Role player remembrance: Shawn Marion’s greatest game

Shawn “The Matrix” Marion is best known for having one of the glitchiest shooting motions in NBA history for a player who spent over a decade playing. He is also known as one of the key members of the Phoenix Suns “seven seconds or less” offense that thrived in the mid-2000s.

Marion spent the first eight and a half seasons of his career in Phoenix after being drafted by them 9th overall in the 1999 NBA Draft. In that near decade with the Suns, he became a 4x All-Star and 2x All-NBA player.

Later in his career, he also spent five years with the Dallas Mavericks and was a key player in the 2011 NBA championship. Marion played 16 seasons in the NBA and over 1,200 games in his career, but which game was his greatest ever?

Honorable mentions:

• February 22nd, 2006: 44 points (15-22 shooting), 15 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 blocks
• May 20th, 2005: 38 points, 16 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block in game 5 of the 2005 Western Conference Semifinals
• February 26th, 2006: 31 points (11-19 shooting), 24 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks
• May 12th, 2006: 32 points, 19 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals, and 1 block in game 3 of the 2006 Western Conference Semifinals 
• June 2nd, 2011: 20 points (9-14 shooting), 8 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block in Game 2 of the 2011 NBA Finals

Shawn Marion’s greatest game:

May 16th, 2006 - 36 points (16-33 shooting), 20 rebounds, and 3 assists in game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals