East Rombo: The Blog with Balls

great game! woof!

phoenix faced the houston rockets earlier today (manila time), in a matchup of two of the top contenders in the wild, wild, western conference. for those who've been living under a rock for the past month, t-mac's rockets were only recently the biggest thing to ever happen to the league, given their historic 22-game win streak--which was put to an end by the nasty boston celtics just earlier this week.

but houston hasn't been the only team to get hot lately. the phoenix suns have been stringing up consecutive victories themselves, in their pursuit to stay within the playoff picture. after all, unlike in the eastern conference, a mere three-game losing slump could mean an early summer for a supposed west contender.

good thing the new-look, diesel-powered suns are finally coming together.

this game was convincing proof. the suns took it, 122-113, with the team looking pretty legit--at least, based on the stats that i followed online. here are a few key points from the game that have gotten me pretty excited all over again:

• shaquille o'neal--all 36 years of him--with a 23-point, 13-rebound night. i never really expected numbers like this when he came in, but heck, of course i'll take it!
• amare! monster game again! we've seen him score 38 points easily before, and he does get 13-rebound nights every now and then, but the franchise record-setting 20-for-20 from the stripe certainly merits kudos. oh, and the 4 blocks are very nice, too.
• both shaq and amare nearly fouled out, each getting 5 fouls. but they didn't. if they really can't help but fall into the foul trouble trap, they should at least still manage to stay in the game during the crucial minutes--such as in this game.
• raja bell was sidelined for this game with an injured ankle. thus, leandro barbosa was inserted into the starting lineup. he played pretty nicely, at that, finishing with 21 points with three 3-pointers and an awesome shooting percentage. veeeery nice. (we still need you though, raja, so please come back soon!)
• grant hill didn't score much. he managed just 2 points, actually. he led the team with 10 assists though. that makes for some pretty cool possibilities moving forward...
• i think the gordan giricek pickup is a positive move. the suns can get a good 8-10 points a game from him each night. not bad, i guess.
• after this win, the suns are back in the west's top 4! hooray for homecourt advantage!

up next for the suns are a couple of major eastern conference threats--the two best, in particular: detroit and boston, in their respective homecourts--kicking off a four-game east coast swing. raja bell injury notwithstanding, i think the suns' confidence is really high right now. that should help them through the trip. hopefully they get the right breaks.

go suns! eyes on the prize, baby!


(image courtesy of Getty Images)

Once upon a time, there was a story called Goldisuns and the Seven Wins. The End.

Glee abounds within me today as the Phoenix Suns continued coasting through 2007-08, earning their seventh straight W at the expense of their home-and-home (not home-and-away, as I dumbassibly described yesterday) opponent, the Sacto Kings. And they won big, too, 127-111, albeit with the Kings losing two more key pieces in Ron Artest and Beno Udrih (the main missing piece being Mike Bibby).


Speaking of Beno Udrih... Why, Beno, Why?! I've barely begun to enjoy your fantasy services (hold on... this does not sound right at all...) and you already fall to injury?! How could you, Beno? I thought we had something special...

Oh, well. Do get better soon, Beno (and by "soon," I mean "by your next game"), because I still have no intentions of dropping you at this point. Don't make me regret that choice, dude, or else suffer the wrath of Grant, as Kirk Hinrich had just a few games back...

Go Suns!

It's six straight wins for the Suns! And the sixth almost didn't happen! But anyway, before I get ahead of myself, allow me to make up for the time I lost due to the rigors of employment...

Almost lost amid the mess that is the most recent turn of events for the New York Knickerbocker franchise, the Suns came home from their East Coast road trip to host the Knicks. Minus the tantrumizing Stephon Marbury and a couple other starters (Q-Rich and Z-Bo, due to injury and personal reasons, respectively), the Knicks witnessed the return to form of Amare Stoudemire, who played his best game since his knee surgery in October. STAT tallied 26 points and 12 boards in the Suns' 113-102 win.

