More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Alvin Gentry will go against one of the best coaches in the league and a colleague he's known for 30 plus years.

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The Phoenix Suns will play hosts of the San Antonio Spurs tonight as they seek to remain perfect at home. Playing the Spurs is always fun and painful at the same time. Whenever I see their uniforms I can't help but to remember all the times they have broken my heart.

I've been bitter for days because of them. I've punched the wall, yelled at my friends, fought with my significant other, fought with my Mother In Law for fighting with my significant other, screwed up reports at work, I've forgotten important appointments and I've even kicked my dog... and I love my dog.

Interesting enough, I don't have any bad feelings towards them. I've tried to hate them, I've tried to channel my anger and convince myself that they are the bad guys. Nothing. All I feel is respect and admiration. They are disciplined and deadly accurate when running plays on both ends of the floor and all you can do is just shake your head and wish your team would execute in crunch time just like they do.

But this year the Spurs are struggling. They have been playing better as of late but their season has not started the way everyone predicted. Their off season moves looked very good on paper but they have had a hard time adjusting to Pop's system.

I wanted to ask a few questions to the enemy so I contacted Austechspur, fellow blogger from our brother SBN Blog Pounding the Rock, and he was kind enough to answer my inquiries.

His responses after the jump!

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Amar'e's reaction after dunking the winning basket. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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US Airways Center it's starting to become a dangerous place for opposing teams. The Phoenix Suns are the only team in the NBA yet to lose at home. They have won 17 straight games in the desert, dating to last season.

Some of us could say that tonight's game was fun, exciting and entertaining. Others could describe it as frustrating, nerve-wracking and bittersweet. What I'm certain about is that all of us went through a rollercoaster of emotions and that this game had so many WTF moments that you couldn't count them even if you tried really hard.

At the end of the day a win is a win and the Suns nailed some big shots down the stretch and got an offensive rebound that proved to be the defining play of the game. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and let's take a look at what happened before it came down to that exciting play.

1^st Half

The Suns were hot in the first quarter. They were hitting shots, moving the ball well and Steve Nash was finding wide open teammates with a variety of passes that made me jump from my seat on several occasions. They looked sharp and with a lot of energy. On the other hand, the Magic seemed tired and a step slower than the Suns. They were careless with the ball, having six turnovers and only scoring 9 points with three minutes to play in the quarter. Eventually their offense picked up and they managed to end the 17-0 run by the Suns with a run of their own. At the end of the quarter the score was Suns 33 and the Magic 22. Although they cut the lead to eleven, I had the feeling that Phoenix was in the driver's seat and that they would put the game away at any moment. Boy was I wrong.

Gentry decided to go with his bench to start the second quarter. Jared Dudley made a three pointer and Amar'e, who remained on the floor, got a nice feed from Dragic aka Frosty. This great play prompted Van Gundy to call a timeout as the Suns were pulling away and extending their lead to 19.

The Magic would not back down and they showed everyone why they are the best road team in the NBA, shooting accurately from the perimeter and fighting their way back in the game. At this point, Howard had been a non factor. The Suns were double teaming him as soon as he put the ball on the floor. The plan was working until Howard started to find open teammates who did what they do best...hit outside shots.

At the half, the Suns had shot 52% from the field while the Magic managed to stay close despite shooting 43%. Orlando had 13 turnovers and the Suns 6.

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More photos » by Paul Connors - AP

29 days ago: Phoenix Suns center Amare Stoudemire, center, takes a shot between Detroit Pistons defenders Jonas Jerebko, left, of Sweden, and Ben Wallace, right, in the third quarter of an NBA basketball game Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009, in Phoenix. The Suns won 117-91. (AP Photo/Paul Connors)

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There's a Suns game tonight! Yay!

The Phoenix Suns get a visit from the Memphis Grizzlies tonight, and look to remain perfect at home against a resurgent Grizzlies team that has won 4 of their last 5 games.

The Suns (11-3) looked dominant against Detroit, where they shot a season best 58% from the field. They burned the Pistons from behind the arc shooting 11-18 threes. This game against Detroit was not an anomaly. Our beloved team is tough to beat at home, there shouldn't be any doubts about that. They have won 14 consecutive games in this building (counting last season) and remain being one of the few teams who haven't lost in their home court this season.

The fact that Memphis (5-9) has been playing very well as of late makes this game really interesting. Their offense has been clutch and, during their last 5 game stretch, they have been holding opponents to 96.6 points per game.

