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Everyone wants to test the market. I suppose as a player its the smart thing to do. What if, after all this hype about 2010 free agency, nobody goes anywhere? Well except for Chris Bosh, we know his ass ain’t stay’n in Canada. As for as “testing the waters” you can add Channing Fryes name to the list. I honestly don’t see how he could expect to get much more than we are offering him. He’s a big man who can shoot threes. That’s not as rare of a skill as you would believe. From azcentral.com:

The Suns promised swift action to retain Channing Frye and have lived up to the pledge with a five-year, $25 million for the deep-shooting big man, according to a source familiar with negotiations. That was an increase from their initial offer but still might not be what Frye and his agent, Rob Pelinka, feel like they can receive on the open market. The offer averages $5 million and is a bump from the original thinking of a first-year salary of $3.5 million. However, the mid-level exception projects to be worth $5.5 million to $5.85 million and his camp might feel like it can get closer to that from a capped-out team after reports that Drew Gooden received a five-year, $32 million deal from Milwaukee and Darko Milicic took a four-year, $20 million one to stay with Minnesota.

As for Amare Stoudemire, it still looks like he is not coming back. Some people claim he and his agent are still in talks with the Suns. Maybe he really is just testing the waters and realizes he has a good thing   in Phoenix. And by “good thing” I mean “Steve Nash”. Stoudemire loves the attention he is getting and is soaking up every minute of it. At the end of the day he might realize his best chance for success might be with the Phoenix Suns after all. Maybe.

OK, so the story is that the Suns don’t want to offer Amare Stoudemire six years. Instead they want to offer half that. The Suns met with Amare Tuesday and the meeting lasted three hours. I guess they are going to talk about it some more Today. I just don’t see him coming back. There is a reason the Suns don’t want to offer him a long term contract. His Knees. From azcentral.com:

The Suns improved their offer earlier this month from a February offer that put off Stoudemire. But even a willingness to pay him maximum salaries is not enough, because the Suns do not want to commit to him for the maximum six years, a deal that would pay him more than $130 million but can’t be insured because of his knee and eye history. The Suns saw MRI exams on his knees recently and remain concerned. Walters said they were the same as last year.

Things are changing, Steve Kerr is back to commentating on TNT. I think that has got to be such a cake job. Traveling to watch basketball and getting paid for it. Must be nice. From valleyofthesuns.com:

With his contract expiring Wednesday, former Suns’ general manager Steve Kerr officially reclaimed his courtside seat for TNT Tuesday as the network officially announce his new analyst role. The network released a statement Tuesday, marking the final step in Kerr’s departure after three years as Suns GM. According to Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic, Kerr is getting a five year contract. Kerr will begin work as an analyst with the 2010-2011 season. Kerr’s duties will include TNT’s Thursday night doubleheader coverage, NBA All-Star Weekend and the playoffs.

We lose Steve Kerr but we might get Charles Barkley in return. WTF? What a trade. I think Barkleys personalty would be fun to have around again. He is a walking party. On the business side, he is not in favor of signing STAT. From azcentral.com:

“I don’t think it’s a good job right now,” Barkley said. “But I would listen to the Suns because I love Phoenix. I would listen to Robert (Sarver) out of respect for working in Phoenix. But I’ll be honest: I would not re-sign Amar’e Stoudemire.” That’ll get the owner’s attention. “I wouldn’t do it for three reasons,” Barkley said. “One, his knees; two, his eyes; and three, he wants a maximum deal. Now, he’s a terrific player. Don’t get me wrong. But at this stage of his career, he’s never been the best player on his team. That’s not a max player.”

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.

Well here we are. Another long hot summer in the valley with no NBA championship. Sorry its been so long since I have posted anything Suns related. At the end of every season I have to take a step back, chill out and relax. Remind myself it’s not the end of the world and there is always next season. In reality we should all feel great about this past season. We should certainly feel better than we did at the end of last season. This season expectations were low and almost getting to the NBA finals was a pleasant a surprise. So what do we do with this team? Steve Nash and Grant Hill are going to be back but is Amare Stoudemire? He is loved by his teammates. Fans seem to be divided on him, depending on how many rebounds he gets. He is an amazing talent and nobody disputes that. His discipline and consistency is what is questioned. In the playoffs he lost that defensive edge he had in the second half of the season. In fact everything went south in the playoffs. From valleyofthesuns.com:

On one hand, we’re talking about a player who set the league on fire during the second half of the season while the Suns were sprinting to their 28-7 tear to end the year, averaging 25.3 and 10.1 in February, 27.3 and 9.9 in March and 26.4 and 9.3 during the regular season in April. Then the playoffs rolled along, and he averaged just 22.2 and 6.6 for the postseason, grabbing more than eight rebounds just three times in the 16 playoff games. His defense, which improved during the season, abandoned him when he needed it most against Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom in the West Finals. In an ideal world, you sign Amare to a short-term, big money deal so he can be here through the close of Nash’s career and then you can consider re-building around the youngsters. But that’s not likely an option the Suns will have. It’s hard to predict what will happen here, but it’s easy to see how incredibly important this decision is for the future of the franchise.

I don’t think he is going to stay here. I think he wants big money and wants to play for a contender. Its a little unsettling thinking about the Suns without him but than I think about those games we won with Amare and Nash sitting on the bench and I am reassured a little bit. But wait. what if we got Dirk Nowitzki! How cool would that be. How impossible of a dream is that? I can’t see Mark Cuban letting him go. We can dream can’t we? From brightsideofthesun.com:

In his postseason review of the Suns, Yahoo’s Kelly Dwyer goes to great lengths to debunk the idea that Dirk could come to Phoenix as a replacement. In the process, Dwyer gets some key details wrong and misses on a main point – trade exceptions. First, in theory, I totally agree with Dwyer that Dirk won’t end up in Phoenix mostly for the reason he also cites – Mark Cuban will overpay Dirk and max him out if he thinks there’s a chance that Nash and Dirk could reunite in Phoenix. Cuban is not going to let that happen.

