6 stitches above his eye, with no local anesthisia, in the locker room and back on the court. That's a man who wants to win.
I second that. Man, when did the Suns get so tough? I guess all of those years being labeled "soft" made them mad.
Chad in Portland thinks he is a pussy, he should know as he is the world's leading authority on being one.
I think Amare is a lot tougher guy than he was in his early years. The cheap shots against the Blazers that have pissed off so many Portland fans were exactly the kind of thing veteran big men do in the playoffs who want to win. Grant Hill is definitely a tough character. He's been through it all and now just wants that title. It's amazing how he's transformed his game into this defensive stopper. And Jason Richardson is a guy who spent years being The Man on pretty futile teams. All three of those guys have been through a ton of hard experiences to get to where they are now. This Suns team is a world of toughness away from the soft Suns teams of a few years ago. Especially with Nash, they are plenty tough enough to win a championship. Their problem is just matching up against the imposing size of the Lakers. Hell, their third biggest player, Odom, is probably bigger than Amare. And you've got Bynum, Pau, the physical specimen of Ron Artest, Kobe is pretty big for a SG.... I don't often agree with Sir Charles, but he's right about that series. The Suns' only chance is to put up a ton of points.
CIP is far and away the stupidest radio sports broadcaster I have ever had the displeasure of listening to. I haven't ever heard the guy say one funny or smart thing I don't expect to.
I find it interesting that Amare, has a history very similar to Oden. He has suffered many major injuries to his knee, and has come back to dominate. A lot of folks doubted Amare, and look at him now. Is there a similar fate in Portland soon?
There's one key difference I see: Amare regularly comes back earlier and more fully recovered than expected, while Oden misses longer stretches, lags behind schedule, and never seems fully recovered. Rate of recovery is not a well understood thing.
I think your memory is a bit hazy. In October 2005, Stoudemire had microfracture surgery. He returned to playing very early (March 2006) and then started having problems with his knees due to stiffness. He took off the remainder of the season and didn't play again until the following year. Based partially upon Stoudemire's experience, the Blazers decided to hold Oden out for his entire first season. He came back the following season fully recovered from the microfracture surgery and it hasn't been a problem since then. The kneecap chip the following season and this year's broken kneecap had nothing to do with the original microfracture injury.
Amare had 5 full seasons out of 8 and, as you said, he found ways to dominate again. Oden didn't have any full season and have yet to dominate. I'm not sure it's very similar history.
When I saw that happen I said to my brother, "He just broke his nose." My brother said, "No, it was crooked before and he isn't even in any pain." Gotta love Steve Nash.
I don't think this makes Nash tough. He may be, but I was 9 years old and broke my nose in a diving competition by having my nose hit the board. I was back out competing 15min later and never got it fixed any more than my father snapping it back into place. Broken noses are not that bad and they are not weight bearing. No big deal.
That doesn't exactly contradict what I said about him healing quick enough to return ahead of schedule... He just hadn't made a full recovery yet. Oden was probably still on crutches at the same stage Amare tried returning. Do you really believe that last sentence and everything else the team docs are feeding you?
I don't think it takes much more than a modest knowlege of human anatomy to understand that damage to articular cartilage (which is what Oden and Stoudemire had) has absolutely nothing to do with a chipped or broken kneecap. But, if you want to believe in some weird notion about a conspiracy among Blazers' medical staff, enjoy your trip.
It just goes to show, coming from a country that welcomes conscientious objectors and legalizes same sex marriage makes a person tough. I've always liked Steve Nash (except when he plays the Blazers). Dallas dumped him because Cuban did not like his political opinions, how is that for dipstick moves?
