SUNS BEAT NETS!
The Phoenix Suns grooved to a 116-92 home win against the Nets. The Suns really clicked offensively tonight, although I thought the Nets helped them, by allowing 17 of the Suns 48 boards to come on the offensive end. Boris Diaw and Amare Stoudamire were both very active on the offensive glass, and finished with about 88% of the Suns offensive rebounds. The Nets were hanging around throughout most of the third quarter, at one point cutting the lead down to nine. At that point, Amare posterized Nets rookie Sean Williams for a dunk, plus the foul.

To the Nets defense, they are coming off of an overtime loss against the Clippers. The Nets big three (Carter, Kidd, and Jefferson) all logged in 129 minutes combined. Looking forward, the Nets need to be able to perform well on back-to-backs, especially when competing against the West. This was the last games for the Suns without Grant Hill (if he comes back when expected) and I think this team has learned a lot from his absence. Boris Diaw needs to be told again and again not to differ to his teammates and shoot the ball. Maybe getting another shot to start (while Hill is injured) will increase his confidence level, and with a little assistance from the Suns coaching staff, take him to the next level.

Amare Stoudamire played a really solid game, and lead the Suns with 28 points and nine boards, about 80% of those on those offensive end. I have to point out again that if the Nets continue to play their lack luster zone against the Suns, they will get killed on the offensive glass. There was a possession coming out of a timeout, when the Nets really played superb defense. They showed a little press and made the Suns work hard for what turned out to be a really bad shot. Shawn Marion was one of two with a double-double and finished with 16 points and 11 boards. It is really fun to see the great communication between Marion and Nash for some great alley-oop passes. As a huge fan of the Suns run and gun style, that is my favorite part of their collaborative game.
Photo by: Paul Connors/AP Photo