The Phoenix Suns came to play this year, led by MVP candidate Steve Nash and coached by Terry Porter.

NBAObsessed has written about Steve and the Suns before.

This one came out yesterday:

Steve Nash and the Red Hot Suns

And this one came out a week ago:

Steve Nash is raising Arizona

Now the Phoenix Suns are leading the Power Rankings from NBA.com edging out the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Here is what John Shuman had to say about Phoenix.

Pace: 100.6 (2), Off: 109.1 (5), Def: 103.8 (15)
Most impressive about the Suns’ start is that five of their seven games have been on the road. In handing the Celtics their first loss on Friday, they made Boston look like a bad defensive team. Then the Suns got defensive themselves in Washington.
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Surprising Atlanta is positioned at number 6 by sacrificing defense for offense led by Jamal Crawford the former New York Knick.

Even more surprising is Portland at number 9 using a 3 guard lineup featuring Andre Miller the former 76er.

LeBron is stuck at 11

Woeful, at least woeful for Cleveland, the Cavaliers are placed at number 11. NBAObsessed warned that adding Shaq may plug up the middle and slow down the team. There are no doubts that Shaq can still play high caliber ball for a game or two, but for a season? Remains to be seen. Hopefully Shaq proves NBAObsessed wrong on this one, because how can you not root for the Shaq?

Mike Brown admits that he’s still experimenting with his lineups, looking for the right combinations. The Shaq/Ilgauskas twin-towers frontcourt is even (+0) in 33 minutes of floor time, but Shaq and LeBron are a -11 in 122 minutes together. They need time.

As a side note my Detroit Pistons are lagging back at number 18, three spots up from last week, but have lost Hamilton and Prince to injuries and are depending on an aging Ben Wallace.

Chris Paul and the Hornets are stuck at 25. What has happened to them?

Last and least are the Knicks and Nets. New York is certainly hurting for good basketball right now.

Photo source Newscom

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Grant Hill, who used to play for my Pistons (as if the ownership was mine. ha-ha) and Jason Richardson, who used to play for my Michigan State Spartans (hey, your intrepid author did graduate from there and paid a ton of expenses for that diploma, which sort of makes me an owner.) led Phoenix to their 5th victory in a row.

Phoenix 118 Denver 115

Grant Hill can still play!

Now in the who cares category, why should we care?

Hey, remember how crowded the playoff situation is in the Western Conference with 7 teams trailing the Lakers and having between 42 and 47 victories? Well, the Suns just won game 39. Hope springs for at least the rest of the season or when mathematically eliminated.

Hill hit a 12-foot jumper in the lane to break a tie with 58.6 seconds remaining, then added a free throw with 6.2 seconds left to help Phoenix extend its season-high winning streak to five games in a 118-115 victory over Denver on Monday night.

“That may have been the only jumper I hit,” said Hill, who had a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds, but also committed six turnovers.

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Now add this scoring note.

The Suns have averaged 131.5 points a game in their last four, passing Golden State to become the highest-scoring team in the NBA with a 108.8 average. The Suns ranked fifth in the league at 104.4 points per game when Alvin Gentry replaced Terry Porter at the All-Star break.

Photo source Newscom

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Are we forgetting Tim Duncan? Will the Spurs just go away? Has Duncan lost his drive?
Nah!
Tim is always ready come playoff time and as usual is the ultimate mismatch player alternating short drives with post up moves making it very difficult to stop him.

Tim Duncan of the Spurs scores easily over David Lee of the Knicks

But take a look at the Western Conference.
With just a little over 10 games to go in the regular season.

The Lakers dominate with 54 victories and look solid with a returning Bynum.

But the rest of the group?

Houston 46 victories
San Antonio 45
Denver 45
New Orleans 43
Utah 43
Portland 43
Dallas 42
and Phoenix on the outside looking in with 37 victories.

