Suns Torture Rockets; Win Fifth in a Row

The Phoenix Suns abused the Houston Rockets last night in the first half before toying with them and letting up on their necks in the third quarter, allowing Houston hope before finishing them off in the fourth, 102-91. The Yao Ming Marathon didn't go down as I anticipated but the Suns did come out with great defense (WHAT?!) and stifled the big man who found himself in foul trouble early, enabling the Suns to mount a big lead.

The Suns were generous, they let Yao play with them, and they let Tracy McGrady do his thing, but Tracy was too concerned with setting up his inferior teammates and didn't find his own offensive rhythm. Credit the Suns defense though they played McGrady well and Kurt Thomas played Yao even better.

Kurt didn't allow Yao good position in the post, the place he thrives. Kurt used his big body to really muscle Yao around when he was trying to establish position. Yao had a tough time last night between the double teams and Kurt stifling him all night. The Suns defense is thriving right now, Shawn Marion has been upping his intensity and had four blocked shots last night. The Matrix had the highlight of the evening on a defensive play where he was tracking McGrady, who was driving to the bucket, Tracy put up a shot and Shawn went up and sent that shit back to Houston. Honestly, Tracy's ego was hurt a little bit. I'll try to find a clip of this one, if you find it first hook me up.



Amare played good on defense as well, his rebounding has vastly improved this season, 15 last night, and he only had two fouls. This is the Amare that we desperately need. We know he can score 35 per game but we have plenty of offensive firepower, we need Amare to rebound and block more shots. We know we can go to him for points if needed but we must also rely on him to get a stop in critical situations and he has shown that he is reliable thus far. Barbosa came back strong last night and I think it's safe to say that he has found a consistant groove. Not a minute in the game last night and he picks off a pass and runs the court for an easy layup. It was just a great effort by everyone, except for that third quarter when we didn't play very hard.



Even though they coughed up a sizeable lead, again, they showed a lot of grit and heart throughout their offensive slump and still made defensive plays. They got through their cold spell and came back strong in the fourth. I would say that this has been our best complete game yet, but I keep saying that after each win. They just keep improving and we are yet to see the ceiling.