More photos » by Laura Rauch - AP

Why this picture? Cuz that's LA Clippers' Summer League participant Dionte Christmas watching Robin Lopez dunk, that's why. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

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With apologies to Henry Livingston, Jr or Clement Clarke Moore, here's our second annual Bright Side of the Sun "Night Before Christmas" as read through purple and orange glasses.  You can read last year's poem here.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

'Twas the night before Clips-mas, in the Grand Canyon State

And the Suns had just finished a cruel winter slate.

December'd been tough, with losses a-plenty,

Delaying their dreams of win number twenty.

A loss to the Cavs Back to back losses had left them all crabby,

Though 18 and 10 11 wasn't too shabby.

And 'Mare in his goggles and Nash in his tuque,

Wondered if their hot start had been just a fluke.

Then there on the schedule, served on a platter

Were the poor hapless Clippers, their record a-tatter.

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More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Sweet Lou had a sweet game in his Colorado homecoming last night. Things didn't work out so well for the rest of the team however. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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[Note by Mike Lisboa, 12/13/09 8:50 AM PST ]

Sorry this didn't get published until the morning... I fell asleep re-watching the game last night before publishing.

***

At some point down the road, the Suns will probably look back on this loss and the Mavericks loss as two games they'd like to have back.  Phoenix wasn't supposed to compete in this game, much less have a shot at winning, coming off a grueling win against the Orlando Magic last night.  But someone forgot to tell Steve Nash.

1st Half

Nash hit his first 5 shots to help the Suns to an early 13-5 lead.  He looked like a man possessed.  The Suns would not roll over on the 2nd night of this particular back to back.  However, the early momentum did not last long as Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets found their shooting touch, and eventually took 16-15 lead halfway through the quarter.  From then on, the rest of the period was a back and forth dogfight resulting in a 29-26 Nugget lead.  Nash and Amare Stoudemire accounted for nearly all the Suns 1st quarter points, but the real story might have been Robin Lopez' 3 fouls in just under 4 minutes of play.

After picking up 5 fouls in 5 minutes against the Magic, Robin proceeded to melt down defensively again, picking up all 3 of his fouls in quick succession in 1 quarter.  It might have been the best thing to happen to the Suns in the first quarter as it allowed Lou Amundson to come off the bench and log some heavy minutes.  Lou was everywhere in the 2nd quarter, starting things off with a block on the first play of the quarter.

The Suns started the 2nd quarter with a line-up of Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley, Grant Hill, Lou Amundson and Channing Frye and proceeded to go on a 19-2 run.  Everything went the Suns' way during this stretch.  Dragic was aggressive going to the hoop on one end and playing fearless defense on Ty Lawson at the other.  Amundson was a beast on the boards, tipping balls back and pulling down everything in sight.  Channing Frye was hitting from range and even drawing contact driving to the hoop.

Defensively, the Suns showed active hands, poking, prodding, blocking and tipping balls that Denver brought into the paint.  Aggressiveness and activity were the Suns' hallmarks in the second quarter and they were rewarded.  (It also didn't hurt that what open looks the Nuggets did get weren't falling.)  The Nuggets did not score a field goal in the first 5:30 of the quarter.  Nash checked back in around the 5 minute mark and continued his hot shooting.  1 minute later, the Suns had their largest lead of the game at 52-35.  There was so much frustration with how the game was going for Denver that both Carmelo Anthony and George Karl received technical fouls complaining about the officiating.  That shoe would soon enough be on the other foot.

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More photos » by Barry Gossage - NBAE via Getty Images

More of this, please. (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)

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There is absolutely no way this game ends well for the Phoenix Suns.  Whatever your bar is for the Suns' performance in this game, lower it.  I'm eschewing the typical "match-up" format for this preview in favor of bullet points, because while the Suns may have an edge here or there with regards to personnel, none of that has mattered so far on Second Nights.

I know that's not very Bright Side of me, but the deck is stacked heavily against the Suns tonight:

• Denver is ranked 3rd in offensive efficiency.  The Suns are ranked 23rd in defensive efficiency.
• The Suns are on the second night of a back-to-back.  They are 1-4 in these games, 0-4 against teams with a winning percentage higher than .217.
• On second night games, ALL the Suns starters shoot notably worse except for one: Steve Nash.  He actually has higher FG and 3PT percentages on the wrong side of back-to-backs than his season averages.  His overall totals are down in these games, but so are his minutes as they've generally ended in blow-outs.  Could Steve Nash be any more amazing?

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True story: Back at the end of the 2003-2004 NBA season, Erick Dampier and Steve Nash became free agents.  Erick Dampier was coming off a never-to-be-matched-again career year in Golden State averaging 12.3 ppg and 12.0 rpg.  He looked like a beast of a big man who had finally broken through.  Steve Nash was a good-but-not-great point guard coming off a fairly average year with the Mavs averaging 14.5 ppg and 8.8 apg.

