I'm not giving up on us ever ill be cheering until the final seconds and still be a laker fan no matter what the result of game 5 is.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Yes there is. They now have Amare. Its that simple.</div>Wait, the reason why they won three straight last year was because they played great defense. They aren't playing any defense this year. Amare or not, if the Lakers had played better defense during the series, then they'd have a legit chance.
The defense will never be great, but it is a lot better with Amare healthy. And so is our offense. We aren't such a one dimensional, shooting team on that side of the ball anymore.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Suns prove they can play defenseScott Bordow, Tribune ColumnistThe chant is heard in every NBA arena. ?Defense! Defense!?The curse has been heard at every Suns game.They don?t play any *!@*# defense!Guess what? You can put the profanity to rest. And the exclamation point.The Suns do play defense. Maybe not as well or as hard as the Detroit Pistons, but no longer is Phoenix so deficient on ?D? that it can?t win an NBA championship.Evidence of that has accumulated over the last month. Shawn Marion finished fourth in Defensive Player of the Year balloting. Raja Bell was named to the All-Defensive team. (That Marion didn?t make the first or second team is ludicrous).The Suns have clamped down on the Los Angeles Lakers in their playoff series, holding L.A. to 43.2 percent field goal shooting and under 100 points in three of the four games.If Phoenix isn?t careful, it?s going to ruin its reputation.?I?m not saying we?re the best, but we?re pretty good and we?re going to have to be to win what we want to win,? Suns coach Mike D?Antoni said.Critics long have used the points allowed statistic to dismiss the Suns? defense. Phoenix ranked 23rd in the regular season, giving up 102.9 points per game.It?s a misleading number, however, because Phoenix?s style of play yields more possessions and thus more chances to score.A more accurate stat is field goal percentage allowed. Using that as a gauge, Phoenix is hardly the one-dimensional team it?s often made out to be. The Suns ranked 12th in the NBA, allowing opponents to make 45.7 percent of their shots.?We play better defense than most people think,? D?Antoni said. ?Again, for three years we?ve been a good road team, we?ve won 60 games, we?ve made it to the Western Conference finals; you don?t do that without playing any defense.?One of Phoenix?s strengths defensively is that it goads teams into playing its game and taking quick shots. More important, though, has been the return to health of centers Amar? Stoudemire and Kurt Thomas.Last year, the Suns were so small they had to constantly double-team the post, which left perimeter shooters open. This season, they can play straight man-to-man defense.?We have a more solid scheme,? Bell said. ?I think we?re better because we?re more consistent in what we?re trying to do.?The best barometer of the Suns? defense on any given night is offensive rebounds allowed and pass deflections. In its Game 3 loss to the Lakers, Phoenix gave up 15 offensive boards in the first half and, after deflecting eight passes in the initial seven minutes, had just five in the last three quarters.In its Game 4 win, Phoenix deflected 20 passes, and L.A. had just 10 offensive rebounds.?Great defense is really concentration and heart,? D?Antoni said. ?I think we?re doing better consistently putting out the energy.?As long as they keep their foot firmly pressed on the gas pedal, the Suns won?t be a great defensive team. Players simply don?t have enough energy to play that hard on both ends of the court.But contrary to popular opinion, the Suns don?t need to be great to win a championship.They just can?t be a green light.The task will get tougher once the Lakers are eliminated. Tim Duncan isn?t Kwame Brown, and Tony Parker is no relation to Smush Parker.But what you?re seeing in this first-round series isn?t an aberration.So go ahead and chant.The Suns can hear you.</div>
