SB Nation User Blog: PanamaSun

After death, this virus is able to restart the heart of it’s victim for up to two hours after the i...

PanamaSun — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:11:50 -0000

After death, this virus is able to restart the heart of it’s victim for up to two hours after the initial demise of the person where the individual behaves in extremely violent ways from what is believe to be a combination of brain damage and a chemical released into blood during "resurrection."

BBC News

Swine Flu Zombie Apocalypse is here!

Team Chemistry, the Winning Formula

PanamaSun — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:16:48 -0000

More photos » by Paul Connors - AP

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While visiting my parents last week, I went in my old room to look for a book I wanted to read. It had been a long time since I had stayed in that room for more than a minute and it was nice to see that nothing had been moved or changed. The desk where I used to sit for hours studying offensive and defensive plays was still there. This desk had always been my domain, neither mom or dad had ever set hand to it and the drawers were full of 8 years' worth of junk. But going through this junk was kind of cool, old letters which I had put aside to answer but never did, what had once seemed so important now looking antique, postcards that I had bought but never mailed. I was getting ready to get up from my chair when I saw an old photo. It was 1999, 16 year old PanamaSun (skinny as hell) along with my team mates from the National Team. We were at a party after beating Puerto Rico in the Tournament Finals. I played for my country since I was 14 years old until I turned 20, and this team in the picture is, by far, the best one that I have been a part of. We weren't as talented as you may think. My scouting report probably said the following: P-Sun, average shooter, force him to his left hand, If he's double teamed he'll freak out, very emotional, make sure to taunt him and he will lose his temper. Truth is that we were an average team and it's not like we held hands after each game either. As a matter of fact there were guys on the team that I didn't like. So what made us a good team?

Was it team chemistry? But I just mentioned we didn't like each other...

Does team chemistry exist? And most importantly, does it affect a teams performance?

The first question is an easy one to answer. Yes. It does exist and sport's psychologists define it as a group dynamic that occurs when members of a team work together and make a united effort to accomplish goals and objectives of the collective whole.

But could it be possible that team chemistry has nothing to do with performance at all? Maybe good chemistry is a by-product of the teams success, who knows..

To me (and many people) Team Chemistry could be determined by:

Social Cohesion: Team mates like each other, they go out for dinner, they love to hang out, they feel like family, they enjoy each others' company.
Task Cohesion: Teams ability to focus on a specific goal and perform well and effectively on the court.

Having a team with a high amount of social cohesion means very little when it comes down to predict your teams performance on the court. It's way more important to show task cohesion, meaning that if they play together and remain united throughout the season, they'll have a better shot at enjoying success.

Unlike many people think, players that don't like each other at a personal level can play well together.

Think about it. Before the Shaq trade everyone was talking about how Marion was a cancer to the team, that everyone was upset because of his attitude. But did this ever show on the court? Did Nash deny the ball to Shawn? Do you remember Raja Bell missing a three point shot because he was upset at Marion or Amar'e or anyone? The answer is no.

On the other hand we noticed that Boris Diaw was unable to perform while playing beside Stat. I'm sure they liked each other, I'm sure they hung out and stuff but the on-court chemistry (task cohesion) was awful.

Task cohesion goes beyond liking each other and for this to happen everyone should know their role and stick to it. Role players following the leaders and all leaders being on the same page.

Chemistry is why the Suns never made it to the playoffs this year (among other things). Role players were not accepting their roles. Both leaders, Shaq and Nash were never on the same page and we saw this every single night without the need of listening to Shaq's post games interviews saying that the way to reach a championship was through him, while on the other side of the locker room Nash was saying that they needed to run more.

Believe it or not, chemistry plays a huge role in the NBA. It's the reason why coaches get fired and players get traded, and it's the reason why very talented teams don't reach their ultimate goal.

Suns Disappoint, Lose to Spurs 103-98

PanamaSun — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 23:57:16 -0000

The Suns finish their road trip with a loss to the San Antonio Spurs. They finish this tough stretch 0-4 in what Shaq called the "I hate Shaq" road trip, playing against his former teams: Lakers, Miami and Orlando. It ended up looking like "I want to miss the playoffs and be a lottery team" road trip for the Suns.