A couple of days later, the Suns hosted the struggling Chicago Bulls. Long story short, as shown in the pic above (which certainly deserves a spot in our Hardwood Lovin' gallery...), Phoenix pulled away in the end against Chicago for their fourth straight, 112-102.

Then it was a Western contender's turn to test the Suns' mettle. Unfortunately for the Houston Rockets, main man Tracy Mcgrady was out for the game due to injury, leaving big man Yao Ming to handle the responsibility. Despite the 115-105 final score, it was all-Suns all throughout, as Yao struggled against the Suns' fast-paced game.

Finally, the most recent win that almost wasn't. This game was played just earlier (Manila time, of course) and was the front end of a home-and-away matchup against the Sacramento Kings (the 'away' game came first for Phoenix, though). Shawn Marion's pic above speaks volumes about his performance--which translated to only 2 points all game--as well as about the Suns' game as a whole. They nearly blew a 17-point lead to Ron Artest's spirited play, before holding on for a 100-98 win.

Tomorrow, it's Suns-Kings part 2 back in Phoenix. Let's hope Shawn starts playing well again, Raja starts playing again, period, and ultimately, for consecutive win number 7. Go Suns!

Originally published at http://carloricohermoso.net/blogView.php?id=533

Yesterday night, I was resting my head back at home (after a basketball game with the CS Stromboys at Ateneo) while watching the PBL game between Harbour Center and Toyota Otis, when I got struck by familiar faces in both line-ups. It's kinda amusing (err... not to Rocky, of course) to see the core players from De La Salle University go at each other. On the Harbour side, they have TY Tang, Jerwin Gaco, and Rico Maierhoffer. Meanwhile at Toyota, they have JV Casio, Cholo Villanueva, and PJ Walsham. Meanwhile, I had to ponder on the fact that only Ford Arao and Team-B mainstay Jeff de Guzman are the only Ateneans playing in the PBL right now. Maybe if you add Chris Tiu in the list (who's trying out on the Harbour-RP squad for the SEA games), you have three.

Which makes you wonder, how do amateur players juggle playing in a commercial league and study (well, maybe) at the same time?

***
This evening, I watched the game between Welcoat and Talk 'n Text until Nic Belasco's winning trey at the buzzer. Great game, I must say. It's also amusing to see Ryan Arana and Mac Cardona defend each other. Renren Ritualo and Adonis Sta. Maria's also there. Man, is it just me or the basketball scene is full of Lasallians?

I tried disproving myself that there are plenty of Lasallians around by coming up with a list (done in Excel!) of current basketball players in the PBA against their respective alma maters. Great discoveries, I must say.

***
So who's the better basketball school? I'd say it's a tie between the green and the blue school with 12 players each. For Ateneo, there's the core of the 2002 UAAP champions in Enrico Villanueva, Rich Alvarez, Larry Fonacier, Wesley Gonzales, LA Tenorio, Gec Chia, JC Intal, Doug Kramer, Macky Escalona, plus 2002 injured players in Paolo Bugia and Magnum Membrere. You've got Olsen Racela too.

Then for the green side, there's Mike Cortez and Junjun Cabatu (for Alaska), JR Aquino (for Ginebra), Willie Wilson (Magnolia), Carlo Sharma (Red Bull), Don Allado, Renren Ritualo, Macmac Cardona (TnT), Mark Telan (Coca-cola), Ryan Arana and Adonis Sta Maria (Welcoat), and Joseph Yeo (Sta. Lucia). Even if you add batchmate Mike Gavino (Coke, reserve list), they're still tied since Sta. Lucia's reserve player Ronnie Bughao came from Ateneo (although he never played for the Eagles). Adding CSB players in Sunday Salvacion (Ginebra), Jondan Salvador (Purefoods), and Jay Sagad (Welcoat -- err, where's he right now?) is subject to debate though.

