Suns vs. Raptors: Corralling the Beast

7:00pm vs. Raptors TV: NBALP TSN, FSN AZ

The Suns are at home tonight looking to corral the Toronto Raptors, or Phoenix Suns Norte, for their 15th straight win. This is a huge game. This is the game that would break the record for number of wins in a row currently held by the 92/93 team that went to the finals. This would be the win that infuriates Charles Barkley and sends him into a manaical tirade about how this shitty Suns team can never win a championship. But, this could also be the springboard game that sends us on to win 18 in a row, 19 in a row, who knows.

I do know that the Raptors franchise forward, Chris Bosh is out. I also know that point guard Jose Calderon is out with a frightening injury. Still, the Raps have been on a roll even without Bosh and won three straight with TJ Ford doing his best Steve Nash impression. The Suns need to respect this team and come out playing fierce tonight. We have to get this win. Rookies Jorge Garbajosa and first overall pick, Andrea Bargnani, have been playing great with the added playing time. The Suns need to put them away early because the Raptors do not have a goto scorer. If we can amount a good lead, they will have a real difficult time getting back into the game. As an added bonus we can stick it to Brian Colangelo for no apparent reason.

The next four games on the schedule are all winnable games with the fifth being a test at Dallas. Tonight we have Toronto, tomorrow we face a DEPLETED Denver team, then we face the Wizards who can't win on the road, and finally we face the Blazers a week from today. We could realistically have a 18 game winning streak heading into Dallas, and I like our chances there. This team is just playing exceptional ball right now. Besides the back to back today and tomorrow, our schedule is relatively tame until after the Dallas game with four days off before the Blazers game. I think we will have plenty of gas in the tank to go for 18 or 19 or more in a row. The guys should be able to come out tonight on fire since they have had some time off. Tomorrow's game shouldn't require a full effort either with the lig's leading scoring tandem of Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith suspended for their crazy antics this weekend. That's about 60 points that Andre Miller, Earl Boykins, and SOMEONE will have to make up for. I just don't see it happening.