This was a good opportunity (again) for them to beat a good team and feel good about themselves. Instead the only feelings remaining after this game are: disappointment, frustration and anger. Once again the Suns fail to close out a game. They fought back form a 13 point deficit only to let the game slip away in the 4^th quarter with their stellar defense. It seems like these games are scripted. Parker scores a bunch of points in the 4^th quarter, Duncan has his away against Shaq, Nash with the late turnovers, circus three point shots just to get our hopes up, more turnovers, Spurs getting the critical offensive rebounds to get second chance points, game over and the Suns lose.

Heck, I should have started to write the recap right after the preview. At least I would have saved time. But no, I wanted to believe that our players were going to snap out of it and play hard. I guess I was wrong.

More after the jump.

Box Score - Game Quotes

What's the difference between a good defensive team and a good offensive team?

The defensive team can afford having a bad shooting night because they will get stops. While the offensive team doesn't have that luxury. The Suns can't afford missing open shots and going 3-4 minutes scoreless, 99% of the times they will lose.

The Suns' defense can't get any worse than this. The opposing teams feel so comfortable shooting from anywhere on the field. They don't rotate properly, they are lazy contesting shots. The defense did get better during the second half but once again they let up when it most mattered.

Point Guard Matchups: It's no secret that Parker loves playing against us. He loves to play at a fast pace. He scored 12 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and blew by anyone who was guarding him. Nash only covered Parker on a few plays and mostly Grant Hill was the one who got torched by the quick PG. Speaking of Nash, he led the team with 23 points and 11 assists but I think he tried to do too much during the second quarter where he shot around 5 consecutive times and was successful in only two. It's no secret that Nash wants to win, that's why he is trying to take over the game but that's not always going to work.

Interesting fact:

SA went to the line 27 times while Phx only went 13. That's a huge differential right there. I'm just sayin'.

Time is running out. They've got 1 month to prove they deserve to go to the playoffs. They've got 1 month to turn it around. Do you still believe?

Poll

Do you still believe?

I believe

36 votes

I want to believe

112 votes

I'm a doubting Thomas

47 votes

I'm a Suns heathen

33 votes

228 votes | Poll has closed

Suns vs Spurs - Game Preview

PanamaSun — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 07:29:41 -0000

The Suns are in a dark place right now, but it can always get worse. They are 0-3 on this important road trip and the last thing you want to do right now is face the team that has always found the most ~~painful~~ efficient ways to beat you.

The last time we lost to the Spurs, Stan encouraged us to move beyond hating them and just accept the fact that they are better than the Suns. He also used a very good analogy explaining how The Spurs were like the big brother who always beat you on the court because he was stronger and bigger than you. Although I understood this, I couldn't relate to it because I'm an only child, so here's one of my own.

Back when I was in third grade, I was really small for a kid my age. Being shy didn't help either. There was this kid named Christopher (I'll never forget his name) in my class, who would always pick on me and bully me around. There was nothing I could do to stop him. I ran, he caught me. I hit him, he knocked the lights out of me. I told the teachers, he hit me even harder. He always seemed to be a step ahead of me. Once I realized I was on my own, I decided to take extreme measures. No, I didn't get a gun (although that's probably what a kid would do nowadays) I enrolled in karate classes and I was determined to beat the kid up. Long story short, I grew up to be just about his size and in fifth grade I provoked the fight. I hit him first, he didn't even flinch. I panicked and froze on the spot and he beat the crap out of me yet again.

Later I realized that, at the first sign of adversity during the fight, I remembered all of the times he had beaten me up and that's why fear took over me and I couldn't react. Although I felt I was better prepared for a fight, my mind (fear) betrayed me.

