I 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 'fro to punk and the web-barber will immediately do that on a Nash caricature.
(the Mr.Clean style makes him look like a total skinhead).
Here's the link.
I 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 nice game report by Lang Whitaker at SLAM.
The highlights:
When the dust settled, the numbers were amazing:
• Phoenix 161, New Jersey 157
• Kidd finished with 38 points, 14 rebounds (all defensive rebounds) and 14 assists
• Nash had a career-high 42 points and 13 assists
• Shawn Marion played 49 minutes and scored 33 points
• Vince Carter had 31 points and 9 assists
• Boris Diaw had 16 points and 14 assists
• There were 34 lead changes
• The Suns hit 17 of 31 from three, and the Nets went 10 for 21
Box Score
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!”
And yeah, check the highlights out on nba.com. Pay attention to Vince's walk (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 moving screen or a travel?
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 need 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.
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.
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 both his free throws at the 1:30 mark in the final quarter, when the Suns were ahead 108-107.
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.
Sure, I'll take an ugly win over a beautiful loss (which is all the Suns have been doing so far) any day. But the Suns have a lot of issues to sort out before they can stretch out and enjoy this win.
The most important lessons:
(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.
(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.
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.
(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.
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.
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.
Suns are now 4-6 and occupy the basement of the Pacific Division.
I'm a freaking insomniac and literally stayed up all night -- its 6:40 am in NJ now and the best part is I don't drink coffee or consume caffeine in any form. From what I recall, I must've read at least 20 NBA blogs and 40 articles on sports websites since midnight...but sure as hell, all of it seems like a blur. This last piece by Jerry Brown I read in EVT is one that stood out probably because it has to do with Nash and Antoni -- my favorite and (currently) un-favorite Suns respectively.
Nash mentions that he expected this lousy start and suggests the training camp in Europe was a stupid idea. This quote says it all:
I came into camp in better shape than I was when I came back from Italy
Coach Antoni -- who lost the right to carry 'D' in this blog -- has been in my doghouse (yeah, I'm brutal like that) for a long time because of his inability to get the team to play even imaginary defense. He's never shown the ability to adapt to game situations or run plays without Nash on the floor. Heck, does this guy even have a play book? Anyway, listening to this line from da MP3 further tarnishes my image of Antoni as a coach:
“(Coach) Mike (D’Antoni) gives us a lot of freedom. We don’t have to be in the gym all day long. But that puts the responsibility on each guy to make sure you are prepared, that you do your work. You could see we were behind. And when that happens, it makes everything harder."
I don't blame you if you're pissed at Antoni now. This next line is sure to crack you up though.
Nash went out of his way to compliment the players he thought were working hard and tempered his praise for those he thought needed to catch up. Any guesses as to who the hard workers were? Thomas, Leandro Barbosa and Pat Burke. hah!
All you Burke haters can eat crow now. I know he didn't play well against Memphis but I have a strong feeling he did that to save his best moves for the playoffs. He could be our Robert Horry this season. (I actually typed that with a straight face though it wasn't my intention -- thats how freaking sleep deprived I am!)
This is the link to the full story:
Nash: Suns came into season out of shape
An interesting Antoni quote I came across elsewhere..on whether Raja will be affected by the stricter officiating:
"Raja's fine, because he'll get thrown out, anyway. It's either a carjacking or nothing. He doesn't have any petty thief [in him]."
Raja Bell will be out for the next two games, thanks to Ginobili's elbow into his chest. Paul Coro reports:
Suns guard Raja Bell will miss at least two games — home games tonight against Dallas and Saturday against Memphis — because of a left rib contusion he suffered in the final minute of Phoenix's overtime loss Wednesday at San Antonio.
Manu Ginobili struck Bell — away from the ball — and was called for the offensive foul. Bell then pinballed into Tim Duncan and pitched forward onto the floor.
Nash is doubtful for tonight's game because of a hip strain he suffered last night.
Some news on Diaw too:
Boris Diaw also suffered a mild ankle sprain when he slipped in the first quarter but is expected to play tonight.
A sprained ankle is what happens when you're too heavy for your feet, you croissant-hogging, chcolate milk-chugging pig!
M
yoo hoo! Here is the video of Nash getting super goofy while arguing an out of bounds call. This clip has only half of his performance but its good enough.
M
Finally a win. I was tired of the string of preseason losses followed by the LA fiasco. It was time to play Suns basketball and the entire team showed up. Two-time MVP Steve Nash had a solid game, finishing with 20 pts, 11 assts.