I desperately wanted one of these players on the Suns.  It was not Steve Nash.  And when the Suns did sign Steve Nash to a 6-year $63 million deal I nearly lost my mind. 

WHY?  WHY?!  Why another point guard?  Why another guard period?  Where had guards gotten the Suns in their 36 year history?  I loved Kevin Johnson.  I loved Jeff Hornacek.  I appreciated (but kinda disliked) Jason Kidd.  I only kinda sorta remembered Paul Westphal.  For as long as I remembered the Suns had always been a guard-dominated team, or at least seemed that way.  And I was tired of seeing guards come up short.  For once I wanted the beast on the block and I was convinced Erick Dampier was going to be that guy.  I was definitely blue and definitely disappointed and went into the 2004-2005 season with the least of expectations (this was after all a team coming off a 29-53 season).

In retrospect, I can safely say the entire universe is probably glad I was not the Suns' general manager at the time.  I don't know why I ever doubted Steve Nash.  This was after all, the guy who sent my then-hated (now-beloved) #2 seeded Arizona Wildcats packing in an upset in the NCAA tournament as a freshman at #15 seed Santa Clara.  A freaking freshman.

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More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

"Trade me for a Shaqtus, will you?" Former Sun Shawn Marion plots his revenge. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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So, after a creampuff of a schedule so far in terms opposition, the Suns finally get a chance to prove they belong in the discussion of Western Conference powers.  Those 2 losses to the Lakers?  Totally expected.  It's going to be the rare team that gives that Laker squad a run for their money. Anyone who expected the Suns to do more than compete for 2 or 3 quarters in either of those games was probably a little delusional. 

But the Mavericks?  They're the proverbial "someone our own size."  In addition to hoping for similar seeding in the Western Conference play-off picture, the Mavericks have even had some of the same early season challenges/knocks the Suns have:

• The Mavericks have played 12 of their first 21 games on the road.  The Suns have played 14 of 21 away from Phoenix.
• The Mavericks have had an even softer schedule than the Suns.  Opponents winning percentage is .457 vs. .487 for Phoenix.
• The Mavs have only played 7 times against teams with a record better than .500.  The Sun have only played 7 times against teams with a record better than .500.
•   The Mavericks are 5-2 in those games.  The Suns are 3-4 in those games.

And that's where these two teams diverge in terms of early season success.  The Mavericks even notched an early win over the Lakers (a 94-80 thumping at Staples Center) who have proved... how shall we say this... challenging to the Suns.

Let's go to the match-ups and see how else these teams stack up.  

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More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

Coach Gentry demonstrates the zombie-like play of the Suns in their two most recent games. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

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I'm going to start with the good stuff since if I have to re-live that game from start to finish, I'll quit 50 words in and link to an Associated Press article.  The game basically ended in the first quarter when, up 18-12 with 4:20 to go in the quarter, the Cavs when on an 11-0 run to go up 29-12 and never looked back, leading by as many as 28 at the half.  Oh, but I wanted to talk about the good stuff.  Here it is then:

• Goran Dragic bounced back nicely from his poor performance in New York to provide some second half spark.  He finished with 14 points and 5 assists on 5-6 shooting and was pretty adventurous in the lane.  It was nice to see him actually run the offense when he was in the game instead of letting someone else make the plays.
• Earl Clark showed some defensive chops and ball-handling skills in his minutes.  It's his decision-making that needs some work once he handles the ball that he needs to improve.
• Amare Stoudemire grabbed 12 whole rebounds.
• The Suns had a lead at one point early in the game.
• Down 57-29 at the half, the Suns showed some fight in the 2nd half.  Not enough, but some.
• Though the Suns never threatened in the second half, they did get close enough that Mike Brown felt compelled to bring LeBron James back in the game with 5 minutes left after the Suns got within 16.  That was probably the high point of the game for me.

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Amar'e Stoudemire must start AND FINISH with his gorilla game for the Suns to have a chance in Cleveland tonight. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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Hopefully the Suns can make like Alando Tucker and wash the icky residue of last night's loss to the Knicks off their hands before mixing it up with the Cavaliers in Cleveland tonight.

The Suns head into Cleveland 2-1 with a chance at salvaging a winning record on this eastern road swing before coming home to face the Kings on Saturday.  Last night the Suns came out flat on both ends of the court and despite rallying to get within 6, never recovered offensively or defensively.  

So, which Suns team will show up tonight? The 14-3 power rankings darlings or that group of zombies that took the court in New York last night.

The Cavaliers come into tonight's game riding a 4 game winning streak, including a 16-point thumping of the Mavericks on Saturday.  That's right: Saturday.  In addition to being at home, Lebron and company have 3 days of rest.  For their part, after taking most of yesterday's game off, the Suns should be plenty rested as well *rimshot*.

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