As you can see, it is too early to figure out playoff matchups and it is the matchups that matter, but you can count on Tim Duncan having the Spurs ready for the NBA Playoffs.

Photo source Newscom

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Man, today there was this crazy thought rolling through my head. What if the Pistons had kept Chauncey Billups and Iverson had stayed on the Nuggets?

Nowhere to go with that thought, so how about taking a look at how some of this player movement and coaching movement is working out?

Chauncey Billups from Detroit to Denver
Denver is 7 – 3 in their last 10 games and in 1st place

Allen Iverson from Denver to Detroit
Detroit is 4 – 6 and in second place.

Ron Artest from everywhere to Houston
Houston is 7 – 3 and in 1st place

Jermaine O’Neal from Indiana to Toronto
Toronto is 3 – 7 and dead last in the Atlantic Division

Rick Carlisle to coach Dallas
Dallas is 8 – 2 but only in 4th place in the Southwest

Terry Porter to coach Phoenix
Phoenix is 5 -5 and in second place behind the Lakers

Mike D’Antoni to coach the Knicks
3 – 7 and 4th place in the same division as the Celtics

Mo Williams to Cleveland
9 – 1 in the last 10 and first place over the Pistons

This is a fun one
Elton Brand from L.A. Clippers to Philadelphia
Baron Davis from Golden State to L.A. Clippers
Corey Maggette from L.A. Clippers to Golden State

76er’s 4 -6 3rd place
Clip’s 2 – 8 5th place
Warriors 1 – 9 but still in 3rd place

Which just begs the question, what if Chauncey Billups had never left the Pistons?
Photo source Newscom

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OK, we are all up in arms about NBA players signing overseas. What are they thinking of? This is the NBA. Stay here.

Sun Yue taking it to the rack

Of course, they are thinking of money and lots of it.

So why are we not up in arms when the NBA signs some other countries player?

Sun Yue

The Lakers signed Sun Yue of the Chinese team.

The 6-foot-9, 212-pound Sun was the Lakers’ second-round draft pick last year. He played with the Aoshen club in Beijing and with the Chinese national team before the Olympics.

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Superbad Superman has a stress fracture, but not to worry. It will heal in time for the next set of practices on July 21. That is when training camp resumes.

“It’s a six to eight week recovery time, and this is the sixth week,” said Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski, who expects Howard to be fully healed by the time the team reconvenes for training camp July 21.

Still, the injury is worrisome for the Americans, who are planning to go to Beijing with just three big men — Howard, Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer. If Howard were to aggravate the injury, that lack of front-line depth could become a major issue.
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Dwight Howard has some serious guns for a hoop player

Image details: Philadelphia 76ers v Orlando Magic served by picapp.com

Something just does not seem right here. The USA has come right out and said that they planned this to win the Olympics. Then went out and put Tayshaun Prince on the team as proof that a non-superstar great defender clutch player could make the team.

But…They still did not stock the team with big guys and took too many guys that just like to score. Do you really need Carmelo Anthony and Michael Redd, when you have Kobe Bryant and LeBron James? And why are there no Celtics on this team?

My good friend RonB wonders why we don’t just take the NBA Champion team and send them to the Olympics. My addition would be to add a few players to their bench like Kobe and LeBron. Can you imagine the announcers getting all over Rondo in the Olympics? Ok, add Chris Paul as well.

Let’s say Howard reinjures his sternum. Just a hypothetical.

That leaves Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer as your big guys.

Chris is 6′ 10″ tall and weighs 230.

Carlos Boozer is 6′ 9″ and weighs 266.

Now Dwight Howard is a little taller at 6′ 11″ and weighs 265.

Wait a minute, no 7 footers at all? Howard sits and we go to a thin 6′ 10″ or a heavier 6′ 9″?

Check out the rest of the roster, no big guys there.