Taking runner-up honors is FEU Tamaraws, with notable players from the 2003-2005 UAAP champs in as Arwind Santos (Air21), Mark Isip, RJ Rizada, and Cesar Catli (Coke), Denok Miranda (SLR), Jonas Villanueva (Magnolia), and Francis Barcellano (TnT). There's Johnny Abarrientos (Ginebra), Celino Cruz and Francis Adriano (Red Bull) which round them to 10 players. Where's Leo Avenido?

These top three schools have crowded the draft scene lately. It's either their exposure in the UAAP helped their careers or PBA's just entering a transition stage wherein the Fil-ams of the old are slowly replaced by UAAP holdovers.

Three NU Alumni are playing in the big league right now: Lordy Tugade and Danny Ildefonso (Magnolia), and Froilan Baguion (Welcoat). Baguion is a 2001 UAAP mythical five awardee but wasn't too lucky in the PBA draft until Welcoat picked him as a free agent. Tonight, he just played a great game with 20 points and crucial shots against Talk 'n Text.

UST have kalat-kalat players in the league right now, most of them played in various UAAP eras. There's Rey Evangelista (1994), Dennis Espino (1995), Estong Ballesteros (1997), Richard Yee (1999), Gilbert Lao (2002), and finally Cyrus Baguio and Nino Gelig (2004) and Jojo Duncil (2007).

UE meanwhile have franchise players in the league in Nino Canaleta and James Yap. There's Ronald Tubid, Paul Artadi, and reserve Philip Butel and Paolo Hubalde too.

NCAA players meanwhile are not doing bad either. San Sebastian and Letran are tied with 6 players coming from their schools that are playing in the PBA right now. Coming from Letran are Willie Miller (Alaska), Chris Calaguio (Magnolia), Kerby Raymundo (Letran), with recent NCAA players in frankenstein Mark Andaya (Red Bull), Aaron Aban (Alaska), and Jason Misolas (Coke). Knights Ronjay Enrile and Boyet Bautista once strutted their stuff in the PBA too.

For San Sebastian, Ginebra used to be the San Sebastian alumni club but everything's changed. The two remaining are Mark Macapagal and Rodney Santos. There's Topex Robinson and Leo Najorda for Red Bull, Christian Coronel for Sta. Lucia, and Baste's biggest player as of late: Romel Adducul (I think I saw in TV Romel Adducul's hardships in San Sebastian as far as sweeping the gym floor or eating little food. Great to see him where he's at right now).

Meanwhile, there are 26 recorded Fil-Foreigners who played their amateur hoops in the US. Most Fil-Am laiden team is Ginebra with 6 players. If you add former Ginebra players Rudy Hatfield and Andy Seigle, you've got 8 Fil-ams for Ginebra. Kinda ironic, since Ginebra's the team of the masses.

For more boring stuff, check out the Excel spreadsheet that I created. So much for trivia, I'm that bored. haha.

note: walang Game 3 - 6 notes kasi I never bothered to watch them live. Ginebra improved to 2-4 after their win against Welcoat. Next game is against Air21 on Friday. Originally published at http://carloricohermoso.net/blogView.php?id=525

The Long Way to Araneta. Now that Rocky's office is a bit far unlike early this year when she was a five minute walk away from our office in Ortigas, Rocky and I met at about 7:30 PM in Robinson's Galleria. My girl battled through traffic and time just to get to Ortigas and meet me before we head to Araneta Coliseum. Game starts at 7:20 PM, according to the ticket. I estimated that Rocky and I will be at Araneta by 7:40 PM, just enough to catch the second quarter of the game.

After waiting for 5 MRT trains (they were unusually full) to pass by on us, and after battling other crabs and singits in the train (sardinas kami ni Rocky sa 5th MRT train), we got at Araneta by 8:00 PM. I had to battle my way to surrendering my long umbrella (tsk, bawal ipasok), and rush to the green gate where I thought the PBA 31st Season HardCourt (PBA Annual for 2005-2006 season) was available pero it's not yet out pa pala. By the time Rocky and I got to our seats, it was 9 minutes into the third quarter. YES. Third quarter. At 8PM. What the hell (what do they gain anyway. I'd later learn that the RedBull-Welcoat game was played in less than 2 hours).

