By Josh Greene, Suns.com
Posted: Oct. 10, 2004
It's not every night the Suns can guarantee victory, but going into Saturday's exhibition game at Northern Arizona University's Skydome, it was a done deal even before the opening tip-off.
The intra-squad scrimmage featured the Suns splitting up into two teams and battling to a 78-75 victory. The 4,528 fans in attendance were treated to a little bit of everything in the four 10-minute quarters: opponents Amaré Stoudemire and Shawn Marion trading dunks, Steve Nash dishing off to just about everybody and spirited play from teammates Leandro Barbosa and Yuta Tabuse.
"I'm really pleased," Head Coach Mike D'Antoni said after the game. "Their competitiveness to win the game was super. Their conditioning was pretty good. Execution wasn't bad. It was an exciting game. I enjoyed it. The spirit was there."
The Suns' head coach took a rare night off, handing the reigns over to his assistant coaches Mike Iavaroni and the duo of Alvin Gentry and Phil Weber to coach the split squads.
"The effort the players sustained was really good," Weber said. "I feel good that a lot of people stepped up, played well and played hard for the entire game. You never know what the game film will say, but I'm sure the film isn't going to tell us anything we didn't see tonight."
The spirited contest got off to a quick start with Marion taking a Nash pass and turning it into three points just 20 seconds into the game. Less than a minute later, Quentin Richardson answered with a three of his own at the other end. From there, the game was on.
"I couldn't wait to get here to see them play and see how well the guys gel as a team," said Richardson's fiancée, Brandy, who sat courtside for the game. "They're doing a great job and I think they're going to be a great team. I'm cheering for both sides, because really they're all one team."
One of the more interesting match-ups of the night involved rival point guards Nash and Barbosa. A lot has been said about the mentor-protégé relationship between the two, but on this night, they were on opposite sides of the court.
"Steve played against me, and I played against him," Barbosa said. "He wanted to win the game and me, too. We lost, but that's okay. We'll be better next time."
The backup point guard was flanked by Stoudemire in the losing effort. The power forward finished the game with 22 points and eight boards for team "Orange."
"I was on the B team," laughed Stoudemire, "but we came out and played strong. We made it close all the way to the end. I have to give it up to the guys who came out and played some nasty defense. We came out focusing on defense and I think we did a great job of doing that. We just have to stay focused."
Focus didn't seem to be a problem for Nash, who ended the game with a win, 14 points, 10 assists and his first unofficial double-double of the season.
"I thought we started well and we finished well," he said. "The other team played the best in between, so it was very competitive and I think that’s good for us."
Weber adds, "Steve Nash does what he does. He controls the game, and you don't even have to look at the stat sheet. When it was crunch time in the fourth quarter, it was Steve's game.
"Amaré also did a tremendous job defensively. Offensively he's a force regardless. Shawn and Joe Johnson, they played really well, too."
Johnson finished with 15 points, six rebounds and four assists, while rival centers Steven Hunter and Jake Voskuhl had their mini battles under the basket. The UConn alum shared the sentiment of his teammates when he said everyone is looking forward to the start of the season.
"Everyone's ready to play games," he said. "We're tired of beating up on each other every day, so we're ready to play some games and beat up on someone else."
Marion topped all scorers with 27 points for the winning "White" squad, and in the process was given a sneak preview of what he, his teammates and the Suns fans have to look forward to in 2004-05.
"I’m getting the best of both worlds," The Matrix said. "I’ve got one of the best shooting guards in the league and one of the best passing guards in the league at the same time. We’re just having a good time. It’s been a great camp. We’ve got a couple more days up here and then we’re going to go back to Phoenix. It’s time to get going."
), it was really hard to pick up on things such as:
