tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-362256982024-03-08T03:15:56.109-05:00Phoenix Suns on Firesunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-59377202852636943182006-12-11T22:02:00.000-05:002006-12-11T22:43:48.771-05:00Leather Ball Back!Its taken a while coming, but the <a href="http://www.nba.com/news/ball_061211.html">NBA has decided to revert to the old leather ball</a> -- the one that has been used in past seasons. For reasons that were not explained, the NBA brought in a new composite ball this season. The new ball has been reviled for having unpredictable bounce <hints id="hah_hints"></hints> and acting weird overall. Sorry, that was the best way to put it. Sometimes it doesn't bounce hard off the rim, flops into the basket, makes paper cuts on players' palms and is either too slippery or too sticky.<br /><br />Steve Nash, LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal and Jason Kidd are some of the bigger stars who've expresses their displeasure with the ball. The player's union decided to take legal action against the league last week , on two counts -- the new 'zero tolerance' policy and the composite ball.<br /><br />Stern had to say this, about reverting to the old ball.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">“Our players' response to this particular composite ball has been consistently negative and we are acting accordingly. Although testing performed by Spalding and the NBA demonstrated that the new composite basketball was more consistent than leather, and statistically there has been an improvement in shooting, scoring, and ball-related turnovers, the most important statistic is the view of our players.”</span><br /><br />Boy, the man flat out can't admit he was <span style="font-weight: bold;">wrong</span> !<br /><br />I really wonder why they've decided to switch to the old ball now, in the middle of the season. After all, the players have now got used to the new one's random behavior. Even the three point shooting has been getting better and from what I recall, the league shooting average is a few percentage points above last year's. Oh well, the players adjusted to the composite ball within a month, so they should be comfortable with the leather ball by Jan end. I hope.<br /><br />I guess Stern did not want the 2007 Finals to be decided by some weird bounces. What would the refs do then?sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-85255106150739279272006-12-10T15:56:00.000-05:002006-12-10T16:02:19.859-05:00Nash at the barber shopI saw this funny page on azcentral's website that you guys should check out. You get to pick from a list of different hairstyles varying from the <span style="font-style: italic;">'fro</span> to <span style="font-style: italic;">punk</span> and the web-barber will immediately do that on a Nash caricature.<br />(the Mr.Clean style makes him look like a total skinhead).<br /><br />Here's the <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/06preview/nashhair.html">link</a>. <hints id="hah_hints"></hints>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-87413535993610038272006-12-08T22:14:00.000-05:002006-12-08T22:30:47.074-05:00Obscure facts/newsCouldn't think of a better title for this post. Couldn't think of a better way to integrate this in another post. But here goes:<br /><br />-Caron Butler was Mr.Basketball in the state of Wisconsin in 1998 in high school. Who was No.2 in the voting? Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo!<br />Wait till Michael Irvin hears this and justifies his <a href="http://www.theeveningbulletin.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17536528&BRD=2737&amp;PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6">claim that Romo has some black ancestry</a>.<br /><br />-I had the WAS-PHI game running on ESPN when the talking heads continued yapping about the Allen Iverson issue (he's asked to be traded, if you live on the moon). The camera then moved to Jim Gray. He reported with a very straight face that earlier in the game he had discussed the details of a telephone conversation he had with AI. Apparently the person he spoke to on the phone was an AI impersonator! Some random dude had spoken to him and given him random shit that poor Gray <span style="font-style: italic;">scooped</span> up with glee. He confessed to having been punk'd and finished with the line "I had been duped. I'm sorry". Bravo ESPN! Bravo! But why not laugh at yourselves for a fiasco like this, instead of trying to keep a straight face about the whole issue? <hints id="hah_hints"></hints>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-56274063273688960632006-12-08T21:57:00.000-05:002006-12-08T22:13:52.466-05:00Classic PG duel at MeadowlandsI was lucky enough to watch the Suns-Nets game because it was on YES network here in NJ. I cannot do justice to the game if I try to do my own report on it (my way of shying away from work). So I'll direct you to a <a href="http://slamonline.com/online/2006/12/game-report-suns-at-nets/">nice game report</a> by Lang Whitaker at SLAM.