It was disappointing to arrive that late in Araneta, especially after our MRT experience. But what the heck, it's always better late than, err... nevermind. Baka humirit mga stromboys sa akin. haha.

A complete Talk 'n Text team. They're a really power-house team out there. Complete in all positions. There's Asi Taulava and Yancy de Ocampo exchanging the center slots, Yousif Aljamal (a great replacement for Vic Pablo), Harvey Carey, Don Allado at the paint (throw in Migs Noble and Jonathan Aldave too) with versatile Jay Washington who can play 2 to 4. And hoho, there's Mac Cardona, Renren Ritualo, Jimmy Alapag, and Donbel Belano at the guard spots (with big guard and ex-Ginebra Kalani Ferreria at the sidelines). Talk about completeness.

Meanwhile, as I have said it before, Ginebra seemed an imbalanced team loaded with 8 guards and 5 big men, that even former journeyman Gilbert Lao played extended minutes- something he didn't enjoy in his stints in Coca-cola and Welcoat. Should Caguioa come in anytime soon, Ginebra is still loaded with guards. Menk, I believe is far from what I saw back in 2005 when he was just really carrying the team on his back. I hope he will carry the attitude and the work ethic he learned from Tokushima, or else I will sell my Eric Menk jerseys. Ginebra is really short of a big man in the mold of Rudy Hatfield.

Highly fast paced, physical game. I thought I was seeing a fast paced WWE match. Geez, PBA's officiating really took a 180 degrees spin. Gone are the touch-fouls days. Salvacion and Carey were at each other, following a Carey block on Salvacion trey attempt. The next thing I saw, they were shoving over the possession and almost came into blows. Holper and Washington had their moments too. Funniest was Donbel Belano's angas against Billy Mamaril. The small guy wouldn't back down and even charged Billy Mamaril. I'm surprised no technical fouls nor warnings were called. Each player had to bleed before being whistled for a foul. Jeez, Jimmy Alapag was being squashed at the back court. Asi Taulava must have felt all the hacking fouls that Ginebra players have given him (hmp, that's for being a SNOB enough not to sign my PBA book back in November last year). Funny how Cardona almost picked a fight with someone who tangled his arm that when he turned, he realized that it was fellow Lasallian Sunday Salvacion that he quickly had his kiss-and-make-up session with him. I'm surprised that despite the loose officiating the refs had (with nameplates at their back), Ronald Tubid still managed to draw an offensive foul off Cardona. HAHA.

It's also note-worthy of seeing players rush to the court after each time-out, to avoid nakaw plays. This "rushed" feeling also affected Jong Uichico on one instance when he called on a 30 second timeout and asked his boys to run to him immediately, and run back immediately to the court after the timeout expired. No wonder the game ended at 9PM. YES. THE GAME ENDED AT 9PM. Suddenly, Rocky and I had all the time in the world.

Breaks of the Game, Ginebra comeback, and raining threes. Renren Ritualo is like a loaded gun. Nakakasa na yung kamay nya even before he touches the ball. Jeez, why didn't you do that in Tokushima? Every time he touched the ball, my heart squeezed. The most painful of all is his buzzer beating three points off the glass along the baseline -- it was a broken play for Talk 'n Text then that their three point attempt missed and landed into the hands of Ritualo as time expired. Kaboom. You know that shot will go in when he releases the ball. Talk 'n Text's rain men were just too hot to handle. Whenever Ginebra threatened to catch up with the Talk 'n Text lead, someone would release a trey -- whether it's Belano (coming off a pick and left unguarded) or Alapag (from the parking lot). Suddenly I missed Vince Hizon and Pido Jarencio's days with Ginebra. Sama mo na rin si Dudut.

