Suns Rally on Pacers

The Suns rallied in the third last night and put up a huge fourth quarter to lead the Suns to a win over the Pacers 103-92. One more road win against Philadelphia and the Suns become the first NBA team to ever sweep it's road games against the other conference. That sounds like a big accomplishment but it probably isn't.

I began listening to this one in the car on the way home from work since they played at the crack of happy hour. The Suns were getting so many bogus calls early you wonder how they managed to get back into rhythm. From traveling calls to momentum changing ticky-tack fouls to offensive fouls, the Suns couldn't get it together.

The worst part is the Ref's were going to give J O'Neal the superstar treatment, which he probably doesn't warrant. O'Neal was allowed to be physical with Amare, but not the other way around. Big up to Kurt Thomas for cleaning up the boards in the first and keeping us into it.

The Suns were down in the fourth before going on a characteristic run toward the end of the quarter. This is when the Pacers fell flat.

The Pacers are a plodding, methodical team and they knew exactly what they wanted to do on every possession. The problem is, that wasn't going to work. The went to J O'Neal on about every time up the court and it didn't work out for them. O'Neal is a very good player, but he's no superstar.

What I liked to see in this one is Nash getting his confidence and strength back. He ws knocking down shots and seems to be back to his high level of play. Amare continues his exceptional play and he has made this team so much more dynamic and dominant in the paint than the past two seasons. Dallas couldn't handle Amare in 04-05, what are they going to do with a smarter, reboundier, more defensive Amare? Crap their pants.

Boris had a bad outing. I'm hoping he gets well soon.

Leandro has become an assassin. He's playing in crunch time and hitting huge shots. He has the ability to be a go to guy in the fourth and is embracing it. Now we have two guys (Leandro and Amare) that are pretty much unstoppable in the closing quarter.

The best thing about last night is they found a way to win facing tough adversity and a really slow start.

Revenge Weekend

In case you were hiking down into the Grand Canyon this weekend you might have missed the Suns exacting revenge on two teams that recently beat them. That's right, they took out the Kevin Garnett Timberwolves 116-104 and the Joe Johnson Hawks 115-106.

In Minnesota there was a whole lot of Shawn Marion with nice contributions from Amare Stoudemire, Leandro Barbosa and Steve Nash making sure people were moving the ball. Garnett tried his hardest to have a repeat performance but this time he couldn't do it, the Suns were just too much.

When the Suns offense is on point, they can beat anybody no matter how well the opposition is playing. I still don't fully agree with Shawn Marion guarding Garnett but whatever. I just feel like Shawn is too short for that assignment and KG can just shoot right over him like the last game we played.

Next up on the revenge tour was the Atlanta Hawks, who are playing perfectly, for a good Suns draft pick. Win a couple, lose a couple, and be just bad enough for the Suns to have good chance at the 4-6 pick but not so bad that they wind up with pick 1-3.

Amare proved why he was the number one option on this team in 04-05 again tonight against ex-teammate Joe Johnson who wanted to be the man somewhere else. Amare explodes for 43 16 and six while Joe has a good game, but not nearly as dominant as Amare's.

Amare looks like he's back to full strength. I didn't expect this at all. I figured he'd be back at all star form by the end of the year but he's the best big man in the game right now. It's damn impressive. I mean, Amare was a highlight reel yesterday. The guy can score in any which way. But also, he's passing out of the post extremely well too. He's way ahead of his time at this point.

The starters logged heavy minutes this weekend, and I think Coach Mike should ease off a bit. There are always times when he could use some of his bench a little longer. Still, I also agree that getting a couple minutes extra rest each night in the regular season isn't going to make any difference. What will keep the team from being fatigued during the playoffs is resting before playoff series'. They can't take every team they play in the playoffs to seven games and expect to be fresh. If they can take out teams in four or five games and get some rest, they will be good as new for the next team they play.

This will be extremely important when they have to face Dallas .

Suns Give Celtics Familiar L

The Suns managed to win on the second night of a back to back after a long recess for all star break and a couple starters having some extended time off due to injury. They managed to put this game away in the fourth 118-108. Leo was on fire in the fourth and held off the Celts as they tried to get back into the game.

Leandro went six of seven from three. I'd venture to say he was on fire. Good timing too because Amare went cold in the fourth despite doing a ton of damage in the first three quarters. I never thought I'd see Amare going for 32 and 12. Honestly, he's probably the best big man in the game right now. They said it right during the gamecast, he's only 24 but he plays way more mature and well-rounded for his age. He is playing like a seasoned veteran. I guess all that time on the bench didn't get pissed away. The man learned a lot.