Joining Williams and Boozer on the ‘08 Olympic team are fellow NBA stars Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Jason Kidd, LeBron James, Chris Paul, Michael Redd, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Tayshaun Prince.
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Yes, yes, the trend lately in college and NBA is to be more mobile, less defense and more offense. Boston’s center was only 6′ 10″ Kendrick Perkins, but he weighed 280 and had 6′ 11″ Kevin Garnett right beside him.

The Pistons had 6′ 11″ Rasheed Wallace. The Lakers had 7′ Pau Gasol. The Spurs had 6′ 11″ Tim Duncan. Maybe all that small ball is not working.

On the bright side, when Dwight Howard is healthy, he is a beast of a player and even without polished moves down on the blocks, he often commands a double team.

Go USA! Take the Gold in the Olympics.

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Kobe about to be fouled

Image details: Utah Jazz v Los Angeles Lakers, Game 1 served by picapp.com

Kobe is expected to be presented with the NBA MVP award, but he got in a hurry and put on an MVP performance for the LA crowd in defeating the Utah Jazz.

Los Angeles 109 Utah 98

Kobe set a foul shooting franchise record.

Bryant, celebrating what’s expected to be his first NBA MVP award, converted six of his franchise playoff-record 21 foul shots in the fourth quarter, and the Los Angeles Lakers held off the Utah Jazz 109-98 Sunday to begin the second round of the playoffs.

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So just how good are the Lakers?

The Lakers were outrebounded by the Utah Jazz 58-41 on Sunday afternoon. The disparity in offensive rebounds was even more pronounced, 25-8. No surprise then that the Jazz also posted a significant edge in second-chance points, 26-12.

I don’t offer these numbers as mere arithmetic, but as statistical anomalies in evidence of just how good the Lakers really are. The team that controls the boards — especially the offensive boards, especially come playoff time — is almost always the winning team. But these Lakers do so many things so well — a more diversely talented team than any in the game — they can actually overcome an ass-kicking on the glass.

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Mehmet Okur had 21 points and 19 rebounds in the losing cause.

Kobe had 38 points 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Not a bad night for the MVP.

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Tracy McGrady in his signature form, shooting the jump shot in Atlanta

It has to be smoke and mirrors.

How are they doing it? There is no Yao. The ultimate collapse was predicted.

Yet, the Houston Rockets rolled once again.

Houston 83 Atlanta 75

Ok, so the Hawks are not exactly prime time with Mike Bibby or not, it is still 20 in a row!

The Rockets tied the second longest win streak in NBA History and were led by Tracy McGrady.

The Rockets joined the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers (33 straight) and 1970-71 Milwaukee Bucks (20) as the only teams to win 20 or more in a row.

“We did enough to win,” Adelman said.

Tracy McGrady scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half for Houston, which led only 71-70 with 5 minutes remaining. McGrady then scored five points in Houston’s 10-0 run to take control.
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Now this gets complicated, because the number of non-contenders on the win streak schedule. Even when they faced the Mavericks, Dirk Nowitzki was serving a one game suspension for brutality. The experts will say that Houston has beaten no one and their playoff spot is still in jeopardy and there is some truth to that statement.

But come on, 20 in a row against Middleville Junior High would still be impressive. The NBA is a grind. You get any team at home and they are apt to shoot the lights out and beat you just for some momentary respect.

And give some credit to the players that have stepped up in Yao’s absence, like Battier, Alsten, Landry and others.

And defense, did anyone tell you, Houston is playing some fine defense.

Houston allowed only 89.3 points per game during its 19 straight wins and set a low scoring pace against the Hawks.

…Houston has held two straight opponents to 75 or fewer points, following a 91-73 win over New Jersey on Monday.

So there is Houston one game away from the Lakers and the best record in the Western Conference and still no respect for what they have accomplished.

“It’s unbelievable,” McGrady said. “For me to be on this team that has accomplished 20 straight wins, that has got to be right up there with the most gratifying things I’ve accomplished in this league. … You look at the Bulls that were 72-10, they didn’t even do it. So this is pretty remarkable.”