Having said this, I'm not suggesting that the Spurs are bullies. Aside from Bowen -who has a very limited role this year- most of their players are not dirty. Sure they will flop from time to time but who doesn't?. They are disciplined, they have an awesome coach and they are proven champions. But the truth is that they have beaten the Suns so many times that they are in the Suns' player's heads. They panic at the first sign of adversity during the game, they whine about the refs, they don't execute in crunch time. How many times have we seen the Suns enter the 4^th quarter with a comfortable lead only to give it back and let the game slip away?

What's the difference between these two teams? Mental. Toughness.

While the Spurs mentality is that they can overcome any problems during the game, the Suns shrink in big moments at the first sign of trouble. It's not that the Suns don't have heart, or that they don't want it as much as the Spurs do, they are betrayed by their collective fear to lose against San Antonio *again*, just like I did when I faced that kid. At least that's what I think.

Enough of my stories, let's focus on how the Suns can win this game.

Attitude: The Suns still have time to turn things around. Basketball is a crazy game and a win against your nemesis should do wonders. Problem is, they could have turned things around after beating the Lakers. Well here's one more shot. They have to play with energy and the sense of urgency that this game deserves. They have to go after every loose ball, every offensive rebound. Treat this like a playoff game. Treat this game like it's your last shot.

Control pace: Besides watching his players standing around on a defensive sequence, there's nothing else that pisses Popovich off more than watching his team play in the opposing team's pace. Especially the Suns. We need to run when we can and give Shaq enough touches to wear out Tim Duncan or however is guarding him.

Perimeter Defense: This are no the same Spurs that we have faced in the past. We can't let them take uncontested shots. Matt Bonner and Roger Mason are a serious threat from behind the three point line. If Duncan is having a bad game, you can count on these two to pick up the slack. Pop has being able establish a very effective inside-out game, spreading the floor with dangerous shooters.

Point Guard matchups: Tony Parker outruns anyone in this league and I don't expect Nash to stop him. What I do expect from Nash it at least putting some resistance and not standing around ala Stoudemire. He needs to get everyone involved and limit his turnovers. In the last few games he has been scoring a lot but at the same time he's getting torched by opposing guards. He has also shown problems giving the ball to Shaq. This is a very fixable issue: Let Hill or LB give the ball to the big fellow and play Nash off the ball. This is up to the coaching staff to come up with a play that sets up a shot for Nash in case Shaq is double teamed or can't shoot a high percentage shot.

Shaq vs Duncan: Tim is a great defender, Shaq will have to bring his A-game if we want to have a shot at winning this game. In order for him to be relevant, he needs to get his touches (Are you reading this Steve?) limit his turnovers and stay out of foul trouble.

Bench Battle: Lou, Barnes and the rest of the bench need to play with energy as well. There's no excuse in letting the Spurs outhustle them when they are on the court. If they get in with a lead, they need to maintain it.

Final Thoughts:

Season is not over guys. I see everyone talking about the lottery and tanking the season. There's still time. Dallas is struggling also. They are as inconsistent as the Suns. I don't care who we play. If we get the 8^th seed and play the Lakers so be it. We know that come playoff time, nothing that you did during the regular season matters. They can still turn it around. There's still time. Believe

Lakers crush Suns, 106-132

PanamaSun — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 06:49:02 -0000

Oh boy, I wish I could pull a "Clipper Steve" on this one. As painful as it might be I'll have to pull it through, so here we go.

Yeah, I knew it was going to be tough but I did not expect The Suns to play like this. Give credit to the Lakers who didn't sleep on us. They came focused and determined to put us away early in the game.

The surprise of the night was Gentry putting Tucker as a starter. He did play with a lot of confidence during the first minutes of the game and did his best to guard Kobe who was hitting shots from everywhere on the field.

Let's move on to the game notes. I promise to keep it short

The Suns started the game with good energy. LB was running the show and seemed really comfortable doing so. Three point shots were falling, behind the back passes, lay ups, dunks. We where up by two and Phil Jackson called a timeout. The Lakers were not playing defense during that stretch and he let his team hear it. After the timeout Kobe and his crew decided to actually start playing defense and that's the story of the game.

