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The Suns News GM was introduced yesterday. Lance Blanks is happy and excited to be with the Suns organization. I think he has arrived at a great time in this franchises’ history. I really believe the Suns are going to build on the success they had last season. From azcentral.com

“There’s a great infrastructure in place to have success,” Blanks said. “So part of my job will be staying out of the way and not messing things up.” New Suns President Lon Babby hired Blanks three weeks ago to be his “basketball genius.” Babby cited Blanks’ acumen for the game, locker-room presence as an ex-player and his front-office work with successful teams, including the past five years as Cleveland’s assistant GM. “I know (coach) Alvin (Gentry) has started to institute defense around here,” Blanks said. “They’re saying it a lot more. I love the way this team and this organization has played, even over the years. Getting up and down the floor is an exciting brand of basketball and very entertaining. I know that it’s been extremely successful. This team is a lot closer to winning and being successful than it is not being successful. I’m not so sure that there’s a lot to be tweaked.”

I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks we are as good as we were last year. Maybe even better if you could imagine that! Alvin Gentry sure thinks this team is better than last years squad. Holla!! From sportingnews.com

On the whole, Gentry feels the Suns replaced Stoudemire adequately. And maybe more. “Yeah, I think we have a chance to be better than we were last year,” he said of his team, which finished with 54 wins and reached the conference finals last season. “You can’t just replace a guy like Amare. But you can bring in guys who raise your overall talent level. I think we have done that. I think we will be better at some positions, and our bench, which was pretty good last year, remember, will be better.”

With the players we have, we are more versatile then ever before. Can you image the lineup possibility’s? How about a lineup of all forwards? Crazy Man! Crazy! From valleyofthesuns.com

It’s become something of a running joke that the Suns are just collecting an army of small forwards to unleash on the league. In fact if they really wanted to they could probably field a “small forward lineup” to go with all the other versatile lineups Schmitz described last week. Such a small forward lineup could put Hedo Turkoglu at the point, Josh Childress at the two, Grant Hill at his natural three, Jared Dudley at the four and Earl Clark at the five, and that’s not even including a guy like Hakim Warrick, who has been known as a three for some of his NBA career but will obviously be a four with these Suns.

How’s it going peeps? In Arizona August lasts two months, just want you to know that. where’s my football and basketball? Soon, baby, soon. OK, so, Turkoglu and defense, Two words that never go together, ever. Can Turkoglu guard the 4? Hell no. That’s not the reason he makes a lot of money in the NBA. From valleyofthesuns.com

Despite his somewhat impressive numbers defending post-up plays, let’s be honest with ourselves, the sample size is too small and Turkoglu just won’t be able to guard Tim Duncan, Pau Gasol or Dirk Nowitzki. But then again, who can? And also, will he ever be matched up with them anyway? There is no reason to believe Turkoglu will come in and save the day, but it looks like he isn’t as worthless defensively as a lot of people believe. He’s 31, he’s not exactly athletic, and he doesn’t have the size and bulk to ‘D’-up big men of the West, but that isn’t his role, so as long as he can be good enough on defense, the Suns will be OK. And it looks like he should be able to do exactly that.

What dos the 2010-2011 NBA schedule look like for the Suns? Anything standout? We’re not playing in London are we? From azcentral.com

There is popularity. The Suns are on national television 25 times again, with ESPN liking them the most by picking them for the maximum allowed 10 times. There is pity. The Suns play nine of their first 14 games on the road and have three road trips of at least five games after the New Year.

So, you have been regarded as one of the premiere clutch shooters. I mean, that’s what you do, shoot the ball. Your wet dream is getting an assist from Steve Nash, the one guy who knows exactly when and where to give you the ball. For Hedo Turkoglu that dream is becoming a reality. From valleyofthesun.com

“It’s a new start for me,” Turkoglu said when he was introduced as a member of the Suns on Wednesday. “Like I say, I put (last) year away and it’s a new start for me, a new beginning, so I’m looking forward to it.” Turkoglu broke out as a bona fide star in the 2007-08 season when he averaged 19.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists in his fourth year with the Magic, capturing the NBA’s Most Improved Player award along the way. He then went on to lead the Magic to the NBA Finals during the 2008-09 season, solidifying himself as a Mr. Fourth Quarter of sorts, drilling big shot after big shot. “He’s not afraid to take big shots, that’s the first step right there and obviously he’s been very successful making big shots,” Gentry said. “What it does is that it gives us another guy that at the end of games can take the pressure off of Steve Nash.”

