<font face="Fixedsys">So who looks at our schedule at the beginning of the season, knows that Amare is out, and think we're third in the Pacifc at this point? Count me among the doubters. I still think this team has its best days ahead of it (although I have been known to be a bit of a jinx), and we'll see continued improvement from guys like Barbosa, House, and Jones. I love following them because of that offense, and I love to see them win because of that coaching staff. I'm excited about what we'll see from here, and love to hear the good news from Amare, healing quickly and feeling good about it. Anyone else feel this team is playing as well as we could have expected? I would also like to note that the Nets only scored 81 in our last game. That speaks volumes for progress. </font>
The Suns are doing pretty much what I expected. Just above that .500 level, but what I'm looking forward to seeing is if they keep this up. I made a prediction before the season began that the Suns would be in trouble around December/Janurary which is where I think they will struggle. I just don't see them keeping a similar pace to where they are right now without Amare. More and more teams will pay more attention to them and Nash will slowly become more of a scorer, so right now, I'm not surprised with the Suns. They are doing just what I expected, but again I expect them to take slight of a downfall in the coming months. James Jones and Raja Bell had more of an impact early on, but Diaw and Thomas is slowly starting to make a name for themselves. So basically there is a little inconsitency within this group outside of Nash and Marion and eventually it will start to show. Not to mention the injury of Barbosa has hurted them and will continue to hurt them. Isn't he suppose to be back like in about a week and a half?
Any time you have Nash being the focal point, you're going to have a good team. The guy is starting to amaze me with his court vision and the way he MANAGES possessions - he seems to instinctively know what to on each possesssion - get a guy involved, pick a guy up, take it to the rim, etc. I believe he has the #1 court vision in the league right now hands down. JKidd has stronger moves, but Nash sees everything. IF Amare comes back healthy they're going to the West finals with San Antonio.
I predicted that they would be 2nd in the division this year. They are a good team, and I knew it. And now D'Antoni has done an outstanding job setting the line-ups and has really broung out the best in this team. He is a great coach. The Suns are on a 5 game winning streak and their defense is much better. I hope Amare comes back about a month or two before the playoffs because I expect this team to go far. Another WCF at least, and with how much better this team is they might reach the Finals...with Amare only though.
I still think they're the best in the division, and 1 & 2 in the West with San Antonio. They just started slow. Consider that they are now above .500 after starting 1-5. Since the start of this winning streak, they've just meshed in a way that's unbelievable, even when Nash isn't on the court. Also considering that Amare and LB are out, I didn't think they were capable of a 6 game win streak (the longest active in the NBA). If you look at last weeks Power Rankings on NBA.com, they say that the Suns are doing good but would get tested against Denver and Indiana. What happened? Both those teams were blown-out by the Suns. I see great thing ahead. **Marion and Nash for All-Star 2006**
And if Diaw keeps it up, he definitely deserves MIP. Barbosa has improved a lot too but Diaw has just gone from practically nothing to doing it all. And every area he needed/needs to improve in, he is. He's already shooting and finishing around the hoop better (did you see that behind the head, off the glass put in from the half court ally-oop??) and his rebounding and assists are still going strong. I think we'll wind up with a far superior player to johnson. I clapped out loud when I saw him take JJ one on one and blow past for the easy put in. </ramble>
