Gortat remains reliable for Suns
Mar 8, 2012, 10:49 PM | Updated: Mar 9, 2012, 4:45 am
The Phoenix Suns were dealt their first loss since coming back from
the All-Star break on Wednesday against the Oklahoma City
Thunder 115-104.
But if anyone on the Suns had a good night, it was center Marcin
Gortat.
Gortat led the team with a career-high 28 points and added three
blocks and 11 rebounds, and Suns coach Alvin Gentry told Arizona
Sports 620’s Burns and Gambo Thursday that Gortat has remained
steady in the wins and losses.
“To me, if our record was better, he could have made a strong case
for him for being on the All-Star team,” Gentry said. “He’s been
really consistent especially looking at the last 12 or 15 games that
we played and every night it’s 15 to 20 points and every night it’s
10 to 15 rebounds.”
Gortat has proven to be a reliable player throughout the season,
averaging 16.2 points and nabbing 10.6 rebounds per game.
“He’s been very consistent in what he’s doing, and he’s really
learned the spots to get to, and he knows to get to those spots,
Steve [Nash] will get him the basketball,” Gentry said. “Those two
have played extremely well together.”
However, his effort was overshadowed by a late comeback by
Oklahoma City in the fourth quarter.
“We did what we wanted to do defensively by making them shoot
jump shots, and unfortunately for us, [Russell] Westbrook knocked
in a couple of 3’s, and [Kevin] Durant made a couple of really, really
difficult shots,” Gentry said. “At the end of the night, they shoot 44
percent. The thing that hurt us more than anything is that you just
can’t go 3 [for] 17 in the fourth quarter. We shoot 3 for 17, it’s
going to be really difficult to win any game.”
Going into the fourth, the Suns were up 88-84, but the Thunder
(31-8) managed to gain momentum late in the game to score 31 in
that quarter alone.
“We just could not get them slowed down in the fourth quarter. I
thought we played a great basketball game up until then,” Gentry
said. “A little disappointed in that I thought we probably should
have had a larger lead going into the fourth quarter. But those
guys, there’s a reason they’re 31-8. They’re a really good team.”
