I was thinking that Marcus' twin, Ralph, must have stolen his uniform and started playing.  Who was that guy?

Note, though, that his misses occurred when he tried to pull up for a jumper off the dribble.  I said this last year, too:  He needs to spot-up for his jumper or drive.  He doesn't have the game (at least yet) to create his own jumper.

Boris showed flashes of 2005-2006, but also some frustrating flahses of his non-agressiveness last season.  It was nice to see him taking, and hitting, the open jump shots.

Some quick hits on some stats.

Things I like to see:

-Diaw with 6 assists. That's a good capacity for him  in the offense. 7 points and 2 steals.

-Nash with 7 turnovers. Nash pushed a lot of cross court passes that the Sonics looked like they had prepped for.

-Pace was 107.0, right where the Suns need to be. We ran as much as we always have, but ran with more precision and control, thanks a lot to Hill.

-56.5% in eFG. The Suns shot better as the game wore on, which is a good sign.

Not so much...

-We gave up a 22% OREB%. Yikes. 1 out of every 5 rebounds was an offensive board for them. That's a very, very bad thing.

-Turnover, obviously. 18.7% TO% is UGly. Gotta clean it up.

Any game that the Suns win on Banks and 4th qtr defense is an ugly game. But the point is they won when they weren't playing well and that's one sign of a great team.

To bad Marks didn't play b/c of injury (no idea what he injured? His hair?) but it was good to see Banks get some key minutes and make the most of them and great to see Diaw hit some open J's. And while Diaw did pass up some layups I watched him close and his D was solid and passing was outstanding.

I still would like to have seen one more player in the rotation but the Sonics are a pretty big team so I guess there's not much room for DJ or AT to play in game like this.

In a few more weeks the Suns will be beating down teams like this by 20 pts. Heck w/ 50% less turnovers and 50% more 3's - both well within normal ranges - the Suns win this game by 20 even w/ the rustiness and Amare's foul trouble.

Oh - and yes, Durant is a stud. Is there anywhere on the floor this guy can't score from? He's a combination of Dirk's height and outside J (without Dirk's dirkiness), T-Mac's slashing and finishing, and Kobe's mid range game. In a few more years w/ some man meat on him...

Its great to be back watching the Suns and looking forward to a nice long season of exciting basketball. And looking forward to taking my boy to tomorrow's home opener!

  Its evident that the Suns have the capacity to recognize their mistakes and make adjustments. STAT and Trix barricaded the paint more efficiently than the first half. The amount of turnovers went down too. To tell the truth I'm not all that worried about tonight's performance, I've seen this group over and over again, knowing what to expect out of them and feeling secure.
  I do however want to see more out of the bench. At this point, I'm more excited to see the bench just because I know its going to be a challenge and when they overcome it you can't help but feel good.
I'm not comfortable seeing two bench players accounting for 4 spots again.
LB is a competent passer, and dangerous scorer, making him prime for both the 1 and 2. Diaw is athletic and tall making him flexible in the paint. But I want to see the jobs evenly distributed this year, and for once I think we have enough GOOD men to do it.
I would like to see LB at the 2-guard because he's so deadly and Banks at the point a lot more. Not that he's a great distributor, but Banks is able in passing and plays good defense.
This way we can limit Nash's minutes.
Boris is perfect as Trix back up, accounting for agility, and height. I want to see more of Skinner though as STAT's backup, he needs to gear up for match-ups like Yao, Duncan, and Dampier. Plus with STAT's health and foul history, the 5 spot is a bit shaky. We have the depth, now lets spread the attack and utilize the new and improved weapons we have.

Thoughts on this?  Grant was 1 for 7 on three-pointers, but the majority of the shots he took were wide-open looks.  He's going to get these looks in this offense.

Coach D said he wants Hill taking about 4 a game (STAT jacked one up, too -- very disturbing but that's another post).  So, was Hill being greedy or did PJ tell his guys to let Hill chuck away?

I'd like to think he could be nailing these by mid-season, just because he does have a nice stroke.  I think patience all-around is warranted, but how soon do you pull the plug?

I'm not sure on this, but I think the logical answer is to give him a dozen or so games.

I'm so glad the season is finally underway. The off-season seemed to last an eternity.

I thought Amare was the player of the game although Marcus did provide a much-needed spark at just the right time, so I can't argue with picking him.

Shawn and Steve were Shawn and Steve. Raja was clearly struggling, especially when he had to guard Durant (that guy will be a star!).

Boris was his usual frustrating self. Two really nice shots to start the game, then he started passing up chances left and right. Grr.

It'd be really nice if Grant Hill were a 3-point shooter, but I think he's just not. He wasn't even close on most of his long shots. Had some good slashes to the bucket, and he is obviously a savvy player, and that's a good thing.

I was happy with Brian Skinner in his limited minutes. Nice follow slam, sweet 15-footer. But I was sad to see Kurt Thomas sitting in street clothes on Seattle's bench (although better than if he'd been in the game scoring against us!). I guess he has a tweaked hammy.

Marks has a hurt back, apparently, which is why he didn't play. No sign of the rookies either, but it was a tight game and definitely important to win the first one.

Now Beat LA!