Suns gain “gritty win” in Chicago, 88-77

Nash v. Bulls(AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh) “It wasn’t a clinic” as stated by the great Al McCoy in wrapping up the game on KTAR but it was a win, the third of the 4-game road trip, a 88-77 “gritty win” indeed as Nash said.

The game, possibly the worst-looking affair of the year, was an intense match anyway and the Suns did a good job fighting for it despite being dominated “under the boards”. The Bulls, as usual, grabbed 18 offensive rebounds in the game.

It was amazing to win a game in which the Suns were outrebounded by (52-38) and the Bulls attempted 18 more shots.

The Suns will have a tough time beating a team in this league, any team, when scoring 88 points but they did today against a Bulls (17-26) team still looking for answers after firing Coach Skiles.

Kirk Hinrich led all scorers with 31 points in a losing effort. Good for the Bulls, Kirk is starting to get his game back.

The second half looked more like a 90′s Greek League game. If you never had the pleasure, I am talking about those 50-45 all defense and gritty games in Athens where you never saw an open shot, forget a fastbreak.

Each team had 19 turnovers, the Suns shot 20% (5-for-25) from 3-point, less than 48 hours after shooting 51% in Cleveland, led by Raja Bell 2-of-11 from the field.

Barbosa led a 12-0 run in the fourth quarter (a 20-13 partial score) that proved to be the difference in the game.

Stoudemire had 24 points (and 6 rebounds), Nash had 14 and 7 assists, Diaw added 11 points and 6 rebounds while starting in place of Grant Hill, out with back problems; but the player of the game for the Suns was Marion whose stats perfectly synthesize the game: 15 points, 11 rebounds and a season-high 6 steals for the Matrix.

This time it was Banks, not Strawberry, backing up Nash, maybe D’Antoni had enough defense in place and hoped Marcus could score a couple.

What’s important over the last two games is that the Suns found a way to win.

In case you forgot, the Bulls were the team “yours truly” predicted to win the East and face the Suns in the Finals. Could be about time to review that prediction.

The Suns (32-13) will now host Atlanta on Tuesday night (7 PM) before the game we have all been waiting, the Spurs at US Airways Center on Thursday night (8:30) on national TV.

Yours truly, Steve Fan

  • Date: 27 Jan 08
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  • Josh

    Banks? Strawberry?! Why doesn’t Boris Diaw back up Nash??

    The Suns’ weakness on the boards is killing them. They need to start a center (whether they get a new one or not) and put Amare Stoudemire where he belongs. I’m disappointed with Amare not because of his defense (which is improving), but because he doesn’t rebound that well for his size. He shouldn’t always be thoroughly outrebounded by Shawn Marion.

  • http://sonsofstevenash.blogspot.com Steve Fan

    Diaw used to be a point guard before coming to Phoenix and could be an option. I think D’Antoni likes to spread the PG duties around (Barbosa often plays that role).

    Amarè is killing me. He only gets rebounds when the basketball fall in his arms. Marion gets them because he works for them

  • Josh

    Barbosa? He has no business playing PG, because we know he’s a shooting guard.

    Amare would just be so hard to replace because he’s a big man… At least he doesn’t say “They don’t pay me enough to rebound” a la Charles Barkley regarding defense.

  • http://azSportsHub.com Matt Blake

    Yeah, these “Gritty” wins are just what I would call bad looking, put you to sleep get out rebounded games. The crazy thing about Amare is that his numbers are comparable to last year. His rebounds are down by .6 a game, but that can be made up over second half of the season.

    Also, I think a lot of these problems you guys are talking about stem from D’Antoni’s stubbornness to play his system and not divert at all costs. Sometimes I think he needs to explore his team a bit more. Especially during the regular season.

    Then again…every game does matter at this point…

  • Josh

    There are things even more important than the Phoenix Suns winning a championship, such as seeing that the Lakers never win one again. Get ready for a rant approaching the psychotic.

    ______________________________
    A lot of us hate the “Sp*urs” because of Robert Horry, but I don’t have enough NBA hate left for them; I burn it all on the Lakers, on their nauseating arrogance and their implicit glorification of crude and shallow Hollywood glamor. Back during the Jason Kidd era and the Stephon Marbury interlude, I was so sickened by the Lakers winning championships–year after year of ultimate victory for the bad guys–that I almost gave up following the NBA. I also dislike their playing style. So what if the triangle offense is the most efficient?–it’s so boring that it makes the Spurs fun to watch. But what can you expect but boredom from an offense that mocks basketball by not scoring much, by not using a dedicated point guard, and by surrounding one or two stars with players anonymous and dispensable even by role player standards? Even their fans–not just the Hollywood trash, but the human beings–annoy me, because though I didn’t get hooked on the NBA until 1993, I know that in the 80s, most people loved the glitzy Showtime Lakers rather than the storied but blue-collar Celtics. Shame on them, and no wonder I’m pleased that the Celtics are a great team again. (Here’s hoping the Suns can meet and beat them in the 2008 Finals.)
    I don’t dislike Kobe Bryant as much as I used to, because considering that his rape trial and his trade demands have sunk him into ridiculousness, I am tempted to pity him. I’ve seen him called “the NBA’s biggest asshole,” but it’s really not him, it’s Phil Jackson. That gargoyle-faced taunting sleazebag never won an NBA championship without parasiting on a team already near a championship through brute star power–Jordan, Pippen, O’Neal, Bryant.
    I thought “surprise, surprise” when Rudy Tomjanovich gave up on a brief attempt to replace Jackson. To the decent fellow whose life story I read in John Feinstein’s book on The Punch, the Lakers were probably even more “uncoachable” than Jackson thought the first time he left them.
    What’s my most treasured moment or series as a roughly fifteen-year viewer of Suns basketball? Charles Barkley’s shot over David Robinson in the 1993 semifinals? The triple-overtime game against the Bulls? Kevin Johnson’s angry dunk over Hakeem Olajuwon in 1995? “The Shot” by Rex Chapman? No, none of those. It was the first round last summer, when the Suns came back to beat the Lakers–without Amare Stoudemire. For one of the games–I think it was Game 5–I gleefully stayed up half the night in a motel room watching it, audio muted (family members were trying to sleep) when I needed to be up at five A.M. When the Suns defeated the Lakers again in round one last summer, I was paying much less attention, partly because it was relatively easy and partly because I was still dazed by what the Spurs did to the Suns in 2005. Recently…I hold the Lakers in the same esteem as insects, but unlike other bugs that get stepped on, the Lakers have come back to life.

  • http://sonsofstevenash.blogspot.com Steve Fan

    Nice read. I am not so sure I’d rather prefer the Lakers or the Spurs never win one in the near future. But you have a point.