<br /><br />The highlights:<br /><i>When the dust settled, the numbers were amazing:<br />• Phoenix 161, New Jersey 157<br />• Kidd finished with 38 points, 14 rebounds (all defensive rebounds) and 14 assists<br />• Nash had a career-high 42 points and 13 assists<br />• Shawn Marion played 49 minutes and scored 33 points<br />• Vince Carter had 31 points and 9 assists<br />• Boris Diaw had 16 points and 14 assists<br />• There were 34 lead changes<br />• The Suns hit 17 of 31 from three, and the Nets went 10 for 21 <hints id="hah_hints"></hints></i><br /><a href="http://www.nba.com/games/20061207/PHXNJN/gameinfo.html">Box Score</a><br /><i><br />Diaw hit both free throws, and the Suns fouled the Nets right away. Kidd hit both free throws to make it a three point game, and the Suns called their last timeout with 4.1 left. They came back to halfcourt, and after what seemed like 4.99999 seconds, Diaw threw it in to Nash, who came off a Kurt Thomas pick and drained a clutch three from the top of the key. Suns assistant Alvin Gentry hopped off the bench and screamed, “Yes sir motherf*ckers!” </i><br /><br />And yeah, check the <a href="http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=video&url=http://nba-boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/recaps/recap_271_phxnjn.asx&nbasite=nba&contentpath=http://nba-boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/recaps/recap_271_phxnjn.asx&secondClick=1">highlights</a> out on nba.com. Pay attention to Vince's <span style="font-weight: bold;">walk </span>(around the 30 sec mark in the video) to the basket in the end of regulation time. OK.OK. Kurt Thomas' screen for Nash's game winning 3 ptr was not clean either...but what's more egregious -- a <span style="font-style: italic;">moving screen</span> or a <span style="font-style: italic;">travel</span>?sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-46001900986485754062006-12-05T22:09:00.000-05:002006-12-05T22:12:53.861-05:00Vick's fingerHey guys,<br /><br />I've been looking for Michael Vick's bird flick to the fans who booed him. I chanced upon the video now when I was looking at something else.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yfv8wDWGF4A"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yfv8wDWGF4A" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object> <hints id="hah_hints"></hints>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-18907141804284307772006-12-01T23:11:00.000-05:002006-12-01T23:20:01.110-05:00Stat Line of the WeekI've been out of the blogosphere in the past week. My fantasy team franchise players went AWOL as well. Emeka was busy hosting a slumber party all this week. I traded away Sean May and DeShawn Stevenson for Chris Kaman last week, so May decided to spite me with a monster game two days back with this line : 21/17/3/5 (p/r/a/b) <hints id="hah_hints"></hints><br /><br />Chris Paul though came up big..BIGGG tonight with a triple double! Check this ugly bloody line:<br /><span id="stats3930_2006120103"> 25/11/18/5 (p/r/a/s)<br />Thats a total of 105 fantasy points.<br /><br />VERY NICE! I LIKE!!<br /></span>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-10131368756298559502006-11-24T19:48:00.000-05:002006-11-24T20:06:34.539-05:00Will Marion Guard Kidd?If you guys have been following the past few games, you must have noticed that Marion has been asked to guard the opposing PGs, for short periods, if not all the time -- Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Allen Iverson.<br /><br />That probably has made him less effective at the boards -- its not like he gets in rebounding positions in any case, he just pounces on the ball from wherever he is. Marion has traditionally been made to guard bigger guys (Odom, Dirk), usually PFs, on the opposing team and he's made it clear all along that he doesn't relish the role. Wonder what he thinks of this new role that probably affects his rebound numbers..But on the bright side, guarding the opposing PGs will make it easier for him to get to the other end on the break.<br /><br />So far, the strategy has worked in two out of three cases. Let's see if the coach tries it today. <hints id="hah_hints"></hints>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-91035430111486209722006-11-24T19:35:00.000-05:002006-11-24T19:44:32.402-05:00The Eastern Conference stinksI read this very <a href="http://www.nysun.com/article/44035?page_no=3">well written piece</a> by John Hollinger on the disparity between the quality of teams in the East and the West. He illustrates how bad the Eastern Conference stinks with numbers and other general trends in teams in the East.<br /><br />The highlights:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;" id="article" class="article_small">The West has also won six of the eight championships in that time (since Jordan retired in 1998), and one could make a case it would be eight of eight if not for the fact that the East automatically gets one team into the Finals regardless of how bad it is.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><hints style="font-style: italic;" id="hah_hints"></hints><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;" id="article" class="article_small">Through Wednesday's games, there had been 64 interconference battles, and the Eastern side managed a win in just 18 of them — a piddling .281 winning percentage.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;" id="article" class="article_small">At the moment, only three teams in the East have a winning record.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;" id="article" class="article_small">...for one good example take a look at the "predictor" rankings used by <a title="USA TODAY" href="http://www.nysun.com/related_results.php?term=USA+TODAY">USA Today</a> computer guru Jeff Sagarin. In those, 10 of the top 11 teams are from the Western Conference, while nine of the bottom are from the East.