I think he is going to fit in nicely. A guy who likes to score, not known for his defense. He is going to feel right at home with the Suns. Amare was so successful at taking over the fourth quarter in the second half of the season last year. He did so by attacking the basket, scoring or getting to the line or both. I think Hedo Turkoglu can have a similar effect. You don’t want to leave this guy open in the fourth quarter and he is good at passing out of the double team.

Watching ASU try to rally against Clemson. These guys had to be up at 6:00 in the morning for breakfast? So if you have been following this Suns drama you know one of the sources of contention is Robert Sarver seemingly refusal to spend any money on the team. So it came as no surprise when Sarver decided to pick up the option on Alvin Gentrys contract instead of offering a new contract and raise. From azcentral.com:

Gentry finished fifth for NBA Coach of the Year in voting based on the regular season. In his first full season as Suns coach, he took a team missed the playoffs last year to a 54-28 record that was fifth best in the NBA and a conference finals run. Gentry still ranks among the lowest paid coaches for the coming season at $1.95 million, which is less than the $2.5 million Terry Porter will receive from Phoenix for being a fired coach. Suns GM Steve Kerr had advocated picking up Gentry’s option and adding a year to the contract.

So how would you feel if you took a team that some doubted would make the playoffs, all the way to the Western Conference Finals and were not offered a new contract? Disrespected? From valleyofthesuns.com :

It was one thing to ask Steve Kerr to take a pay cut, but for Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver to pick up Alvin Gentry’s 2011-12 team option is a slap in the face to the man who orchestrated the chemistry-laden team that was two wins short of the NBA Finals. It is mind boggling that Sarver wouldn’t fairly compensate the man that saved him millions of dollars by returning the Suns to relevancy after the mess that Terry Porter left. Gentry did it all last season, from instilling confidence in youngsters like Goran Dragic, to relating to the Steve Nashs and Grant Hills of the club. And the simple fact that he was able to gain the respect of Amare Stoudemire and keep any tension from reaching the locker room speaks volumes about his ability to relate to his players. He is truly the perfect fit for this group. Yes, a man who finished fifth in the NBA in Coach of the Year voting and led his team to the NBA’s fifth-best record is making less money next season than the sorry, excuse-of-a coach who almost set the franchise back for multiple seasons. It’s mind boggling.

It takes a lot to take the names of Jan Brewer and Joe Arpaio out of the local headlines. In the last few days Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver has done just that. Sarver has become the bad guy, with fans begging him to sell the team to some one who will spend the money. From azcentral.com:

The drama is becoming ridiculous. This is not to pick at old wounds, how the Suns owner once incensed Joe Johnson, how he wanted to low-ball Alvin Gentry, or how he asked Grant Hill to take a pay cut after playing 82 games for the first time in his life. He has blown through three coaches and three general managers in six years. The culture of ownership clearly is a problem, and why Sarver needs to fade into the background, giving his staff necessary room to breathe and funds to operate. Courtside is too close for an NBA owner. Robert Sarver needs to back off. And if he can’t afford the Suns, he needs to sell the team.

I thought that the only thing we were going to be talking about his summer was where Amare Stoudemire was going to be playing. Was it going to be with the Suns or somewhere else? Now everything seems to be in doubt. It makes Suns fans very uneasy. This has become a stressful summer for Planet Orange. From brightsideofthesun.com:

Hello? Bob? You there? Listen, I’ll be honest, you aren’t looking so good right now. We don’t really trust you and we have no idea what comes next. What are your motives? You can understand us being nervous, right? I mean, are you trying to fund a villa in Nice, or a yacht bigger than most of our homes, or are you trying to get the Suns franchise over the hump and into championship contention? Doesn’t sound like the latter to me. In fact, it kind of seems like every time we have reason to believe we’re going in the right direction as a franchise, you make Negative Nancys out of us.

The bench, the reserves, our Saviour’s, what ever you want to call them, they came through big time! The Phoenix Suns bench out scored the Lakers bench 54-20. And that was the game. Once again our All Stars were sitting on the bench in crunch time as the Suns reserves put on another great show! From azcentral.com:

“The Suns bench outscored the Lakers reserves by 34 points. “We believe in our bench and although they weren’t scoring (earlier in the series), I thought they played well,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. “I thought they were better defensively than they were offensively – and they were great offensively.” Channing Frye snapped his rut of 18 consecutive misses and hit four 3-pointers for a 14-point, six-rebound game. Jared Dudley hit three more 3s and added a 3-point play that burned Bryant in his 11-point, six-rebound game. Goran Dragic (eight points, eight assists) and Leandro Barbosa (14 points in 17 minutes) brought too much speed for the Lakers and Louis Amundson (seven points, seven rebounds) had more energy than the Lakers’ frontline.”