Added Adelman: “You could see the guys, it really means something to get this and just keep not only the streak going, but keep moving in the right direction.”

The Rockets are for real and seem to have rallied around Yao and the feeling of them against the world.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will the Rockets make an impact in the playoff?

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Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain knocked down 100 points in a single game in 1962.

The Warriors won, 169-147, setting what was then a record for the most combined points in a game by both teams. But the game is most remembered for the 100 points scored by Warriors center Wilt Chamberlain, who demolished the NBA single-game scoring record. source

How good was Wilt?

In the following night, Chamberlain got the permission to travel back to New York with three Knicks players. According to Cherry, Chamberlain drifted in and out of sleep and got a kick overhearing the NY players talk about the “S.O.B. who scored 100 points on us”.[8] Another night later, the Warriors and the Knicks squared off again in Madison Square Garden. This time, Imhoff played all 48 minutes and got a standing ovation for holding Chamberlain to “only” 54 points.

Yeah, baby, only 54 points. Way to hold ‘em.

Kobe and the 81

In 2006, Kobe put up 81 on the Toronto Raptors.

Bryant scored all but 15 of the Lakers’ 42 points in the third quarter, shooting 11-of-15 including 4-of-5 from 3-point range. Six of his points came during a 12-0 run to finish the period, giving Los Angeles a 91-85 lead. source

Is it possible to compare the two games? Kelly Dwyer at Ball Don’t Lie seems to think so.

First, number of possessions.

First, the context of the era: there were, way, way, way more possessions in an NBA game back then. This was a running league, much more than any NBA-style track meet you may have seen in any of the last 30 years. Not only did Wilt’s Philadelphia Warriors score 125.4 points per game, they gave up 122.7. A team featuring Wilt Chamberlain (50.6 on field goals) shoots 43.9 percent from the floor, and scored 125.4 points per game. Think about that.

Second, Wilt’s team tried to foul to set up the record.

I didn’t, but earlier this winter I read Gary M. Pomerantz’ Wilt, 1962. It’s a compelling account of Wilt’s life, that night, but it also details the ways in which a bemused Warrior squad tried to help Wilt pad his stats in blowout win: namely, they fouled the heck out of the Knicks in the game’s final quarter in order to get the ball back in Wilt’s hands.

Third, the defense.

They didn’t, but they had less of a chance than the Knicks team Wilt scored on. Starting center Phil Jordan missed the game suffering from equal parts cocktail and legitimate flu, and rookie Darrall Imhoff was forced into action against a player that was a good half-foot taller than and three times better than most centers in the NBA; Imhoff included.

It is always hard to compare era’s in any sport, but there is no denying that both of these accomplishments are unbelievable.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Will anyone ever score over a 100 in a game?

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Kobe Bryant gets Pau Gasol

Which teams benefited the most from the recent signing frenzy?

10. Kidd to Mavericks – This trade fell through, would still have been a great move for the Mavs.

9. Kidd to Mavericks – This trade worked after about a week, is taking longer than that for it to work for the Mavs. Dirk Nowitzki gets the ball in the right place.

8. Bibby to Hawks – Young team needed a scoring leader. Bibby is that man.

7. Ratliff to Pistons – Pistons needed defensive help in the post. Ratliff already pays dividends in Sheed’s absence.

6. Cassell to Celtics – Celtics worry about Rondo. Cassell will get some of his minutes.

5. Thomas to Spurs – Duncan gets some more power underneath.

4. Wallace to Cavs – LeBron gets some defensive help in the post.

3. Korver to Jazz – The Jazz get instant outside shooting off the bench.

2. Shaq to Suns – The Suns get half court defense for the playoffs. Nash assists can now go with Shaq rebounds.

1. Gasol to Lakers – The Lakers will have tallest front line when Bynum returns. Kobe has a second scoring punch.

NBA Basketball Fan Question Did your team make a deal?

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