Surprisingly, there will be no points added to the lawnmower counter, and obviously not to the Carlton counter.  I’m saving that for another day.   : )

Yes, the Suns lost to the Lakers tonight 132-106…but (very surprisingly) I’m not ready to jump off a ledge! Look, I’m not one to talk about ‘moral victories’ or ‘good losses’ normally, but tonight’s game against the Lakers tonight proved to me that I can, in fact, be somewhat happy after a loss.  I know…it surprised even me!

Here’s why I am not close to jumping off a ledge, and why you shouldn’t be either….

1. Alando Tucker started for the Suns. That alone should tell you that the Suns really wanted to use this game as training for our bench. And why not?

Nash was out with (luckily) only a sprained ankle (when I saw the replay, my mind thought ‘achilles’ for sure) and we obviously have lost Amare for (let’s call it like it is) the season. Why not start Alando? We play again tomorrow night against the struggling Raptors, then against the Lakers again on Sunday. We gave Alando a shot; and he didn’t disappoint! He played very well scoring 16 points on 7-11 field goals along with 4 rebounds. Perhaps more importantly, I was genuinely impressed with his effort and confidence.

Keep in mind, this is the same player who played all of 20 minutes in 2 years (yes, I’m exaggerating), and against the best team in the NBA.  I, for one, was happy to see Tucker get some minutes.

2. Nash was out. ‘Nuff said.

3. Fellow blogger, Greg Esposito, said on our live blog, that this win may give the Lakers false confidence for Sunday.  What a great point.  I saw every Laker smiling, cheering on their teammates (which, not coincidentally, happens ONLY when they are winning), and Kobe off the bench acting like this was a big win.  Sorry, Los Angeles, this meant nothing.

4. It was basically the Suns bench vs. the Lakers starters.  This is a Laker team, who are also known as the best team in the NBA, who have won 5 straight…and we hung with them! Yes, I realize we were beaten by over 20, but it wasn’t a complete blowout like the score would seemingly entail. Besides, if anyone was to tell me that the Lakers beat the Suns by 26 and it was against the Suns bench, I’d be happy with that. Remember…this is the Suns bench; the same bench that played virtually only fractions of minutes in the last 5 years!

5. The person that played the least amount of minutes was Lou Amundson…and he played 16 minutes.  If anyone were to tell me that Lou played the least amount of minutes, even if we lost, I’d automatically be happy.  Why?  That means that either it was a blowout and we were on top, or it was a blowout and our much younger players got more minutes.  When our two best players (Nash and Amare) are out, I have no problem with that.  Hey, we had 6 players score in double figures…the only one who didn’t was Hill.

6. We had 17 offensive rebounds.  3 more than the Lakers.  Though….it seemed like 12 of those came on one play.

7. Did I mention Nash was out and Alando Tucker started for the Suns?

8. We will have fresh players for the Raptors tomorrow.  Let’s hope Nash plays but, if he doesn’t, our other starters will be rested and ready to go.

9. I’d much rather have 2 wins at home during this stretch and gather some confidence heading into next week.  Wouldn’t you rather get a win versus the Lakers on Sunday before our brutal road trip?  I would.  I’d rather get some confidence then as opposed to now.

10. These next 9 games will, essentially, decide our season.  I’d rather Nash get healthy, and we play our ass off Friday and Sunday heading into the road trip, than us deplete our resources tonight and not have enough for next week.

11. Gentry’s comments to Dragic, as captured by TNT’s “Live Trax.”  That, to me, was the highlight of the game…and that is what a good coach does; encourage, support, and motivate his/her players.  Phenomenal.

So yes, Suns fans, we didn’t win.  But not all hope is lost.  I’d be MORE than happy with a win against Toronto and a competitive game versus the Lakers at home Sunday.  And by ‘competitive,’ I mean a win.

*On a side note, the Chandler Suns (my recreation league team), is playing at Hamilton High Schoo at 3:00 Sunday.  If I had to choose which “Suns” team would win, you better believe it’s the one playing at U.S. Airways Center.