Amare And The Suns

I'm not usually one for posting mid-game, but this warrants a quick post. The Suns are playing the Timberwolves tonight in Minnesota. The T-Wolves are the worst team in the NBA, the Suns have the best record in the West. Despite beating the T-Wolves by 20 a week and a half ago in Phoenix, the Suns lost the last time they were in Minnesota. Going into the game you figure the Suns have a good chance to win, as they are finally starting to play good ball and, well, it's the T-Wolves. They started out good, jumping out to a 16-6 lead to start the game. However, it is now halftime, and the score is 65-50 in favor of the T-Wolves. The difference? Well, let me get into that...

Steve Nash and the Suns had a pretty obvious gameplan early on, going to Amare early and often. He scored the first 6 points for the Suns, and was 6-6 for 12 points when the Suns were ahead 16-6. What happened from there on out? Well, Amare stopped playing. Or they stopped getting him the ball. I'm not really sure which.

From the point Amare was 6-6 in the first 5 minutes of the game, he has taken only three shots since. And he made two of them. So he is 8-9 with 19 points at halftime. That sounds like a good line, but when you consider how he started, how he finished, and how the team fared during those two times. you notice something is missing.

I don't care what anyone says, or thinks, or believes. The Suns run through Amare, and they go as he goes. He is ON FIRE in this game, yet somehow only got 3 shots in the last 19 minutes of the first half. And in that time, the Suns got outscored 59-34. Coincidence? I don't think so.

Time for the second half, let's hope they get Amare the ball early and often, as i don't want to see them lose to the T-Wolves again. More thoughts after the game (including how terrible LB has played so far and how Hill looks getting his legs back...)