As I was trying to figure out how the Mavs are going to matchup against the Suns, I found this little gem from Suns' head coach Mike D'Antoni: "All we have to do is outshoot them four out of seven," D'Antoni said. "We don't have to do it every night." That pretty much sums up D'Antoni's coaching philosphy and the Suns' style. It also reveals why the Suns will never win an NBA championship as long as D'Antoni and point guard Steve Nash are captaining the squad. Was D'Antoni living in a hole during the Mavs' playoff failures from 2001-2004? Under Don Nelson, the Mavs used a run-and-gun style that befit Nash's game. The high energy that's required to sustain the pace consistently wore Nash down to the point where tired legs and a sore back prevented him from consistently hitting his jumpshot. And when Nash was no longer a scoring threat, defenses honed in on his penetrating drives, as Nash had difficulty dishing the ball to teammates for open looks. Making matters worse, Nash was a defensive liability, and the Mavs made no effort to compensate for this deficiency. Instead, Nelson foolishly thought that he could outshoot the other team. Well, D'Antoni and Nelson are right on one account: they can win games by relying on the jumpshot. But when you're playing a championship-caliber team that emphasizes perimeter defense, it's going to be closer to 3 out of 7, if you get lucky. I'm not saying that the Suns have no chance in this series. That would be foolish, as their sharpshooters could get hot at the right time, and the Mavs' lack of an interior presence on the offensive end prevents them from truly slowing down the Suns' style of play. But if the Suns manage to get past the Mavs, they'll have little hope of winning the NBA championship against the Heat or Pistons, both of whom will punish the Suns for their lack of any semblance of an interior defense. And since the Suns will have to shoot lights-out to get past the Mavs, they're bound to fall back to earth in the Finals.