It was nice to see Ginebra applying a full-court press. Over the years that I watched Ginebra, I've never seen them apply a full-court press. Too bad Talk 'n Text managed to throw in the ball just before they could commit a five second violation, or cross the court just before they could commit an eight second violation. But costly unforced turnovers and lapses in defense did it for Ginebra. There was Rafi Reavis rebounding the ball alone with one hand, and the ball goes off from his hands into the baseline. There was Jimmy Alapag missing both free throws but manages to get his own rebound. Mark Macapagal had his share of bad fouls too (it's a wonder why Jong Uichico opted to play with Macapagal instead of Tubid when Ginebra was trying to catch up that Tubid only got to play in the last two minutes). There was Lao opting to throw a long pass to Helterbrand at the other side of the court, only to be stolen by Washington. *sigh* Macky too had his share of backcourt boo-boos.

Ginebra's furious rally just fell short. Sayang. Well, it's the same old story, I guess. Jayjay Helterbrand shooting a trey and making those tight passes to Rafi Reavis. Tubid scoring a lay-up and one. Artadi making(!) those jump shots.

The Gin Kings' ball movement is a little bit stagnant though. It's as if there's a big guy who doesn't know whom to pass the ball to. Not much drives to the basket except on fastbreak plays. Ginebra's passing too much and rotating the ball too much that they're usually left with the low-percentage jump shot. No post-plays or daredevil lay-ups.

Game ends 111-102 for Talk 'n Text. :(

Outlook. Two more months and 16 games to go. Lots of games in Cuneta next month, most will be played during weekdays. What the hell. Too early to tell though.

Up next: Ginebra vs. Welcoat. Ginebra's big men will have their hands full against Joe Devance, JR Reyes, and Nic Belasco. I think Ginebra's guards can outplay Welcoat's. Like Ginebra, Welcoat is two players short of being contenders. Let's see. Ginebra vs. Alaska on the 31st. Cuneta. I don't know if I can go.

It must be my shoes. Back in November 12, 2006, Rocky and I watched the Ateneo-La Salle Fil-oil Flying V game at Ultra, and proceeded to Araneta for the Ginebra-Talk 'n Text game. We're such basketball junkies. On that day, I wore my then-new "Testify" Accel shoes (my officemate calls it a spaceman's shoe). Ginebra and Ateneo lost on that game. For this Ginebra-Talk 'n Text game, I wore the "Testify" shoes again. Ginebra lost.

You'll never see me wear those shoes again in any Ginebra-Talk 'n Text match.

para hindi Suns infested ang blog na ito, infest naman natin ng Ginebra. Original post is at http://carloricohermoso.net/blogView.php?id=524




Looking Back. There were two entirely different Ginebra teams that competed last PBA season. One was the power-house Philippine Cup champions led by its fil-am starting five of Jayjay Helterbrand, Mark Caguioa, Rudy Hatfield, Eric Menk, and Rafi Reavis. They were followed by Romel Adducul (later traded), free agent Johnny Abarrientos, Ronald Tubid, Sunday Salvacion, Billy Mamaril, sophomores Mike Holper and Mark Macapagal, and Andy Seigle. Come Fiesta Conference time, all of the starting five were gone either to the national team, got injured, or left for personal reasons. The Ginebra bench, plus players such as Egay Echavez, Gec Chia, Rodney Santos, Paolo Hubalde, and import-do-it-all Rod Nealy did wonders for the team, which at one point rose to 9-2, before succumbing to the Alaska Aces and finishing 3rd place overall. The Ginebra boys of summer (the Fiesta Conference guys) weren't able to complete a grand slam of sorts for Ginebra when their real-all-filipino express were halted by the #6 seeded San Miguel squad (I can recall every moment leading to their defeat. huhu). The one thing that remained with Ginebra then was the classy coaching of Jong Uichico, anchored on pressing defense and free-flowing, run-and-gun offense. His coaching is so good that he made the summer guys into championship contenders (which was three points short off making it to the semis).

