Suns Impressive in Win Over Pacers

[reader]

http://www.nba.com/suns/news/gilmartin_051130.html

Gilmartin: Suns Impressive in Win Over Pacers


By Joe Gilmartin, Suns.com
Posted: Nov. 30, 2005 Now THAT was impressive!

But then, that’s what happens when a defense-oriented team finds some “O” to go with its smothering “D”.

With Steve Nash draining seven straight threes and the other offensive gears meshing more smoothly than they have all year the Suns turned what figured to be a stern test against one of the best team in the East into a wire-to-wire rout that reached 34 points at its peak

And while they were dropping 109 large ones on the Pacers at one end the Suns were frustrating them at the other in the process of holding the opposition under 100 for a sixth straight game.

So many things went right for the Suns last night it’s hard to know exactly where to begin the list. But, resisting the temptation to say “everything” and take the rest of the column off, one will try.

You can never go wrong starting with Nash, of course. Even when his shot is a tiny tad off, which it has been at times this season, he’s still the best distributor on the planet. And when it’s really on, he’s in another galaxy.

And last night it was it ever on!

But as hot he was he was by no means the whole show. Indeed, the way the Suns executed their offense was perhaps even more impressive. And even more impressive yet, they played with some of the swagger it was almost universally assumed would not return until You-Know-Who throws away his crutches and resumes walking on water.

And along that line, watching the way they made mincemeat out of a team that is by no means chopped liver you had wonder how good these guys will be when YNW and Leonardo Barbosa are added to the package.

When the team lost four of it’s first five home games and Coach Mike kept insisting it would be fine once the players got used to each other. those of you with little faith (and you know who you are) grumbled gloomily that this was just a case of an incurable optimist whistling bravely past a graveyard.

But while it’s still far too soon to declare victory for Operation Hang In There, the Suns’ recent surge certainly is sufficient grounds to suggest that wasn’t a graveyard he was whistling past at all. Not even close, in fact.

And speaking of sufficient grounds, there are now enough to suggest we stop wondering how in the world the Suns let Joe Johnson get away and ponder an even more amazing question, namely how in the world the Atlanta Hawks let Boris Diaw get away.

At least the Suns knew how good Johnson was, and could argue, however lamely, that they tried but failed to sign him. But the Hawks simply didn’t think Diaw could play.

And trust me, he can play.

His work against the Pacers was another typical night at the office ---17 points on 8 of 10 shooting, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals, a blocked shot, and yet another strong defensive effort.

The bottom line: No, I don’t think the Suns are as good as they looked last night. But they are certainly better at this stage than anybody (except Coach Mike of course) thought they would be.

 

[jibikao]

And speaking of sufficient grounds, there are now enough to suggest we stop wondering how in the world the Suns let Joe Johnson get away and ponder an even more amazing question, namely how in the world the Atlanta Hawks let Boris Diaw get away.


And you wonder why Hawks sucks so bad? Their management totally sucks. Whoever players Hawks just becomes so bad all of sudden. The GM of Hawks should just fire everybody!!!

Trust me, I understand the frustration of being a Hawks fan. I lived in Vancouver, BC and Griz sucked SO BAD when the team was in Van. We gave a HUGE contract to a big fat guy who we call Big Country. Does anybody know who I am talking about? He was like 7th overall pick or something. Oh man, where is he now????

 

[Amare32]

It turns out that Hawks owner that got fired, knew what he was doing/saying.

 

[DeAnna]

>>When the team lost four of it’s first five home games and Coach Mike kept insisting it would be fine once the players got used to each other. those of you with little faith (and you know who you are) grumbled gloomily that this was just a case of an incurable optimist whistling bravely past a graveyard. <<

Yep, we sure know who that is - Ban Dickley - Mr. Negativity himself.

 

[George O'Brien]

I listened to him this morning and he sounded as juiced as anyone. He is certainly quick on the trigger when things go badly, but he sounded impressed this morning at least.

 

[PHXviaDTW]

What is going on with the Pacers? They were supposed to challenge Detroit, but they have lost three of their last four and just got dumped by the Mavericks in Indy.