It's been a long time

So I haven't updated this thing in a while...well I have some good reasons. There's been a lot going on in my life...first I went into the hospital for a week (nothing serious, altough I gusee going into the hospital is serious in itself). While I was there my son was born. I couldn't be there for the birth because I was a patient in the hospital and they didn't want to risk him or my wife getting sick. Crazy stuff.
Don't worry, he's already got some Suns gear he'll be sporting during the playoffs. Anyway, soon after I got out of the hospital, Spring Training started and I work for one of the teams that trains here in the Valley.
But enough about my life...this blog is dedicated to the PHOENIX SUNS.

So...what have the Suns been up to?
Well, they haven't been playing that well...but they clinched the Pacific Division for the third consecutive year, and currently stand 53-17. Last season they won 53 games all year. If the Suns can win 10 of their remaining 12 games, they can break the all time franchise record for wins in a season with 63.
While all that is fine & dandy, they still sit in 2nd place overall in the Western Conference. Unless something drastic happens to Dallas, it doesn't look like the Suns will catch the Mavs for the #1 seed in the West. So...that means that if the West Finals match up the Suns and Mavs again, Dallas will once again have home court advantage.
The Suns proved they can beat the Mavs a couple of weeks ago with a 2OT win in Dallas. They match up again on April 1, this time in Phoenix, for the final time in the regular season. I think it would do a lot of good for the Suns to win that game and even the season series between the two teams.
The long regular season is wrapping up soon, and the playoffs will soon begin...at that point anything can happen.

Phoenix Suns Blog (presented by *insert corporate sponsor here*)

My favorite basketball team has always been the Phoenix Suns. This year, I have a new favorite team.
They are now the Phoenix Suns Presented by Casino Arizona.
What?
How dumb is that? If you have been on the Suns website, gone to a Suns game, or watched the Suns on one of the local broadcasts you would know about this change. When the Suns come out on the court to warm up before the game, the PA Annoucner says "Now coming onto the court: YOUR PHOENIX SUNS presented by Casino Arizona"

This corporate sponsorship is getting out of hand.
It's one thing to have the arena named for a sponsor, although that opens it up to name changes such as we had last year - America West Arena to US Airways Center...but to use a corporate sponsor to talk about the team is over the line.
Is the team that hard up for money? Robert Sarver paid $405 million for the team...is he not getting a good return on his investment?
If the NBA ever allows advertising on the uniforms like the overseas leagues do, I may quit being a fan.
What's next? The Phoenix Casinos?

What a ride!

Well, I haven't had the time to update this thing in a while, but the Suns have been rolling lately.
After putting together two seperate winning streaks of 15 and 17 games, the Suns currently sit with the second best record in the NBA after their win over Portland last night. The Suns are 39-10, only one half game behind Dallas (39-9) for the top spot in the West.

Amare has come back strong...he seems to have put his injuries behind him. Steve Nash is on his way to a third straight MVP with career highs in FG%, scoring, and assists. Shawn Marion is The Matrix. His all around game has earned him his fourth all-star spot alongside his teammates Nash and Amare.

Mike D'Antoni and his staff will coach the all-star team, thanks to the Pat Riley rule. One coach can not coach in the all star game for two consecutive years, and since Avery Johnson coached last year, the spot goes to the Suns staff. (At the cutoff for the head coach to be named, the Suns had the best record anyway).

The only major injury has been hard luck Kurt Thomas. KT is out with an elbow injury...he should return soon after the all star break.

Overall it has been a great first half for the run & fun Suns. I'm looking forward to more great basketball in the second half as the Suns continue their run for their first championship.

Dissapointing start and the New Guy

The Suns lost to the Clippers tonight, running their record to a disturbing 1-3.

They lost on opening night to the Fakers, and again last night to the Jazz. Turnovers have been a big problem early (although tonight they only had 10). The Suns have shown an ability to not box anyone out or play any interior defense in the early games.

Boris Diaw and Raja Bell, two keys to last year's success have shown little of the game that the Suns relied upon so much last year. Bell hasn't shot the ball well and Diaw, well, he hasn't done much of anything.

Hopefully this team will pull it together and get on a roll, but the schedule won't be kind. After playing their first four games in five nights, they have back to back games against Western Conference powers San Antonio and Dallas on Wed. and Thurs. night before playing home vs. Memphis next saturday. If they continue to struggle they have a chance to start 1-5 which would not be good.

On another note, the Suns expect to sign veteran swingman Jalen Rose on Monday, pending his physical. Rose was cut by the Knicks in preseason (insert joke here). I'm hoping for a Tim Thomas - like situation where a veteran comes in and energizes this team and plays better than he has ever played before, but I'm not quite sure what to expect. Rose has a career avg. of almost 15 points and almost 4 assists, so he's capable, but his best years seem to be behind him. I'm not counting on much, but I'm hoping for the best from him.

THE AMARE REPORT:

Amare has looked good at times and bad at times. His best game was the home opener vs. the Clippers, but overall he looks scared to go up strong and very tentative around the hoop. He only is playing about 17 minutes a game and most of his minutes seem to come in the first half. Will we ever see the old Amare? I'm starting to wonder.

Not quite what we expected

Opening night for the Suns wasn’t quite what was expected. After getting out to a 19 point lead in the first quarter, the Suns blew the lead and were defeated by the Evil Empire of the Lakers 114-106. The Suns scored 41 points in the first quarter, and then seemed to quit playing. They were dominated by Lamar Odom, who scored 34 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. He also had 6 assists just for good measure. The real story of this game was second year center Andrew Bynum. The 10 year old Laker scored 18 points. I have shoes older than Andrew Bynum.
The Suns decided after the first quarter that rebounding, defense, and fast breaking were no longer important. The Lakers proved why Kobe Bryant is a cancer. The Grim Raper didn’t play, contributing to the Lakers win. With Kobe in the game the Suns would have had an easy win, as the Grim Raper would have turned the game into a one on one battle with his mortal enemy, Raja Bell. Instead, the Lakers showed balance and team play, and were able to beat the Suns from the inside out.
Tonight, the Clippers and former Suns playoff hero Tim Thomas come to town. The Suns need to show the ability to bounce back and take their home opener.
Amare note: Stoudemire scored just 6 points in only 11 minutes of playing time. He did have one nice highlight dunk.

FINALLY! The season is here!

Training camp is over, the preseason is over, and now, FINALLY, it’s time for the 2006-07 NBA Season to begin.
There are high expectations for the Suns this year. A number of publications, including Sports Illustrated, have picked the NBA championship to come to Phoenix this year. Much of the success will depend on the knees of Amare Stoudemire. There have been three preseason games at home (two of which I have attended) and Amare has shown flashes of his former self at times. At other times, however, he has looked tentative and scared to go up strong to crash the boards and take the ball to the basket. He seems to only go strong to the hole when there’s nobody in his way. Hopefully that will get better as the season goes on. Right now, Amare is the highest paid sixth man in the NBA, as the Suns are using a starting lineup of Nash, Bell, Diaw, Kurt Thomas, and Marion.
The Suns went 4-4 in the preseason, with losses to the Sixers, Lakers, Sonics, and Clippers. Not that any of that matters. Preseason is for trying different lineups and working out the kinks. Not to mention getting new guys used to the run run run style of Phoenix Suns basketball
Some observations of preseason: Leandro Barbosa will have an excellent season. He doesn’t have to worry about playing the point this year with the addition of Marcus Banks. This allows him to concentrate on scoring and getting to the basket and using his speed as a weapon. Barbosa probably won’t ever be a point guard, but he’s a very good shooter and an excellent scorer in the lane.
Marcus Banks has looked like he’s not quite sure what to do in the Suns system. He’s almost playing too fast for his own good. His shot hasn’t fallen and he’s had a high number of turnovers. He’s an upgrade from Eddie House, but he’ll really need to start shooting better in order to take the pressure off of Steve Nash.
The regular season starts on Halloween, as the Suns go to Los Angeles to play the Lakers. That should be fun. The next night the Clippers are in Phoenix as the Suns have their nationally televised home opener.