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;" id="article" class="article_small">If that holds up for the entire season, two teams from the West will end up in the lottery despite being better than all but one team in the East. And three teams from the East will make the playoffs despite being worse than all but one team in the West.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;" id="article" class="article_small">there's a recurring numbers theme — namely, the Eastern teams have a strange inability to put talented players around their superstars. James, Wade, Johnson,Gilbert Arenas, Allen Iverson, and the Nets' "Big Three" all suffer from a glaring lack of competent help at the end of the starting lineup or off the bench. </span>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-20218392107154353902006-11-23T16:36:00.000-05:002006-11-23T16:46:41.860-05:00How to download embedded videosI'd mentioned in a <a href="http://sunsonfire.blogspot.com/2006/11/david-stern-ban-internet-videos.html">previous post</a> that there was a chance that Stern and his cyborg minions could start clamping down on internet videos of the NBA. So here's a small writeup on how you can download videos from websites.<br /><br />I'm a big fan of Firefox and the endless list of add ons available for it. I use an extension called Download Embedded and its super easy to use. It adds a right-click context menu entry to download all embedded files on a webpage. Its great for grabbing embedded flash animations, movies, music, etc..<br /><a href="http://www.aeruder.net/software/extensions/extensionlist.html">Download Embedded</a><br /><br />Web site Keepvid has a very simple way of downloading videos from 40 different web sites like google, youtube, etc. Its pretty straightforward. Check this link out for more:<br /><a href="http://keepvid.com/">KeepVid</a><br /><br />I've also heard good things about this web site called Javimoya.<br /><a href="http://javimoya.com/blog/youtube_en.php">Javimoya</a><hints id="hah_hints"></hints>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-8238130526031125912006-11-23T15:10:00.000-05:002006-11-23T16:15:21.953-05:00Suns-Hornets 92-83Current record : 5-6<br /><a href="http://www.sportsline.com/nba/gamecenter/boxscore/NBA_20061122_NO@PHO">Box score</a><br /><a href="http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=video&url=http://nba-boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/recaps/recap_166_nokphx.asx&nbasite=nba&contentpath=http://nba-boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/recaps/recap_166_nokphx.asx">Highlights video</a><br /><br />Last night's home win against the Hornets wasn't the most beautiful one the Suns have pulled off. We fan boys are never content. The Suns have now won four in a row and the past two teams they faced, came in with records of 7-3 and 8-3. Yet, many of us are complaining that the wins haven't been 'impressive'. For lack of a better name and poor imagination, I'll call it <span style="font-style: italic;">championship-hope-itis</span>.<br /><br />The win against the Hornets was orchestrated by playing good D - the Suns' biggest malady so far. I did not watch the game and its hard to believe, but hey, that's what every report is saying. Kurt Thomas must be the happiest with this win. After all, it was won playing hard-nosed D with ordinary offense, which is what his game is all about. Like I've said before, I'll take an ugly win any day.<br /><br />The Suns out-rebounded the Hornets 41-40 but had poor O-rebounding. Tyson Chandler alone had more offensive boards than the entire Suns team. That, along with 20 turnovers probably explains the the low FG attempts. We took a paltry 70 shots compared to 85 by the Hornets. Thankfully, the good D helped us get some nice stops and keep their shooting percentage down to 40% (we shot 47%).<br /><br />Raja Bell seems to be coming out of his shell, scoring 18 and 22 in his past two outings. Thats one of the biggest positives for the Suns. They really need good three point shooting to spread the floor and do their thing. <hints id="hah_hints"></hints> Though it was an ordinary offensive night out for the Suns, they continued their hot shooting from downtown. They sank 10-22 (45%) last night and 13-29 (44.8%) against Golden State.<br /><br />It was nice to see Boris Diaw take some time off from his croissant-eating binge to play some ball. He did alright -- not great. He shot 8-10, including one from three-point land. He also had 4 asts and 6 rbs. He made a sweet behind-the-back pass from the high post to Raja Bell who was at the left baseline. You've got to <a href="http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=video&url=http://nba-boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/aotn/aotn_061122.asx&nbasite=nba&contentpath=http://nba-boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/aotn/aotn_061122.asx">check it out</a>.<br />The only blemish was his eight turnovers. Can't blame him -- its hard to concentrate on basketball when there are better things to do, like eating croissant.<br />OK. OK. I like Boris a lot -- mainly for his unselfishness and overall demeanor. But dude really needs to get back in shape, and he looks to be on the right path now.