Game Thread: Phoenix Suns vs. Golden State Warriors

I'm going, too! :)

31-45, Golden State...absolutely amazing

Since I was at my speech contest early part of the evening (BTW I won both of them), I missed most of the first half. I listened to the last few minutes of the second quarter on my car radio while driving home. It sounded like the Suns were within striking distance (12 points, I think at that time). By the time I reached home, things were worse. I wanted to see what coach D was going to do, and I was happy to see the bench stopping the Warriors. They needed to score a lot more points though to have a shot at winning. LB missed a couple of key shots, or the Suns might have pulled it off.

Why am I so upbeat about this defeat? Normally I would be screaming that the Suns would lose all of their remaining games - LOL. It was good to see the Suns play at least some defense in the 4th quarter and actually get some stops. It showed how valuable KT and JJ are to the Suns. Banks even shot a 3 pointer and he was able to stop ....I am forgetting the name of the player.  The bench got a lot of playing time, and the starters got much needed rest. I think the Suns will benefit from the bench's playing time during the playoffs. Nash actually looked pleased toward the end of the game. He was harrassed throughout, from what the commentators said. I only watched him in the 3rd Q, I think; can't remember if he played in the 4th. Sadly, his chances of winning the MVP have completely disappeared after this game. It exposed his weakness- lack of strong defense- just like in the Sacramento game. He has all the great qualities but other teams are learning how to make him less effective.

Diaw got more points than in the last game, but it frustrates me to see him not take an open shot near the basket, and pass the ball to someone for a low probability 3-point shot. Will he never take advantage of shooting opportunities?  I don't know if it's a confidence problem with him.

Of course I would have preferred a win by the Suns but I feel much more positive about this loss than I did after the Sacramento and Denver losses. There was nothing good about those games.

We will see if the Suns can rebound tomorrow against Denver and Sun. against the Mavs. If they don't they will drop to the #3 seed. I hope that creates a sense of urgency. My prediction remains the same as before- the Suns will win one of the two remaining games this week. If they lose both, they are in serious trouble.