Nash was back today for the Suns and boy what a difference that makes. The Suns offense was flowing and they won easily to stop the losing streak. Doug Collins made the point that nobody means more to their team than Nash and I totally agree. Every team will struggle without it's star player and Barkley also made the point about how everybody talks about Nash, but it's the same with Milwaukee and Redd and Boston lost all those games without Paul Pierce. But there's something about this offense and the style of play and how integral Nash is to what they try to do almost every possession. Without him it's an entirely different offense. Mike D'Antoni says he calls about 30% of the plays with Nash and 80% of the play without Nash. So Nash is the most indispensable player for his team in the entire league. Redd and Pierce play for bad teams and they make a huge difference. But good teams usually have more talent, multiple stars and they don't go into the tank like the Suns if the team MVP goes out. Spurs won't win the championship without Timmy, but I am sure they will be in the playoffs. Same with Mavs and Nowitzki. Even the Lakers do surprisingly well without Kobe. Cavs without LeBron may be the closest to the Suns without Nash and that too only because the Cavs are not that good a team and they don't have much talent around Bron-Bron. They had a ridiculous stat today about how 16 players or so have had career years the last 3 seasons with the Suns and Nash!
Marion had a great game today with 31-9. Good to see the Matrix come out of the mini-funk he had been in. Amare had 22-9 and Kurt Thomas was back playing meaningful minutes. Nash had a 13-2-12 night. He tripped and fell on the floor in the 3-rd quarter and got up holding his hurt shoulder. Not a pretty sight for Suns fans. But he went back the very next play and took a violent charge on Elton Brand barreling down the floor! Nash is a tough son of a gun! The coaches jumped up from their seat and took him out of the game for good after that play since the Suns were already up 20 or so.
Looks like D'Antoni is suddenly in love with Pat Burke. It's very interesting sometimes how this guy uses his bench. He tries somebody for 2 games and then gives up on them. Barkely was criticizing him for not using his bench enough. I totally agree on this one with Chuck. I never agreed with these experts who say the Suns have a thin bench. That was the case 2 years back, not anymore. Charles echoes my sentiment when he says the Suns are probably the deepest team in the league. Amen to that brother! They really are VERY deep. It's just that D'Anoni doesn't use all of them or sometime any of them! He sticks with his 7 guys and doesn't play the rest. I am not even being critical of him, it's just the way he coaches this team. Also, the TNT gang spoke about how they need to develop a backup point and Nash breaks down at the end of every season. Well, I am sure Nash hates the notion that he breaks down and I think he doesn't have that problem the last couple of years. That used to happen to him in Dallas, but he has worked very hard to improve his conditioning etc. The reason Suns lost last year to the Mavs or to the Spurs the year before was because the other team was better and not because Nash broke down. These are myths that the experts just hold on to forever. But I agree with Barkely that Mike has to develop a backup point. Nash has some chronic back issues and is getting old. It's definitely good to save him for the playoffs. Marcus Banks should be allowed to run the point. You can't expect him or the team to be as good as they are with Nash . There's a reason why Nash is the 2-time MVP and is being paid 65 mill as opposed to whatever Marcus Banks makes. Of course he is not going to be as good as Nash at his job and it's the coaching staff's job to find a way to work with that for 15-18 minutes a game. Draw up new plays, run him with Amare and Marion, use him with Barboso, play him with Diaw or do something to use him effectively. The guy is decent and can help you.
In other games, Spurs took care off the Nuggets rather easily. AI played and it didn't matter. I think it's officially time to give up on that trade. Like many astute observers had pointed out, thats just too much offense and one-dimensional talent with very little defense, rebounding etc. to compete against teams like the Spurs. Agent-0 scored 38 points and KG lost on the road. Utah lost a close game at Portland without Deron Williams. Okur had 25 and R-O-Y (Rookie of the Year) had 27. Boston lost a close one on the road at Sacramento 101-104.
The trade deadline is coming up on Thursday. It would be interesting to see if Bibby, Gason, Vinsanoty or Kidd get moved.
Phoenix @ LA Clippers - 115-90
Denver @ San Antonio - 80-95
Minnesota @ Washington - 100-112
Interesting games on the board for Feb 21-th (Wedneday)
Miami @ Houston - It's not Shaq-V-Yao, but still a good game with the resurgent Miami.
Cleveland @ Toronto - Toronto will be up for this one. Bosh and LeBron are from the same draft too.
Boston @ Phoenix - How does Nash handle back-to-back after his injury break?
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