How about Channing Frye. I was so happy to see him hit his first three pointer of the series. The crowd went wild, like it was a game winning three! Our bench is wild! It’s crazy to think the starters didn’t come back into the game until there was like 3 minutes left. In the first minutes of the fourth the Suns Bench went on a 18-3 run! And that was against the Lakers starters for the most part! It has got to be disheartening for Lakers fans to watch our bench win the game for us. It is no secret that is the strength of this team. From ktar.com:

“Amare Stoudemire led Phoenix with 21 points. Nash, playing with a broken nose, made just 3-of-11 shots but had 15 points and eight assists. But it was the backups who stole the show, making 20-of-32 shots, including 9-of-20 3s. “We believe in those guys and they really believe in themselves,” Gentry said. “I thought they were much better defensively than they were offensively, and they were great offensively.”

Its a series now. We’ll see how far this zone defense takes us. We need to take this confidence back to LA and win another on Thursday! Oh BTW Goran Dragic had the play of the series. DRAGON!!

So everybody jumped all over Amare Stoudemire when he mentioned Odom had a lucky game. Its beginning to look like he did. But you know what didn’t get half the media coverage? Andrew Bynum talking about playing the Celtics in the NBA finals. This was before game 3 BTW! From withleather.com:

“Apparently, Andrew Bynum wasn’t aware of this, because he’s already anticipating a Finals rematch with the Boston Celtics. “Man, it’s going to be amazing to play against those guys again. Especially having lost. We’re going to have a lot of fuel, a lot of ammo to throw at those guys. They’re definitely a great team. They’ve got great veterans on their squad. We know that. So we already are getting prepared. The first step is closing out Game 3. And after that we’ll be focusing on Boston, looking at them play, watching how they’re playing Orlando, and try and pick up as much as we can. –Orange County Register.

Nice. Andrew Bynum is only slightly better than Kwame Brown who was one of the worst players ever to wear a Lakers uniform. I hope that found its way to the Suns bullitin board! We need to do more of the same in game 4. Rebound and continue to aggressively get to the basket. As for the zone defense? It’s working so far.  azcentral.com:

“I stayed up (Saturday night) watching game film (from Game 2) and was like, ‘This zone is not going to work. I mean, if our second unit is sitting out there picking us apart . . . Kobe and those guys are going to pick us apart,’ ” Suns guard Jason Richardson said. “So I was like, ‘There’s no way we’re going to win the game with that zone.’ And then we came out and were really aggressive with it, and it actually worked. We shocked ourselves.” It worked enough. The Lakers’ 4-for-19 second quarter gave the Suns the lead and 5 1/2 fourth-quarter minutes without a field goal helped put the Lakers away. In between, the Lakers feel like they figured it out for a 37-point third quarter, only to revert to sloppy passes and quick jump shots in the fourth. “The zone invited us to settle from outside and we never really got the ball to move where we want it to go,” said Lakers forward Pau Gasol, who still went 11 for 14 from the field. “It’s a mistake that tends to happen when you’re facing zone, especially when you’re not used to facing zone.”

Amazing what a little home cooking can do for you. We remember the 3rd quarter of game 2 when the Suns showed they could score against this Lakers team. We understood scoring wasn’t the problem. It was finding a way to get some stops when needed. Our zone defense was a lot tighter, it seemed to paralyze the Lakers offense when Kobe wasn’t in the game. And having the toughness of Robin Lopez in the middle of the lane makes a big difference. He always has his game face on. I mean, ALWAYS. Reminds me of how Kurt Thomas always looked like he was about to snap your neck. Love it. From azcentral.com:

“Center Robin Lopez said the Suns were more focused defensively than in their two losses in Los Angeles. “We wanted to be more aggressive and build the defense from the inside out,” he said. “After that practice, a lot of us came together and talked out what we were doing wrong and figured it out. A lot of it was communication. A lot of it was just stepping up on the drives.”

