Brown Bagged

Larry Brown was fired today by the New York Knicks, with IsiahThomas taking over as head coach. This should be interesting.

Mavs win game 5, Suns finished

Besides the fact that Dirk Nowitzki had a monster 50 point game, the Phoenix Suns are finished in this series for an entirely different reason: the loss of Raja Bell.

Bell looked slow and gimpy for much of Game 5, and was constantly beat off the dribble. However, the Suns aren't going to lose because they lost his defense. They are going to lose because they lost his offense. Bell was averaging around 15 PPG in the playoffs. Phoenix' problem is that they can't find anyone to pick up the point slack. No one is able to score Raja's usual 15 a game. And since the Suns are a team that need to outscore their opponents in order to beat them, this loss of offense is critical and will be terminal.

Other factors involved in the Suns being finished: not going to be able to beat Dallas twice in a row, not going to beat Dallas at Dallas in a Game 7.

Only way they have a chance: if Jason Terry gets suspended two games for punching Steve Nash in the "midsection."