National Basketball Association

Dragic having breakout season for Suns

Published May. 14, 2010 12:41 a.m. ET

foxsports

Goran Dragic started making sacrifices at an early age to achieve his dream of playing professional basketball.

When he was 11, he began waking up at 2 a.m. in his native Slovenia to watch NBA games.

The next day he would often find himself nodding off in class, but it was worth it because of the education he received from watching players such as Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson and Steve Nash.

Now Nash's backup with the Phoenix Suns, Dragic is the one basketball fans in Slovenia are giving up sleep to see.

After Dragic scored 23 fourth-quarter points in a breakout performance in Game 3 of Phoenix's playoff series with the San Antonio Spurs, he was flooded with messages and phone calls from back home.

``I received like 30 text messages, and I don't know how many calls, but it was a lot,'' Dragic said Thursday.

Fans and opponents in this country are taking notice as well.

Dragic's fourth-quarter outburst last Friday lifted Phoenix to a 110-96 comeback victory, and stunned Spurs supporters left the arena in San Antonio muttering ``Goran Dragic? Goran Dragic?''

``I think it's safe to say that may have been the best fourth-quarter performance I have ever seen in a playoff game,'' teammate Grant Hill said.

The Suns play the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals starting Monday, and Kobe Bryant, who doesn't usually talk about opposing backups, mentioned him by name.

``Dragic has really stepped up. He's making huge contributions,'' Bryant told reporters in Los Angeles when asked about Phoenix's strong bench play.

Perhaps Dragic's most important contribution has been the quality minutes he's give the Suns, who have been looking for a strong backup for Nash since he returned to Phoenix six years ago.

As a result, Nash averaged fewer than 33 minutes this season for the first time since 1999-2000.

``That's been huge for us this year,'' coach Alvin Gentry said. ``There's been four or five times we haven't even had to put Steve back in the fourth quarter. The more rest Steve has gotten, the better off we are.''

Dragic's scoring average was up slightly this season, to 7.9 from 4.5, but he has shown signs that he can be a dangerous shooter. He scored at least 14 points nine times in the regular season, including a career-high 32 at Utah on Jan. 25, and in the playoffs he's shooting 44.4 percent from 3-point range.

Gentry said Dragic has improved the most in the areas of his game that don't show up on the stat sheet.

``The thing that I like about what he's done this year is that his floor game and leadership on the floor really expanded,'' Gentry said.

In only his second season, Dragic is showing signs of developing into the player the Suns hoped he could be when they acquired him in a draft-day trade with the Spurs in 2008.

Phoenix had him rated as the second-best point guard in the draft behind Derrick Rose, but he didn't play like it at first.

``He was like a deer in headlights,'' Gentry said.

Part of the reason was that Dragic was adjusting to a new league, a new country and a new culture. But he also wasn't getting much playing time.

Under then-coach Terry Porter, Dragic played in just 26 of 51 games.

``I was struggling. ... I was doubting me if I was good enough for this league,'' he said.

After Gentry, who was committed to developing a deeper bench, took over at the All-Star break during the 2008-09 season, Dragic appeared in 29 of 31 games and his confidence grew with every minute played.

``Alvin gave me a lot of opportunities, and he says, 'Son, just keep playing your game. Don't worry if you're going to make some mistakes. Just play your game,''' Dragic said.

``My confidence is huge right now. ... This year is totally different. I feel like I'm playing back in Europe with my friends. I'm really relaxed and just playing my game.''