Phoenix Suns Playoff Links: More Amare Stoudemire Please....PLEASE!!!

When pretty much everyone who wrote about the game, writes about the same thing and that thing happens to match exactly what the losing coach and main players say then you can be pretty darn sure what the problem was. In this case it was Amare Stoudemire's lack of Bully Balling.

Amare / Game 1 Links

• Trouble in the middle of the Suns - TrueHoop Blog - ESPN
  Amare Stoudemire is a certain kind of NBA big man. Call him an All-Star. Call him a multi-talent. Call him a bucket-getter, a shooter and a dunker. He's all that and a bag of chips. But do not accuse him of shutting down the paint. That game is all about holding firm, building walls, reducing options and directing traffic. Stoudemire's special talent is breaking through walls, not building them.
• Blazers Shut Down Stoudemire, Take Game 1 From Suns -- NBA FanHouse
  Stoudemire has been the Suns' best player since the All-Star break, putting up dominant performances on an almost nightly basis. But the Blazers were successful in shutting down Stoudemire, mainly because of the different defensive schemes they were able to throw at him.
• SUNS: Newsroom Notes: STAT Contained, Scouting Portland & Top 5 Notes
  Sitting on press row and watching the Suns’ Amar’e Stoudemire post up against a taller and longer Marcus Camby, something seemed amiss. That’s because STAT usually doesn’t spend most of his night posting up and playing with his back to the basket on the block. In fact, he prefers to face up against his defender, especially those that are slower afoot.
• Trail Blazers Coach Nate McMillan:
  Nate McMillan had a tough task for Game 1 of the Blazers' playoff series—preparing his team for the hottest team in the league without its best player, injured guard Brandon Roy.
• Marcus Camby -- The Amare Stoudemire-stopper| Valley of the Suns
  For the past three months and change, no one in the NBA has been able to slow down Amare Stoudemire — until tonight. Trail Blazers center Marcus Camby, who most everyone on ValleyoftheSuns feared would make his presence felt in this series, bothered Amare and Suns penatrators from start to finish, leading Portland to a 105-100 victory in US Airways Center.
• The Official Phoenix Suns Blog " Blog Archive " Despite Loss, There’s Still Optimism
  The thinking here is Coach Alvin and his staff will find ways to shake Amare loose from Camby et al., and while both teams will certainly make adjustments in Game Two, the Suns have far more options (and healthy stars) than do the Blazers. I admit I didn’t see this one coming, but I still like the Suns a lot, not only in this series, but beyond.
• Phoenix Suns' Game 1 defeat Portland Trail Blazers' spoils return to postseason
  Nerves were frayed. Officials were scorned. Frustration reached all the way to the rafters. It didn't take long for the new Suns to reacquire the old taste of bitter playoff disappointment. Yuck.
• Portland Trail Blazers strike first by controlling pace, packing paint against Phoenix Suns| Valley of the Suns
  The Phoenix Suns dropped a 105-100 decision to the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff series.
• What Went Wrong For Suns | Fanster.com - All Sports. All Phoenix.
  And so I sit in my La-Z-Boy sulking after seeing the Suns lose 105-100 to the Portland Trailblazers. I didn’t think that the Suns would lose this game. First quarter, Suns down, I thought the bench would create some separation.
• azcentral.com blogs - Coro's Suns dish - PaulCoro - Suns need more Amar'e
  The Suns need a few things against Portland but one thing can turn this series back their way in a hurry: Amar'e Stoudemire. That was not the Amar'e Stoudemire that has been seen dominating the past two months to the point that Alvin Gentry called him the best player in the league.
• Suns forget to bring their A Game to playoff opener
  Who were those white-jerseyed guys inhabiting Planet Orange on Sunday night? They most definitely were not the Phoenix Suns who won 28 of their final 35 games to lock up a No. 3 seed and homecourt advantage in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.
• Phoenix Suns stunned by Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of NBA playoff series
  Andre Miller and the short-handed Trail Blazers won the series opener, 105-100.
• Daily Dime - ESPN
  Yet it was Camby that arguably had an even greater impact. Going against the league's top-ranked offense, the veteran shut down top scorer Amare Stoudemire and dominated the defensive glass. Camby only scored four points, but finished with 17 rebounds and three blocks while playing on a gimpy ankle that he rolled in practice on Saturday. While Camby acted his age on a couple of late-game plays -- missing two free throws with 1:21 left and then a breakaway dunk with 50 seconds remaining that could have put the game away -- by then he'd already done his damage. Camby's biggest play came just seconds earlier, when he stole the ball from Stoudemire on a left-block isolation with 1:29 left and the Suns down five. Just prior, he teamed with Miller on a similar play to draw a charge on Stoudemire, after Camby had forced the right-dominant Stoudemire left and into an awkward shot attempt that sent him crashing into a rotating Miller. For the night, Stoudemire had 18 points on 19 shots, committing four turnovers and handing out just two assists.

• TNT Notes Suns Blazers Game 1 - Bright Side Of The Sun
  Barkley on the Sun’s underwhelming first half in a game where they need to make a statement: “I’m very disappointed in the Phoenix Suns and I’ve been on their bandwagon. They played very well in the second half of the season, clearly they are missing (Robin) Lopez. But there’s not a person in Portland, Oregon who thinks that the Blazers are going to win this series. No disrespect but they are missing their best player and you can’t replace your best player. The Suns, who have (Western) Conference Finals aspirations at least, have a really good shot at going deep in the playoffs. When you are facing an undermanned team, you’re supposed to send a message. You can win a series in the first game. They should’ve come out and said, ‘we’re going to punch you in the mouth and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ The only way the Trail Blazers can beat them is to out-hustle them.”

Other Links

• All About the Shoes: 10 that lingered on my mind in 09-10 | Blog Archive | Nothing Easy | Blogs | TheScore.com
  A fun break from playoff angst
• In case you missed it: Nike's bizarre 'Melo commercial - Ball Don't Lie - NBA Blog - Yahoo! Sports
  Did you watch Saturday night's Jazz vs. Nuggets game? Or were you out at an R. Kelly concert bumpin' and grindin'? Well, if you watched the game — as you should have, considering the DVD is just as good as the live show — then you saw a pretty strange ad during the game that probably threw you for a loop. But if you were dancing to "Ignition (Remix)," here's the ad in question.
• Our Only Chance - Bright Side Of The Sun
  Well, that sucked. I posted many comments in the game thread and elsewhere about why I thought the Suns lost the game last night, so, I won't get into that here. Instead, I will briefly talk about what the team must do to in the big picture in order to win this series. Seth said we as Suns fans shouldn't panic prematurely. Well folks, I think we can allow ourselves a little panic. That being said, panic does not equate with "giving up" or believing we can't win. Panic simply means that anxiety has set in. And if you don't have at least a little anxiety right now you're not really a Suns fan.
• SUNS: Dudley Named 2009-10 Majerle Hustle Award Winner
  Two hours before the tip-off of his first career playoff game Sunday, Jared Dudley was first at work for shootaround on the main court. And much like during an actual game, it didn’t take long for the rest of the Suns’ second unit to follow suit.
• The Phoenix Suns' secret weapon| Valley of the Suns
  The best chemistry head coach Alvin Gentry has ever seen is the Phoenix Suns' secret weapon.