Yeah! We made it to .500!!!

Nov 1, 2006 - Phoenix, AZ - Phoenix Suns 112, Lose Angeles Clippers 104 - Box Score

In came the Lose Angeles Clippers and out came win #1. The Phoenix Suns scratched and clawed their way, all the way back to .500

Geez, Tim Thomas certainly finds ways to help the Suns win, eh? Even in a Clips uni, Ole' #2 played like #2. But that wasn't the big story.

The BIG story was how good Amare Stoudemire is looking. He threw down a few mean jams, played tough and very strong on the inside and even played pretty good defense! Everyone is concerned with Amare's knees - I'm here to tell you something: his knees AREN'T the problem. He needs to get back into basketball shape, MENTALLY first and physically (handle, passing, rotating on D, stamina). Look, I've watched Amare his whole career. When he is confident he is a MONSTER. He's mean, he's physical, he's ferocious and other guys HATE to play against him. He's not there yet, it's all mental. He remembers HOW HARD he had to work to get to this point. He is concerned with having setbacks, but he is starting to show the fearlessness and reckless abandon that was his trademark. He may remember the pain and the hard work, but he also remembers how to crush the rim... progress will come in chunks, just like his rookie year. He builds confidence in spurts, and I wouldn't be surprised if he has a 50 point game within the month (and a bunch of 6-8 point games as well). As the season moves on, Amare's gonna be fine, and in my opinion, he's not the story at all...

The BIG story last night to me was Boris Diaw!!! Big Boy showed up last night... he is finally getting rolling. He got a little fat this summer (but a good percentage of muscle gain, too) and he played ball all summer for France. He stalled out in the preseason and played pretty bad against the Fakers, but 3D woke up in the second half last night. It was very good to see!

In the first half he continued to play unselfishly (almost to a fault) by taking the ball right to the rim and dishing out, but he also is starting to show a nice stroke on the jumper. He played smarter D and simply turned it on in the second half... Boris has the ability to dominate a game when he chooses and he is getting better daily.

One concern from last night, well maybe concern isn't the right word, but... let's get Raja Bell rolling!!! He is the guy that needs to warm up. Sure, it's only two games in but the engine is misfiring on one piston at this point. Raja still brings the toughness, but we need some of that 43% 3pt shooting back... Of course, he'll be fine and I'm just being critical as hell because I want them to play perfectly (even though they never will)

Nice to see JJ (James Jones) hit some key shots and play a little D, Barbosa is our secret weapon and Coach D'Antoni has a wonderful problem he probably never has had before - TOO much talent! Oh yeah, we still have TWO #1 picks coming from Atlanta in the Joe Johnson (I still wish Joe all the luck) deal... I still giggle and get all giddy over that deal - it was like something you could only pull off in a video game, but it was real!!!

So the two LA teams (2 of the few teams with enough bigs to pester the Suns into slowing down) have had their chance at revenge from last year's playoffs... and another team with bigs and a slow-it-down mentality is on the horizon... The Jazz... then we get a rematch with the Clippers again in LA, then on to Dallas and San Antonio...

Coach D said the toughest stretch they have to deal with all year is the first 10 games (3 sets of back-to-back games) but at least 10 of the first 16 are at home... time to open up a division lead!

In other Suns related news, the Suns threw a minimum contract at free agent Jalen Rose (since he's already getting $16mil from New York); word is, he is also interested in the Miami Heat (we'll see if he changed his mind since the opening game in Miami); don't discount Detroit since Rose is a Motor City native.

Next game - Friday against the Utah Jazz - I like the Jazz, but they scare me a little. They are TOUGH and a Jerry Sloan team through and through. I think the Jazz are going to be the surprise team this year...