The Phoenix Suns are just as hot as that yellow orb in the sky and in some ways even hotter. The Suns are 6 – 1 on the young season leading the Western Conference and a half game up on the Lakers in the Pacific division. The Sun God Ra would be proud of the way Phoenix is scorching the competition. The Suns have exceeded 100 points in every game this year.

Ok, enough with the puns, the Phoenix Suns and Steve Nash took down the Washington Wizards and Gilbert Arenas 102 – 90 in a road game. Road games appear to be a specialty for the Suns who now have a 4 -1 road record.

The Suns were turnover prone early and had to uncharacteristically depend on defense with Jason Richardson and Grant Hill guarding the Washington All Stars Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler.

The Suns are supposed to be flawed defensively and with rebounding. They lured Washington into jump shots and the Wizards wound up shooting 39 percent from the field. Even bigger, they kept the Wizards to 12 second-chance points. Jason Richardson mostly guarded Gilbert Arenas, who went 7 for 22 from the field. Grant Hill covered the Wizards’ other All-Star in action, holding Caron Butler to 7-of-19 shooting while lead the Suns in rebounding for the fourth time in seven games.
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NBAObsessed has discussed the contributions in offense and leadership by Steve Nash before.

——> Steve Nash is raising Arizona

Steve Nash looks one way and passes the other

Steve Nash continues to play at an MVP level for the Suns and this game was no exception. Jason Richardson was not only making Gilbert Arenas work hard, but was the major contributor in the scoring end for the Suns as well.

Nash had 17 assists to go with 11 points, assisting on seven Suns baskets in the third quarter that sent the Suns to the fourth quarter with an 80-71 lead. Jason Richardson led the Suns’ scoring again with 22 points, including four of the Suns’ 12 3-pointers. The Suns’ frontcourt players all had double-doubles – Hill (13 points, 13 rebounds, Amar’e Stoudemire (17 points, 12 rebounds) and Channing Frye (18 points, 10 rebounds).

It is early in the season, but maybe we took the Phoenix Suns and Steve Nash a little too lightly in our predictions of an easy Laker Division win.

Image: Zuma Press

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As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

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There was 1:47 left in the game and the greatest player currently playing in the NBA (well, except maybe for Kobe) on the planet had the ball in his hands.

The score was 87 to 82. The game was in hand. The Cavaliers would win game 5. This playoff thing was easy.

LeBron milked the clock. The cameras showed the Cleveland Coach Mike Brown and he looked tense. LeBron shoots and misses a three by three feet. Washington flies down the court forces up a shot and gets the rebound and scores.

Cleveland would continue to mild the clock with LeBron now passing and other players missing shots.

First, James missed a wild 3-pointer and Daniel Gibson followed with another 3-point miss. Joe Smith missed a short jumper and Zydrunas Ilgauskas missed a tip shot. Instead of going strong to the hole or at least forcing the officials to call a foul, the Cavs settled for the pretty outside shots.
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Washington would continue to race down the court and score, until they were 1 point behind. Then they put the ball in Caron Butler’s hands. He had been hot all night. Caron drove on LeBron James and scored the game winner.

The Washington Wizards had won the game 88 – 87 and my thoughts were on the Cleveland Coach. Would Mike Brown retain his job for next year?

The final shot by Washington was taken by Caron Butler, who had 32 to LeBron James 34. Here is what he was thinking before the shot.

“I didn’t want to settle,” Butler said. “I didn’t want to look back on the season and say I settled for a jump shot and probably bailed out the defender. I wanted to just try to go in there and get contact and try to get it to go in.”

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This YouTube will show Caron’s brilliant night including his final shot.

It is back to Washington for a game 6 and Caron Butler is the hero.

NBA Basketball special comment The old it ain’t over till it is over. Cleveland mismanaged the final minute of the game. LeBron can’t be expected to win everything.

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He took the opt-out in his contract this past June.

Washington management has everything in the world to worry about.  Gilbert wants to play for a team that could possibly win a NBA Championship.

Arenas has blossomed into one of the league’s biggest stars, a legitimate MVP candidate who’s averaged 29.3 and 28.4 points, respectively, the last two seasons.

Offensively, there is nothing he can’t do. He provided a thrilling reminder of that again last season, scoring 40 points or more on nine occasions, including three games of 50-plus and one 60-point night against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. He won four contests with last-second shots, proving his worth in the clutch.

Washington claims Gilbert is happy with the fans, the city, the team, the hotdogs sold at the arena, but that just does not matter.  Arenas wants to feel like a winner by playing for a winner.

Wow, starting to sound like Kobe all over again.

The difference is Gilbert is only 25.  Yeah, he is still a kid in NBA years.

Some question whether Gilbert can make his game over into a team style game, but if you were a General Manager wouldn’t you want to test that theory?

The Wizards are an exciting team with playoff structural problems.  (Decode: All offense and no defense)

With Arenas, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison, the Wizards have the highest-scoring trio in the league. Arenas was third in the league in scoring last season, while Butler became an All-Star for the first time by raising his level of play significantly, averaging 19.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.1 steals. Jamison, an All-Star two seasons ago, averaged 19.8 points and 8.0 rebounds.

Together, that trio was impressive, but the Wizards didn’t have the defensive presence in the frontcourt to separate from the pack and get 50 wins. They were fourth in scoring but 28th defensively, allowing 104.9 points per game.

The Washington Wizards better get it together soon or Gilbert will be taking his game on the road!

NBA Basketball Fan Question  Can Gilbert adapt to a team game?

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