So yeah, the offense looked a lot better this game as well. We were super aggressive at getting to the basket. That was a big deal because our three point shooting sucked, (5-20, 25%) that bad, and I couldn’t imagine us winning game shooting three’s like that. It was the interior play of Lopez and Stoudemire that made up the difference. They got to basket or got fouled or both. Robin Lopez had 20 points. And Amare? Amare Stoudemire responds to criticism better than anybody I know. Stoudemire used his speed and quickness to dominate Pau Gasol, like he used to when Gasol played with the Grizzlies. From valleyofthesuns.com:

“On the other end, Amare Stoudemire turned in his signature game of the postseason by scoring a career playoff-high-tying 42 points, his first 40-point playoff game since 2005. STAT was a beast from the start, when he earned as many free throw attempts in the first 3:22 (seven) as he did in all of Game 2. Stoudemire attacked the rim with ferocity, getting Los Angeles’ entire front line in foul trouble (Lamar Odom ended up fouling out), and playing with an intensity missing in Games 1 and 2. “Well, he had a pretty sensational performance,” Steve Nash said. “I’m just proud of him. He made some incredible plays. But he was just aggressive. And I think once he got a few free throws early and a few buckets, I think he really felt like, ‘Hey, I can keep attacking,’ and all the frustration from the first two games where it was crowded in there a lot I think subsided. … He was obviously a force.” Added Stoudemire, “Coach Alvin told me before the game he was going to come to me. Come to me a lot. And I was ready.”

The zone defense is the way to go. Especially when Kobe is sitting out, the Lakers had no offensive rhythm. This is going to be a long series. we need to play even better to have  chance at winning it. I still have not seen our best game yet.

Western Conference Finals 2010. The national media, or to quote caribou barbie, “lame stream media, believe the Lakers are destined to reach the Finals. Most Suns fans know and believe we can win this series. I think we match up pretty well with Lakers, especially with Robin Lopez in the lineup. Steve Nash is a thousand times better than Derek Fisher. Both suck at defense, but offensively Nash is the better player by far. I think the Suns have more weapons then the Lakers. Our Bench is the best in the NBA. Most of the time they play BETTER than the starters! Lopez and Bynum is a push, but thats what it needs to be. They cancel each other out. The same can be said for Pau Gasol and Amare Stoudemire. Nobody can stop Kobe but it shouldn’t have to come down to the “black mamba” to win it on a last second shot. We need keep doing the two things that got us this far. Team defense and rebounding. azcentral.com:

“It feels like the Super Bowl week,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. “I’m very anxious,” Suns guard Jason Richardson said. “I’m tired of playing against my teammates. We’re tired of beating each other up. It almost feels like preseason again where you go through that week where you’re just practicing hard, going at it. You’re waiting for that first exhibition game just to get away from your teammates and play somebody else. “It kind of feels like our season is starting all over.” “The team is focused but confident,” Hill said. “We’re loose and relaxed at the same time. We learned a lot about ourselves in the last two series. I like us playing the Lakers now as opposed to playing them in Round 1. Obviously, they’re playing better too but I think it’s more the mentality for us. We’re confident. We feel like we can win.”

2010PlayOffs 2ndRound. Aahhh. It feels good doesn’t it? It feels right. It’s been a long time coming but the Suns defeated the evil empire 107-101. Man that game couldn’t get over fast enough. It was like the ending to a horror movie, the Spurs just wouldn’t die. Electrocution, shotgun blast, knife to the chest, the Spurs kept coming back for more. And who finaly finished them off? What unknown bench player saved the day? Actually it was two starters who came through in the end. A power forward we tried to trade in the middle of the season and a one-eyed 36 year old point guard sent the Spurs packing and the Suns to the western Conference Finals. From valleyofthesuns.com:

“The one-eyed Steve Nash, whose right eye was swollen so shut he could barely see out of it, finished the Spurs off with a 10-point, five-assist fourth quarter, including a cold-blooded pull-up three with nine minutes left after San Antonio tied the game. The same can be said for Amare Stoudemire, who scored a game-high 29 points on 10-for-17 shooting tonight, after the 27-year-old lost the first four series of his career against Duncan and the Spurs.”

This was by far the best game Amare had in the series. He lost his cool for a minute in the third quarter after Antonio McDyess fouled him hard raking Amare’s goggles from his face. He got T’d up complaining about the foul. From azcentral.com:

“Tell him that if he doesn’t shut his mouth, I’m going to take him out of the game,” the Suns coach said. Gentry was referring to Suns forward Amar’e Stoudemire, who was seeking an explanation for a technical foul he had received minutes earlier. Hill motioned for Stoudemire to zip it, but by that time Stoudemire didn’t need the reminder. He had collected himself, ready to resume the elimination of the Spurs, an act already in progress. “I wasn’t rattled; I just wanted to ask (the official) what I did wrong,” Stoudemire said of the technical. “I thought I got fouled twice. It was really no big deal.”