Back in the USA

The Suns completed their European trip yesterday, beating an Israeli team, Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv, in Cologne, Germany. They won two of the three games they played in Europe, with their lone loss coming at the hands of the only NBA team they faced, the Sixers. The most important thing that happened was the fact that Amare Stoudemire played two games on back to back days and reported no problems with the knee.
Amare played 19 minutes against the Sixers and played 25 minutes against Maccabi Tel Aviv. He looked slow on defense, and had some trouble with turnovers, but he did show some flashes of the vintage Amare, even dunking over a Maccabi player.
Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa, the Suns two emerging stars from last year's playoffs both played well. Diaw is in the final year of his contract and if he does not sign an extension before Oct. 31, he will become a restricted free agent after this season. This concerns the Suns because they don't want a repeat of the Joe Johnson situation. Diaw and the Suns do not appear close on a contract. This makes me wonder if Diaw and his agent may think they'll test the waters next summer. I also wonder if Diaw would be as good in another system as he is in the Suns run & gun style.
Speaking of the run & gun, the most important signing of the summer was backup guard Marcus Banks. Banks could start at PG for many NBA teams, in fact he did start most of the second half for Minnesota. The Suns success rests on the back of Steve Nash, and having a legit backup PG will help Mike D'Antoni get Nash out of the game and not worry about the team faltering, like last year when Eddie House came in the game.
The first home preseason game is next week. I can't wait to see this team play.

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.

Training Camp

Off to Italy.
Not me, the Suns. Training Camp 2006 will be in Italy. The Suns will play some preseason games against European teams and NBA teams. It should be interesting once they get back to see how the jetlag will affect them.
The Suns will bring 14 players to camp.
Jeff Varem, a former Washington State Cougar was scheduled to be the 14th man, but due to some visa problems from his native land, he can not go. Instead they will bring some guy Davin White from Cal St. Northridge.
No chance he will make the team...just an extra body for practice.

Amare had some soreness on his non microfracture knee the other day and had an MRI, which turned out negative. It will be interesting to see how he plays in training camp.

Roster Moves Completed (?)

The Suns are in the process of signing Jumaine Jones, a swingman type player who played for the Charlotte Bobcats last year.
His signing completes the roster with 13 players.
Other than the fact that the moves brings a headbanded player to the Suns, it is a good move. Jones is a decent outside shooter and a good defender. He will definately help off the bench and can start in case of an injury to someone.
Here's the roster as it stands now:

Starters:
NASH
BELL
STAT
DIAW
MATRIX

Bench:
Barbosa
K. Thomas
Banks
James Jones
Jumaine Jones
Piatkowski
Burke

Inactive List:
Sean Marks

I'm not sure if this is going to be the roster when the season opens in November. The Jumaine Jones signing is interesting in terms of where it leaves James Jones' status. I like James Jones, but his inconsistancy hurt the Suns last year, and he really was a non factor in the playoffs when he was counted on due to the Raja Bell injury.
I don't know this for sure, and I haven't heard it in the media or from any inside sources, but I have a feeling that James Jones may be traded.
If the Suns can get a couple of future high draft picks that may be a good move. After all, Nash won't last forever. Although we do have Banks and Barbosa, I don't know if either of them are the PG for the future.

Feel free to send me comments or emails on anything regarding the Suns, this signing, or anything else!

Barbosa Signs...Stat Sits

The past week brought some good news and some bad news to Suns fans.
First, the good...
The Suns were able to lock up guard Leandro Barbosa for five more years (his rookie contract was due to expire after this upcoming season) for the relatively low price of $33 million. That sounds like a ton but if Barbosa continues to progress like he did last year, it will look like a bargain when he would have been due for free agency next summer. After all, Francisco Elson, a bench warmer from the Nuggets got a 2 yr / $6 million contract from the Spurs.
Next, the Suns are looking to get a multi year deal done for Boris Diaw, the reigning NBA Most Improved Player.

Now...the bad.
Amare Stoudemire's rehab is not to the point where he had hoped it would be at this point. After a cautiously optimistic performance in the Summer League, Amare was left off the Team USA roster for the upcoming World Championships. USA Basketball officials said that Amare looked stiff and tentative when working out and scrimmaging this summer. It will be important to the Suns championship chances that he is near 100% for the season. Luckily, there are about 2 1/2 months until opening night, and Amare can continue to rehab.

2006-2007 Schedule Released

The 2006-07 NBA schedule was released today. The Suns play 33 games on national TV, which I think is the most of any team.
The season begins in LA against the Rapers on Haloween. The home opener is November 1 against the real team in LA, the Clippers. It will be interesting to see the reception Tim Thomas gets in Phoenix.
Some other highlights of the schedule include:
Suns vs. World Champion Miami Heat Dec 13 @ Miami, and Jan 5 @ Phx.
Suns vs. Dallas in a rematch of the 2006 West Finals November 9th at US Airways Center.
Cleveland and LeBron James comes to town on January 11.
Kobe and the Rapers don't make their first appearance in the Valley until March 4. That game will be fun, as the chant of KOBE SUCKS will be alive and well.

The regular season ends on April 17 with the Clippers coming to town again.

I can't wait until the season starts and it's only August!

Depth Chart:

PG: Steve Nash, Marcus Banks
SG: Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa, James Jones
C: Amare Stoudemire. Kurt Thomas, Pat Burke
SF: Shawn Marion, Eric Piatkowski
PF: Boris Diaw, Sean Marks

Marcus Banks, Sean Marks, and STAT

The Suns finished their offseason moves (hopefully) with the signing of Marcus Banks to be the backup PG and Sean Marks to be the backup benchwarmer.
Marks is not relevant so I really don't have anything to say about him other than he's a big oaf from New Zealand. He'll sit in the seat on the bench next to Pat Burke that was previously occupied by the now retired Rastafarian, Brian Grant.
I like the Banks deal. I haven't seen much of this guy play, but from what I have seen he will be a good fit into the Suns' system. He is definately an upgrade from Eddie CrackHouse. Of course, my cat would be an upgrade from House.
Banks could have commanded more money and probably a starting job from some other team (Lakers?) but chose to play in Phoenix. He went to UNLV so Phx is close to his Vegas home, and who wouldn't want to play for this team?
Banks will allow Barbosa to contine to be a #2 guard off the bench, and not play the PG, where he is less comfortable.

The most important acquisition the Suns made this summer so far isn't even a new pickup. It is the return of Amare Stoudemire. He played well in the Summer league and currently is training for Team USA for the World Championships. Hopefully he will be able to regain the explosiveness he had during his first three seasons. If Amare is at 90% (and the Suns don't make any dumb moves...I.E. Trading Shawn Marion), the Suns should be the favorite for the Western Conference Title.

Now What?

Tim Thomas is a Clipper.
The only good basketball team in L.A. gave him $24 million over 4 years. The Suns offered him $12 million over 3 years. That is what you would call a no brainer.
Tim did well in his brief stint with the Suns, and said all the right things leading up to free agency. The Suns offered him a fair offer, but the Clippers gave him an insanely large contract after losing Valdimir Radmanovic to that other team that plays in the Staples Center. So...where does that leave the Suns??
The loss of Tim is not that crushing of a blow for the Suns. The only reason he was signed to begin with was to compensate for the loss of Kurt Thomas, who will be back from his stress fractured foot. Oh yeah, there's that Amare guy who is coming back too. I hear he's pretty good.
The Suns key need right now is a backup point guard, so Steve Nash doesn't have to play 40 minutes a game for 82 games plus playoffs.
Unfortunately, in this summer of overblown contracts, the best available backup PG's have been given huge sums of money the Suns don't have under the salary cap to commit to a bench player. Speedy Claxton and Bobby Jackson got huge contracts to play backup roles in Atlanta and New Orleans / Oklahoma City respectively.
So...where does that leave the Suns?
We can go out and get another shooter, and keep what we've got...that means Barbosa would be the backup PG; a role he has clearly shown he is not suited for.
We can go and re-sign Eddie House (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't do that!!!)
Other than that, there's not much left out there.
Now that the free agent period is underway, the Suns selling their draft picks for cap space isn't looking as good as it did on draft night. Marcus Williams could have definately helped in the backup PG dept.
Well...we shall see what develops. Stay tuned.
On a more positive note (I hope), Suns summer league is beginning today. Amare Stoudemire is going to play against a bunch of scrubs from other teams. Hopefully his knee is fully healed and we will see the "old" Amare dominating a bunch of 12th men and rookies in Las Vegas. Three of the games are televised on NBATV so we will get to see how STAT looks. I'm cautiuosly optimistic.