You can see what happens when Nash doesn't play. We are 6-16 playing without him since he came to town. Everyone looked lost on offense, they just couldn't create anything. On the other end of the floor they couldn't defend to save their lives, The Lakers shot 57% from the field and seemed to create high percentage shots at will.

One of the things I mentioned in the game preview was that the Suns needed to avoid high scoring nights from the Lakers' bench players. Fail. Their bench scored +50 points on us.

I know we are short-handed and all, but I expected more from the Suns. Jason Richardson scored only 13 points and shot 6-14 form the field. This is a guy that is supposed to take over games like these. Right?

Grant Hill has been struggling as of late. Is the injury in his foot really bothering him? He's outside shot is not falling. He seems to have slowed down. I really hope he gets better for our sake. We can't afford another injury in this team.

Let me be clear, this was not a "must win" game for us. I would have felt better if we had at least showed up and played hard. At least the bench got to play a lot of minutes...I guess that helps or something. On the bright side, Tucker looked really good out there, although most of his buckets were in garbage time.

Let's put this game behind us. The Suns have to regroup and prepare for a very tough stretch. They'll have another shot at the Lakers on Sunday.

Pregame Q&A With Malice * Box Score * Gentry Post Game Quotes

Game Preview - Suns vs Lakers

PanamaSun — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:31:54 -0000

The Suns come to LA for what should be a very exciting game. The last time The Suns faced the Lakers they did it without Boris Diaw and Raja Bell who had just been sent to the Bobcats(along with Sean Singletary) for Jason Richardson and Jared Dudley. Neither of them were available to play at the time and Shaq was not with the team due to a death in his family. Against all odds the short-handed Suns gave The Lakers a run for their money and put up a hell of a fight against what was clearly a superior team.

I was very pleased with our team's effort that night. Matt Barnes led the way with 25 points (That's right, it's not a typo), Hill had 23 while Amar'e had 21. We shot 50% from the field and only had 15 TO -that's pretty low for our standards-. Nash had an awful night, shooting 2-12, claiming that he's head was not in the game, that he failed to focus. When it was all said and done, The Lakers only beat us by 5 points.

I bring this up because, just like we do, The Lakers have their own share of problems. Their defense has been criticized throughout the whole year, Gasol has been called weak, Vujacic was called brainless by his own coach. They seem to fail keeping their energy up during games but at the end they always find a way to win. I guess that's not going to be enough for Lakers' fans since they expect their team to dominate every game and blow out any team they face. Anything less than a championship this year will be considered failure (sound familiar). The Lakers will come into this game hungry to show everyone why they are the first seed.

On the other hand, Suns are looking to build some momentum. Our record stands at 4-1 since Gentry took over but were are yet to beat a good team. We are hopeful, but reluctant to believe that just by running everything will be alright. Perimeter defense and rebounding need to get better.

How do we Win this game?

Fast Pace: The Lakers love to play fast, but they are not as good as the Suns. If they get caught up in the frenetic pace we'll have the upper hand. They will forget to play defense and will leave shooters wide open. I've seen them do that several times, last time it was against the GSW. Considering the fact that the Suns are averaging 128.4 points and shooting 56.7 percent from the field in their last five games, I'll take that any day.

The Bench: The second unit must continue to play with confidence and energy. Lou needs to continue hustling and blocking shots. Same as Dudley. At the same time we need to be all over their bench players. We can't afford Vujacic or Ariza having career nights against us. I can live with Kobe and even Gasol scoring a lot of points but their role players need to look like role players and not superstars.

Shaq: Shaq is in great shape. I think Gentry will need to call several plays for him this time. With Bynum hurt, Shaq will abuse anyone that they put on him. It'll be interesting to see how Gentry will try to balance the pace so that Shaq can he his touches. He'll see that it's easier said than done.

Point Guard: I was hoping Nash would play this game. I expect Gentry to play LB at the point with Dragic as back up. Dragic will get a bunch of minutes and it'll be interesting to see if he continues to play with confidence.

Pray that Kobe has an off night?: Not really. As I said, I always expect Kobe to be Kobe. We will be in trouble if everyone starts hitting shots too!

