Josh Howard has been struggling with a bad ankle for a long time and after a brief attempt at a comeback earlier in the year, decided to sit out until it just felt right and that healing time made all the difference in a big victory by the Dallas Mavericks over the cooling Suns.

Dallas Mavericks 102 Phoenix Suns 101

You can tell the Suns are cooling due to a 5 – 5 record in the last 10 games. Dallas is barely better at 6 – 4, but the Mavs do not have the Lakers to contend with in their Division like the Suns do. The Mavs and Suns are both a respectable 15 – 7 on the year, but the Suns trail the 16 – 3 Lakers in the Pacific Division. The Mavs lead the much easier Southwest Division which is populated with the under achieving Rockets, Spurs, and Hornets, as well as the almost worthless but now minus Allen Iverson Grizzlies.

The Phoenix Suns may in the end be much luckier because after the Lakers the Pacific division is populated with the bottom dwellers of the Kings, Clippers, and Warriors. Not much competition there.

Dirk Nowitzki celebrated Josh Howard's return with 33 points

So just what did Josh Howard do to help the Mavericks?

Howard was greeted with a lively ovation when he went into the game midway through the first quarter. It took a while to get his feet under him, but he scored 16 points in 15 second-half minutes when the rest of the Mavericks were struggling.

That set up Terry to make four clutch free throws in the last 12.3 seconds, then miss one intentionally, to offset Steve Nash’s remarkable 3-point shooting down the stretch and save the win.

It was Howard’s return that had the locker room buzzing afterward. He hit six of 11 shots in the second half and looked much better than he did a month ago, when his first try at a return was aborted after three games.

“It’s night and day,” said Jason Kidd. “He looks a lot more comfortable and relaxed. To be away that long, then to come back and play like this, it’s pretty impressive.”
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Dallas plans to be careful with Josh’s ankle and he may miss a few of the upcoming games if it remains tender.

Image: Zuma Press

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Amare Stoudemire is getting his act together after last year’s injury plagued season and getting back into the form that has made him one heck of an offensive ballplayer playing in an offensive system. When you have Steve Nash at point guard you can put up the points.

This is Amare Stoudemire’s 8th year and he has been pretty consistently around 20 points and 9 rebounds per year. This season Amare is playing the power forward position now that Channing Frye is at center and this only creates a bigger mismatch at that position.

Amare Stoudemire is helping the Suns to hold back the Lakers

The Suns and Stoudemire are holding a half game lead over the NBA finals favorite Los Angeles Lakers and are sharing the best record in the NBA with Orlando and Atlanta.

Their latest victims were the tired offense only Pistons.

Phoenix Suns 117 Detroit Pistons 91

Now in fairness to the Pistons, they were on their 4th game in 5 nights and still do not have Rip Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince in the lineup which leaves them with a lot of young guys on the court.

The Suns didn’t care, because when you are trying to stay ahead of the Lakers, every game counts, so they went ahead and pounded the Pistons relentlessly.

Phoenix regained a share of the NBA’s best record (11-3) Sunday, starting better by making its first eight shots in a perpetually moving offense that clicked consistently in 3-point shooting (11 for 18), shooting (season-best 57.5 percent), tempo (season-best 24 fast-break points) and defense (Detroit shot 42.7 percent).

“They pretty much had their way with us,” said Detroit guard Ben Gordon, who had his lowest-scoring game (10 points) against Phoenix since he was a rookie in 2004.
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The Suns are one of the bigger surprises in the NBA this year. You knew they would be good, but not this good and Amare Stoudemire is one of the reasons why they are this good!

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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.

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Post from: NBA Obsessed

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.

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Steve Nash is 35 years old. He was drafted by Phoenix in 1996 in the first round and played part of his career for the Dallas Mavericks and then returned to the Phoenix Suns. He has averaged 14 points and 8 assists for his whole career and in case you were thinking he is slowing down, he averaged 21 points and 14 assists last year.

Steve Nash has a new project because this year’s Phoenix Suns are not the group that was a dominant Western Conference title contender year in and year out. Steve is taking this team and imprinting it with his personality. This involves teamwork, the way Steve Nash glides down the floor finding a teammate with a sharp pass leading to a lay in, always sacrificing for the team.

“We have to win some of these home games so we can give ourselves a little confidence and breathing room, so that if we lose a couple it’s not the end of the world and there’s not a lot of pressure on us to fight out of a big hole,” guard Steve Nash said.
The early success has helped the Suns’ confidence. The chemistry and order that was an off-season emphasis is evident.
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In order to work the Suns like a chessboard, Steve Nash needs some pieces to work with and he is finding them game by game. It won’t be an immediate process, but it will be a work of sharing by the player that stands for sharing.

Steve Nash is bringing the Suns along

Steve is trying to work in Leandro Barbosa, Jason Richardson, and Channing Frye among others to be a part of the up and coming Arizona team.

More than anyone, Nash desires a fun but dedicated atmosphere. He creates it with selfless play, striking a balance that teammate Grant Hill called “masterful.” Nash has 42 points and 28 assists with six turnovers in the two games.

“He’s a genius,” said center Channing Frye, getting his first feel of Nash’s impact. “If one time he misses you because he shoots, he’s doing that on purpose so the next three times you can shoot. He plays the game almost like a chess board.”