I know the Association has its "future annointed leaders" in 'Melo, Dwyane and LeBron, but those three are going to have a difficult time keeping up with Amare. During the 04-05 season all the hoopla went to LeBron while Amare was the most dominating figure in the NBA, and he couldn't understand why. Me either.

Anyways, it was a good win. It will help the team get the rust off and prepare them for the final third of the season and playoffs. Although, Charles Barkley still criticizes everything the Suns do, including the players minutes. He doesn't want the Suns to win a championship and his jealous tirades have gone too far.

He openly criticized Coach Mike's coaching on Tuesday's broadcast saying baseless things like all the players get too tired in the playoffs because they log so many minutes in the regular season. Coach Mike has played an eight man rotation for most of the season, sometimes less, often more. In the past two playoff runs we've had significant injuries that kept us from advancing, not fatigue. It is out of Charles' own spite for this team that he rants but Coach Mike strikes back:

After former Suns star and current TNT analyst Charles Barkley criticized D'Antoni's short rotation and challenged him to use his reserves more, D'Antoni said he wasn't sure he should take basketball advice from someone who "choked" away championships and had his own playoff conditioning questioned.

Quite a nice little bitch slap there. I know I wouldn't want some ig'nant, loud-mouthed "analyst" questioning my career moves.

And We're Back

The Suns are finally back as they put a whoopin' on the Los Angeles Clippers yesterday 115-90. I'm not sure what happened to the Clippers but they are not even remotely near the team that they were last season.

Thank heavens that Steve Nash is back, we can get back to our winning ways. You really don't realize how much of an impact he has on the team until he's hurt. They were playing like a chicken with its head cut off without Nashty.

You'd think Amare, Shawn and Leandro could figure it out and lead this team to some wins. Maybe if it were a more extensive injury they would but in the short time that Steve was gone, things were not pretty.

Things probably aren't going to be the same around here. I got a new job and less time to blog away. Also, providing a recap and preview to every game is too much for me to handle. I'll do what I can but it's going to be a bit less prolific around here.

Someone who's not having any problems with being prolific is Shawn Marion who was extremely active on all fronts last night. You could tell from the beginning that he was in for a big night. Also, when he interviewed at the half (or was it after the game? hmmm) he looked like the all star break left him with a lot of nervous energy he needed to run off.

Well, last nights game against the Clippers couldn't hurt.

I like this Suns team, the one that passes and wins by double digit leads. The one that sees Pat Burke getting 18 minutes and filling it up with seven points and 10 rebounds!

You go, Patty!

We have a ways to go still before the playoffs and we are going to need the team healthy. Someone should tell Nash that he should avoid taking so many offensive fouls. He got straight trampled on at least one last night and we really do not need an injured Nash.

Carnival Fourty One

Hello all. Sorry for the lack of a post on the Suns recent losses. It's just too painful. Actually, I just started a new job and have yet to figure out a new posting schedule. In the meantime head on over to Loy's Place to check out the newest Carnival of the NBA.

I just want to say get well Steve, these overly dramatic "shoulder-watch 2007" commercials on KTAR are killing me. I don't care how many games we lose, just get everyone healthy. What happened to Boris anyways? His 'injury' came out of nowhere. I think Coach Mike figured that since Steve went down we were having a rough time winning anyways so he might as well rest anyone else that can use it to get prepared for the rest of the season.

How about that Marcus Banks? He's slowly proving to be a valuable commodity. He has shown some real nice moves to the hoop and he's passing better and all around playing much better with his increased playing time. Hopefully he can give Steve more rest for the second half of the season.

Outside (My Head) Observations

7:00pm vs. Hawks TV: FSN AZ, NBALP

The Suns play the Atlanta Hawks this evening in a draft-lottery matchup of laughably epic proportions. Do we let the Hawks win so they're not so bad that they end up with a top three pick in next years draft when we get any pick outside the top three from the Joe Johnson/ Boris Diaw trade? Or, do we beat them and make sure they stay down so that we have good chances at getting the fourth, fifth or sixth pick?

