After another failed comeback against the Clippers, the Suns are trying to snap a five game losing streak tonight at the hardest Arena to play at in sports. Playing catchup rather than basketball has been the game the Suns have tried to play the past few games. Ever since making a historical twenty-nine point comeback against the Celtics for their last win the Suns have tried to make a fifteen point fourth quarter comeback against the Nets, a twenty point comeback against the Heat, another fifteen point comeback against the Hornets, and they tried to climb their way back to a lead that reached as much as 19 against the Clippers. The other loss against the Magic was a game in which the Suns actually had a twenty-one point lead, but blew it away as the Magic won the game. Go figure. Now the Suns are trying to pick things up and win the first game for new coach Mike D'Antoni. D'Antoni has vowed to make the Suns a run and gun team and he has succeeded to far, but it has not resulted in a win yet. The primary reason for the Suns not only losing, but losing by wide margins, can be attributed to injuries to the two best big men the Suns have. Amare Stoudemire suffered an ankle injury against the Celtics and is out for four weeks, and Zarko Carbakapa is still reeling from a broken wrist suffered on a flagarant foul from Danny Fortson. Without the two young energy players the Suns have been getting killed on the boards and by guard penetration. Something that the Suns killed teams with last year is starting to kill them this year. Those factors all lead up to the matchup against the Kings tonight. The Kings have one of the more talented frontcourts in the league, even with the absence of Chris Webber. Brad Miller has been a great addition for the Kings as he is proving to be one of the more well-rounded frontcourt players in the league averaging fifteen points, ten rebounds, and five assists. Tonight's game also places two all-star small forwards against each other in Peja Stojakovic and Shawn Marion. The key to the game tonight, though, may very well be Doug Christie. The Suns are already at a disadvantage in the frontcourt, but Christie's ability to guard any player in the backcourt may neutralize any advantage the Suns had. The game starts tonight at nine o'clock, eastern time.
Phoenix is up ahead the Kings 92-79 with the 4th quarter about to start at Arco. They are somehow shooting 61 points and scoring like crazy in the paint. And Phoenix is up 25-24 on rebounds. I wouldn't be surprised if the Suns choke, but I doubt they will and I hope they won't. Times like these I pray for League Pass.
The game got really physical in the fourth quarter. That's why the Suns dropped another lead. Playing on a back to back in an up and down game then suddenly changing to a physical game isn't going to suit well with the endurance come crunch time. To being the game the Kings frontcourt dominated, but not the way you'd expect. Miller, Divac, and Peja were hitting all the outside shots available. The Suns managed to pull ahead, and did so even more when Miller and Bibby got their fourth fouls in the third. Resting Marion and Marbury when they had a 15 point lead would've been great, but instead they were kept in the game and just got too tired. Marbury was just plain out awful in the fourth, which is something you can't say often about him. I feel like Penny really hurts the squad in the fourth. The Suns had the 13 point lead, then Penny just takes two horrible shots that allow the Kings to get some extra possesions. He then turned the ball over which led to a layup and got the Kings within single digits. The thing is, besides Penny there isn't anyone else to step up for him that I would trust any more than I trust him. One more thing, I don't like how Williams and White didn't get PT in the fourth quarter. It would've been nice to get some guys who aren't afraid to make contact to keep the Kings from getting the easy layups they did through penetration.
Wow, what a choke job. I am really suprised with the Suns season so far, as I am sure all of you are. So much potential...