<br /><br />Once more, Amare did not get to play the closing minutes of the game. In D'Antoni's (yeah, he won back his right to carry a D in his name with last night's showing) defense, Amare had a very ordinary showing, scoring <span style="font-style: italic;">nada </span>in the game in 21 minutes. I'm sure Amare was just exhausted from the last few games. He'll turn it around against the Nets.<br /><br />James Jones laid a monstrously big egg yesterday, after winning back the coach's confidence when he hit a few treys against GSW. That kid is a big head-case and really needs to string a few games together to feel good about himself.<br /><br />The Nets and Trailblazers are up next. Hope we get the wins to get past the .500 mark.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/1600/559702/nash_hornets_doubleteam.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/200/890399/nash_hornets_doubleteam.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/1600/288656/marion_hornets_dun.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/200/960410/marion_hornets_dun.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-4801202358737214262006-11-23T00:14:00.000-05:002006-11-23T00:27:41.510-05:00Jerry Colangelo shows interest in buying CubsAccording to an <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=2672733&campaign=rsssrch&source=phoenix+suns">AP story on ESPN</a>, ex-Suns owner Jerry Colangelo has expressed interest in buying the Chicago Cubs if it does go up for sale.<br />Said JC:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">If in fact the Cubs become available, and that's a big 'if,'</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I've stated that I would have great interest. I'm just trying to keep my options open at this point, that's all.</span><br /><br />Jerry Colangelo is currently the Chairman of the Phoenix Suns and his term with the team ends this year. He previously owned the Phoenix Suns and Arizona Diamondbacks at different points in time. SI had interviewed JC a few weeks back and I had covered some of the questions that would be of interest to Suns fans. Here's an excerpt from that post that relates to news of JC buying a new franchise:<br /><b><br />• On his next move after relinquishing control of the Suns:<br /></b><span style="font-style: italic;">I've kept my eye and ear open to what's going on in basketball and baseball in other cities and franchises.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">At this stage I'm just listening.</span><br /><br /><br />Good luck Jerry!sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-2133222798435222532006-11-22T22:56:00.000-05:002006-11-22T23:11:42.474-05:00Suns vs. HornetsI'm not watching the Suns-Hornets game but hear that in spite of the lead, the Suns look ordinary out there. They have answered every mini run by the Hornets to keep the 10 point lead in the second half.<br /><br />The score is now 80-68 Suns with 5:25 to go in the last period.<br /><br />My prediction for the game on a message board I frequent was 108-100 Suns, with Barbosa being the leading Suns scorer. But Barbosa is out of this game with a sprained left ankle.<hints id="hah_hints"></hints><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/1600/745023/Raja_Mason_hornets.jpg"><br /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/1600/721679/Raja_Mason_hornets.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/320/674564/Raja_Mason_hornets.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/1600/121127/Nash_pargo_hornets.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/320/49662/Nash_pargo_hornets.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-21442539911634445742006-11-22T20:30:00.000-05:002006-11-22T20:34:27.261-05:00Best NBA BlocksThe Nate Robinson block on Yao Ming the other day has been the talk of the NBA the past few days, and deservedly so. I thought I'd post a ootube video of the best NBA blocks. So here you go..<br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DFhRj6s0NPg"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DFhRj6s0NPg" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object><br /><br />Here's a video of the Tayshaun-Miller block:<br /><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vAswCGgdomM"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vAswCGgdomM" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-22629711561569433862006-11-21T21:55:00.000-05:002006-11-21T23:56:43.365-05:00Suns-Warriors 113-110<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/674/4422/1600/nash_pass_warriors.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/674/4422/400/nash_pass_warriors.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Steve Nash shook off back spasms that forced him to sit out the last two games, to will the Suns to a victory over the super-hot Warriors. Nash had 7 assists in the first nine minutes of the first quarter, as he led the team to a 31-27 lead. The rest of the team responded by showing him how much they <i>need </i> him when they failed to score for the next six minutes Nash was on the bench. The Warriors (who were without their best player Baron Davis) had a 43-31 lead when Nash took the floor to finish the half. The first half ended with the Suns trailing 52-57. Nash already had a double double.<br /><br />The Suns players were feeling it this night, as they did a good job of sinking open jumper after open jumper. Monta Ellis was huge for the Warriors, wreaking havoc with his jumpers and repeated forays to the hoop. He had 15 first half points. If he continues to get this kind of playing time, he could be one of the front runners for the 'Most Improved Player' award.