| 21 April 2010
I can't ask a question like I did yesterday and not follow up with a title like that given the resounding answer the entire team gave to my question. The Phoenix Suns are indeed men. They came into game two, their backs effectively against the wall, and played like this was their court, their town, their game.
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Arguably, top props go to the turn around Grant Hill and J-Rich had from their game one experiences. I didn't mention them yesterday. I felt it was reasonably implicit that these two are the Suns's wild cards. Either one can be a game changer and in this case they both were. Hill hit his first ten shots before finally missing one and to go 10 of 11 from the floor. J-Rich scored 15 in the first quarter and finished with 29, hitting a massive 4 of 5 behind the arc.
Of course, Nash and Stoudemire did their parts. I hate to think that we've all come to expect Nash to play ball like he always manages to do. Nine assists in the first period, 12 in the first half, and 16 to finish in yet another game where his thirty minutes of perfection allowed him to sit out the entire fourth period. In fact, none of the starters played more than 31 minutes. A phenomenon that seems to be the hallmark of this year's Suns basketball.
Stoudemire had 18 points once again, but what a different 18 points it was compared to the first game. Last night he hit 5 of 10 from the field and was a perfect 8 of 8 from the charity stripe. He took half the shots he forced up in the first game. His play last night could best be described as unselfish efficiency. He took his shots when he and where he could. Doing everything he needed to do. I look forward to him asserting himself again in the third game. He'll have to, since it is unlikely that J-Rich and Hill each have back to back explosive games. Not that I wouldn't take it, and I doubt Stat would mind either, but come on, we all want to see Amare pound home 30+ points while grabbing a dozen rebounds in one of these games. Why not game 3, I say?
The Bench: what can you say about them? Once again, they did exactly what they had to do. Once the game had been put away, (The Suns led at the end of the third period 94-68.) the bench took care of business even managing to outscore Portland in the final period 25-22. One could quibble that Frye's game was a little off last night, but truth be told, I didn't even notice until I looked at the box score. I guess not everyone can have the perfect game at the same time.
Quite simply, Phoenix won last night's game in "Modern" Phoenix fashion. They came out, ran over their opponent, and let one of the best defensive benches in the league close out the game like Mariano Rivera.
They proved they were men.
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