The Grizz

On their last game against The Kings, Rudy Gay took over and destroyed Sacramento literally on his own. He leads the Grizz averaging 21.9 points per game.

Marc Gasol is having a good year on the defensive end, leading the team in blocks. He blocked 4 shots in that win against the Kings. The Suns will have their hands full keeping him off the boards.

This is a team that's running on momentum but they will start their road trip playing against one of the toughest teams in the West (God, It feels really good to type that). The keys for them to win the game is to continue to shoot very well from the field and defend the three point line, cross their fingers the Suns are not shooting lights out and capitalize on The Suns mistakes. Easier said than done.

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More photos » by Layne Murdoch - NBAE/Getty Images

Peja showed that he can still shoot the three.

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During this game, The Phoenix Suns were victims of a severe case of Amnesia. They forgot to not underestimate an opponent. They forgot that they need to earn every win. They forgot to do the little things that have led them to have a good record to start the season. They forgot that they still have a lot to prove.

The Suns went to New Orleans with a 10-2 record, tied for the best record in the NBA with The Atlanta Hawks and had a chance to improve to 11-2 facing a young team without their best player. Most of us thought this game was going to be easy for The Suns. There's nothing wrong with that. We are fans and after comparing their team to ours you can say it was a logical and educated guess. But Basketball is a crazy game and unlike fans...professional players can't afford to think like that. You actually have to play and earn it, because regardless of who you're facing, this is the NBA and any team can beat you. Any team.

Back when I was in High school, we were playing in a Tournament Finals against a team who was clearly inferior to ours. So we showed up to the game feeling good about ourselves and thinking that it was going to be piece of cake. We were relaxed and some might even say that we were cocky at times.

And so the game started and everything was going their way. Shots were raining, three point plays, fast breaks, steals. We couldn't by a bucket to save our lives but even under those circumstances we were thinking: "they can't stay this hot for a long time" or "our defense will get better" but none of those things happened and we ended up losing the game. We argued every single whistle that was called against us, our coach was thrown out of the gym and I fouled out of the game with still 10 minutes to play. My dad, who was watching from the bleachers, had to listen to me bitch about the refs on the way back home until he said the following:

"Jose, the refs didn't make you lose that game. You guys lost it. You didn't hustle, you didn't execute, and you didn't rebound the ball. It's like you were expecting them to suck at some point but it never happened. The fact that all of you, including your incompetent coach, were arguing calls throughout the whole game and blaming them for your misery just proves the fact that you are so arrogant that you can't even tell that you were beaten by the better team tonight and that it had nothing to do with the refs taking it away from you. Suck it up and learn from it"

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting the Suns were cocky tonight but it certainly looked like they were thinking (just like we did back then) "They can't stay this hot all night"

But they were wrong and just like me...they need to suck it up and learn from it.

That's enough of my stories. Let's talk hoops now.

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More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

Amar'e couldn't get it going against a bigger and stronger front court.

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That didn't go as expected, right? Kind of.

Watching this game was really painful. We saw a tired and timid Suns team just going through the motions. We saw a powerful and rested team in the Lakers, playing with confidence at home.

The Lakers are the current NBA champions, they are tough, I get that. But I feel that the Suns could have at least tried a little harder. They looked flat out scared, intimidated, overwhelmed by the Lakers inside presence. True, we couldn't buy a bucket but this is when you have to fight through it and find a way to remain relevant in the game. Grind it out and stuff. But that's just me.

More ugly details after the jump.

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More photos » by Christian Petersen - Getty Images

More of this. Please.

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Do you recognize that sound? Can you hear it? That's the sound of the Phoenix Suns Bandwagon filling up to it's capacity. Yes, just like 2004. Hey, there's still room, feel free to jump in!

Suns Basketball is officially back. Steve Nash is the best PG in the NBA, they are leading the League in scoring, three point shots are raining over opposing teams, nobody can stop the Nash - Amar'e pick and roll and the bench is freaking awesome. But wait, did I say bench? But that was not a part of Suns basketball before...

Indeed. The starters on this Suns team are not the only ones who can run and score, They are not the only ones who can make big shots and make the opposing defense work. The days of the 7 man rotation are long over. The Phoenix Suns have players coming off the bench who provide energy on the defensive end and can score in a variety of ways. They are the reason the Suns are buzzing in the news while winning games. If the bench continues to play like this all season... The Suns will be among the top 3 seeds.

But before we even think about that, there's an important challenge tonight, some people might even call it a measuring stick. The Suns are going against the defending NBA Champions. The Los Angeles Lakers.