The Suns are not going to light the NBA on fire this year, but if Steve Nash can help it, they will be major factor in the Western Conference race.

Get an update on Steve Nash with this: Steve Nash and the Red Hot Suns
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It was discussed so what happened? Phoenix thought Amare Stoudemire would be sent packing to Golden State with other players and considerations and in return Golden State would ship back Stephen Curry with other players and considerations. You know how that stuff works.

The secret part of the deal that may not have been discussed from Golden State’s point of view was that Golden State was sure Curry would be off the board by pick number 7. When he was there, they did not want to part with him.

Amare Stoudemire will be a reach for the Warriors without Curry in the deal

So is the Stoudemire trade off the board?

The teams will continue talking about how a trade involving Stoudemire could be worked out but it is now just among several conversations the Suns are having. Such a deal is far less likely without Curry and Golden State’s unwillingness to part with forward Anthony Randolph.
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Terry Porter was fired by the Suns and replaced by Alvin Gentry.

GM Steve Kerr has no clue. He took the very successful running offense that could not get it done in the playoffs and fired its architect in Mike D’Antoni.

Then Steve hired Terry Porter to bring in the Detroit Pistons defensive style of play. Huh? Same players completely opposite styles? Won’t work and it didn’t.

Porter was in the first year of a three-year, $6 million deal to replace Mike D’Antoni, who left after four highly successful seasons to coach the New York Knicks.

D’Antoni is a coach who lets his players run and shoot, and maybe play defense once in a while. It was Kerr’s insistence on emphasizing defense that led, in large part, to D’Antoni’s departure. Porter wanted a defense-oriented team in the tough mold of the Pistons.

It was a bad fit.

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Now Steve brings in Alvin Gentry, always the coach to replace the fired coach, because the players like him. Gentry says he will bring back the racehorse style, only D’Antoni won’t be there, and Steve Nash is 2 years older, and All Star MVP Shaq is 37 and can’t run.

Good Luck with that.

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Shaq being held back by ? is that Jason Kidd as a blonde?

The Shaq is playing at a high level and when he does there are few that can hang with him. It may be hard at his age and weight to continue, but he is doing it now when few thought he could ever do it again.

O’Neal said he should be an All-Star on his home floor but said “I’m not going to be doing e-mail campaigns and putting on cowboys hats.”

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So how good is Shaq playing?

Now, O’Neal enters the start of a three-game Suns homestand Friday night with his first three-game streak of 20-point, 10-rebound outings since March 2005. In his past seven games, O’Neal is averaging 24.4 points, 10.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks.

Never count out the big fella!

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Jason Richardson is flying through the air

Jason Richardson was traded to the Phoenix Suns from the Charlotte Bobcats.

The multiplayer deal will require the Suns to part with forward Boris Diaw and defensive ace Raja Bell, two mainstays from the team that averaged 58 wins over the last four seasons under former Suns coach Mike D’Antoni.

Suns-Bobcats Trade Comparison

The Suns upgraded offensively with the acquisition of guard Jason Richardson (right). Here’s how the numbers break down:

Player PPG RPG APG
To Suns
Jason Richardson 18.7 4.1 2.6
Jared Dudley 5.4 3.0 1.0
To Bobcats
Boris Diaw 8.3 3.8 2.1
Raja Bell 9.6 2.9 1.3
Sean Singletary 2.6 1.2 0.9

The Suns will also receive a future second-round pick from the Bobcats and forward Jared Dudley while sending Sean Singletary to the Bobcats.

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On the surface the Suns get a high scoring guard to complement Stave Nash and Charlotte gets a defender in Raja Bell. It seems like a good deal for both teams and it may be true. One thing is for sure; both teams needed a boost from somewhere.

Charlotte is 7 – 14
Phoenix is better at 13 – 9, but only 5 – 5 in the last 10 games. Phoenix is used to a much higher standard of play.

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Shawn Marion shows off his Matrix WWE move with the knee smash from up high

Shawn Marion is an amazing player and if you have ever watched him play for the Phoenix Suns or the Miami Heat, you would have been amazed. Just how does he do what he does? And that jump shot or whatever you want to call it, just where did that come from and how come no coach ever made him change it? Maybe because it goes down even from long range?

Anyway, Matrix wanted out of Phoenix. It was simple math really. Steve Nash was the man and when his time was done, Amare Stoudemire was to be the man. Even Shaq got more pub in his brief stay in Phoenix. Of course, when did Shaq not get max pub?

Matrix took his game to Miami and Shaq went to Phoenix to save the Suns. It did not work out for either of them.

Shaq is old and not quite the force he used to be and Matrix, once again, seems under appreciated. Shawn Marion wants to be the man, instead he is trade bait.

The problem now is that Marion doesn’t appear to have a long-term future in Miami. The team is going through a rebuilding process with Dwyane Wade and rookie Michael Beasley as the cornerstones. Marion, who turns 31 at the end of the season and plays the same position as Beasley, doesn’t appear to be a great fit.

He has been dangled to the Lakers and Jazz, and more recently the Heat tried to work out something with the Bulls that would have brought them Ben Gordon and others.
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