Yeah! We made it to .200!!!

Nov 8, 2006 - San Antonio, TX - San Antonio Spurs 111, Phoenix Suns 106 (OT) - Box Score

Suns are now 1-4 (.200 winning percentage!)

Damn it! I didn't get to see the game last night until the last 5 seconds of regulation and the OT. Iwas out playing basketball myself, going 1-80 from the field and ready to cut my mutinous hands right off of my arms...(a story for another time) But I did get to hear most of the 4th quarter on the radio on the way home. Vinny Del Negro is the color guy along side of former TV play-by-play man/old coot Al McCoy. I still love McCoy, he's a little nutty and his "shazam!" every time someone nails a three pointer still gets me, every time. But Vinny Del Negro is like a broken record. He says "move the ball side to side" at least 45 times a game. Either they are "moving the ball side to side" or they need to "move the ball side to side". Great insight.

Meanwhile on TV, my FAVORITE color analyst, Eddie Johnson tells it just like it is. He is one of the best I have ever heard. I get the idea he doesn't want to go national and commentate on a big network channel, but he'd be great! He is so insightful, all the players know and love him. And when he doesn't do the color commentating, Dan Majerle does! He's extremely entertaining! Both Eddie and Dan are very cool cats that make watching a game a little more fun (especially because they're both HUGE Suns homers!)

Anyway, the game. My wife watched the whole thing and said Amare must've read what I wrote about him. She said he came out ferocious and attacked. Too bad foul trouble held him to 15 minutes and knocked him out of the game with 4+ minutes in the 4th quarter (although Al McCoy said it was a bad, bad, bad call by the ref since a shot clock violation should have occurred BEFORE the foul call). Of course, once Amare was out, the game went downhill.

Overall, the Suns played pretty good defense, but basically lost the game (again) at the charity stripe

I don't know what it is about this team. they have led every single game this season LATE in the 4th quarter and won only one. hey haven't closed out games. The killer instinct isn't there. Now, the Spurs just seem to do this to us every time for the 5+ years. I'm kinda getting nauseous recalling all of the games we "should have" beaten the Spurs. Hmmm... Oh yeah, that Tim Duncan guy is pretty good. Except at sealing games from the free throw line

Raja Bell was bigtime clutch with the game on the line last night, hitting a 3 pointer with 7 seconds left when were down 4, then he took the ball to the rack and got fouled down one with 1.6 seconds left. Made the first and then NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! He choked the second!

So to OT we went. We had it, man we had it!

So Bell got sandwiched on an elbow to the ribs from Parker and slammed into Tim Duncan early in OT and had to leave the game in obvious pain. Got the wind knocked out of him, and absolutely took the wind out of the sails of the Suns in OT. Dude is tough, but when he is in pain like that, you know it hurts.

Great quote after the game from Raja: “I hit the ground wrong, and when I fell I heard a crunch. Thank goodness the X-ray was negative,” Bell said while his ribs were being wrapped in an ice bag.
“I thought it was a break, but I thought the second free throw was in the basket. So what do I know?”

So back home tonight against the 0-4 Mavericks. WOW! What a re-match of last year's Conference Finals this should be! 1-4 vs. 0-4!!! Raise your hand if you saw this coming, liars!

Interesting fact #37875: The Suns have started the season 1-3 EACH of the last 5 seasons... however, this was the first time in that streak that they failed to win game #5. Hmmm... Each of the previous 4 seasons, the Suns failed to win the Championship, maybe this losing game #5 thing is the key to winning it all.

All in all, it's probably best that the Suns didn't start out on a hot streak. They were picked by many to win it all and were on everyone's radars. now they aren't such the target.

Spurs scouting report: Fabricio Oberto played the PERFECT game last night 11-11 and 10 rebounds. Coach Popovich said "He's the ugliest productive player I've ever been around," Popovich said. "He looks like a bull in a china shop out there."

Yes, I'll say it again, Tim Duncan is still very, very good and for the most part, I can't stand Tony Parker.

Next game: finish off the back-to-back home against the Mavericks.