When nothing is good

The 2006 NBA draft was very memorable for the Suns. It's not too tough to remember nothing. That's exatly what the Suns got in the draft. In fact, the Suns left the draft with one less player than they had before the draft, despite having two picks in the first round.
Why am I not complaining?
Because that's exactly what the Suns needed to do. The Suns didn't need to waste money on some players that wouldn't play or get sent to the NBDL. By trading their draft picks for cash, they will have money to sign Tim Thomas, and maybe even get contract extensions for Leandro Barbosa and Boris Diaw (lets not get ahead of ourselves yet).
By getting rid of Brian Grant (and his salary) the Suns freed up some more money to possibly go after someone in the free agent market (Backup point guard, anyone?).
As it is the Suns' roster shapes up like this:

Steve Nash
Shawn Marion
Amare Stoudemire
Kurt Thomas
Boris Diaw
Raja Bell
Leandro Barbosa
James Jones
Pat Burke
Dijon Thompson
Tim Thomas (hopefully)


If the Suns can get a quality backup PG (Bobby Jackson?) they really would have no holes. As it is currently, this team is a championship contender. Add Amare Stoudemire to a team that was 2 wins from the Finals? That's better than any trade or draft pick a team could ask for.
Well, we'll see what happens the rest of the summer. I'm already excited for the 06-07 season.

Damn Rumors

Well...another offseason...another round of Shawn Marion trade rumors.
This year there is talk of The Matrix going everywhere from Chicago to Seattle. There are a couple of other rumors as well.
Marion has been the heart & soul of the Suns organization for the past 6 years. He has suffered through the awful Stephon Marbury experiment. He has played with 3 different point guards, 4 different coaches, but has been able to put up big numbers every year throughout his career.
I don't get it. Marion scores. Marion rebounds. Marion defends. There's NOBODY in the NBA that can provide the things he can. Sure, someone may be a better scorer. Someone may be a better defender. Someone may be a better rebounder. But there is NOBODY in the league that has the combination of things that Marion brings to the table.
If he is traded I will be extremely dissapointed.
As a Suns fan, it's hard to root for a team that completely changes its core each and every year. I can't imagine, after being so close to an appearance in the Finals, that this team would take people away.
If you add Amare Stoudemire to this core, how can this team NOT be the favorite to win the championship?
I'll post next after the draft on Wednesday night.
We shall see.

The Ride Comes to an End.

The magic carpet ride that was the 2006 NBA Playoffs has ended for the Phoenix Suns. I had hoped that I would be posting about a game 7 here today, but instead I must take a step back and reflect on what truly was a magical season for the Suns.
After losing Quentin Richardson and Joe Johnson there were lots of question marks about this team. When Amare Stoudemire went down, the question marks became doubts about even making the playoffs from many people including myself. This team fought all year and overcame whatever challenges were put in front of them and made an incredible journey that included a second straight Pacific Division title, a second straight MVP award for Steve Nash, and a memorable playoff run that ended with one more win than last year's.


I gotta take my hat off to Dallas for winning a tough series. In the end they were able to out play the Suns when it mattered, overcoming an 18 point Suns lead to close out with a victory.
All the injuries and fatigue finally caught up to the Suns, and they just weren't able to hold on in the second half. Congrads to Dallas and their fans and good luck in the Finals.

There are a number of decisions to be made this summer for the Suns, most notably the free agency of Tim Thomas. Tim has said he'd take less money to remain a Sun, but sometimes the NBA's salary cap makes personnel decisions for teams. I'd like to see him in the purple & orange next year, but we'll see how this plays out.
I feel one of the Suns biggest needs is a backup point guard. Eddie House is definately NOT an option. Leandro Barbosa is much better in a scoring role. I want to see someone that can come in and run the offense, allowing Nash to get some rest.
I'll update this blog when things happen this summer, or when the rumors become rampant. Feel free to leave comments on the blog or anything Suns related, or you can email me at: kobesucks@cox.net

Here we go again

THIS WAS A FOUL ON STEVE NASH?

Well once again the Suns are facing elimination. It seems they only can play well when their backs are against the wall. Or when the officials aren't wearing Dallas jerseys.

Game 5 was a good game until about midway through the fourth quarter. That's when Danny Crawford, Jack Neis, and Kenny Mauer decided to take this game into their own hands. On paper it looked like Dirk scored 50 points and led Dallas to a 16 point victory. On paper it looked like the Suns blew a 7 point third quarter lead. Games aren't played on paper. Let's look at what REALLY happened.

