Suns beat Sonics in season opener

Suns take the season opener 106-99 over the Seattle Supersonics.

Not gonna write much of a recap because it's kinda late and I watched the game on DVR. We've got the Lakers tonight though so that should be fun. Feel free to talk it out in the comments. Just as a heads up, I usually write about every game and write a quarterly recap every 20 games or so.

Positives
Amare Stoudemire (23 pts, 11 reb, 1 blk) looked very good offensively and avoided foul trouble in the second half. Marcus Banks' personal 9-0 run snatched momentum away from the Sonics late in the third quarter.

Concerns
Shawn Marion had a decent night but had stretches were he was seemingly going through the motions. Grant Hill (4-5 twos, 1-7 threes) is finding his way in the offense but should stick with the slashing and midrange game for now. Boris!!! He had the best +/- of the night but still was too passive.

Thoughts
It was so nice to actually watch this team play. I wasn't able to catch any of the preseason stuff and while opening week is always pretty sketchy quality wise, I like the win. Marcus Banks played with confidence and after hitting a three to answer an open shot he gave up to Wally World- he waved off D'Antoni who was on his case. He was key off the bench and it's good to see him play well with LB and Raja a little banged up.

I don't think Grant really needs to add the three from all angles to his game. I do like him shooting in the corner because the Suns have set plays designed to get corner threes. The corner three is the shortest three but it is also a fastbreak starter for the opposing team. Bad corner threes are coach killers, good ones are the Suns' bread and butter. Even when Boris added the shot to his arsenal last year, it was always in the corner. I think there is a chapter in one of Phil Jackson's books about corner threes.

It was sloppy but it's nice to take the opener for the first time in three years. I think as the team gets healthy and Grant finds his game within the system- it'll be pretty basketball to watch. The early season slate is pretty light on good teams so it'd be nice to see the team get off to a good start and keep 9-10 guys in the rotation and even get the rookies some blowout minutes. I'm curious to see the lineups that will play best together and develop that chemistry we're looking for.