<br /><br />Phoenix erased the lead with a crisp third quarter where they outscored the opponents 37-27. In true Suns style, they let the Warriors back in, early in the fourth quarter and the game was a tightrope walk from here on. Raja Bell's jumper started falling in the fourth quarter and he scored 17 points in the period. Barbosa, who's missed crunch time layups in almost all of the last few games bricked <span style="font-weight: bold;">both</span> his free throws at the 1:30 mark in the final quarter, when the Suns were ahead 108-107.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/674/4422/1600/amare_warriors.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/674/4422/400/amare_warriors.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/674/4422/1600/amare_dunk_warriors.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/674/4422/400/amare_dunk_warriors.0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/674/4422/1600/nash_3_warriors.2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger2/674/4422/320/nash_3_warriors.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>There were a rash of lane violations in the last period and the Suns were fortunate to benefit from one such call against the Warriors in the dying moments of the game. With the score tied at 110 each and just four seconds left, Steve Nash buried a 3 point shot to clinch the game for the Suns.<br /><br />Sure, I'll take an ugly win over a beautiful loss (<span style="font-style: italic;">which is all the Suns have been doing so far</span>) any day. But the Suns have a lot of issues to sort out before they can stretch out and enjoy this win.<br /><br />The most important lessons:<br />(1)We need to play some respectable defense. We've lost way too many double digit leads late in games. Your jumpers are not going to fall all the time and when that happens to all players on the team at once, we need to shore up the defense to keep the lead.<br />(2)Give Amare the ball : our biggest malady so far, has been the inability to close out games. translation - horrible clutch shooting. Amare's one guy in this team who can score every time he gets the ball. Surprisingly, we haven't run the pick and roll with him and Nash, as often as one would've hoped. Further there seems to be an unwillingness on the part of teammates to defer to Amare.<br />But yeah, Amare is just working his way back into the team and needs to earn his teammates' trust in game situations. I believe this is an issue that will get ironed out over the course of the season.<br />(3)Give Marion electric shocks every time he launches a jumper. He's been chucking an outrageous six 3 point shots a game so far. That's an insane amount for someone who has a jumper uglier than Sam Cassell.<br /><br />The string of horribly officiated games for the Suns continued. Against Jazz, Barbosa got called for a phantom 3 pt foul on Okur the other day, while no foul was called when he got hacked on his drive to attempt a potential game winning layup. The Suns got the short end of the stick once more, this time against the Warriors.<br /><br />Last point to remember : we pulled off the win against a Warriors team that did not have their leader Baron Davis, who has been playing out of his mind so far this season. Take this win as an OK one. Not as big turning point in the season. Not yet.<hints id="hah_hints"></hints><br /><br />Suns are now 4-6 and occupy the basement of the Pacific Division.sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-57896049708512477482006-11-21T00:17:00.000-05:002006-11-21T00:41:05.290-05:00Some kind of MonsterI've mentioned in a <a href="http://sunsonfire.blogspot.com/2006/11/emeka-gets-hakeems-mojo.html">previous post</a> that Emeka Okafor is on my team in a 30 team fantasy league. He's been an absolute beast on the defensive end so far, and had yet another wild night out. This time it was against the Mavericks.<br /><br />This was his line for the night: <span id="stats3819_2006112030"> 22 Pts, 13 Reb, 3 Ast, 1 Stl, 8 Blk</span><br /><br />read, <del>analyze</del>, appreciate.<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-5572098708453520512006-11-20T23:48:00.000-05:002006-11-20T23:52:31.514-05:00The pandering goes on..With the Suns struggling to get their heads out their asses, we take pleasure in the prettier things the NBA has to offer.<br /><br /><hints id="hah_hints"></hints><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/1600/182267/cheer_dunk.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/400/345123/cheer_dunk.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-41920615223380711102006-11-20T21:20:00.000-05:002006-11-25T15:47:21.021-05:00Nate Robinson blocks Yao Ming!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/1600/356027/nate_dunk.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger2/674/4422/400/903331/nate_dunk.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />As wild and far-fetched as that title sounds, its true. I was watching the Knicks-Rockets game now as Nate -- probably the second shortest guy in the league -- went airborne to block Yao's shot! As Yao raised the ball to make the shot at the low post, lil' Nate leapfrogged to stop the release while whacking Yao in the eye as he completed the swat.<br /><br />Probably not as great as the Tayshaun-Miller block, but definitely one that will be in highlight reels for a long time now. Remember where you read it first!