Moving Forward. Ginebra welcomes to its fold their national team members in Caguioa, Helterbrand (arguably the best point-guard in Asia), and the committed Menk. However, their stint came with a price as Caguioa injured his shoulder while Menk's calves got injured for the Nth time. In comes Gi-Raf-ee Reavis too, whose shoulder injury kept him out of the whole Fiesta Conference. Mainstays include juniors Macapagal and Holper, Sunday Salvacion, Johnny Abbarrientos, Billy Mamaril, and rising-Ginebra favorite Ronald Tubid. Gone are Egay Echavez (to Coca-cola) and Gec Chia, plus Andy Seigle (who tried out with Red Bull but tore his ACL again and finally called it quits) and Rodney Santos (released to the free agent market). Additions to the Ginebra squad are undrafted and free-agent JR Aquino, free agent Gilbert Lao, speedster Paul Artadi, and rookie draftee Macky Escalona.







From the looks of it, Ginebra's biggest hole came with Rudy Hatfield's departure. From the line-up, it seems that Holper is the closest guy who can play the way H-Bomb ruled the court. Ginebra's loaded with guards and becoming short of big men (they once had a surplus of them! Alaska, penge naman jan :P) On paper, Ginebra really seemed full of guards. There's four guys in Helterbrand, Escalona, Artadi, and Abarrientos sharing the point-guard spot. Then there's Tubid, Caguioa, and Macapagal on the two spot, with Salvacion and Aquino playing shooting guard or small-forward. That's nine guys on the guard/small forward spot, while five for the "big-men" positions. Seemed a little off-balance, me thinks.

But the game first. With Caguioa and Menk not in uniform in Ginebra's first game against Red Bull barako, Ginebra seemed to be looking for its identity once more. Good thing Rafi Reavis suited up. But there's no real powerful force inside the lane among Ginebra's big guys (Reavis, Holper, Lao) except for Billy Mamaril. It's a good thing though that identity-less Ginebra was going up against a rebuilding Barako team with quality players such as Cyrus Baguio, Carlo Sharma, Mick Pennisi, and Topex Robinson.




It's either Ginebra played a real good first quarter with fresh guard legs on rotation, while Red Bull seemingly was looking for its groove. There was Tubid coming off the bench and welcomed and applauded by Ginebra fans (fine, kasama ako dun) and the guy didn't disappoint as he shot three treys in the first quarter alone. Ginebra shot so good from outside, even Billy Mamaril's jumpers went in! The UE connection came into play also with Artadi and Tubid leading the Ginebra fastbreak. Or what about Artadi's wild lay-ups, Tubid's hang-time jump shot, and Macky Escalona's buzzer beating awkward layup?

Defense crumbles. The fortunes of the two teams were reversed: Ginebra lost their defense (talk about nakaw plays on an inbound, plus Topex Robinson's offensive rebounds) and offense (the long Ginebra drought), while Red Bull finally played their "committed" (hey, I watched the primer on Red Bull) defense, which turned Ginebra's misses into Cyrus Baguio fastbreak opportunities. Tubid, Salvacion, and Mamaril were in foul trouble, which forced Uichico to dig deeper into the Ginebra bench. Worst of all, free throw shooting. ARGH. Ginebra was a big let-down in the charity stripe, with Tubid (2-8 FTs) and Helterbrand (2-5) leading the miss-the-free-throw-contest. Tubid wasn't a factor anymore, while Cyrus Baguio made a mockery out of Ginebra's defense. How can Ginebra let Topex Robinson, the smallest guy in the PBA, get the offensive rebound and shoot two crucial putbacks? It's either Ginebra's short of intimidating big men, or they weren't doing their defensive assignments.

Hero. Mark Macapagal's career with Ginebra is a roller coaster one, in terms of his spot in Ginebra's rotation: from being the top guy in his rookie year (he used to start for Ginebra in that All-filipino team that was supposed to run naked in Baywalk), to finding himself deeper in the rotation in Tubid's arrival. He didn't enjoy that much minutes in the Fiesta Conference back in summer. After his 28 point production against Alaska back in October 2006 (I watched that! I watched that! Mark Macapagal for threeeee!), his path became a downhill one.