That’s really what it comes down to. Mark Cuban would never let this happen. Wait… What if we got Dirk and kept Amare!!  A front line of Dirk Nowitzki, Amare Stoudemire and Robin Lopez!!  I just got a chubby.

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.

That was a scrimmage right? NOW we’re ready for game 1 against the Lakers. Wow, the Suns didn’t even show up. I Don’t know who those guys were on the floor last night. We didn’t come in with  a killer attitude. The Lakers never take a game lightly. I think the Suns took this game lightly, did they expect the Lakers to lay down? From azcentral.com:

“It’s only one game. Yet by the end of the first quarter, the Suns’ growing swagger was gone. Midway through the third quarter, one of the NBA’s great sportsmen (Grant Hill) was assessed a technical foul. And with six minutes left in the game, the crowd at Staples Center broke out a strange chant: “We want Boston! We want Boston!” This game was the sum of all fears. The Suns were manhandled on offense and eviscerated on defense. Their vaunted bench was outscored by the Lakers’ reserves. The hosts scored 56 points in the paint. Odom had 19 rebounds off the bench, or 16 more rebounds than Amar’e Stoudemire, whose passivity was puzzling, alarming and not at all befitting a player yearning for a maximum contract.”

On the offensive side of the ball Amare Stoudemire needs room to work, and that is only going to come about if we can draw the defense out by hitting our three’s. Our guards should be able to get to the basket. Drive and dish or drive and score. The offense needs to be more fluid. Speed and a high pace tempo can only help us. This series is far from over, but it could be over pretty quick if we don’t start playing “Suns” basketball. No reason to panic. Leandro Barbosa and Goran Dragic looked effective, Robin Lopez looked good, a little overwhelmed, but put in some quality minutes.

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. 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.

So do you think Amare Stoudemire is still going to be here next year? His agent is still wheeling and dealing. I suppose thats what agents do. Amare for one says he will wait till the end of the season before he discusses anything concerning trades or contracts. From azcentral.com:

“Suns General Manager Steve Kerr said Saturday that talks never really ceased once they were opened in mid-February with an exchange of proposals. He declined to say whether he and Stoudemire’s agent, Happy Walters, were getting closer to a deal. Walters could not be reached for comment. Stoudemire must decide by June 30 whether to exercise his option to remain with the Suns for a $16.6 million salary, the final year on his contract. If he does not sign an extension and opts out of the contract, Stoudemire would be an unrestricted free agent in July.”

I never know what the hell Steve Kerr is thinking. I think he says the exact opposite 0f what he really believes. I don’t know what his long term plans are concerning salary cap, keeping the team together, making a playoff run, or starting over and rebuilding. I would think if Stoudemire keeps playing well and we make it out of the first round, STAT will get the max, but who knows. What I do know, is that Stoudemire might have a future in hollywood. He is going to be on the big screen this summer! From fanster.com:

“Sources confirm that the Phoenix Suns big man will appear as a gentlemen’s club patron in “MacGruber,” the movie based on the “Saturday Night Live” sketch. In theaters May 21, the comedy follows Will Forte’s bumbling, mullet-rocking title character — a former Green Beret, Navy SEAL and Army Ranger, by the way — as he comes out of problem-solving retirement to battle his sworn enemy, Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer). At some point, we’re told, MacGruber hits up a strip joint, where he’ll throw a bottle at Stoudemire, leading to the five-time All-Star’s only line: “Son of a b—-!”…[ESPN]“

2010PlayoffsRound1. That boy was a “man on fire”! The Suns went on the road and dealt the Portland Trail Blazers a 108-89 loss. Jason Richardson was dropping buckets all night long. He hit 8 three pointers , one shy of Rex Chapman’s playoff record 9. From valleyofthesuns.com;

“With the Blazers paying extra attention to Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire, they frequently left J-Rich open, and he did what a player of his ilk is supposed to do by burning Portland for a career-playoff-high 42 points on 13-for-19 shooting, two points shy of an overall career high. Richardson knocked down 8-of-12 threes and seemed to answer every time Portland tried to go on a run. “I was surprised they kept leaving me,” Richardson told reporters after the game. He’s now gone 24-of-35 (68.6 percent) from the field and 12-of-17 (70.6 percent) from three the past two games. That’s getting it done.”

This was going to be a tough game but definitely a game we should have won. It was physical and started to get a little heated. They have been pounding Amare Stoudemire all series long and it was no different last night. Stoudemire showed a lot of maturity in not getting baited into an ejection. The fans at the Rose Garden were loud and intimidating, as expected. From azcentral.com;

“Portland fans lived up to the “Rip City” billing, painting the Rose Garden in red with their attire and drowning the building with their raucous welcome Thursday night. But as Suns coach Alvin Gentry reminded the media prior to Game 3, none of them can hit a jump-shot. Phoenix was unfazed by the road environment. The Suns have won 14 of their past 18 games and got Thursday’s victory going with 11-0 and 14-0 runs that sent them to a 39-16 lead early in the second quarter. Portland had three starters pick up two fouls in the first quarter and shot 36 percent for the half after shooting 38 percent in Game 2.”

Dude, we had like a 30 point lead at one point . This series belongs to us.