<br /><br />Update : <a href="http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=video&url=http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/botn/botn_061120.asx&video=blank&nbasite=nba">Link to the video</a> of the block.<hints id="hah_hints"></hints>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-66114293071099580332006-11-20T19:48:00.000-05:002006-11-20T20:06:43.403-05:00Dictator Stern at it againLooks like David Stern is running out of ways to mess with the NBA. In his latest move to assert his authority, Sternbot apparently wants to remove all NBA videos from the internet. Huh? This is exactly what happens when you give a pint-sized lawyer the chance to control a league of monster athletes. Presently, only hoopsworld is carrying this story, so I don't know how true this is. But hey, you can never have enough reasons to hate Stern. [<a href="http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_19422.shtml">full story at hoopsworld</a>]<br /><br />I will post on how to download videos from youtube, google vid etc. in a few hours, so you can download what you want before Stern's minions go to work. <hints id="hah_hints"></hints> In any case, Stern can do diddly squat to services like bittorrent. And there's always the porn versions of youtube! Who would think of looking there? Imagine Stern's underlings dutifully scouring through porntubes looking for NBA highlights!sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-15589164285754682012006-11-18T16:33:00.000-05:002006-11-18T16:36:56.736-05:00Hottest Dunk EVERTalk about feeling orgasmic after watching a dunk.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i.a.cnn.net./si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0611/gallery.nba.cheerleaders1117/images/rockets016375919.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://i.a.cnn.net./si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0611/gallery.nba.cheerleaders1117/images/rockets016375919.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-79985895905998837142006-11-15T17:58:00.000-05:002006-11-22T23:31:46.647-05:00Emeka gets Hakeem's mojo!<span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><del>If the video in this post started playing as soon as you opened this page, and it is annoying you, there are two things you can do : (1) stop the video for now (2)</del> give this blog link to everyone you know, so I get excessive traffic and blogger cancels my account.</span><br /><br />I'm in a fantasy league (on nba.com) along with other guys from this Suns forum I <span style="font-style: italic;">live</span> in. This must be the most scrub-filled fantasy league, ever. By scrubs, I mean the players -- not the GMs..we're a bunch of frikkin' studs. There are 30 (yes 30!!) teams in this league.<br /><br />Here is my team (in decreasing order of scrubness... or is it <span style="font-style: italic;">scrubbosity</span>?) -<br />CP3, Emeka Okafor, Mike Miller(we have a 1 chick per team rule), Barry, Sean May<br />Brevin Knight, Anthony Parker, DeShawn Stevenson, Bostjan Nachbar, Marvin Williams (<span style="font-size:85%;">injured</span>)<br /><br />Since Barry got good playing time last week, I started him ahead of Parker. He responded with 0 pts in 5 mins last night. I can't start Brevin Knight since he doesn't have G eligibility. I'm trying to trade him for a starter.<br /><br />Apart from CP, the only guy who has been putting up big numbers for me is Emeka. The guy has played like a beast this season. He's averaging <span style="font-weight: bold;">19.1</span> pts, <span style="font-weight: bold;">12.7</span> boards, <span style="font-weight: bold;">4.0</span> blks so far. For a guy without hops, 4 bpg (even if its just 7 games) is huge. So I looked around and found some dirt on this. Apparently, <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4093612.html">Emeka attended Olajuwon's inaugural big man camp</a> this offseason. Olajuwon had spent a week helping Emeka last year. This time, Ndudi Ebi and a few others joined him to learn from the only player to win DPOY, regular season MVP and Finals MVP -- all in the <span style="font-style: italic;">same</span> season.<br /><br />My guess is quite a bit of Hakeem's skills rubbed off on Emeka. Here's a short video of the camp from nba.com. Here's the <a href="http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=video&url=http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/nbatv/olajuwon_bigman_camp_060815.asx">link</a>, <del>if the video doesn't work in your browser</del>.<br /><br />Thank you Emeka!<br /><br />UPDATE: Emeka finally got some love from the Godfather of hoops blogging - Henry Abbott at truehoop. Check out his <a href="http://www.truehoop.com/">post</a> on Emeka's past 4 nights out.sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-5678027725731130242006-11-14T17:05:00.000-05:002006-11-14T17:13:43.344-05:00Longoria-Beyonce movie not happeningSorry to break this to you guys, but Eva has <a href="http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,20761070-10388,00.html">denied </a>that she and Beyonce are going to act in a lesbian flick directed by Sofia Coppola.<br />Eva told <em>People </em>magazine: <span style="font-style: italic;">"Believe me, I would love to work with Beyonce one day. She's so talented."