He didn't shoot that well in the first half, by the way. He kept on firing blanks from outside in the first half. In fact, prior to his biggest trey in the evening which reminded Ginebra guys of Pido Jarencio's fireman ways (pamatay sunog) against the Red Bull uprising, he was 0-8 from trey land. With Ginebra's offense going down the drain (how many 24 second violations?), Macapagal rose to the occasion by firing a crucial trey and deuce, while consistently sinking his free throws in the last few minutes of the match. His heroics saved Ginebra from being a victim of Red Bull's 2nd half comeback. Where would Ginebra go without him? I never lost faith in that guy.

Rookie Jitters?. The last time I saw Macky Escalona play, he fired 28 points in the UAAP (yes, let us not be reminded of that painful game again). Finally, he's donning a Ginebra jersey. Yey for me. Too bad though, Ginebra's so deep in its point-guard rotation that he only got to play in the last minute of the second and third quarter. Seems he's hesitant to take the shot that at one point he was so free from inside when he opted to pass the ball to Sunday Salvacion from outside. In another play, I thought he's finally getting the rats out of him by spinning around his defender in a fast break play, only to be foiled by Junthy Valenzuela. With Ginebra having four point guards, I don't see him getting major minutes anytime soon.




And many more. Unfortunately it's way really beyond bedtime now. Ginebra vs. TnT next. See you at the games!

Well, okay, I'm not too sure about that just yet, but I'd certainly like to see it happen. Particularly around February, because that's where the NBA All-Star Weekend 2009 is going to be! Woot!


I've been waiting for this news for some time already, but at the same time, I never expected it to come this soon. Still, I'm hoping some stars would align and stuff and make things fall into place for me.

(Once I get this out of the way, it's going to be the San Diego Comic Con i'll be aiming for. Teehee.)


Speaking of wishful thinking, the Suns got Amare back in uniform and on the playing court to close out their East Coast road trip in Florida. Granted, he did get himself ejected in the third quarter in the first of those matchups (against Miami), but on a positive note, the Suns still gutted out a win, 106-101, behind an 11-0 Steve Nash run in the fourth quarter.

Boy, the Suns sure could have used Amare yesterday.

The Phoenix Suns fell yesterday for the second time this season against the Atlanta Hawks, 96-105 at Atlanta. Unlike the previous game against Charlotte, youth wasn't the undoing of the Suns' opponent. Instead it was the opposite, as the Hawks used athleticism--Phoenix's own game, usually--against the Suns, resulting in a 56-40 rebounding edge.


The Suns were again without Amare Stoudemire, who's still biding his time to make sure his sore right knee is a hundred percent before stepping out on the court again. The aforementioned rebounding discrepancy shows just how much the Suns need him to come back soon.

If you ask me though, this latest setback doesn't really give me much cause for concern. For one, the Atlanta Hawks have shown so far this season that they're not the cellar-dwelling team that they used to be. They've already beaten the Dallas Mavericks on opening night, and their two other games--albeit being losses--were very close games.

Also, despite this loss, the Suns are still a game above .500, so they're from being a "losing team." It's very early in the season, and Phoenix has already shown in previous seasons that they have the poise, desire, and talent to keep putting up a sterling run for that elusive title.


Well, ok, I do have a concern of sorts. So far, we've seen the Suns lose two games--both of which were the back ends of back-to-back games played in different locations. Are the Suns getting too tired too soon? Are they getting too old for their own system?

The latter question is especially important as many teams are also trying to adapt the run-and-gun style after the Phoenix Suns teams of recent years. While their games aren't quite as polished as Phoenix's, it'll only be a matter of time before they match or even overtake the Suns. I shudder at the thought... Well, not really. I think it's going to make the NBA a lot more exciting if and when that happens. Teehee.

Oh well, that's that. Next up are the also struggling Miami Heat. Bring it on, Anfernee. Go Suns!