Suns lose yet again

First half
The Suns started off well enough and raced to 19-10 lead early in the first quarter. Sure enough, the Suns left their stamp on the game letting the Mavs make 24-7 run to finish the first quarter.
For the brief while Banks was on the floor, he made his presence felt -- by fouling a lot. From what I see of him so far, he can't pass to save his life. He looks pretty lost for the most part.

Marion was trigger happy for most of the first half, jacking up four three pointers, connecting only on one of them. I've never been a huge fan of Antoni's coaching acumen -- he's never showed any. This team basically depends on Nash to run the show.

The least Antoni can do is ask Marion to get his ass in the lane and score in the paint.He continues to flabbergast with his refusal to make in-game adjustments. Is it that hard to stop a poor 3 point shooter from taking less number of shots than the best marksman on the team - Nash?

Second half
Hot shooting from both teams -- more so from the Mavs. Nash continued turning the ball over. Marion continued jacking up 3s and long range shots. Which brings me back to the point of Coach. What the eff did Antoni tell them during the half time break? Plain awful planning.
The defense was simply horrendous.
The 3rd quarter ended 85-93 in favor of the Mavs, with Dirk continuing to torch the Suns. At the end of the quarter, the Suns had accomplished the unthinkable by trailing in spite of shooting 57% from the field, but yeah, the Mavs were shooting 60% by then.

The Suns started the 4th quarter 10-2 to make the game close. Jalen Rose came up with a sweet 10 foot jumper to give the Suns the lead for the first time in the second half at 99-98. The game see-sawed from here on, with the Mavs controlling the game for the most part.

With the Suns down 4 points at 112-116 Stoudemire was called for an offensive foul. The Mavs went on to bury the free throws to take a stranglehold on the game.
Downhill all the way from here on.
Final score 119-112 Mavs.

No excuses -- the Suns played like a bunch of schoolgirls.

M

Josh Howard rumoured to have signed 4 year extension with the Mavs

ESPN.com reports that Josh Howard has signed a 4 year contract extension with the Mavs for a sum of over $40 mil. Just 5 days back, Dallas Morning News reported that Howard was miffed with the Mavs for low-balling him.

Cuban had offered him a contract in the near abouts of 5/28 or so and Howard was rightfully insulted by the offer. He is after all, the no.2 option in a team that reached the NBA finals last season. Considering that Cuban had been asshole enough to let Nash go (God bless him for that!), a lot of us Suns fans thought that he was going to make the same mistake with Howard. I guess it was just wishful thinking on our part :)

With Josh now signed to an extension, Diaw and Hinrich remain the most prominent contributors from the 2003 draft class not to have been extended by their respective teams. I'm sure most would agree that Diaw is a far better player than Diaw...well they are very different players, but its no secret that Diaw is far more versatile and talented. duh! 3D can play all 5 positions. Can you think of anyone else who can do that in today's league?




To quote the ESPN article,

It's believed the Mavericks, sensing the issue might linger with Howard all season, increased their offer in recent days to make it clear to the swingman how much they value him.

Now thats a smart organization. Come on D'Antoni! Do something and sign Diaw before Oct 31.


I know what you're thinking -

He's French! So he must be rude. I don't want anymore technicals!

But you do know that your theory was proved wrong 2 days back when the genial Canadian on the team cursed.

SIGN DIAW PRONTO!