</span> <hints id="hah_hints"></hints><br /><br />Agreed Eva -- we too would love to see you <span style="font-style: italic;">work closely</span> with Beyonce.<br />Make it happen. And soon.sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-35421846819671513382006-11-14T03:15:00.000-05:002006-11-14T05:37:20.259-05:00a Turk, a Dirk and a jerkThe Spurs are easily one of the more boring teams to watch in the league. In the unlikely event that there is a Spurs fan reading this, I also admit that your team is the best right now.<br />*grrrrr...*<br />But this guy Brent Barry and his quips are undeniably entertaining.<br /><br />I've been wanting to write about this for a while but it kept slipping my mind. On Spurs' opening night, I watched a clip of Barry conducting a spoof talk show, along with Tony Parker. It was just a brief clip but was funny as hell. I did a quick search and found an account of the evening on <a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA102606.04D.BKNspurs.luncheon.35bb6ec.html">MySA.com.<br /></a><br />The highlights:<br /><br /><span class="vitstorybody"><span class="vitstorybody"><a href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA102606.04D.BKNspurs.luncheon.35bb6ec.html"> </a><span style="font-style: italic;">•Tim Duncan played a Crucian shaman, who, like the old Johnny Carson character, Carnac the Magnificent, could mysteriously guess the answer to a question in a sealed envelope. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Parker to Timmy: Hedo Turkoglu, Nowitzki and P.J. Carlesimo. </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Timmy's reply : <span>A Turk, a Dirk and a jerk</span>?</span></span></span><br /><br /><span class="vitstorybody"><span class="vitstorybody"><span style="font-style: italic;">•Bruce Bowen playing a floppy-haired cowboy lawyer for the law office of Bowen & Bowen. Bowen's character, patterned after the local Wayne Wright commercials, used the slogan, "I Will Defend You." </span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">One of the testimonials for Bowen's firm was from a </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Ray A.: "I'll say this much — he's cheap."</span><br /><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;" class="vitstorybody"><span class="vitstorybody">•A slide show of Beno Udrih's training-camp trip to France. Every picture showed him sitting and, as Parker told the crowd, "doing nothing."</span></span><hints id="hah_hints"><span id="hah_hint_261" name="hah_hint" style="border: 1px solid buttonshadow; padding: 0px 3px; z-index: 500; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -moz-border-radius-topright: 0.3em; -moz-border-radius-bottomright: 0.3em; -moz-border-radius-bottomleft: 0.3em; position: absolute; display: none; top: 147px; left: 24px; color: rgb(176, 0, 206);font-family:helvetica;font-size:x-small;" >261</span><span id="hah_hint_262" name="hah_hint" style="border: 1px solid buttonshadow; padding: 0px 3px; z-index: 500; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -moz-border-radius-topright: 0.3em; -moz-border-radius-bottomright: 0.3em; -moz-border-radius-bottomleft: 0.3em; position: absolute; display: none; top: 234px; left: 3px; color: rgb(176, 0, 206);font-family:helvetica;font-size:x-small;" >262</span></hints><br /><br /><span class="vitstorybody"><span class="vitstorybody"><span style="font-style: italic;"> •A "Behind the Music" episode for grunge hero Fabricio Oberto. Manu Ginobili played Oberto's manager/butcher. Sean Elliott was a crazed, jerry-curled fan named Jermaine.</span><br /><br />(Oberto and grunge? haha)<br />(Ginobili playing a butcher? <a href="http://sunsonfire.blogspot.com/2006/11/somebody-kill-this-guy.html">how apt</a>!)<br /><br />A few other Brent Barry quotes come to mind:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">•"I'd give my right hand to be ambidextrous" </span><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;">•"I was going to wear a T-shirt that said 'White Men CAN Jump', but I didn't want to burst anyone's bubble." </span>(after Barry won the slam dunk competition)<br /><br />Combined with the fact that he <span style="font-style: italic;">kissed</span> (eek!) David Stern, as Bill Walton would say "Barry is the funniest guy in the <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">history</span> of this great sport".<br /><br />PS : Talking of Parker, <span style="font-weight: bold;">did you guys know that Eva Longoria and Beyonce are going to star together in a movie as lesbian lovers</span>?<br />woot!<br />I first read of this on <a href="http://benchrenaldo.blogspot.com/">benchrenaldo</a> and thought it was a rumor. But Conan O'Brien mentioned it on his show tonight, so I guess this is for real. <span style="font-style: italic;">Now to work on getting that ugly image of Parker kissing Jay Z, out of my head. ugh!<br /><br /><br /></span>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-12963424471540943082006-11-14T01:44:00.000-05:002006-11-15T09:45:40.475-05:00Memo to Scoop : stick to 'street', don't try 'funny'Scoop Jackson - the jive talkin' homie from <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=jackson/061113&campaign=rsssrch&source=phoenix+suns">Page 2 is at it again,</a> only this time he sounds less street, more stupid.<br /><br />His lines appear in italics:<br /><br />•<span style="font-style: italic;">They're record is a surprise, but …</span><hints id="hah_hints"></hints><br />Huh?