The beginning of things

Earlier today the Suns played their first exibition game against a team from Rome, Italy. As expected, the Suns came out on top with a 100-93 victory. The game wasn't that close as the Suns put it on cruise late in the game and got a look at some of thie bench players. Shawn Marion had 19 points to lead the Suns and Leandro Barbosa continued where he left off in last season's playoffs, scoring 18. The Suns shot the ball well, and hit their three pointers, which is how the Suns need to play to win during the regular season. The next game is in Germany vs. the Sixers, who lost their first exibition game against a European team.
The biggest concern for the Suns was not what happened on the court, but rather who wer NOT on the court for them. Yep, Amare Stoudemire missed this game, and has missed a couple of practices with knee soreness. This time he says both knees are sore. There is no swelling or structural damage in his knees, and word is that his teammates are getting sick and tired of his complaining and sitting out. I am starting to be skeptical if there is anything wrong, or just normal soreness from playing basketball. I don't think Amare has much of a pain tolerance. Everyone that plays basketball has knee soreness. Look at any post game locker room, every player ices their knees after games. I play basketball and my knees are sore and I don't play close to as hard or as often as an NBA player. It's part of the game.
The Suns started Nash, Marion, Bell, Diaw, and Kurt Thomas. I think the Suns can win with this group and their strong bench of Marcus Banks, Leandro Barbosa, James and Jumaine Jones, but not having Amare really hurts their interior depth, a department where they were in dire need of improvement last season.
It will be interesting to see what happens as the October 31 season opener against the Evil Lakers quickly approaches.