I don't know the answer to that question and many others. Writing game previews and recaps alone is extremely daunting and I haven't any help. If you, my loyal rabid fan base want to write up some game recaps and email them to me, I would likely start using many of those. Four to eight paragraphs is good, depending on the size of each paragraph. Humor is appreciated, but not necessary. For today's game I have received help from an unlikely place, your very own Ra's lovely significant entity and Suns goddess Miss T. She actually found a hilarious Suns video featuring Marcus Banks and some of the other boys and wrote a short commentary:

Marcus Banks, if he continues to play well he will become a great trade prospect, but will we want to trade him? We all know that the Suns know how to back each-other up. Can D'Antoni teach Banks to be a team player? Or, will Marcus become great with the suns and then think he can move up and on. Will he be another Q, Tim Thomas or Joe Johnson. I think with a lot of work this very likable little pit bull will become a deadly addition to the Suns game, especially with the Stat man ready and help from the rest of the Suns.

In the absence of Steve Nash Amare Stat-emire has been putting up the numbers and backing the team up like the Amare of brand spanking new. If you watch the game as closely as I do it almost seems like Amare will push just a little bit harder then normal when Marcus puts the ball up. He will make sure to get any rebound, any tip-in and most of all any pass that Marcus puts his way. Is he unintentionally trying to make Banks look better to D'Antoni and the team? Don't get me wrong, I don't think the fiestyness of Banks has gone unnoticed to D'Antoni, hence the recent increase of Marcus' minutes. Still, without the outstanding efforts of Amare would Banks be able to become the team player D'Antoni, and every other Suns fan wants him to be? We will see tonight. If Steve Nash rests his shoulder Banks will be looking at serious minutes verses Atlanta.

This video has so many funny moments. I especially like the Amare/ Marcus bow because Amare has so many fans in Asia. Also Raja Bell and Marcus flexing before games is funny stuff, I've never seen this before. I guess Marcus has the Eddie House role while he's learning the system.

Flu-Like Symptoms

Not like these flu-like symptoms, but the real deal. I apologize to you my minions for not writing a recap of the Portland game the other night but you have to understand that I was incapacitated. I missed a majority of the game and didn't feel that I could accurately describe it. Sure, I could have probe the internets in search of every game tidbit and preview and then synthesize all the information into 'my' recap, but I don't want to mock your intelligence.

You see, I had flu-like symptoms. It started with some cramps on both sides of my lower back and progressively got worse. The body aches were killer and they slowly engulfed my entire ribcage. I guess this is the price you pay when you have a near two year old going to daycare a few hours a day. She brings back all sorts of bugs that my body can't handle. So on game night I fell asleep around seven o'clock and only briefly woke up to see Pat Burke in the game and hustling.

Pat only played 4 minutes 52 seconds but if you had asked me before checking, I'd have thought he was in 20 minutes and dominating. Was I delirious? Patty, as Steve Nash referred to him while visiting Dan Majerle on the broadcast, was actually trying his best to play Phoenix Suns basketball. He had a vicious put-back, snagged some 'bounds and even got up to block a shot, which was wrongly called a goaltend. Stay out of Patty's house. Anyways, that was good to see. Maybe he's not hopeless after all.

We won in overtime 109-102 and thankfully we won't have to see Portland again this year, we swept the season series.

Amare Stoudemire Wins

The Phoenix Suns overcame a triple double from Carmelo Anthony and an injury to Steve Nash behhind a dominant performance by Amare Stoudemire to finish off the Denver Nuggets 113-108 in a make-up game. Nash's injury doesn't seem like a very serious one, it's sore, possibly from sleeping funny, but he is likely to take the Portland game off to continue to rest it.

The Suns faced a very hungry Nuggets team who lost the previous five of eight games and is struggling to remain playing .500 basketball but that is not truly indicative of the team's talent. Since Carmelo Anthony, the league's leading scorer, was suspended 15 games for the fight in New York City the Denver Nuggets have had a rough time. Add that to the fact that they made a blockbuster trade landing Allen Iverson and they have some additional chemistry issues to work through.

Iverson missed the game last night, which was the second Suns game he missed this year, undoubtedly because he struggles against the Suns. Marcus Camby, the Nuggets starting center and main defensive presence was also out. Still, the Denver Nuggets are an extremely athletic and talented team. The Suns struggled in the first half against Melo's relentless attack and Nuggets HUGE man Nene Hilario getting easy buckets at the rim. I don't know if Nene is truly built the way he looks or if he has some weight to lose but that guy is a giant, and athletic.

Anyways, thanks to Amare's dominance in the paint, once again, and Shawn Marion's superb defense on Melo, the Suns were able to contain the Nuggets enough to pull out a win. Thank Leandro and Marcus Banks for doing a good job filling the void that Steve left. This is the second quality performance from Marcus and it seems that he is starting to 'get it.' He played great the other night against the Jazz and I would like to see him be successful more often. Hopefully he will feel more comfortable in the 15 minutes of playing time he's seeing and really contribute the rest of the year. We're going to need it.



