Staking Talk

We stand at Suns 2, Clippers 1. The other series (serieses?, serii?) continue as welll, but I continue to be drawn to this battle. It lost the cachet of having Kobe Bryant's evolving psyche played before the masses, but it has still been good basketball and quite a thinking man's series. Game 3, which could end up being extremely pivotal or ultimately meaningless depending on what happens next, was the kind of game one wouldn't expect the Suns to win. But considering it was their 92nd game of the season, they were probably due to win a game by 3 points or less.
That statistic has been tossed out repeatedly but without the necessary illumination that actually proves it rather unimportant. That illumination I deliver now. To wit: Yes, the Suns went an entire NBA season and a 7-game series and two more games before they defeated a team by three points or less. However, during that NBA season they had the third-best record in their conference, won that 7-game series and are up 2-1 in their current matchup. The idea that they had not won a "close" game is absurd, they won lots of tight games, but some of them they won by 5 or 10 or even 15.
Another stat people are constantly pointing out is that the Suns led the league in free throw percentage on the season and are leading the playoffs shooting more than 90 percent. Making free throws down the stretch, as they have, means you can take a one-possession game and turn it into an 8-point victory. I know because the Suns did it all year.
The Suns would make a big basket to go up three late in the game, opponent X would come down and get a deuce. Nash would get the ball on the inbounds, get fouled, make two from the line, X would come down and jack up a three, miss, rebound, outlet to Nash, he's fouled, he hits two more, repeat for as much time as necessary, game over - Suns win by more than three.
The number of games the Suns lost by 3 points or less was 7. Three times that was in overtime of differing lengths. I think they lost so many close ones because they stayed in a lot of games with their shooting and other teams do not shoot free throws as well as they do. This allowed the Suns to stay close, even if it meant they couldn't win in the end.
And as preamble, that brings me to a point that is long overdue: the Suns won by 3 or less Friday night because they weren't playing their game. Everyone has pointed out that they didn't score 100, Nash didn't play well, the Suns had to rely on defense, etc.
What does it mean? It means Phoenix stole a game on the road in which they didn't even play their style. It means they will come home for Game 5 at least even. It means the Clippers have to be concerned that too many of the last 3 or 4 games are going to be played at Suns' pace, not their own.