This is not a "must win game" but it's an important one. I'm confident that the Suns will come out and play hard. Buckle up. It's going to be an interesting night.

Bittersweet ending, Porter finally out.

PanamaSun — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:42:30 -0000

Party is over, everyone has left. Hotel rooms are empty and for those of us who follow the Phoenix Suns, a bunch of questions remain unanswered. Let me start by saying that I love All Star weekend and that I was looking forward to it this year since it was at Phoenix but I found it hard to enjoy it with all of the trade talks and rumors about Amar'e and Porter. The worst part is that I know a bunch of people felt that way and I'm sure that David Stern didn't appreciate any of the backstage drama either.

Back when I wrote Part 1 of the season preview series, most of us agreed that it was time for a change, that our up tempo style had been studied, dissected and deciphered and that we really needed to step up on the defensive end if we wanted to get a legitimate shot at the championship. All of us knew that this task was going to be difficult with the type of players that we have. They played 4 years for a coach who didn't practice nor taught defense and only preached offense, three of our starters are not good defenders (to say the least), most of the players were put together to fit one style only.

Think about it, this was not an easy job to take.

Porter's job was to come in and focus on defense. To get into these player's heads and make them understand that everything starts with not allowing the other team to score. That you can only be so good on offense and you know...get stops from time to time. I applauded his eagerness to make these type of changes but I think everything went downfall when he tried to put his own stamp in The Suns offensive strategy.

The Big Dilemma

Porter claimed that The Suns needed to use Shaq more often, pound the ball on the post and slow the game down. It's hard to blame him for going to Shaq. The Big Cactus was looking like his old self. He seemed more agile, his great low post moves were back: The baby hooks, the low post spin and dunks. But by over using him, he limited our other scorers to just watch and stand around while Shaq did his thing. Opposing teams liked this strategy because it's the same one they have always used against us with Nash. Make him a scorer and not a distributor. Only this time we did it to ourselves and we transformed Nash into a "regular point guard". Let's not forget that Shaq was not able to sustain his outbursts. We have said it a bunch of times, there would be times where he was destroying the other teams in the first half, only to score 6 in the second half. Porter's strategy to feed Shaq so often became predictable just like D'Antoni's run n gun.

D'Antoni's Shaq strategy:

Coach Mike wanted Shaq, let's not forget that. Shaq was happy to come here as a role player, he said that himself. During the last 20 games of the regular season last year, the Suns became unpredictable again. Here's why:

a) The Suns would still run, but this time they would slow down the game whenever they wanted to. Teams had no idea when the Suns were going to run or give the ball to Shaq on the post.
b) Shaq rested for large periods of time. This was done for the purpose of not clogging the lane and let Amar'e and Nash do their thing. Not to mention that it kept him fresh for whenever he was asked to be the primary scoring option. Do you guys remember the game were he just dominated the Spurs in the second half?

Porter's Issues:

Rotations: We noticed that this was an issue since day one. At first I thought that we were so used to coach Mike's rotations that maybe it felt weird to actually use the bench. Maybe Porter was trying to figure out which lineups had more chemistry and who played better with whom. This was going to get better with time. It didn't. Porter pulled out players when they were hot, Nash was playing a bunch of minutes, He insisted in playing Barnes before LB. Not having consistent rotations can cause turnovers and confusion among players.

Reluctance to run: This came as a surprise to me. Having watched TP in his prime. I thought he understood the importance of a fast break. There were games where we finished with less than ten fast break points and even ones that we finished with None. If that's not misusing our players I don't know what is.

Not earning his player's Trust: It's hard for me to believe that Porter lacks leadership skills. He was an outstanding PG and to be able to reach that level you have to be a good leader. Maybe he's the type of coach who should only work with a young staff until he gets more experience or maybe Suns players are spoiled millionaires who are so enamored with D'Antoni's system that they just refused to accept any changes. I'll leave that up to debate.

