Stoudemire out with injured eye

All the excitement from the run n' gun blowouts is now tempered with a bit a bad news. Amare had to have surgery for a partially detached retina and will miss up eight weeks. During his monster 42-point game against the Clippers, Amare appeared to have hurt the eye defending Al Thornton on a dunk attempt when Thornton hit him in the face with his left hand.

I think we'll definitely see a return of the goggles when Amare returns. However a return this year means the Sun have to make the playoffs. Good thing they didn't trade Shaq yesterday. The bench will have to step up to replace the production but Amare was one of the Suns matchup advantages especially in the SSOL offense. Let's see if they nab a big like Mikki Moore who was waived or if Courtney Sims actually dresses for the team now.

Sprint to the finish line

Last night's game against the Clippers was X-rated. There are wins, there are blowouts and there are X-rated affairs like last night.

It was enjoyable to see the Suns running and gunning again. Dropping a 140 spot on the hapless Clippers was a nice way to open the stretch run and hopefully send a message to the Western conference. At this point no one is picking Phoenix to do anything. B-Ball analysts are gloating for picking against the Suns and dissing Steve Kerr and Robert Sarver like they are Dumb and Dumber.

At this point, I can't help but think about the season preview:

So my theme for this season is Die Hard. This season is for the Die Hard fans. The folks who'll keep rooting for the Suns through it all and who'll love it the most when we get that first ring. Hopefully the Suns will show some John McClane perseverance through all the challenges this season. Hopefully the Phoenix Suns will be the team that's the hardest to finish off. If they can do that, regardless of when the season ends- we'll be inspired.

We need this team to run, we need them to play loose and crazy, we need them to be who they are. As much as people hated the Shaq trade, I hope his energy and leadership really shine through down the stretch. After he was the star of All Star weekend, Shaq is rejuvenated for one last run to glory. In a hilarious appearance on NBA TV last night (if you're missing Fan Night on Tuesday, you are really missing out) he said at best they can finish 26-5 at worst 22-9. That may be good enough to nab homecourt in the first round. So far it's 1-0 and with Zach Randolph getting himself suspended, it should be 2-0 after tonight a rematch with the Clippers.

Three thoughts...
The talking heads are doubting the return of Seven Seconds or Less (SSOL) because the Suns have lost shooters. I like the approach they used last night. Run for layups. They scored 90 points in the paint. The Clippers scored 100 total. With the finishers they have on this team, they can run for layups and midrange shots and be just as effective. Amare didn't take a jumper from what I remember. Plus J-Rich, LB and Nash can shoot and Barnes will break out of his funk at some point.

The bench has to give the Suns something if they are going to avoid burnout. Nash is the motor here and there has to be some playmaking when he takes a seat. It's almost better that they haven't been running all season as they may be peaking when the playoffs start. I hope last night was a building block for Dragic. Getting into the lane puts a lot more pressure on defense than dribble, dribble, start the offense. He was playing not to make mistakes because Porter had him on a short leash. Last night, he wasn't hesitating and pounced on opportunities including a monster dunk. We know what to expect from Amundson, LB and even Barnes at this point. Dragic is a wild card but we've seen players confidence grow in this system before, let's hope it happens again.

Besides the Lakers at 1, no other spots in the West are locks. New Orleans is playing slower and just traded Tyson Chandler. Houston just lost McGrady for the year. Portland is young. Dallas is old. San Antonio is not as solid defensively. Utah is still missing Boozer and Kirilenko and they're awful on the road. LA and Denver have a few warts too. There are opportunities to be had, let's see if Phoenix can rise in the standings.

Terry Porter: I'm out

Terry Porter has announced he's been fired as head coach of the Phoenix Suns. This may have been the worst kept secret over All Star weekend. It was accurately leaked on RealGm on Thursday, reporters were referencing that inside source by Friday, and TNT's Craig Sager jumped Shaq with that story during the game on Sunday.

I went into Porter's failings in my previous post. What's bound to come out now is more stories about how Porter treated this team. He apparently wasn't well liked at all and had very questionable motivational methods. It is interesting what will be done now as far as trades. The financial situation hasn't changed and there are plenty of sharks in the water ready to pounce on Amare at bargain price.