Amare was just an animal last night. He smelled fear and pounced with deftness and precision. He was all over the place and playing with such an intensity. I think his improved play as of late has to do with him feeling more comfortable occupying the low block. This isn't his natural spot on the floor but he conceded the elbow to Boris and Amare is finally puting it all together. Those two have a budding, dangerous chemistry. I love to see Amare punching his chest after big plays. He might be the best finisher in the league, and with such efficiency!



Forget about the Jazz game. It was a close, tough game and I give them a lot of credit. They played exceptionally in Boozer's absense. Deron Williams is going to be an allstar soon enough and Mehmet Okur should get the nod as well. They made big shot after big shot and took advantage of the Suns woes while the Suns couldn't return the favor. When we are missing Kurt, Raja, and Shawn Marion (to foul trouble) we're going to struggle winning games. It's as simple as that. Of course it helps that the Jazz had the zebras as the sixth, seventh, and eighth men out there jobbing the Suns all night, sapping any momentum they would gather.

I just don't see the Jazz as much of a threat. We may or may not see them in the playoffs and they don't really bother me. I see them like the Clippers were last season. A tough, talented team with a lack of experience that will catch up with them. I am confident that we can beat them in a seven game series.

Anyways, here we are at that annual period when Nash misses five games or so and we really see what the team is made of. Generally, we tend to fall apart. This year, however, I trust that Leandro is capable of filling in as playmaker with much help from Boris. It also helps when Amare goes for 36 and 13 while Shawn Marion locks down the other teams best player. Lets say it again, Shawn Marion: Defensive Player of the Year. I don't think he even has any competition. Nobody is quite in his league this year.

Suns Down Spurs

The Phoenix Suns battled back from an early first quarter deficit and very slow start to break away in the fourth quarter to win 103-87. They say that great teams impose their will and style of play on the other team. Last night San Antonio imposed their will early and made the Suns fight hard for this win.

The Suns appeared anxious for this game, and even for the other big games we've played thus far. They've generally not played Suns basketball for these games against the elite teams. I know part of that is because when you play good teams, you are going to have a much more difficult time due to the talent of the opposition.

The Suns started out with the slowest quarter they've had the entire season. It wasn't until a series of steals, deflections and a defensive stance in the second quarter that we were able to get back into the game. This momentum shift occurred after Raja Bell went out, with what was reported as 'aggravated inflammation' in his knee, and Leandro Barbosa came in. Leandro and Shawn Marion, among others, immediately began attacking passing lanes and came up with steals and fast break opportunities to even the score.

Leandro played exceptional in Raja's absense. He is quickly establishing his face as Phoenix Suns basketball. As for the other reserves, James Jones continues to play well. He seems to get more athletic or loose in each game he plays. He has been catching guys with a pump fake and taking them off the dribble before creating his own shot. That is a very nice dimension he has added. Marcus Banks even played good in the anemic eight minutes he got, he didn't shoot particularly well but really, nobody did. I like the pesky defense he played when we needed something extra.

All our starters played well. Boris Diaw became aggressive when the team needed it and also created once the defense was focused on his scoring. This included a very nice drop pass to Amare from the right block after he took a head of steam at the Spurs defense in the paint.



The Matrix made big plays every time we needed it. He is clearly the Suns defensive anchor and he, along with Amare, hit the boards hard. Shawn disrupted San Antonio with three steals and two blocks. Say it with me: Shawn Marion for Defensive Player of the Year. He is everywhere, swinging at shots, including a hardcore block on Tim Duncan that was wrongly called as a foul.



Shawn literally wound up and batted the ball with force out of Tim's hands. I saw the replay, he never even hit Duncan's hand. All ball, all the way. Inversely, on the other end, Tim Duncan racked up a bunch of blocks by routinely hacking the crap out of Suns scorers and since he has that 'great defender' pin from the ref's, he gets away with it.

With Shawn's great play setting the tone, Amare quietly had a huge night. He was so focused on getting rebounds, you didn't notice him until the second half. He did a phenomenal job on the glass, however with a career high 23 'bounds, including eight offensive. This is a game where we usually get killed on the boards but with Amare and Shawn we crushed the Spurs on the glass 51-41.



I have to credit the Spurs, they play hard and they play great defense. We are just playing better this year. They disrupted Steve Nash a bit but he still had a huge game with another double double. He just couldn't get very many easy shots.

