Game Preview: Suns vs 76ers

I'm not going to lie. I don't care about the Philadelphia 76ers beyond what all the fuss over Andre Iguodala is about. I will try and pay a little more attention to him to see if I think he's a high-stat guy on a bad team or if he might (have been) a good fit with the Suns.

Beyond that, you know the drill. The Suns are on a serious roll and should be riding high from last night's win. I would expect that energy to carry over despite the back-to-back but at the same time lets hope that Nash is ready to do his thing as well because 40 minutes for young Goran probably took the stuffing out of him.

Nash is officially a Probable for this game. More to come. Stay tuned to twitter if you need to know the final answer 20 seconds before everyone else.

As for the Sixers they are 2 and 3 in their last five games with a win last night in Golden State and a home win over the Spurs on the 19th.

Statistically, they are pretty mediocre all-around. They don't suck too bad in any one area nor do they excel. They just kind of exist. They are in NBA purgatory. Too good to be a solid lottery team and too bad to make the playoffs. Must be a miserable time to be a Sixers fan.

The big news is that Allen Iverson isn't with the team due to a sick child and is rumored to be on the verge of another retirement. That would 3 for him, right? That's Brett Favre territory. Well done, AI.

Matchups?

Yup. There will be some of those tonight.

I just hope the Suns aren't feeling as let down as I am after last night. To go from that great game to getting up for the Sixers...that will be a feat.

Here's some links to keep you happy occupied until I have more time to think about this game...

• Liberty Ballers
• 76ers vs Suns preview
• 76ers vs Suns coverage
• SUNS: Follow the Suns @ Twitter
  List of official Suns twitters...not sure how I was left off the list. Oh, well
• azcentral.com blogs - Coro's Suns dish - PaulCoro - Still rewinding the OKC win
  Be honest, who thought Richardson was going to get that last shot? He has not exactly been the go-to guy for big buckets but the Suns were having trouble getting it to Amar'e Stoudemire at times inside, where the Thunder probably would have just fronted him again. So J-Rich it was and he made Thabo Sefolosha , a really good defender, look silly before lofting the perfect shot over Kevin Durant's far-reaching arm.
• NBA D-League: Energy prevail in Stinson-Blalock reunion game | desmoinesregister.com | The Des Moines Register
  Stinson recorded his 16th double-double of the season as the Iowa Energy (30-6) defeated the Reno Bighorns 120-116 at Wells Fargo Arena for their ninth straight NBA Development League win.
• Real Madrid Making a Play for Rudy Fernandez - Eric Freeman - The Baseline - Sporting News
  "Last year we had a different team and at least I had Sergio (Rodriguez) who understood my game. I have noticed a change this year. I don’t get the ball as much and the system is different. I guess I have to adapt to it. That’s it. Whenever I get on the court, I have to make the most of it. I have good games and bad ones. I must be more regular."
• Hot-shooting Grant Hill speeding up offensive attack
  Hill, 37, is the fourth-oldest active player in the NBA but can look like the liveliest one on the floor when he thrusts toward the rim to create transition opportunities.
• Last Night’s Suns Game Wrap, Featuring A Skater And Robot Grandma | Sun-N-Gun | A Phoenix Suns Blog
  That's right.  That's what it is.  Check it: (Thanks to TrueHoop and Cowbell Kingdom for pointing me in the direction of xtracontrol.com.)
• KTAR.com - Kerr: That was the biggest win of the year
  "I think it was [the biggest win]" Kerr said. "I talked to Alvin [Gentry] last night after the game and that was the first thing he said, that it was the best win of the year."
• Basketball Prospectus | Articles | Summer 2010 Preview
  Breaking down the 2010 free agents with fancy numbers and such
• SUNS: Postgame Quotes: Suns at Thunder, Feb. 23, 2010
  Thunder Forward Kevin Durant A couple of plays just didn't go our way. Amar'e (Stoudemire) got that "and-1" when Jeff (Green) made that great defensive play and threw the ball back inbounds. It was just bad luck on our part. I think we just needed to get stops; they hit some big shots. A veteran team like that knows how to play in that situation. It was a tough loss; I'll tell you that…it hurt.
• Suicide lines: Richardson, Suns top Thunder; Thornton's big Q - Ball Don't Lie - NBA Blog - Yahoo! Sports
  Comprehensive National Basketball Association news, scores, standings, fantasy games, rumors, and more
• A Game-Winning Crossover? Damn - SB Nation
  When an NBA game gets close late in the fourth quarter, it turns into a playground game. There are still set plays, sure. But more often than not, you’ll see teams just isolate the ball with their best player, and it’s one-on-one against the defender, with pride and the game at stake. It’s perfect. But rarely do you see a game decided by the most hallowed playground move of all—the crossover. Last night, that’s exactly what happened. One-on-one with Oklahoma City’s best defender, Thabo Sefolosha, Jason Richardson just flat out embarrassed him.
• NBA Power Rankings: Where We Preach Patience After The Trade Deadline - SB Nation
  10. Phoenix Suns: 34-23 overall, 3-1 since the break. SBN Blog: Bright Side of the Sun. Last week: 8. Phoenix's resurgence has been lost in the shuffle with all the Amare Stoudemire stuff, but the Suns have quietly gone 8-2 in their last ten games. One big reason has been Robin Lopez, who has emerged as a competent (and maybe even effective!) NBA center. A poster on SB Nation's Suns blog Bright Side of the Sun crunches some numbers and finds that while Lopez himself is a below-average rebounder for a center, the Suns as a team grab a significantly higher percentage of available rebounds with Lopez in the game. If Lopez keeps this up, he'll become the second Suns youngster that developed into a solid player after being terrible to begin his career (the other being Goran Dragic). Maybe it's time to give Phoenix's player development system some credit.
• SUNS: Dragic Continuing to Make Strides for Suns
  "In Europe, nobody was blocking my drive to the basket," Dragic laughed. "So if you beat the first line easily, you don't have to step back to shoot the three-pointer. Here, everybody jumps so high and is so strong, it's tougher to get into the lane. That's why I've been working with the assistant coaches here on my shot. I think my shot is much better than last year."
• The Sports Retorter: It’s officially time to put the "cheap" tag to rest when it comes to the Phoenix Suns | Fanster.com - All Sports. All Phoenix.
  If you had one word to describe the last six year’s of Phoenix Suns basketball, do me a favor and forget the word cheap. The definition of inexperienced fits the organization to a tee.
• Rasho erases Big O’s record | Basketball | Sports | Toronto Sun
  Nesterovic’s mark of .545 easily surpassed Miller’s mark of .509 knocking the Big O off the perch he has held for far too long. "I’ve got no comment on that," Nesterovic said laughing following practice on Monday. "But I played with Oliver when I was in Minnesota. "We’re pretty much the same height and the same weight."