What upsets me about Saturday's game, is two things:  First, it seemed to me that the Suns missed several opportunities to extend the lead to 15 or maybe 20 in the first half when they had it clicking.  I think Bell could have helped here.  I wonder if he is a starter past this year.  The second is that this loss sits squarely on the shoulders of Marion and Stoudemire - two rocks that we have come to depend on in late game situations.  I got a laugh over a so-called ESPN round table discussion where the 'experts' theorized that the suns lack of a big man had finally caught up with them.  To the uninformed, a first look at the Suns failures this season points to a lack of success with young guys like Bynum, Al Jefferson, and Tyson Chandler (to think we might have had him when the Bulls had him on the block).  But a closer look says this is not true.  What has been our ready defense against strong frontcourt play in the past?  Shawn and Amare just have been such matchup nightmares that we have been able to impose our will on the opposing bigs.  But Shawn's play Saturday was awful, and Amare's listless.  We are not an elite team if those guys aren't pressing their advantage.  If Shawn's play does not pick up, we should mnove him quick.  Of late, he has not been worth 10 mil, much less 17 mil.  Shawn and Boris are stinking it up, and Amare taking games off is distressing,  I thought he had an intense competition with Chandler.  Seemed to me that Tyson whipped his butt.  Tex's forshadowing of a playoff ouster in the first round could easily come to pass if Marion and Stoudemire don't self motivate.

(Andre Iguodala, Rajon Rondo, Al Horford, and Glen Davis could have helped, if not for the incompetence of the front office. You read right - I said Horford.  Jerry Colangelo would have made the Hawks drop the lottery protection)

So suddenly you have two non-playoff teams and two marginal playoff teams who are making serious bids to join the elite of the conference. Which is STILL the Spurs, Suns and Mavs although it's incredible that the top SEVEN teams in the West are within 3 games of each other.

I'll have more of an opinion on the Nugs after tonight, but I think that the Jazz and the Rockets are clearly the ones who are losing out in this.

But anything can still happen. Injuries, slumps. The Blazers can't keep up THIS pace. So what happens when they hit some adversity - will they still be able to hold it together and win more than they lose, or will they go into a funk. Not just for the Blazers, but this could happen to any team, even the Suns.

Still, if the Suns are 'in trouble', at least they are still within half a game of the conference lead. Imagine if they could really get it going the way we know they can. On the other hand, any team that goes into a REAL funk and loses, say, 5 or 6 games in a row (see Jazz, Utah) would suddenly  be struggling to even make the playoffs. Let's hope that doesn't happen to the Suns. I don't think it will.

Cautiously pessimistic. Sounds about right, Tex. :)

I think Amare played well on TC and he is doing much better when he jumps the guard on the pick and roll. I think reading his comments that he feels like the team isn't rotating behind him to account for the scheme. Clearly, the team defense isn't there and to me that is a coaching issue.

As for Amare not getting the ball late - well, that's why we lost. I still haven't gone back and re-watched to see if the Hornets did a good job packing it in and denying him the ball or if LB took shots he shouldn't have.  

My general feeling after the game was simply that the Hornets wanted it more then we did and these teams like GSW, Lakers, Hornet and maybe Denver have closed the gap and when they are trying harding can beat the Suns.

Clearly, things aren't going well when the Suns can't get up enough to beat these teams. 1 -6 is a real eye opener....but I still think this team will find a way to pull it together and get it done this year. I don't think they should make any big moves this year until we see how well they do this spring. To make a big move now would be a sign of panic and could make things worse. Besides, the Suns don't exactly have a lot of movable pieces. Marion wants a huge extension that no one is going to give him and we aren't trading Amare. No one would take Diaw. Maybe Banks could go to a team in need of a PG but you aren't exactly going to get an impact player in return for him.

As I have said above in my respobse to SueB, Marion has just about exhausted my pationce.  I am starting to belive Jim Rome who thinks he is dumb.  If he wants to get traded and wants $20 mil, he sure is not going about it in the right way.  Also please comment on my gripe that Shawn has not improved as a player much over the years.

I think with a good camp by DJ, Raja might be out of the rotation next year.  Also, Although Atlanta's recent play has poured cold water on our excitement for the draft, I still think we can get a 8-13 pick which would net a good player if we draft wisely.  I still would like to move up and get beasley, but Sarver messed that up with his giveway of Thomas and picks to Seattle.

I had a whole paragraph about how the Suns' demeanor on the court seems different this year than in recent seasons, but opted to delete it because (a) it made the piece too long and (b) I decided I'd best not comment on something I had no real first-hand knowledge of. But it does look to me like the guys aren't having as much fun this year as in recent seasons. More like it's "just a job" now than in the past. That's not necessarily a bad thing--the Spurs have played "business-like" for years, and it's served them well. But it does make it less fun to watch, and probably fuels a lot of the feeling that something is amiss. Of course, if it's being caused by people not getting along, then that is a bad thing. But again, I don't want to comment too much on something I have no firsthand knowledge of.