There have been a lot of stories this weekend skewering Steve Kerr and Robert Sarver for how they've handled this team on their own. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see they haven't made any moves to build on the momentum of the back to back WCF appearances in 05 and 06. At this point, do you want to see the team completely blow it up or try to nab a low playoff seed and almost certain first round elimination? Or is there still some chance they can put together a run for the ages?

Eyes on Phoenix

Eyes around the NBA are focused on Phoenix. It used to be because the Suns would be in the top 2-3 teams in the Western Conference heading into the All Star break. Now the Suns are hosting the game. Instead of showcasing the city and franchise, it's a distraction from what's wrong with the Suns. Let's investigate a bit:

1. Terry Porter
No coach in the league has a tougher job. Unfortunately for Porter, the degree of difficulty doesn't reduce the accountability for the team's performance. The system he's implemented hasn't worked. Players have complained publicly, malcontents were traded, every NBA analyst has an opinion and most importantly in this business- fans aren't happy. The teams hasn't won more than three consecutive games at any point this season. The scoring is down, the games are slower and the team is struggling against good teams and middle of the road teams. The team is fighting for the eight spot when the bottom of the West is plagued with injuries and any spot up to four can be had with a winning streak. Translation: Porter is compromising what he wants to do with a roster that was built for a different coach and tweaked by his general manager.

2. Emphasis on defense
Suns junkies remember all the hype after the Porter hire about the team focusing more on defense. We all remember how Dallas tweaked a few things, changed coaches, made a couple of smart minor moves and got to the Finals. It seemed that way in training camp, when Porter stopped the scrimmages because there was too much scoring and saying "That's not our identity." Porter's Suns are one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA. Shaq doesn't even extend to shooters on the pick n' roll. Amare still doesn't fully understand help principles. Their best individual defender at this point is Grant Hill, who's 36. The team may give up slightly fewer points per game but they play at a slower pace and the point differential is much smaller. Translation: I wouldn't trust this team to guard a swimming pool.

3. New offensive offense
This one rubs a lot of people the wrong way. All one has to do is watch the game Sunday versus Detroit and tonight versus Philadelphia. Fact: Steve Nash is the common link between 6 of the last 7 top scoring offenses (last year, missed it by .9). So the new coach decides to make a healthy Shaquille O'Neal the focal point of the offense. The Nash and Amare pick n' roll has made token early appearances but mainly only showed up late in games. The fast breaking after makes disappeared. This team doesn't force any turnovers to speak of so the break dried up. Best offensive point guard of the decade, 2-time MVP relegated to feed the post on a team full of players built to run. So against Detroit, the team pushed at every opportunity, Nash picked the Pistons apart en route to 21 assists. Tonight, the Suns were run off the floor by the Sixers fueled by 18 turnovers. Shaq had no lift and Porter threw in the towel in third quarter down 14 points. The pick n' roll with Amare is still rarely used. Amare is often handed the ball at the elbow and asked to make a play. LB once again is being asked to run the 2nd unit and his inability to create for others is still a glaring weakness. Translation: the team can run half-court sets but making that the primary focus on a team with Steve Nash is dumb.

4. Trade rumors
Because of the places I've lived, I've mostly had to watch on League Pass over the last few years. I saw the Nash/D'Antoni version of the Suns play for the first in person 12/23/04. Joe Johnson had an awful night, Stoudemire ( who was practicing nothing but midrange jumpers before the game) had a great night, Nash had 17 and 14, D'Antoni barely used his bench and the Suns beat the Grizzlies to go to 23-3. The next game I saw in person was 4/19/08. Game 1 of the Spurs series last season. Best game I've attended in any sport and it broke my heart. D'Antoni's team left it on the floor but once again he was outcoached, far too familiar of a refrain during his tenure. Long lead-in for my point but think about all the changes between those two games. Nash wins two MVPs, Amare is All NBA after microfracture, Joe Johnson traded for Boris Diaw, LB goes from scrub to sixth man of the year, Steven Hunter leaves in free agency, Q Rich traded for Kurt Thomas, Kurt Thomas and draft picks given away, Casey Jacobsen traded for Jim Jackson, Jim Jackson traded for nothing, Shawn Marion traded for Shaquille O'Neal plus the selling of James Jones and the draft picks that turned into Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez, Luol Deng and Rajon Rondo. Now Amare is on the block. Two thoughts here. 1. How many times did the roster reshuffle around Stockton and Malone before they reached the NBA Finals? They were the only constant between the teams that made the Conference Finals in 91-92 and the Finals for the second time in 97-98. 2. With all the change within this organization just in the last 5 years (ownership, general manager, coach), what are the Suns going to build around? What is their plan?