The 16 points we won by is misleading, this game was much closer than that score indicates. We were neck and neck up until near the end of the dourth quarter; I want to say around the four minute mark. That's when we imposed our will on the Spurs, finally. Amare really closed this game out for us.

Oh, and for the record, Ginobili is the league's biggest bitch. He should seriously be banned. The play where he kneed Amare in the nuts was simply dirty basketball and should warrant a suspension. You cannot drive into the lane leading with your knee extended. If you can't take the contact stay out of the paint. It was not Amare's fault like Charles Barkley misleadingly mentioned. Amare was directly under the hoop, Ginobili had plenty of space to shoot the shot. He went in there, didn't want the contact so he stuck his knee out and into Amare's balls. I wouldn't be mad if Amare was suspended for introducing his fist to Ginobili's face for a bitch move like that.

Did I mention that Amare was a beast in the paint? He played solid defense on Tim Duncan without getting in foul trouble. In those last four minutes, Amare was ravenous. Any ball clanking off the rim was ripped down by Stoudemire. If it was on defense, he initiated the fast break. When it was on offense, he tossed anyone near him away and threw down the put-back dunk. In a word: unstoppable. During this last four minutes Amare made the Spurs frantically looking for points. They couldn't stop him so they had to score, fast. The Spurs were running, on fumes, jacking up bad threes and we were giving them the business at the other end.

It was this beautiful fourth quarter run that made the game a blowout. Hopefully this silences a couple critics here and there. Spurs coach Greg Popovich had some words when asked if he thinks the Suns' style can't work:

I think it's bull (expletive)... Good basketball teams are good basketball teams. They are playing better defense now than they've ever before. Offensively, they're more dangerous than they've ever been and tougher to guard than they've ever been. The record they have and the way they've been playing, I honestly don't think it's fool's gold.

Tamed West Showdown

8:30pm vs. Spurs TV: TNT RTVHD

The San Antonio Spurs are coming to town today for a game against the Phoenix Suns, in case you haven't been waiting for this game for the past month. Well I have been waiting a long time and let me tell you, the Suns are ready to lay a beatdown on the Spurs.

The Spurs over the past couple years have been the balls. They were consistantly the team to beat and the team that you would have to beat to get anywhere in the playoffs. In 04-05, it was them who took us out in the Western Conference Finals. Last season Dallas narrowly escaped their semifinals series with the Spurs. Now, the Suns have inverted the roles and we are the dominant team.

When you think about playing the Spurs, it's a little nerve-racking. They're well coached, they have a hall of fame player, they are good defensively, and they are a legitimate championship team. With that said, they've regressed this season.

They aren't playing inspired, active defense as they have the past couple years. They've aged and had some nagging injuries. Some of their key rotation players have regressed and they just aren't as motivated as they once were.

To me, this is a good matchup for the Suns. First, Amare is a load for Tim Duncan. Tim is older and the last thing he wants is to have to guard a younger, spry, athletic beast like Amare. Hell, he had a LOT of trouble with Amare in the WCF in 04-05 when Amare averaged something like 37ppg.

Think about this, we know about Amare's propensity to really get up for nationally televised games. Well this is doubly a national game, on TNT, and the team that really helped to define Amare's early career. After that WCF loss on 04-05, there was no questioning Amare's superstardom. Amare is going to want to put on a show tonight in front of Tim Duncan, Charles Barkley, and the rest of basketball nation.

Second, this is a team that matches up well with our defensive philosophy. They have offensive weak links. This allows us to double Duncan, or whoever has the hot hand, and have other guys rotate when they swing the ball around until, say, it gets in the hands of Bruce Bowen, then they can let him take the shot. They always want to bait the opposing team into shooting jumpers and if you can force the ball into the hands of an unreliable scorer, the Suns will have the advantage.

In the past they've baited Tony Parker but he's good enough to step up and hit those shots. I'd rather see Bruce Bowen or Ginobili have those shots tonight instead of Tony Parker.

Finally, the Spurs have aged. They are not so quick on their feet anymore and their bench is even worse. They don't exactly have a spark plug and they lost a tough game last night, which gives us a major advantage. We've had a couple days rest to recoup and should be ready to run the ball down their throats.

We need to win this game to silence some critics. To the team it's not such a huge deal because they see how well they can play and how much they're improving night to night. Still, the pressure game atmosphere will do a lot for this team's poise. Let's just make sure we put a body on Fabricio Oberto so he doesn't explode like the last time we played them. That would just be embarrasing.