Suns vs. Hornets

This game deserves its own blog for a number of reasons.  I have tried thus far to be impartial, and only look at numbers because I don't get to check out action from each game.  But I was fortunate enough to turn on this game midway through the 3rd quarter.  This could be arguably the best game of the year.  I will run down this game from top to bottom

Pre-game factors

First off this is a match up of the two top teams in the western conference.  Playing in the rambunctious city of Phoenix.  You have the two top point guards in the league facing each other.

Chris Paul just came off a game that he was not so stellar in,  but he has had to have back to back games of Williams and Nash.  You think he had those days marked off on his calendar?  Since he was coming off that stinker game last night, you knew he was going into this game gunning tonight.

Pargo was coming off of a big game scoring 24 off the bench and really finding his place as a big time option for this team.

Then of course there is the Suns drama that happened in the last 24 hours...

I checked espn.com last night and literally gasped out loud.  My initial reaction was that this was one of the stupidest trades I have ever seen.  Rumors of Shaq retiring before the season even ended, and then they are trading someone who will only be 30 this May for Shaq's old butt.  But then I gave it some time...

Here are the upsides for the Suns in this trade.  As much as you could argue it, the Suns weren't going to win a title with the line-up that they had.  They would win some series, push teams to the limit.  But in the end they did not have the toughness or physical dominance down low.  

The Big Diesel will not be able to run up and down the court, but on fast breaks this team isn't going to run the ball through 5 players in 5 seconds anyways.  Shaq gets to go to a team where he isn't the first option (Nash, Stoudemire), so that rules out him being the second option, he isn't the third option (Barbosa), and with the way that Diaw played tonight he doesn't even need to be the fourth, fifth or sixth option (Bell, Hill, Diaw)  So on any given night, Shaq could lead the way (he still has a couple more of those games left in him) or he could finish 7th in line and it wouldn't definitely mean a L for the squad.  In Miami, it was either Shaq, Wade or a L.

Shaq had incredible court sense, can stare over top his defenders and is an excellent low-post passer.  Which has the ability to gel right in with this offense.

The game:

There was enough pre-drama to this game I didn't even need to talk about this game.  It didn't even need to be close, good, quality, nail-biting, right down to the wire.  But the Suns and Hornets decided to put on a show.

First I'll break down the jaw dropping numbers from this game.

Hornets

Paul, getting one of the best lines of the year going for 42 in points, 9 in assists, 5 boards, 8 steals and only 1 turnover.  Unbelievable.

Pargo went for a big time 22 points, including 4 clutch clutch free throws (6-6 total)

West finished with a double double getting 21 points, 13 boards and adding 2 blocks to the pile.

Stojakovic scored 26 and added 6 boards.  Most impressively was his shouldn't-go-in game winner at the buzzer of the 2nd OT.

Suns

Nash's line reads 32 points, 12 assists and 4 boards.  But the glaring stat is the 10 turnovers.  To be fair, many of those came at the lightning quick hands of Paul while Nash was fearlessly driving the lane.  Huge clutch trey's at the end of the game as well as focused intensity and leadership are things that just the stats won't show (All this to be said, I will never change my stance on stat's on their position of truth telling as opposed to falsehood (stats don't lie))

Look down the box score a little more and you see another monster game.  Stoudemire scoring 26 and pulling down a massive 20 off the glass, he added 4 blocks to his total as well.

Other big numbers came from Barbosa who rang in 22, many of which came from clutch fade away 3's. 

Diaw matched Barbosa's 22, getting a season high for him.  I would have liked to seem him go to the basket fearlessly instead of passing a couple times when he was less than 2 feet from the rim.

Hill and Bell both had respectable lines.  Bell scoring 11 and pulling down 5, and Hill scoring 8, 4 assists and grabbing 6 misses, including the one that saved the day in OT 1 for the Suns, when he chased down the ball and kicked it out to Barbosa.

Another interesting stat is seeing the rookie Strawberry coming off the bench and scoring 9 in 11 min of play.  He also showed a lot of hustle on the defensive end, and provided a spark plug for the fans a well timed rest for the big guns.

This game will be better than most games you will see in the post-season.

A couple random notes at the end

Paul had two chances to win the game with buzzer beater shots, both from less than 15 feet from the basket

Paul's quickness is unfathomable, he can move and cut like nothing I have ever seen.

Strawberry injected life at just the right time for this team.  Getting a well deserved applause when he came out of the game with 9 min left.

Kudos to the Phoenix crowd for knowing that the rookie would not come back in the game, even though there was a lot of time left and he left it with a hot hand.

Another kudos to the Phoenix crowd for showing all other NBA arena's how to act, that is what home court advantage looks like.

I hope that Shaq's ego does not get in the way of a team first-me second Phoenix attitude.  He pointed to his finger signifying that he would bring them a ring.

The good and bad in Shaq's history, the last two times he was traded to a team he has brought them a ring.  Unfortunately he has left both of those teams in dismal states, the Lakers struggled for a couple years after and the Heat are now the worst team in the NBA.  So the Suns could quite possibly bring home a championship this year, but also be in some pretty rough shape in the not to distant years to follow.

I hope you all enjoyed these stats as much as I did.  I will get to the rest of the night in a short while.

I love this game!