Trading Amare or Shaq is a salary dump, plain and simple. The team clearly doesn't expect to compete for a championship at this point. Unless sliding into the 8 spot to stop the Laker juggernaut is what the team is aiming for. Kerr may be trying to back track to use Amare to make up for mistakes he and his predecessors have made. However getting All Star players requires luck and skill and Amare is the only one the Suns have been right about that's still on their roster. Translation: The road to hell is paved with good intentions, apparently so is the path to mediocrity.

5. C.R.E.A.M
I got a message from a friend who's a season ticket holder. Apparently fans have starting skipping games and the USAC is partially full for weekend games. For an ownership group so reluctant to lose money, rebuilding is not a pleasant prospect. Getting out of luxury tax territory is a goal for Sarver et al but losing playoff money will hurt especially if season ticket renewals go down or the Suns can't increase ticket prices. The word in the past is teams get about $1 million per playoff game, but that's inaccurate because the league takes a cut and visitors get a cut during long series. But the extra ticket revenue from making the playoffs helps with critical extra income. It convinces fans it is worthwhile to support a team. Watching the league pass games, I see a lot of empty seats at NBA arenas. Fans getting priced out of games is not a new story but in this tight economy, I think good teams are going to be a lot more reluctant to lose, unless of course it's cheap. Even though the Lakers sucked after trading Shaq, they only missed the playoffs once and Kobe missed a ton of games to injury. The Knicks are unlike any other franchise in the league, so they manage. The Suns need to keep a competitive team on the floor. Translation: Robert Sarver's efforts to save money cost this team a title and will ultimately cost him more money as this franchise loses value.

It sucks we're on the verge of seeing this team completely blown up but sports can break your heart. A lot of sports talk is just a long discussion about 'almost.' You know the Sun Devils almost won the national title with Jake the Snake. The Suns almost won a title with Seven Seconds or Less. The Cardinals almost won the Superbowl. The Patriots almost went 19-0. It's just a matter of if we want to keep watching... and paying.

I give up

When was the last time you saw a 60-point swing? How about in the last two Suns games. From the complete domination of the awful Sacramento Kings on Monday, the Suns were torched by Golden State 124-112 Wednesday night.

Golden State came out firing and jumped out to a 17-2 lead. There were mismatches in the Suns' favor all over the floor but the Warriors exploited Amare Stoudemire with Kelenna Azubuike going for 19 in the first quarter, 25 for the game. Stephen Jackson went for his first career triple double too.

It's become an all too familiar refrain.

" ____ is having a career night."

"That's a season high for the _______."

"The Suns just don't look like the same team."

While there are several gripes about players, I'm thoroughly convinced Terry Porter was the wrong choice as a coach. If I hear about another meeting, I'm gonna puke. Just watch the team play. The Warriors were launching jumpers all night and hitting them. The Suns cut the lead to 11 late in the third quarter and Porter goes ZONE!?! 14-4 run including two 3-pointers and the Suns are down 21 at the end of the quarter.

While it did appear the refs were just collecting paychecks tonight, the Suns were outplayed and outcoached again. Golden State didn't play their 8th guy until that run late in the third. After the game, Jackson admitted he was surprised at how little Phoenix used Stoudemire (13 pts, 4-8 FG, 5-6 FT). It just wasn't clear at any point what the Suns were doing and the sense of urgency and defense were AWOL again.

The Suns are a shell of what they were. The jerseys and a few of the names are the same, but this isn't a contender and it's barely a team.