<br />Grammar 101 for Scoop :<br />they're = they are<br />you say <span style="font-style: italic;">"their</span> record", not "they are record"<br /><br />•<span style="font-style: italic;">The Suns are not officially saying anything, but Steve's mythical powers didn't leave with his haircut.</span><br /><del>Did you say <span style="font-style: italic;">mythical</span> ? I appreciate you trying to be funny and tying in a joke about his new hairdo but what the hell are you trying to convey? You do know <span style="font-style: italic;">mythical</span> means <span style="font-style: italic;">imaginary</span>, right?</del> anyone want to help me understand scoop-speak?<br />Actually, an anonymous commenter drove it into my bonehead that the word <span style="font-style: italic;">mythical</span> here, means <span style="font-style: italic;">having qualities suitable to a myth </span>and therefore is a correct usage.<br />D'oh! Sorry Scoop.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">• Raja Bell and Leandro Barbosa are caught up; they think they are stars and have gotten as shot happy as John Starks. They have forgotten that on any other team in the NBA, they'd be All-Stars, but they aren't on any other team. They need reminders of who they really are.</span><br /><br />hundred bucks to anyone who explains that second line to me. most nebulous!<br /><br />•If you found Scoopie stupid so far, listen to this:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Basketball translation: the West's version of the Knicks … with a worse record.<br /><br /></span>damn! why you trippin' on my team man? Brother Scoop -- I feel ya' but I think you're reachin' here.<br /><br />Bottom line to Scoop -- Borrow some analogies from Bill Simmons.....stupid as some of them are, at least they're (<span style="font-style: italic;">this is where you use 'they're</span>') funny.<br /><br /><even></even>sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-55846741684270552302006-11-14T00:08:00.000-05:002006-11-14T00:31:11.028-05:00Jack McCallum left a comment!I wrote about the book on the Suns by Jack McCallum in <a href="http://sunsonfire.blogspot.com/2006/11/seven-seconds-or-less.html">my post</a> entitled "Seven Seconds or Less" on Nov 7th. <hints id="hah_hints"></hints><br /><br />Well, guess what? Mc-<span style="font-style: italic;">frikkin</span>-Callum read this blog this morning and left a comment.OK, OK. It must've been his agent, but who cares -- the comment was left in the name McCallum. I know for a fact that its not a hoax because I looked through my site stats and right about the time that he left a comment, there were a few hits from Time Inc's domain -- they own Simon and Schuster, which is the company thats publishing the book.<br /><br />Here's the <a href="https://beta.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=36225698&postID=4923983579314942068">link</a> to the comment. This is what he had to say:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;"> Hey, thanks for the advance pub on my book.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I'll be in the Valley of the Sun on Dec. 2, a Saturday, signing copies at the Barnes & Noble on 90th St. in Scottsdale. It goes from 2 to 3:30 p.m.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Seven Seconds or Less" makes a great Christmas gift. (Then again, so does a tie.)</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Please stop by, preferably with the twenty-four bucks, but, even without it, we can talk anyway.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Jack McCallum</span></blockquote>No problem Jack! Small problem -- I live in central NJ. You gonna be doing book signings somewhere around here?<br /><br />Woot!sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36225698.post-7815030358262566512006-11-13T09:11:00.000-05:002006-11-13T09:22:53.797-05:00Reminder -- Seven Seconds or Less comes out tomorrowA quick update on McCallum's book on the Suns. Its due out tomorrow, so those of you looking to buy a copy -- go grab one or reserve it online.<br /><br />I've been hearing some controversial and contradicting news on it. On one hand, there have been reports that the book hints at Amare being a negative presence on the team and stuff. The Suns and Coach however, have said that McCallum has presented a balanced portrait of the situation in the team.<br /><br />My feeling is that some random journalists must have read a few sections here and there and come to a conclusion based on that.<br /><br />I'll leave you with a short segment from last year's teaser on SI:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />When Iavaroni demonstrates the way he will teach how to fight through picks, Mike says that he wants Nash to do something different. "Steve has to keep his hands up to ward off [screeners] before they come at him," says D'Antoni. "I'd rather see him push off and go behind the screen than try to squeeze through." </span><br /> <br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> "You're right," says Gentry. "They come after him then." </span><hints style="font-style: italic;" id="hah_hints"></hints><br /><br />Wonder what they do in the defense drills these days. In the SA game, Parker and Oberto (of all people!) killed the Suns with the pick-and-roll, over and over again. The Suns didn't seem to have the slightest clue on how to stop the P&R.sunsonfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14784190935765303770noreply@blogger.com0