Phoenix victory in Portland on Thursday night, after a 29-point performance in the Suns’ 119-90 victory at home in Game 2.
Phoenix leads the series 2-1 headed into today’s game.
Coach Alvin Gentry broke down the Suns’ deceptively simple strategy after Game 3.
“If you’re going to trap the screen-and-roll with Steve (Nash), then you have to have an extra defender; the weakside defender has to take the roll guy. And if he takes the roll guy, then, if we swing it to Channing (Frye), they either rotate to him or they’ve got to play halfway. Channing did a good job of swinging the ball immediately to J-Rich, and J-Rich had open shots,” Gentry said.
So — with no big mystery out there — the issue for the Blazers is what to do about it.
“They are doing some things that they normally don’t do,” said Blazers guard Andre Miller, who had 31 points in the first game of the series but has struggled since. “Trapping the post, trapping the pick-and-roll, and forcing us to kick the ball around. We have to be patient, make the extra pass. We have to rely on our defense to kick-start our offense.”
The Blazers have had trouble in the last two games after the Suns made fast starts and built big leads early. While Portland was able to slow Phoenix down in the opener, they haven’t found a way to readjust to the Suns’ adjustments in Game 2.
In addition to slowing Miller with veteran Grant Hill, the Suns have double-teamed LaMarcus Aldridge, the team’s top offensive threat in the absence of Brandon Roy.
“We’ve struggled to get our guys going,” coach Nate McMillan said. “We can’t get into foul trouble, one, and two, other guys have got to make shots. When they get their opportunities, they’re going to have to knock down their shots.”
The Suns were counting on the Blazers to do just that today.
“We know that Game 4 is going to be very tough,” Richardson said. “This team is not going to bow down to us. They’ve got their backs against the wall and they’re a pretty good team. We can’t get too relaxed, we’ve still got to come out aggressive like we have the last two games.”
But the Blazers have another challenge, overcoming yet another injury.
Forward Nicolas Batum, arguably the team’s best perimeter defender, aggravated the right shoulder injury he first suffered in Game 2. The Blazers were calling his availability for today a game-time decision.
