<div align="center"> @ </div> <div align="center"><font color="DarkRed">Miami Heat (27-9) </font> @ <font color="Orange">Phoenix Suns (30-4)</font></div> <div align="center">Where? American West Arena - Phoenix, Arizona When? Tuesday, January 11 9:00 EST; 6:00 PST</div> <div align="center">_____________________________</div> <u><font color="DarkRed"><div align="center">Miami Starting Lineup</div></font></u> <div align="center"></div> <div align="center">(Stan Van-Gundy)</div> From early last season to present Stan Van-Gundy has done a great job of coaching this Miami Heat team. Last year he had a team with Lamar Odom and Dwyane Wade and maganed to get to the playoffs after a slow start, this year is different. With two superstars on his squad SVG has one of the best squad's in the east. <div align="center">_______________________________</div> <div align="center"></div> <div align="center"><font color="DarkRed">(Damon Jones, Dwyane Wade, Eddie Jones, Udonis Haslem, Shaquille O'Neal)</font></div> Lead by two superstars, Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal the Heat have one of the best team's if not the best team in the east. The players surrounding Wade and Shaq are great role players that know what they have to do to make the Heat win games. Udonis Haslem for example is an outstanding rebounder and can do the dirty work. Damon Jones, another example is a great three point shooter and always a threat to fire at anytime. <div align="center">__________________________</div> <font color="DarkRed"><div align="center">Key Player</div></font> <div align="center"></div> <font color="DarkRed"><div align="center">(Shaquille O'Neal)</div></font> Shaq has to take advantage of the Suns not having a lot of depth in the paint. He has to do this by getting Suns center Amare Stoudemire in foul trouble early and he needs to take advantage of this. With Steven Hunter coming off the bench I don't think he is nearly physical enough to play with Shaq. <div align="center">____________________________</div> <div align="center"><u><font color="Orange">Suns Starting Lineup</font></u></div> <div align="center"></div> <font color="Orange"><div align="center">(Mike D'Antoni)</div></font> Mike D'Antoni has this team running their best ball in a long time, try since Barkley left. D'Antoni has the Suns on pace to tie the Bulls single season mark for wins in a season. Another test for D'Antoni and the Suns will come tonight. <div align="center">_______________________</div> <div align="center"></div> <div align="center"><font color="Orange">(Steve Nash, Joe Johnson, Quentin Richardson, Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudemire)</font></div> After a BIG blowout by the Suns against the Pacers two nights ago the Suns starters had a little time to rest in the second half of that game, the starter with the highest minute total in that game was Joe Johnson with 32. The reason I mention this is that the Suns will be fresh and they will just keep on running tonight. With a big task for Amare Stoudemire, and Steve Nash ahead of them for they will have to cover two of the elite players in the league, Shaq and Wade. The X-Factors will have to step up tonight, Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion, and Quentin Richardson will all have to have big games. <div align="center">___________________________</div> <font color="Orange"><div align="center"><u>Key Player</u></div></font> <div align="center"></div> <font color="Orange"><div align="center">(Joe Johnson)</div></font> With Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire tired out on the offensive end because of Dwyane Wade and Shaq O'Neal, Joe Johnson will have to step it up. I'll expect the three ball to rain for JJ tonight as he will pour in 20+, 4+ boards, and 4+ assits. A big game for JJ. <div align="center">____________________________</div> <div align="center">Prediction Time:</div> Should be a good one tonight, two of the top teams in their repective conferences, the Suns and Heat going at it. Expect these two to be neck and neck until the third quarter when Amare Stoudemire will have to sit for foul trouble. Dwyane Wade and crew will take advantage of this and go on a run to close out the 3rd. Sad to say but the Suns won't get the lead again for they will come as close as a 3 point lead when Amare picks up foul #6. Sad to say the Suns fall short... Heat - 104 Suns - 101
This is disgusting, we're getting crushed. There is something wrong if the Suns don't win the championship, they're spectacular.
The Heat are losing to the best teams in the NBA. I rank the heat in the TOP 5. As I mentioned I think the heat need a few more role players in their lineup if they are going to make a run for a championship. The Sonics, Suns, and Spurs are the top 3 overall in the NBA. then i'll rank the Heat below them.
Wow!!! Our transition <font color="Red">defense was HORRIBLE</font>. The Heat got sloppy offensively and we had no answers for them. I don't know if anyone can stop the Phoenix Suns. <font color="Red">AMARE STOUDEMIRE </font> impressed the hell out of me tonight. I knew he was athletic and all, but he was NAILING JUMPSHOTS!! I didn't know that was part of his strengths. The kid has it ALL. Hope Stan Van Gundy & the coaching staff can come up with something defensively by the next time we meet. We did not have a bad offensive game but the SUNS were just too much, too fast.
The whole Suns team had nice games: Nash: 16 points, 16 assists, 7-12 FG Marion: 26 points, 11 rebounds, 5 steals, 11-22 FG YaY!!! Amare: 34 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 13-19 FG Johnson: 24 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals On the others side: Shaq: 34 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 16-20 FG Wade had 8 turnovers in the game, I saw about 3 early ones where he tried to force some passes, or he passed it and a teammate reacted wrongly, the worst was Damon Jones cutting to the basket on the break, then as Wade passes to him he starts to fan out to the three point line, and the ball just flies out of bounds, ouch. He did good in other areas, but 8 turnovers is eww, he's averaging about 4 on the season which isn't good. He also took some bad shots, yea he shot 9-19, but some of the shots he was taking late in the game were a little iffy, not the best of games for him. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">AMARE STOUDEMIRE impressed the hell out of me tonight. I knew he was athletic and all, but he was NAILING JUMPSHOTS!! I didn't know that was part of his strengths. The kid has it ALL.</div> As a rookie Amare had no post game and no range outside 10 feet. Last season he developed an inconsistent mid-range jumpshot, and added some baby hooks and floaters in the lane to his game. He also had handles like a guard, I mean this guy sometimes looks better dribbling the ball than KG does. This season his mid-range jumper becamse pretty good, he improved his post game adding more moves and improving his hook shot and baby jumper, and his defense though still only average also improved this season. Amare definately has it all, the worst thing is the people that say all he does is dunk. Even if it was, if no one can stop him, what's the problem?
The Suns have a really good team. Man they run together and Nash passes it to the right man at the right time. What a game by the Suns. I turned it off after 3rd quarter. True we need one more player to step up big night in and out. Wade and Shaq do their jobs every night but that's not enough to win over the better teams in the league.
