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The Washington Post's Michael Lee dropped this little gem into his Friday article about the Wizards struggles.

The Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns, the Wizards' opponents on Friday and Saturday, respectively, were both interested in acquiring Butler, who has been in a season-long slump under new Coach Flip Saunders, averaging just 16.7 points per game and shooting 41.4 percent.

Since this is the Washington Post and it is the first real trade rumor involving the Suns this season it is probably worth examining at least a little bit. Not too much though because in all likelihood this is an old rumor from the off-season and was tangled up in the various reports involving Amare going to Washington.

And of course we all know that Amare was and probably will be involved in trade rumor with half the teams in the league.

So, I wouldn't and don't take this one too seriously but it is out there and our job (if you will) is to overreact and get all hyperbolic about these things. Otherwise what's the internet/blogs for - right, Tiger?

Butler is a small forward with emphasis on small. He's a guy barely bigger than Jason Richardson and probably no stronger. Caron has had a classic up and down career marred by repeated injuries. What I love about him is his tenacity and rebounding for his size (6 rpg) but how exactly would he fit on to this Suns team?

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The Suns were unable to keep Brandon Roy and Jerryd Bayless out of the paint in the final quarter of the game.

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Circle January 28th on your calendar. On that day the Suns play the Dallas Mavericks. The game is in Phoenix. It's a Thursday. On TNT.

Correction: I was only looking at Thursdays on my schedule. It seems the Suns next shot at The Curse is Monday, January 18 in Memphis.

At this point breaking that curse has surpassed all possible objectives for the Suns season. Forget about the playoffs. Forget about being the Most Watchable Team. The Phoenix Suns simply must BREAK THE CURSE!!!

For those of you who don't believe in these kinds of things (as if 17 straight losses on TNT is some kind of coincidence) might point out the 13 point lead the Suns had going into the 4th quarter and call out the Suns inability to close out the game. The first of 13 games by the way, the Suns have lost this season after taking a lead into the final period.

That 13 point lead was cut to 5 within the first two and half minutes as the Suns missed two shots and turned the ball over while the Blazers hit two three's and a deuce. Just like that the curse reaches up and grabs your ankles and drags you down in the mud where it spikes your eyes and rips your heart from your chest.

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The Blazers are missing the following due to injury:

• Greg Oden
• Rudy Fernandez
• Travis Outlaw
• Nic Batum
• Jeff Pendergraph (who would be playing right now w/ Outlaw and Oden out)
• Patty Mills (who would not be playing now)

The Suns are 0-16 on TNT

Something's got to give

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Alvin Gentry and the Suns coaching staff have reason to be happy with their team's performance after 25 games. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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When the Suns jumped out to a hot start coach Alvin Gentry preached patience saying that he will 'know what he's got' when the team has 20 or 25 games under their belt.

Tuesday's win over the Spurs was the 25th game of the Suns' season and the team is now 17 and 8 with a .680 winning percentage. That projects out to a 56 win season.

Asked in his post-game press conference to asses the Suns after 25 games, Gentry joked that he was still not ready to say, "I'm going with 40 now. I'm changing it to 40, alright."

He went on to talk about every aspect of the team's performance, "I think we're pretty solid defensively in what we're doing. I think we're a good offensive team but we have to have an open floor game. We can't get into half court situations where we're walking it up. And I think we still struggle a little bit rebounding-wise but on some nights like tonight we're able to athletically compete with them if not size-wise."

In that statement Coach Gentry talked about the three major aspects of the game: offense, defense and rebounding. Let's see how the numbers break out.

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More photos » by Darren Abate - AP

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich hates twitter and other technology as well.

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San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is an interesting guy. His resume reads like a fiction character where a young kid from Gary, Indiana graduates from the Air Force Academy with a degree in Soviet Studies, was trained as an intelligence officer, considered a career in the CIA and ends up playing and coaching basketball for a living.

On second thought, that's a bit too far-fetched for fiction.

Popovich's coaching roots are closely intertwined with Suns head coach Alvin Gentry. Both served time with Larry Brown at the University of Kansas in the mid-80's and Gentry has nothing but praise for his long-time friend calling him the one of the best coaches at managing the game, making in-game adjustments and dealing with his players.

Pops outside the game activities range from his dabbling in wine business to traveling in the Amazon rain forests (as told by Gentry). His wikipedia profile says this about his sometimes temperamental personality:

Popovich over the years has gained a reputation as a surly interviewee and a testy dealer with the media... In various in-game interviews, Popovich has been known for giving extremely short and sarcastic answers, as well as simplistic responses to reporters' questions.

I experienced that myself on Tuesday night before the Spurs played the Suns when I asked him an in-artfully worded question about his plans for covering Channing Frye at the three-point line.

"If I had a specific strategy that I think would stop him do you think I would tell you," he asked while looking deep into my eyes. "You think you are that special that I would tell you."

The answer was obviously - no. I am not that special. He did not tell me. And he didn't have a strategy for stopping Frye who went 3 of 4 from behind the line.

I didn't take it personally though. I've seen enough Popovich interviews to know what happens if you ask a dumb question and frankly I am surprised more coaches don't respond this way. He doesn't tolerate imperfection from his players and he expects nothing less from those questioning him about the game.

Of course, we also know about Pops famous sense of humor which was on display later in the discussion when I rebounded from my slap down to ask about Steve Nash's tweet from earlier in the day in which Nash said:

"Anyone know coach Popovich was an American spy in Russia before he began coaching? No wonder his teams are hard to beat!"

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The Phoenix Suns celebrate a big win over the San Antonio Spurs. The Suns are undefeated at home this season. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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How about that home cooking!

That Suns are now 9-0 on the season and have won their last 18(!) home games going back to March 12, 2009. That's pretty impressive right there and you can't exactly call wins over the Spurs and Magic cupcake walks. Or brownie strolls. Or pie wanderings. Or whatever. They were good wins and Coach Gentry said as much, "That was a good win."

Amare had another thought on the matter, "Definitely a big win for us." And Dragic added, "It's great."

So, I think we can call that a consensus. Good win. Big win. Great.

End of story.

Sure, the Suns turned a 20 point lead into a 5 point lead during an 8 minute stretch of the third quarter but hey, that's going to happen. Right, Steve?

"You know, I think this is the type of team we are. We're going to go on big runs and we're going to let teams back in the game sometimes with the way we play but I think that's how we win games. The alternative is going to be a 35 or 40 win team. If we play this way we have to live with the ebb and flow and we got a chance to win 50," explained the Suns leader, two-time MVP and 25 point, 13 assist magician.

Coach Gentry agreed, "I didn't think it was going to be a 25-point win against those guys, that just doesn't happen."

HEY! LOOK OVER THERE!! DID YOU SEE THAT AWESOME AMARE DUNK AND THAT GREAT NASH PASS!!!!

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One face says it all. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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The Suns blew a big lead (again) but came back strong in the fourth behind an amazing game behind Amare, Nash and Dragic.

Discuss. Recap coming.

Spurs vs Suns coverage

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