As for Steve Nash. He is becoming a legend. Nash took an unintential elbow from Tim Duncan in the third, went to the floor, got up and immediately started to bleed from above his right eye. It was like deja vu all over again. Everybody was thinking the same thing, Are we going to get through this? Is Nash coming back? Can we still win? Yes. Yes. Yes! From brightsideofthesun.com:

“Oh and that Steve Nash. Heart. Determination. Toughness. After catching an errant Tim Duncan elbow in the third, Nash returned to the game with an ugly Rocky Balboa looking right eye and provided silent inspiration for the rest of his teammates. We cannot say enough about this guy, the value he has to the Phoenix Suns, and how much better he makes his teammates. While Robert Horry and Bruce Bowen weren’t in the building, Tim Duncan’s errant elbow was, glancing off of Steve Nash’s eye on a random drive. Nash immediately exited, receiving 6 stitches and the Spurs went on an 11-0 run. The Suns led at the end of the 3, 72-71. In game 3, the Spurs led by the same score at the end of 3…Weirdness. Nash returned in the 4th with a gigantic ice pack on his eye. But the ice did little to slow the swelling. The whole Rocky Balboa analogy was in effect. After a Dudley bomb and Stoudemire basket, the Suns went up 77-71. Nash then nailed a 3 followed by an and one 3 and another 2 to put the Suns up 87-82.”

Yes sir. In the end the two players who have been through so much heart break dealing with the Spurs, gave us the final push we needed to win and sent the Spurs packing. It feels good.

2010PlayOffs 2ndRound. Wow, That had to be one of the most impressive fourth quarter performances in NBA playoff history. Goran Dragic single handedly took over the fourth quarter and gave the Suns a 110-96 win over the Spurs. It was amazing to watch. I was at sports bar and feel sorry for my friend sitting next to me because each time Dragic made a basket, I grabbed him and shook him like a rag doll. It was crazy! nba.com:

“One day after celebrating his 24th birthday, a career playoff night from Goran Dragic Friday has the Suns one win away from advancing to the Western Conference Finals, after Phoenix’s come-from-behind 110-96 victory in Game 3. The backup point guard tallied 26 points in the second half, with 23 of them coming in the final frame to push the Suns to a 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven series vs. San Antonio. Held scoreless on five attempts in Wednesday’s Game 2, the Slovenian was 10-of-13 from the field 48 hours later, including a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range to go along with three rebounds, two assists, a block and a steal in 17 minutes. “At halftime,” Dragic said, “Coach (Alvin) Gentry told me I needed to be more aggressive on the court, and I just did it. I got hot. I wanted the ball and to play a bigger role. Coach said, ‘If you feel it, shoot it.’ I just tried to penetrate and score.”

Unbelievable. That three pointer he got fouled on sent the bar I was in into choas, strangers giving high-fives to each other, hollering and screaming! It was kind of a miricle ending. Our star players on the bench, and our reserves on the court winning it. Dragic and Leandro Barbosa were simply to fast, the Spurs couldn’t keep up. Barbosa had 14 points and 4 rebounds. It was strange seeing Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Jason Richardson jumping up and down, cheering from the bench as the Sun won 110-96 and put the Spurs on the verge of elimination. From valleyofthesuns.com:

“The most shocking part about this victory might be the fact that when the Suns made their decisive run, Nash, Amare and J-Rich didn’t have anything more to do with it than you or I did. They were handsomely-paid cheerleaders, as Nash didn’t enter until the 3:19 mark with Phoenix up 11 and Stoudemire and Richardson didn’t make an appearance at all, although J-Rich still scored 21 through three as Phoenix improved to 31-4 when he goes for 20. But that’s OK with this team. On some teams, stars would probably mope about the fact that it wasn’t about them — and frankly younger Amare probably mopes — but this squad is really all about the team. Those stars weren’t merely watching, they were engaged in the action, whooping it up like you probably were at home, and then they engulfed Goran Dragic in celebration as he sauntered off the court when the final horn sounded.”

Last night and all day today I have heard the same word. Proud. Fans, teammates, and coaching staff could not be more proud of Goran Dragic. How could you not love this team?

