Suns Beat Heat; Win 12 in a Row

The Suns continued National Lampoons Florida Vacation last night by heading south from Orlando into Miami where they owned the Heat 99-89. Despite the relatively close, and low, score, this game wasn't real competitive. Without Shaq and Dwyane Wade the Heat knew they had no chance and played like it. No energy, no creating shots, just a piss-poor effort. It wasn't until Antoine Walker, his own best defensive stopper, was pulled along with most of the rest of the starters that the Heat gained some ground on the disinterested Suns. It warmed my heart to see his sad mug frowning on the sideline.

This seems to happen more than I'd like. The Suns starters come in, dominate the game so much that the Heat starters get benched and the rookies get some burn, and the rooks bring tons of energy and passion to counter the Suns lackadaisical attitude toward the remainder of the game. Part of it has to do with the Suns bench struggling when they do get minutes, which I believe to be because they are having difficulty picking up the system. They quickly give up a lead and Coach Mike has to go back with the starters. The major culprits are Marcus Banks and Jalen Rose. These are the guys who will likely get the final rotation spots when the time comes but they are not having an easy time with the system. I believe that over time it will come, like James Jones who wasn't getting much playing time early but has played well enough as of late to get the eighth rotation spot.



James is finally knocking down shots to add to his solid defensive play. He's great for this team because, when he's in rhythm, he can shoot but he's also versatile enough to defend most players. It makes it easy for the Suns who do a lot of switching on defense. They have been playing more zone and versatile players like Jones, Diaw, Marion and Bell can switch and guard most players. Shawn Marion is an animal on defense this year.



Shawn's guarding everyone from the one to the four, blocking shots, and snaring steals. Last night the rookie Robert Hite caught fire and brought the heat within a single digit deficit, he drove left into the lane where Shawn Marion introduced the kid to the NBA by spiking his shot off the backboard. Nash, on the other hand, continues to lead the offense with precision. He also continues his insane clutch play as he stuck a dagger of a three in the fourth when the Heat went on a run that widdled the Suns lead to single digits. Steve just pulls up and calmly drains a three and effectively put the game away.



Boris continues to play well and hopefully all the fat jokes slow up. Antoine Walker is over there on the bench and has a much bigger appetite than Boris. Diaw is shooting more lately and having some success too. He's more comfortable taking the open three, probably because he's been working on that a lot. It's good because Boris will rarely ever take a bad shot so when he does shoot the three, he's wide open. Plus he has pretty good mechanics. I would rather see Boris playing SF and becoming the recipient of open looks rather than Marion, who is a really bad shooter. I love Marion and I know he can't stop shooting those because he's wide open and he has confidence but if he plays PF like he used to, which is where he plays best, it will cut down on those low percentage jumpers and make him rebound and defend more, which are his strengths.