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And it wasn't even that close.
Well, who really expected the Suns to win this game? The Spurs are a very good team (and in my opinion the best team in the West) and perfectly primed to play their peak basketball right now at just the right time, exactly as commander Gregg Popovich planned. We weren't but six minutes into the first quarter and the Spurs, lead by a blazing hot Tim Duncan, jumped out to a 21-4 lead and Alvin Gentry elected to remove the entire starting lineup and put in the bench.
The deficit was just too much to surmount -- though the valiant substitutes led by Sebastian Telfair and Robin Lopez were able to rattle off a number of impressive runs. Bottom line is that our starting unit is not playing well. They have been struggling as of late and tonight -- the last game of a long road-tip, their weary legs and weathered emotions were evident from the start.
The big news of the game is that on a reverse layup attempt in the 1st Steve Nash (who was already in pain due to a bruised knee from the night before in Houston) tweaked his hip, an injury that has plagued the two-time MVP in the past and he wouldn't return after only 6 minutes of playing time. We worry about his health, but from the sounds of it, it appears to be minor and because of the large and early deficit Gentry elected to rest Nash on this 2nd night of a back to back. Grant Hill also sat the rest of the game after the 1st quarter.
Another note of worth -- tonight Suns TV Color Analyst Scott Williams announced at the end of the game that he is done broadcasting, that this was his last game and he is turning the reigns over to Eddie Johnson. Interesting.
We'll talk about playoff implications tomorrow. In the meantime ... they may have taken our pride this night on ESPN BUT the Spurs can't take this away from us.
Comment of the Night
From our own favorite editor East Bay Ray (NOTE: Earmuffs)
ROLL CALL
Congrats to two-time winner Shawndy! You win 100 Internet points!
Total Users: 59
Total Posts: 1105
Total Threads: 2
| Name | # of Posts |
|---|---|
| shawndy | 136 |
| PhoenixSons | 107 |
| djturbolence | 78 |
| Jim Coughenour | 48 |
| brian13 | 46 |
| AZBengal18 | 42 |
| jc79 | 41 |
| sidepart | 36 |
| MMotherwell | 36 |
| Ohforf | 34 |
| ThatOtherCanadianKid | 33 |
| Eutychus | 30 |
| u_must_chill | 30 |
| East Bay Ray | 26 |
| phxpurple | 26 |
| Suns R Us | 25 |
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| sonicking | 19 |
| noonoo | 19 |
| wedge1039 | 19 |
| twitte07 | 19 |
| haremoor | 17 |
| CreatureOfTheNight | 17 |
| Juac | 15 |
| hcblankscreen | 14 |
| STUPID KERR | 14 |
| The Solution | 13 |
| nashtyish | 13 |
| raxado | 12 |
| HarvMel | 10 |
| SUNS PORTUGAL | 9 |
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| jatrex4suns | 8 |
| Toon Army Sun | 7 |
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| JoeWisco | 7 |
| suns68 | 6 |
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| Not Disclosing My Name | 5 |
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| Beavis 25 | 3 |
| sports_dude33 | 3 |
| rainmann | 3 |
| Chafid Ahmad | 2 |
| WilliAG | 2 |
| NashtyNash | 1 |
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| troglodytes | 1 |
| Suns2flyy | 1 |
| moncho619 | 1 |
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| nashisamazing | 1 |
| Ceek | 1 |
NEXT GAME - SEE YOU THERE