| 16 January 2010
The Bard was right when he penned those immortal words and made Hamlet come face-to-face with the struggles that are part of the human condition. 'To Be Or Not To Be...' What a trip.
And - at the risk of being waaaaay too philosophical - we going to say that Friday night's heartbreaking last second loss to the Atlanta Hawks has left every member of Suns fandom knowing exactly what ol' Hamlet meant.
The game started sluggishly with both teams looking like they had been put through some aversion therapy that taught them how not to score. It wasn't until 8:18 of the first quarter that Amar'e Stoudemire hit from close to get the Suns second basket of the game but Grant Hill went on top all scorers with 15 points at the half as the Suns pushed ahead to a 55 - 50 lead.
Sure Atlanta is no joke - especially on their home court - and with a little more than 5 minutes gone in the third quarter the Hawks pulled ahead 64 - 63. This is the point in the game when the Suns often pull their patented collapse - you know - the kind of failure to play on both ends of the court that has cost our Suns nearly a half-dozen games so far this season. But that was not to be on Jan. 15th. Instead, Phoenix showed tenacity as they got up - dusted themselves off - and went back to work.
And this second half revival it was led by an Amar'e Stoudemire who spent the first half giving his critics all the ammo they need to rip him for weeks to come.
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As the clock ticked down in the third quarter - the Suns kept pushing - keeping it close as they nipped at Atlanta's heals with a determinitation the team never showed in their loss to the Indiana Pacers earlier in the week.Sure the scoring was slow and neither team was on track to set any offensive records but the Suns stayed in it and Stoudemire - the Suns Big Gun - had finally woken up.
Stoudemire's leadership came to the fore when he knocked down a close range bucket with 9:04 left that was fed by a Steve Nash assist. STAT's shot broke a scoring dirth that had kept both teams from hitting anything from the field for nearly the first 3 minutes of the fourth quarter.
Amar'e went on to hit two freee throws with precision and a jumper on the next trip down the court and - with just 6:05 left - the Suns were up 86 - 83. We had the Big Mo on our side - yes the wind was at our backs - and victory was within our grasp.
But then Robin Lopez - who played well on the defensive end for much of the game - reminded us why he's still a scrub when the 7-footer picked-up hit two quick fouls. One of them was for grabbing the jersey of a Hawk who didn't even have the ball. (Thanks Robin - we forgot how badly you can crack under pressure.)
It was 94 - 94 with just 1:50 left to go and - led by our man Amar'e - the Suns went on a run as they took a 98 - 94 lead with just 40.5 seconds to go. But then it all came apart on the defensive end as the Hawks grabbed a rebound they shouldn't have gotten after missing a free throw and knocked it down for a close range score.
The door was opened to a come from behind Atlanta win that was unlikely but - possible. And then Jamal Crawford came through for them.
It was a game the Suns should have won and they would have won it if two of our starters - Channing Frye and Jason Richardson - would have played like starters. Richardson's hot and cold streaks are legendary and have earned him a growing chorus of catcalls back home in Phoenix. Now we're great J-Rich fans - even gave him a few votes for the NBA All-Star game but his inconsistency on the offensive end is a real drag on the team that may force Coach Alvin Gentry to make Richardson the Suns most expensive bench warmer.
Just to close out on a personal note: It is good to be back and thanks again fore reading.
See ya'.
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