Suns win big game vs Mavs

Big win vs Big D 100-128 Record 20-13

Now this is the Suns team that fans have been waiting to see. Shaq looked like the old Shaq, but in a good way. To add to his dominance scoring 25 points, 10 rebounds, and a couple of blocks, he was perfect from the line. (7 of 7) The Suns shot a blistering 62% from the field and put a well deserved beating on the Mavs on Friday night. 3 Suns players had atleast 20 points, with everyone that played atleast getting 1 bucket in this big time whoopin that the Suns gave to the Mavs free of charge. With the balance of defense and offense, the Suns looked really good and with everything working on all cylinders, opponets better not sleep on the Suns, they are a big threat in the West and in the NBA for that matter.

Suns lose close one at buzzer

Suns lose with buzzer beater 113-110 Record 19-13

The game started out ugly as the Suns shot horribly in the first quarter. By the time half time came around, the Suns have cut their deficit to only 4 points. Both teams continued to battle and with only 0.9 sec left, Danny Granger hit a 3 pointer to win to cap off his big night with 37 points. Shaq sat out this game due to back spasms which left the Suns a little soft in the paint. The Pacers exploited it and came up with some easy buckets. Amare Stoudemire lead the Suns with 23 points 11 rebounds 3 steals, with the rest of the starters having atleast 16 points. (with the exception of Lopez who is not a normal starter playing 5 min and scoring 2 points) This was a tough loss for the Suns being that they should have beat these guys off the jump. A win would have been nice to have going into a big game like the Suns are going to have against Dallas on Friday in Phoenix.

Suns keep improving

Suns looking good 98-106 Record 19-12

This game may not be a great test for the Suns, but a win is a win. The Suns led the whole game and really never had any problems with the 8-24 Clippers. 4 Suns starters had double digits in points with Amare Stoudemire leading the way with 23 points and 8 rebounds. The west better take another look at the best teams out here because the Suns have just made themselves a serious contender with the trade made earlier moving Boris Diaw and Raja Bell and gaining Jason Richardson. Shaq seems pretty committed to owning up to his words of bringing a championship to Phoenix by his play lately, or this year for that matter. As the Suns keep winning, the west will be watching.

Suns sign Matt Barnes

Matt Barnes signs a 1 year contract with Suns

Today, Matt Barnes is signed with the Suns, bringing some energy to the team. He is a flexible player that can play 3 positions and can run up and down the court with the best of them. The Warriors play a similar style of run and gun basketball that the Suns play, so this should be a good fit for them. Since Grant Hill will be playing mostly off the bench, this will enable Barnes to maybe start a few games and contribute more than he was able to do with the Warriors. His minutes should increase from the meager 19 or so a game that he is used to. So that means more points and rebounds for him as well. This is a good pick up in my opinion, because of how he would fit in this offense. Being able to play 3 positions may create problems and mismatches for other teams. He does not always need the ball, but is a good contributor when he does get it. Last year for the Warriors he averaged 6.7 points a game, 4.5 rebounds in only 19 minutes.

Suns draft Robin Lopez

Robin Lopez picked 15th overall

The 2008 draft was a very highly anticipated draft with the amount of talent that was coming out. So the Suns went with a big man with their first round pick and drafted Robin Lopez from Stanford University. He stands 7'0" tall and 255 pounds and lots of hair go around. This was a defensive move for the Suns as they really need help in this area seeing what happened to them in the playoffs and during the regular season for that matter last year. He averaged 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks a game last year for Stanford. He is a young talent that could learn a lot from Shaq coming off the bench. The last time the Suns tried their luck with a big man was big Jake Tsakalidis who did not live up to the little bit of hype he got. Whats different this time, is that Robin Lopez has one of the best centers in the history of the game to learn from. Hopefully this will have the David Robinson, Tim Duncan effect that will bring the Suns some real toughness inside and make teams think twice about taking it to the hole. The 2nd pick the Suns aqcuired was Oregon University Alum Malik Hairston who in my opinion is a good player that can be molded into a really good NBA player. I personally watched quite a few Duck games and he showed a lot of skills and smarts for the game. I was pretty dissapointed to tell you the truth when the Suns shipped him to the Spurs for their draft pick Goran Dragic of Slovania. The Suns are clearly getting ready for Steve Nash to retire and get another point guard in there to take his place and learn from him. Also again this is a defensive move being that Goran is known for his defense and all around good play.

The Suns have a new coach

The new face of the Suns

Today, the Suns are about to sign if not already, Terry Porter. Steve Kerr has made his decision on the former Portland Trailblazer player, but recently was the assistant coach in Detroit. I really don't know how this is going to work out for the Suns, but out of the choices the Suns had, this was the best. It remains to be seen what kind of offense they will run and if the he can influence the team enough to play a little defense every now and then, but so far this pick in my opinion is not a bad one. He was a good player when he played, still holding a record in the NBA Finals with 15 free throws made and none missed in a single game and also still holds the Trail Blazers record for assists with 5,319. After playing briefly with a few teams after he left Portland, Porter retired and started coaching. He started with being an assistant coach in Sacramento before becoming the head coach for Milwaukee. After he was let go of the Bucks, he then become the assistant coach of the Pistons. Now that the Suns have signed him, there might still be hope for a great season next year with a Suns team poised and ready for a championship run.

to New York just like that?

Money talks

Mike D'Antoni the Suns now former head coach has decided to go with the horrible horrible New York Knicks. Apparently a possible championship was not enough to keep him in Phoenix, but more money to coach a team that has probably about another 5 years of rebuilding to do. When this was first reported, I blew it off thinking that Mike would be an idiot to go anywhere else right now. Sure enough, when it was all said and done, D'Antoni jumped ship and was eastern bound. There has been some speculation of the relationship between Kerr and D'Antoni not seeing eye to eye on what style of basketball the Suns should be playing, which I am sure had something to do with his departure. Now the Suns have a vacancy that many coaches would love to get into. Its not all the time that a coach can be set up with a team that is already championship ready. In the meantime all the Suns and fans will just have to sit back enjoy the summer and be ready for whats to come.