The Clippers started the game off real quick, surging to a 10-3 lead. The Suns responded well to make a 6-0 run. It was nice to see some hustle after that slow-as-molasses showing against the Lakers. Amare checked in at 7:30 and proved to be the difference (who would have thought!). He got some early touches and converted on each of his first four shots in the Q. He started with two reverse layups, followed up with a banked jumper and closed the quarter with a turnaround jumper. The two reverse layups would've been monster slams two yrs back but who the hell cares, so long as he's scoring! I should add it was nice to see some soft touch from Black Jesus.
The Suns packed the paint making it tough for the Clippers to score inside and finished the quarter with a 24-20 lead. Kurt Thomas did a fairly decent job on Brand early on but IIRC, he did not jump once during the game (OK I was exaggerating, but show me some hops - you're a freakin' NBA baller!).
Super-Small Ball
D'Antoni had ridiculously some lineups in the game at times. At one point in the first quarter, he played a 3 guard lineup - Banks, Nash, Barbosa - along with Amare and Marion. Yes - Banks and Nash played together. I'd imagine it was to get Banks some time alongside Nash to let him see first-hand how the maestro runs the show. Banks had a pretty ordinary outing as a PG last night but scored efficiently finishing with 13 points on 4-6 shooting. Not bad, considering how he struggled in the preseason. Banks had only 1 assist in 15 mins on the floor but Barbosa made up for that with 4 assists. I guess, Barbosa just needs to be told he isn't the backup PG and he'll do a good job of dishing!
Kurt's night out
Kurt Thomas had a horrible night after the refs started to go after him for so much as breathing Brand's air. He got called for laying in a shot even as Brand almost fouled him. Just a few secs later, he got called again for grabbing a loose ball ahead of Brand. This time KT totally lost it and slammed the ball to the floor, getting called for a T. Can't blame him for that! He fouled out of the game in the 4th Q, having played just 12 mins in the game.
The bright side : We got out-rebounded just by eight, 44-52 in a game w/o much help from KT.
Nash's huge and goofy second half
Stevie had a monster second half, as he decided to take over the game. He had 17 pts and 8 assts in just the second half. Sometime in the 4th Q, the refs made an incorrect call as the ball went out of bounds through Brand's legs (brushing them on the way), as Marion and Brand battled for possession. In trying to remonstrate with the officials Nash did possibly the weirdest, goofiest of his career. The following account doesn't do justice to how outrageously funny his performance was:
Nash had this look like he was saying 'ooohhhhhhhhhhh' and pointing his hands in one direction, squatting like he's defending moving sideways all the while -- only he was doing this after the ball went out and was facing the sideline as he did this.
Even the commentators couldn't hold back their laughter as they played the clip over and over.
Marion goes berserk with his blocks
Marion played the second half like a mad man. He was excellent on defense and scored like he always does, finishing with 27/10. At the 10:30 mark in the 3rd Q, he blocked Kaveman Kaman (couldn't resist that, sorry) two times successively as Kaman tried in vain to make his shot. The defensive work from Marion was easily the second biggest highlight of the night, coming a close second to Nash's theatrics.
Brand contained (so to speak)
EB had scored 30+ points against the Suns in the past 9 games. Last night he was "contained" to to 28 points, thanks to some decent defense.
Positives from the game
I found the following videos from Nash's Charity Classic. The first video has him showing off his soccer wizardry with another soccer guy (also named Steve). This guy Nash never ceases to amaze me! If you feel emasculated at the end of the video, don't tell me you weren't warned.
Same juggling from another angle followed by Nash trying to head the ball into the hoop. Watch it. Its fun!
To make you feel better about yourself after this flurry of videos, watch the next one. Many of you must remember this from the spurs forum from late last season. Its the one with Nash's godawful expression.
The Suns website has an article summarizing Hoop magazine's article on Nash's life off the court. Be sure to check it out. (full story)
What I gleaned from it-
Nash's favorite Will Ferrell character : Mugatu from Zoolander
His recent non-basketball activities: batting practice with SF Giants, working out with the New York Red Bulls (MLS), deep-sea fishing (bass fishing is a sport on ESPN, right?) in the Bahamas with Suns teammates.
Quoteworthy:
“It’s about giving yourself a chance and trying to just stay with it, and keep that desire to win as big as ever, But I really feel like we’re going to win one.”
RSS Feed