Upon Further Review or Hurting Myself again.

Instead of going out to dinner with friends I decided to spend last night at home, in front of the TV, hurting myself, watching the last two Suns games one more time. So I took the laptop on my knees and started re-watching the games in Detroit and Boston. Here’s what I think I saw in no particular order.

Wait a minute! Arron Afflalo (correct? Double R, Double F) is in the starting five for the Pistons. He was drafted a few picks later than Alando Tucker who as of today has played the grand total of FIVE games so far. Why can’t we ever play a rookie, why? Trade all draft picks from here to eternity, maybe the Mavs could give us Dirk Nowitzki if we just pack all first rounders until 2020.

D’Antoni is starting the game on a 2-3 zone defense. Am I watching the right game? I think I saw Amaré coming from the weak side to provide help on defense. Twice! He even seems to care a bit more about what’s going on.

Whit Shaq on the court the Suns are actually a better (forget our initial fears) fastbreak team since they can trust Shaq under the boards and the other four players can just fly quickly to the other side. Yet the Suns are a totally different team from the one that opened the season. Different players, different attitude, different plays, different everything and they’re depending more and more on Nash; without Steve at QB the Suns can’t play offense at all now.

Did you notice nobody seems to miss Marion or is it just me?

I had not realized how good a defender Grant Hill can be. With Nash, Shaq and Hill on the court the Suns have by far the highest basketball IQ on the planet. It should have happened 4 years ago.
Shaq can give the Suns 20 minutes (no more) of high quality basketball each night, despite being in the best shape of the last 2-3 years, another great job by the Suns training staff.

The Suns have completely stopped playing the pick and roll between Nash and Shaq which they tried often in the first four games of the Era of the Big Cactus. Wow, how about trying to defend a pick and roll between Diaw and Nash with Steve actually setting the pick and getting open for a three…lovely. (It happened with 5:50 left in the second of the Detroit game).

I don’t like Gordan Giricek.

Do you recall the last time the Suns had a little help from the officials? C’mon ref, that’s an offensive foul

Leandro Barbosa is definitely overrated, as much as I love the guy he’s still very far from being a complete basketball player, he’s the best at coming off the bench, shooting and running as fast as he can, but he’s far from getting the inner details of this game. Don’t get me wrong, I like Leandrinho, Beep Beep !

These days Stoudemire vs Garnett is the best match-up in the NBA to watch, possibly even better than Lebron vs Kobe. KG (I know we should have made that deal) can change a team like no other player in the NBA. I love that guy, he’s the best overall player in the game right now, no one can give you so much on BOTH sides of the court. Garnett has to be League’s MVP. Kobe, Lebron, Paul, are all great players, possibly with superior talent, but he’s the MVP. (all photos by AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

And finally, give us the playoffs, I am getting tired of the regular season.

Go Suns !