<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">It took almost half a season, but the secret is finally out. If you want to beat the Phoenix Suns, keep the game going as long as possible. Forget the usual 48 minutes, or even 53. That?s not good enough. In games that have ended in regulation or even one overtime, the Suns have won 22 of 31 games and worn out the competition in the process. But Tuesday?s 139-137 loss in Denver was the second straight Suns road game to reach triple overtime (it happened in a 140-133 defeat on Jan. 3 in New York) and they are the only two games Phoenix has lost since Christmas (7-2). Turn those into wins ? and the Suns had two potential gamewinning, at-the-buzzer shots each time ? and Phoenix would have its second nine-game winning streak of the season. Add in a double-overtime loss to Dallas on opening night, and the Suns are 0-3 in games that have gone 58 minutes or longer. "We?ve lost a few games here that we had a good shot at winning, but we?re not playing bad which is a good thing," Phoenix coach Mike D?Antoni said. "We?ve played seven overtimes in the last three road games (the Suns beat Chicago in one overtime on Dec. 31), and that takes a toll. So we just lick our wounds and go back after it." Since center Pat Burke and Jim Jackson struggled in that loss to the Knicks, continuing a streak of subpar play for both, D?Antoni has shortened his bench to seven players in nongarbage time, hoping his regulars can carry the load until Leandro Barbosa returns from his sprained knee and provides an eighth member for the rotation. Burke, who has had some positive stints in the first two months, will likely get chances to redeem himself. But Jackson, who hasn?t looked anything like the player who gave the Suns such a lift in the playoffs last season, may have gotten his last chance. The plan worked in a three -games-in-four- days home sweep of Philadelphia, Miami and San Antonio, but finally caught up to the Suns in the high altitude of Denver. Raja Bell and Shawn Marion played 58 and 57 minutes, respectively ? six minutes more than any Nuggets player ? while Nash played 53 before fouling out in the third overtime. With less than 48 hours to recover from the bitter loss to the Knicks, the Suns came home and gutted out a win over the 76ers, and D?Antoni expects more grit from his seven-man rotation tonight against the Golden State Warriors. Phoenix will face all four Pacific Division opponents over the next eight days, with a chance to pad its three-game lead. "Our team just doesn?t play a lot of bad games, and it always seems to find that extra boost," D?Antoni said. "This will be a big game for Golden State, and we have to defend our turf." He?s been cleared to play, but Barbosa will sit out his 24th game of the season tonight. The Suns feel ? and Barbosa has confirmed ? that he was not comfortable on his left knee when he returned from the first sprain in early December. He hurt the knee again three games later in Los Angeles, and even though it was found to be in a different place in the knee, the team wants Barbosa to be confident and comfortable before playing, most likely Saturday against Cleveland. </div> Source
Meh. I think this is a case of a journalist having a slow week and making some incidental facts fit some kind of wannabe insightful theory of basketball.
You can't put the Suns team on the spot for wearing down in all these OT, double OT and tripe OT games. I think it's irrelevant, ask anyone with a brain and it's easy to know that any athlete would wear down after playing games with minutes like the Suns have. Plus, with Amare out, that gives minutes to other key players too. If he was healthy, the team would have a much better chance at ending games in regulation. Like the guy above me said, I think the journalist is running out of things to write about Phoenix to some extent. Let's just let the team play ball and see what happens in the long run, the season isn't even half finished yet.
