Suns at Blazers 8pm MY45

[FArting]

The acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal was supposed to give the Phoenix Suns an inside defensive presence they feel they've been missing during their recent postseason runs.
The Suns have felt the presence of the engaging O'Neal, but they're still looking for some defense.
Phoenix will try to avoid losing for the fourth time in five games on Tuesday when it visits the Portland Trail Blazers.
The Suns (39-20) were in first place in the Pacific Division when they acquired O'Neal from Miami on Feb. 6, but they've since been overtaken by the Los Angeles Lakers, who have won 11 of 12 and own a 2 1/2-game lead on Phoenix.
The Suns weren't a strong defensive team before the trade, giving up 104.0 points per game, but they've allowed 112.5 in going 2-4 with O'Neal in the lineup.
They've yielded 117.0 points in their last four contests, and gave up 36 in the fourth quarter on Saturday en route to a 119-114 home loss to Philadelphia.
"I think it's probably an understatement if I say we are struggling," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "I think it just comes down to playing hard. Playing with emotion. And we have not done it."
O'Neal is averaging 10.3 points with his new team -- 15.2 below his career average.
"This has nothing to do with Shaq," D'Antoni said. "This has something to do with urgency and playing with heart."
Steve Nash has seen his scoring increase and his assists decrease slightly since Shawn Marion was dealt to the Heat along with Marcus Banks for O'Neal. Nash averaged 17.4 points and 11.7 assists before O'Neal entered the lineup. With him, Nash is averaging 18.2 points and 9.3 assists.
That may not seem like much of a difference, but when Nash scores more, the Suns tend to lose more. He is averaging 20.0 points in losses this season as opposed to 16.3 in victories.
The Suns are 13-1 when Nash scores 10 or fewer points.
Amare Stoudemire has enjoyed the addition of O'Neal. With another big body drawing attention inside, Stoudemire has averaged 29.8 points in his last six games.
The Blazers (31-29), meanwhile, fell six games behind Golden State for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference Sunday night, losing 110-104 in Oakland.
"We needed this game because they're the eighth seed, and if that's what we're shooting for, we've got to do a better job of coming out to win this game," said guard Brandon Roy, who had 26 points. "For us, every game is a playoff game because we're so far behind."
Roy is averaging 19.4 points in his second season in the league, and his strong all-around play earned him a spot on the All-Star team. But the Blazers have had trouble finding consistent scoring outside of Roy -- their 95.4 points per game are 13th in the West.
They have gotten a big boost all season from reserve Travis Outlaw. He's the fourth-leading scorer in the league off the bench, averaging 13.7 points, and in his last six games as a substitute he's averaging 21.2 points in 29.1 minutes.
This is the first of three meetings between these teams this season. Phoenix has won 10 of the last 11 in the series.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/preview?gameId=280304022

Suns 106 Amare
Blazers 110 Roy

Prove me wrong by winning this game

 

[Darth Llama]

Phoenix 112
Portland 91

Phoenix never trails.


Gut feeling.

 

[Renz]

I think PHX will win tonight, but their old legs will fail them the next night in Denver, at altitude.

 

[Louis]

Suns 119
Portland 115

Amare

 

[Rab]

Has Gircek been signed? Is he going to be in the lineup at all?

 

[Folster]

Who wants to bet that Jarrett Jack or Steve Blake lead Portland in scoring?

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Who wants to bet that Jarrett Jack or Steve Blake lead Portland in scoring?

Sergio Rodriguez?

 

[French Fries]

Who wants to bet that Jarrett Jack or Steve Blake lead Portland in scoring?

steve blake? i love the guy but that's not happening this year...

 

[dreamcastrocks]

steve blake? i love the guy but that's not happening this year...

How many times have we gotten our asses kicked by backup PG's this year? The list goes on and on.

 

[French Fries]

How many times have we gotten our asses kicked by backup PG's this year? The list goes on and on.

siggy bet?

 

[dreamcastrocks]

siggy bet?

I'd rather put a wager on Jack than Steve Blake.

He doesn't have to be the leading scorer, but he has to be a big major contributer to the win, kinda like Duhon was a couple of weeks ago.

Sound good?

 

[BeeBeard]

Suns 115, Amare (Would be very surprised if somebody else outscored him.)
Blazers 102, Roy (Will have a great game despite his ankle injury. This man is a baller.)

Hopefully they have enough in the tank for the game against Denver tomorrow in the second game of the back-to-back, too. A second road game in two nights is no joke anyway, and the people who talk about Denver's altitude having an effect on visitors are always right on the money.

 

[PHX 32]

Must win for the Suns - but then again, every game is a must win now.

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Do I have to watch? I'm scared...

 

[dreamcastrocks]

Do I have to watch? I'm scared...

I'm scared too. Thank goodness today's primaries races will be on, and are much more important in the grand scheme of thngs.....

 

[French Fries]

I'd rather put a wager on Jack than Steve Blake.

He doesn't have to be the leading scorer, but he has to be a big major contributer to the win, kinda like Duhon was a couple of weeks ago.

Sound good?

well, i said blake won't, but i believe jack will, so i'll cower away, you win by default


i agree with beebeard, roy will have a good game despite the injury that i didn't even know about. outlaw might also have a good game coming off the bench. but i also have a feeling that we will see some improvement in the offense' fluidity...

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

The blazers are my second favorite team to watch, but we should conquer them easily.

Amare is going to score 36 and shaq will grab 17 boards.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

well, i said blake won't, but i believe jack will, so i'll cower away, you win by default


i agree with beebeard, roy will have a good game despite the injury that i didn't even know about. outlaw might also have a good game coming off the bench. but i also have a feeling that we will see some improvement in the offense' fluidity...

Does that mean I can get you to change your name to Freedom Fries?

 

[French Fries]

Does that mean I can get you to change your name to Freedom Fries?

will this do? (can't think of a sig anyway so this stays till i come up with one)

 

[dreamcastrocks]

will this do? (can't think of a sig anyway so this stays till i come up with one)

For winning a bet that never really was..... I'll take that.

 

[mjb21aztd]

meh I have a bad feeling portland is going to own us this game please god make me be wrong and the suns win

Portland 117

Suns 103
Leading Scorer Amare 34 pts

Bell is icecold again missing every shot he takes

 

[Rab]

Yeah, I don't like the Suns in this one. A bunch of old, cranky, uninspired farts who haven't come together yet, going up against the youthful, energetic Blazers.

Hopefully, the Suns will bring the energy tonight. They're going to need it.

 

[dodie53]

go suns!

 

[nashman]

115 Suns
103 Blazers

 

[GorrilaLips]

I shouldn't have came into this thread and read some of these scores. They lose all the time, I don't even know why some people give the suns such a high score.....
We always struggle and all of Portland's bench is going to look like all-stars against us....Jennero Pargo anyone?