Final Thoughts

Everyone agreed that it would have been better to hire an experienced coach. It's not Terry's fault that he couldn't do the job. If someone is not able to do a specific job it's the employers fault for hiring in the first place. That's Human Resources 101. I don't have any doubts that Terry was trying to please his employers by following Kerr's instructions. Kerr is not off the hook on this one. He did have the guts to fire someone he hired, therefore, accepting his mistake publicly. You got to give him that. I'm sure that he's aware that this leaves a huge stain in his resume.

Once again we are left with a lot of questions and doubts. I guess we can only watch and keep our fingers crossed that this works out for our beloved team's sake.

Sixers beat Suns 108 - 91

PanamaSun — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:44:03 -0000

I'm trying to figure out if I should be mad and feel discouraged about tonight's game. If you think about it, this was the second game of a back to back on the road and The Suns ran the floor last night like in the "good old days" for a quality win.

In a perfect world, the Suns should have won this game. They should have tried to get some momentum before going to Cleveland to face a very good team, feel good about themselves, perhaps move up in the standings, make their fans forget about trades and moron meters. But, the world is not perfect and as the Suns tried to play like in the "good old days", instead... they just looked old.

On to the Game Notes

1^st Half Action

The 1^st quarter started with both teams running up and down the floor. Amar'e and J-sun Richardson started working early, having their way against Sixer's defenders. But the Sixers never backed down, showing signs that they were not going to be outran by a team who is way older than them. By the end of the quarter the Sixers were shooting 48% from the field and up by 5. The Suns were the ones who couldn't keep up the pace, and Porter had to adjust his strategy.

During the second quarter Terry tried to slow down the game and give some rest to some tired legs. He went to Shaq on the post several times but the move backfired since Shaq was also tired, he missed badly on consecutive possessions -including a wide open dunk- and didn't get back in time to defend the paint.

The story of the first half was M. Speights. He shot 8-10 and had 16 points in just 12 minutes. He took advantage of the defense hitting jumpers and getting into the lane for easy lay ups and dunks. With his outburst the Sixers were able to build a comfortable lead going into the second half.

2^nd Half Slowness

Problems with transition defense carried over (and got worse) to the second half. It seemed like everyone was just dragging their feet. No energy whatsoever. Once again Shaq looked like he was glued to the floor while Hill got further into foul trouble. Nash continued to miss jumpers and the young guns weren't unable to provide the spark needed.

Porter went to his bench in the fourth, they made a little bit of a run to cut the lead by eleven but weren't unable to get us close enough to get the starters in again.

Here are a few thoughts

This is the type of game were your bench has to step up. It was a good opportunity for guys like LB, Amar'e, Barnes, Goran to show their team (or other teams) that they can count on them when the "veterans" are tired. Please note that I mentioned Amar'e although he's a starter. If he ever wants to be considered NBA elite a la Lebron or Kobe, he needs to take over games like these. He needs to be the go to guy, the beast that no on can stop and that can bring back his team from a +10 deficit. It's clear that he's not that type of player yet.

It's hard to blame Porter about this game. He decided to use last night's formula, to run and get opportunities on the open floor. Once he realized it was not working, he went to Shaq. Again that didn't work and tried to get energy from his bench. I guess he did all he could to try to get a win but nothing worked.

I still don't know how to feel about this game, I think it's a sign that I shouldn't give it that much thought... maybe you guys will help me figure that out.

Of course it would have been a great honor to make it, but I probably didn’t deserve it. "We had a f...

PanamaSun — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:00:51 -0000

Of course it would have been a great honor to make it, but I probably didn’t deserve it. "We had a first month of the season where we weren’t really ourselves, and the team’s in seventh place. You know, I spent a month of the season just walking up the court and throwing the ball in the post so, it’s hard to be an All-Star like that. And we didn’t win enough games that month, so, I probably didn’t deserve it."

Steve Nash

I feel bad for him.

Suns downed by Spurs 114 - 104

PanamaSun — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:26:35 -0000

With all due respect, whoever says that Steve Kerr has made this team "better" is blind. Don't get me wrong, I do feel that we have the right pieces to be contenders.