But make no mistake, this is only one game. If the Suns beat the Lakers tonight it will feel really good, I'll give you that, but it will not mean that we are better than them. Not yet. There's a lot of season to be played and a lot of things need to happen before we come up with that conclusion. Now that we got that out of the way, let's focus on how the Suns can Beat LA!

Oh, and before I forget: To all of you doubters out there, I'm not ashamed to say I'm drinking the Suns Kool Aid... at least I'm not writing this kind of stuff at the beginning of the season.

More after the jump!

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More photos » by Donna McWilliam - AP

The Phoenix Suns will be the underdogs this year. After some moves made by other teams in the West, there's no doubt about that.

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The West is as competitive as its ever been. One has to wonder if the 2004 through 2007 Suns would have been a Top Three team in this competition. Was the Triumverate of Dominance (Mavs-Spurs-Suns) based on a lack of competition or just a ridiculously silly high level of play from those teams? Was the emperor -- and his two top generals -- naked? Was Eva naked with them?

In the West, we still have capitalism at its best -- the haves and have nots. JFK stole a line from Jesus and said that the poor are here to allow us to do good things. I guess that's the Robin Hood-esque theory behind the luxury tax. The Suns, Lakers, Mavs, Blazers and (for years) the Nuggets. I'm pretty sure the Spurs joined that list with the acquisition of Jefferson in their attempt to get the most out of the waning Duncan Years (a great strategy, btw). In typical socialist fashion, the NBA redistributes wealth and draft picks to the under-achieving lazy bums in Minnesota, Memphis and Clipper-land. Is there any way we can make the NBA and the D-Leauge like the European Football leagues? We could relegate the Wolves and Clippers to the D-League and give Courtney Sims a chance to take an elbow from Kobe Bryant.

I've got to mention Golden State. I can't be the first person to liken them to the Bad News Bears. Alcholic, manipulative coach? Check. Players willing to throw down? Check. Under-sized trouble-makers? Check. Unexpected contributions from tall, effeminate players? Check. Ability to hit the long ball at just the right time? Check. Able to pull out impressive wins but unable to sustain anything? Check. I put up a link to an article in the FanShots section that discussed the Curry-Ellis-Jackson-Stoudemire controversy in a little more depth. Being a Warriors fan has to be a lot like being a fan of Evil Knevil -- you're thrilled when they pull it off, but you're just as happy to see a miserable failure and mass destruction.

All jokes aside, let's look at our competition.

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More photos » by Matt York - AP

I never get tired of this.

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It's nice to watch Basketball again. It was even nicer to watch Leandro Barbosa in a uniform running the point, getting steals and shooting lights out from the three point land (sorry rosewood). Leandro is by far my favorite player and watching him mature and develop into a complete basketball player has been a pleasure. The only problem for me today was that he was doing all of this against the Panama National Team.

There are 10 teams fighting for only 4 spots in World Championship that will take place at Turkey in 2010. Group A has: Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Virgin Islands while Group B has: Brazil, Panama, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Argentina. All of the games take place at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

Brazil leads all teams by improving their record (4-0) today while beating what looked like a confused and depleted Panama team. Leandro was Brazil's leading scorer with 17 points while Varejao finished the game with 15. On behalf of Panama Danilo Pinnock had 24 points and Joel Muñoz had only 8.

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More photos » by Lance Murphey - AP

Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash (13) will always do his best to win.

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 I've been quiet this offseason. Really quiet. Truth is that I hate trade talks. I can't take them. It's hard for me to look at basketball like a business, maybe the fact that I played for my country for $200 bucks a month has something to do with that. Who knows?

I still believe that there's people who choose winning over money, I believe there's people who swallow their pride to play like a team and accomplish the desired goal. Call me naïve, I've heard it before. It still amazes me how good players go to awful teams just to get a big fat pay check. Where's their desire to win? How can they feel good about themselves after losing most of the games? When I ask these questions out loud, there's usually a friend who answers the following: "P-Sun, I guess it's easy to lose games when you go home driving a Ferrari and a super model wife/girlfriend is waiting for you in bed just wearing Victoria's Secret underwear". Yup, I guess he's right. When the Panama National Team lost I had to go back home in a bus in the middle of the night with two dollars in my wallet...so yeah, I guess that makes losing a little more difficult. So, on game days there was only one thing on my mind when I was bringing the ball down the court: Win. This. Game. Do whatever it takes, there's no way I'm making that ride back home harder than it already is. And this is how everyone should play the game.

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