Suns up by 7. Shawn Marion is called for a phantom foul which happened to be his fourth. He goes to the bench...Dallas goes on a 10-0 run. Then things really got bad for the Suns. Dallas had a one point lead and Raja Bell was kicked by no talent Josh Howard, and Raja gets a technical foul. Mike D'Antoni voiced his displeasure with the call and was T'd up as well. From that point on, Dirk was allowed to do anything he wanted and whenever he missed a shot a foul was called on the Suns. It was a fuckshow.

How does the softest player in the HISTORY of the NBA get to the line 18 times? Dirk = 18 free throw attempts. The Suns TEAM = 20 free throw attempts. Suns lose by 16...hmmm...

Dirk does nothing but take fadeaway jumpers and three pointers. How the hell does a jump shooter get to the line 18 times? Insane.

Danny Crawford should turn in his whistle after that performance.

RAJA RAJA RAJA!!!!!!!

It's funny how one player can make a difference. Take away Steve Nash from the Suns, and you have a team like the Timberwolves. Talented players with no direction. Steve Nash makes the Suns go. He runs the offense, finds open shots for his teammates, and provides on the floor leadership.
I never thought Raja Bell would be as important to the Suns as Steve Nash. With Raja sidelined for games 2 & 3, the Suns looked overmatched. The defense just wasn't there. They couldn't stop guys like Josh Howard & Devin Harris. Their double teams didn't have the same effectiveness on Dirk Nowitzki, and they didn't have the fire to go after loose balls.
Raja surprised everyone by suiting up and playing in game 4. His presence gave the Suns the fire they needed to pull even in the series with a 20 point victory. A loss in game 4 would have been devastating, but the Suns followed Raja's lead and came out with fire and passion to put the Mavs away in the 3rd quarter.
Raja has really made his place in Suns history during these playoffs. Everyone knows about his clothesline to Kobe Bryant.
Had he done that and the Suns lost the series, nobody in Phoenix would want anything to do with him. However, that play alone inspired the Suns to win game 6 on the Lakers floor, and fueled the beat down the Suns put on the Lakers in game 7.
Fast forward to the Clippers series: Game 5, Suns down 3 in OT, and Raja hits what may just be the biggest shot in Suns history to put the game into OT #2 where the Suns took control...another game 7, another spanking put on a team from LA.
Now, Raja comes back from an injury he probably should not have been playing on, and inspires his team to win by 20 over a team that had outplayed them for the 2 previous games. That's the stuff legends are made of.
I only hope the Suns can continue to play with that kind of passion and fire throughout this series. If we can go into Dallas and win game 5 you may as well make your reservations for the Finals.

Game 4: A Must Win

The picture that is in this post should be a nightmare for Suns fans. Steve Nash on the bench. Raja Bell in street clothes.
What does this mean? Probably that Eddie House is in the game. Eddie House may be the worst player in the entire NBA. No, not juse because he went to Arizona State, although that may account for his lack of intelligence.
The Suns have been leading each game of the Western Conference Finals at halftime. At the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth, Mike D'Antoni has put Eddie House in the game to give MVP Steve Nash a rest. In games 2 and 3, the Suns lead evaporated during the time with House in the game.
Sure, he may get lucky and hit an off balance three pointer that he throws at the basket without being set, but he is a liability on every aspect of the game.
He can not defend anyone. Avery Johnson knows this so whomever House is guarding goes to the basket on every possession, and usually comes away with a basket.
He can not pass. The Mavs pressure him and most often come up with a turnover. He can not rebound. There was a loose ball late in game 3 that BOUNCED next to him, and he just looked at it. Either he is too dumb to pick up the ball, or he's being paid secretly by the Mavs. I go with option A.
His basketball IQ is below zero. He pulls up in transition and jacks up awful shots, or he'll throw a shot up when there are 3 guys on him and 4 other Suns standing there unguarded.
Now, back to game 4.
The Suns MUST win this game to stay in the series.
I know they can if they play with the intensity they need to. It is the playoffs. Who cares if you're tired? You have all summer to rest. It's time to empty the tank and leave EVERYTHING on the court.
Luckily, the Suns seem to be at their best with their backs against the wall. I'm confident for a victory tonight, and then it will be a tied 2-2 series, where anything can happen.
Do we want a game 7 at Dallas? Well, that's not the best scenario, but we definately can win there. 3 straight wins would be nice, but realisticly, We'll probably have to go in to Dallas and win a game 7.