Best Shaq of the year leads Suns past Bucks

(AP Photo/Paul Connors) Shaq scored 35 points on 14-of-19 shooting leading Phoenix past Milwaukee 125-110. It was the Suns 21st consecutive win against the Bucks in the Valley as Phoenix scored a season-high 125 points.

Where have you gone Sidney Moncrief?

The Suns scored a season-high 74 points in the first half taking a 10-point lead to the locker room.
Phoenix shot over 67 percent from the field in the first half.

Offensively it was the best half of basketball the Suns played this year and the entire game looked like for the first time this season the Suns were able to balance their game: Run when they could, feed the Cactus when they couldn’t.

When Porter took the Big Cactus out of the game the Suns got back to Amaré and a fast paced offense. “That’s the type of game we can play” said Shaq after the game.

While Shaq played his best game as a member of the Suns, Amare added 22 points and 8 rebound while Nash had 19 points and 10 assists. Six Suns players scored in double digits. “His two best games of the year have been against us” Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles said commenting O’Neil performance.

Shaquille will miss the next game, maybe the next two, to be with his family after his great-grandmother’s death in North Carolina.

Suns and Bucks were 1 and 2 in turnovers per game entering the game, so it was a bit surprising that both teams played very good offense and generally took care of the ball.

Suns taking advantage of the Bucks weak front line early on, feeding Shaq often in the first quarter. Almost every offensive set was going through Shaq. It was effective even if it tended to take Stoudemire out of the game. It was no coincidence that most of Nash’s turnovers came from trying to force passes to Amaré trying to involve him in the game. Eventually STAT got his chances and his points.

Phoenix scored a season high 36 points in the first quarter but the Bucks responded shot by shot and closed in to 36-35 after the first 12 minutes.

The Bucks made some defensive adjustments entering the second half, mostly trying to put some pressure on the ball to prevent the easy pass inside to Shaq. It worked as the Bucks closed the deficit to 3 points late in the third before the Suns responded with Nash and Amaré and regained a 6-point lead to end the third period on STAT’s buzzer beater. Phoenix outscored the Suns 19-6 from that point to put the game out of reach. Suns committed only one turnover in the final period.

Charlie Villanueva led the Bucks with 24 points, Michael Redd added 23 while Richard Jefferson, back in Arizona, scored 22 points.

The only negative note of the night was Goran Dragic. The Suns point guard had a minus 7 in the +/- differential, looked lost at times, and was not used in the second half (not counting garbage time), as Coach Porter used Barbosa in point guard duty.

Despite the fact the Bucks are 9-14 it was a good all around performance by the Suns and a confidence builder for the team getting ready to face the Lakers tonight (8:30 PM). It’s never just another game against L.A. not to mention the fact the Lakers lost to Sacramento yesterday and the Suns will be without Shaq.

Yours truly, Steve Fan

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