We have a 2-Time MVP point guard who is still playing at a high level, an All Star Power Forward who is a scoring machine, a Center who is a proven champion and has magically turned back the clock to be his dominant self, Best sixth man, a deadly three point shooter. So...why can't we beat good teams?

I was thinking about this game throughout the day. Thinking about the importance of winning it and getting some momentum, getting a winning streak going so I could show up at work with a big smile on my face. Instead of having happy thoughts I find myself wanting to go to Phoenix to knock on Terry's door and tell him how much he sucks.

Earlier today I talked to J-Sun on the phone. I was asking him why he was so grumpy and why he had a bad feeling about this game. For me it was the opposite, I felt pretty good about this one, told him we were going to pull this out, told him to relax and enjoy the game.

J-Sun: As long as Terry Porter is our coach, don't ever pay attention to any advice I give you.

On to the game notes.

I want to say something to Doug Collins: Listen, we know about all the heart breaking loses, the drama, the suspensions, we know how close we were of reaching the NBA finals, we know that we used to run and that everything changed with Shaq. We know that. Please, stop bringing that up.

1^st Half: The Suns came out firing, they were hungry and they wanted to get a comfortable lead like they usually do, the problem is, you have to play defense to do that. The Spurs were shooting lights out as well, they were scoring at will and were falling into the trap of playing at the Suns pace. Pop certainly didn't like that and called several timeouts even when they were up on the scoreboard. The first quarter ended and we were down by one but It felt differently, it felt like we had control of the game, we were playing at our pace and sooner or later we were going to make a run and that time SA was not going to keep up with us. Amar'e was playing well and got involved early in the game, Richardson made a couple of shots, everything was going as planned.

Interesting facts: We didn't actually take the lead running. Porter put Dudley, Lou, Barbosa, Barnes and Shaq on the floor going to him on the post several times. He was very effective and got Timmy in early foul trouble. Thanks to that we got the lead early in the second quarter while Nash rested but it didn't last long thanks to Manu Ginobili. Manu had been struggling coming into this game but we all know what happens here in Phx when an opposing player is in a slump. Manu attacked the basket in his awkward but effective way, getting to the foul line where he made 18-18 and finished with 30 points.

First half was very entertaining, the Suns finished the half tied thanks to a great shot by Steve Nash to end the 2^nd quarter. They played flawless basketball with 0 turnovers and yet we were tied. I guess that tells you a lot about The Spurs. We shot 48% from the field while SA shot 55%. We made 24 points in the paint and also shot 13-16 from the free throw line. What else could we ask for? Oh yeah...Defense.

2^nd Half Nightmare:

Grant Hill had a great 3^rd Quarter, he was just on fire, driving to the basket, getting And1's, he later got the assignment to guard Parker and did a fairly good job on him. Amar'e continued to play well offensively knocking down jumpers...game was tied until..

Hack a Bowen: Porter, knowing how much his team sucks at closing quarters, had the smartest idea...to intentionally foul Bruce Bowen when the game was tied. Is this how much you trust your team in getting a stop?

Seriously, this was just stupid. Bowen made 3 out of 4 shots while we didn't even score. This is where the game was lost in my opinion. Porter said during the break that he put Bowen on the line since he was shooting 28%. How many times has Bowen gone to the line this year? 3 times, 4 times, less?

Turnovers at the wrong time: we only had 8 turnovers but that's all the Spurs needed to make a run. It seemed that every time they tried to give Shaq the ball on the post they turned it over. Stop force-feeding Shaq. Just Stop.

Final Notes: It all comes down to execution under pressure and the Suns once again showed us that they are unable to win close games against SA. Manu had 30, Parker had 26 and Duncan 20. There's no way we win if these guys score that many points on us...no way. We countered with Nash having 18 assists and 16 points, Amar'e going for 28 and Grant with 20.

These stats show you that you can't beat a good team without good defense. In a way Steve Kerr is right by wanting to turn the Suns into the Spurs. Defense is what brings championships. It's a proven fact.

Like I said, we have the pieces to be a great team, a lot of talent. Kerr has done the best he can to give us a chance (for better or worse) it's too bad he didn't try a little harder to get a better coach.