Amaré Stoudemire (AP Photo/Darron Cummings) simply dominated Indiana in every part of the game last night as the Suns beat the Pacers 113-103.

The amazing stats of STAT were something truly amazing: 44 minutes, 49 points, 17-of-21 from the field, a perfect 15-of-15 on free throws, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocked shots. According to ESPN.com Stoudemire is the seventh player in the last 20 years to join this 40-10-5-5 club; the last one being Vince Carter in the 2001/02 season.

“I worked to dominate from the start…and just to dominate offensively and defensively”; and he did just that.

It was one of the greatest performance, if not the best, of his career despite missing his all time high by just one point. It was, in other words, something special. “He was unbelievable. Maybe the best game I’ve ever seen him play” concluded Steve Nash.

The rest was more or less meaningless. Suns shot 55.8 percent and came back from a first quarter 38-27 deficit. Phoenix played an almost perfect third quarter to keep the game away.

Phoenix had a great overall game on offense, distributing the ball with great efficiency; 6 Suns players had at least 3 assists led by Nash and Amaré with 6 each. The Pacers had no answers for the Suns as Phoenix punished every double-team attempt. The Pacers inside duo of Murphy and Foster (great names for a beer brand) failed to contain Stoudemire all night long.

T.J. Ford and Danny Granger led the Pacers with 23 points each. I have to admit Indiana looked better than I thought.

The Suns, now with an excellent 4-1 record, will face former Suns Assistant GM Vinny Del Negro and the Bulls on Friday night (6:30 PM) in the great city of Chicago.

Yours truly, Steve Fan