2010PlayOffs 2ndRound. I think the Suns have put themselves in a great position after winning the first two games at home. You know in the previous series, the tempo was important, the Suns needed to keep up the pace. In this series against the Spurs the key seems to be defense and rebounding. We didn’t exactly set the nets on fire in the last game. No, we got the win by out rebounding the Spurs, and getting key defensive stops when needed. The Spurs got beat at their own game. That means the Spurs are going to come back stronger and more determined. From azcentral.com:

“We keep emphasizing that this team (the Spurs) is never going to give up,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. “They don’t have it in them. They really don’t. Everybody buried them before the playoffs started. . . . Everybody buried them after the first game in Dallas. They are not going anywhere. “We understand that we have to play at a real high level to try to get a game down there. It will not be easy. We’ll have to play better than we did in either one of these (first two) games.” “Usually, that (poor shooting) spells doom for us,” Gentry said. “What our guys decided is ‘OK, we’re not shooting the ball. Well, OK, we’ve got to find a different way to win the game.’ These guys are starting to take pride in their defense.”

So I will be glad when the game starts and we can start to focus on basketball again. I am no fan of the immigration bill but I also like my sports to be an escape from the mind numbing political news and politics we have shoved in our face 24 hours a day. It’s crazy the reputation Arizona has got because of this bill. What in the world did people think of Arizona before this nonsense?

2010PlayOffs 2ndRound. Hell Yeah!! It feels good to get that game one win. The Suns came out running, as we knew they would. Steve Nash was unstoppable Monday night . Nash went for 33 points and 10 assists. He was driving thru the lane, getting to the basket time after time. Taking guys off the dribble, braking double teams, Kevin Johnson would have been proud. Nash had 17 in the first quarter alone. Did you know that Steve Nash is 6-0 when he scores 30 or more points in the playoffs!! From azcentral.com:

“Nash, coming off three days’ rest for a hip strain, went past George Hill and weaved through the Spurs defense for four drives in the game’s first 3:11 and Phoenix’s attack mode was established. “We came in with the mindset that we’d push the basketball,” Gentry said. “And if he pushed the basketball, he had to think about being a scorer first. “The way we attacked early and put them on their heels opened up the game for us.”

As I was walking up to the stadium I noticed Suns fans have a certain swagger, there was a definite feeling the Suns were going to get a win tonight. The atmoshere at the arena was intense. Lots of bad blood between these two teams and their fans. Plenty of trash talking along the hallways and concourses of U.S Airways arena. Despite the history the Suns players aren’t intimidated at all. Jason Richardson had another stellar performance with 27 points, Amare Stoudemire had 23 points and 13 rebounds. The Suns out rebounded the Spurs 44 to 38. And shot 51.9% from the field. Look, this is a different Suns team, its a different Spurs team. This series isn’t going down like the ones in the past.

2010PlayoffsRound1. The pace of the game and rebounding, those two factors really went our way. Our three wins this series have been by at least 19 points. Keep the game wide open and flowing, and we have a great chance at winning. The Phoenix Suns out rebounded Portland 41-29. And none of this half court bullshit. Take quick shots before the defense sets, run the ball up as often as possible. The Suns bench did all that and more. Our reserves simply dominated the game. From azcentral.com:

“First, there was Jared Dudley, who emerged from a series-long slumber to score a career playoff-high 19 points, hitting five of nine 3-pointers. He also played his usual dogged defense and energized the sellout crowd. Then there was Channing Frye, who also racked up a career postseason best with 20 points along with eight rebounds. Frye hit three of five 3-pointers. Backup point guard Goran Dragic came off the bench in the second quarter and began attacking the basket. It got him three consecutive trips to the free-throw line and helped set a tone for the game. In all, the Suns bench outscored Portland’s reserves 55-23.”

Alvin Gentry finished the game with the bench, thats awesome. I think Gentry’s trust in his bench is what is going to make the difference in this playoff run. I can’t remember a Suns team that could bring 5 off the bench then keep and build on leads on a regular basis. Other than the first quarter, the Trail Blazers looked a step slower all game. It looked like the teams switched personalities from the game before. Brandon Roy had no positive effect on this game what so ever. Roy may have hurt his teams chances. From sportsillustrated.cnn.com:

“Roy, who over the weekend came back unexpectedly from surgery to repair his meniscus, was neither effective himself nor helped take pressure off his teammates. Roy, who is clearly not 100 percent healthy, had three fouls in his first six minutes and finished with just five points and four fouls in 19 minutes.”