The sluggish Phoenix Suns are just 2 and 1/2 games away from being out of the playoffs. Ever since the Marion trade to Miami for "the big cactus" the team has been exposed.
With Marion, the Suns just seemed to be hard to beat. Without him, they are as fragile as my 92 year old grandma. People have all of a sudden realized that Nash turns the ball over and cannot play a lick of D. Raja Bell cannot do anything but make wide open jumpers 40 percent of the time, and play average D. Barbosa is quick, and.... um.. well he's quick. Every game, every minute, every step, Grant hill is that much closer to blowing out his ankle, and out for the remainder of the season. Amare is a stud, but he relies way too much on Nash to be affective.
Since Shaq has started playing for the Suns, they are 3 and 6. They went from outscoring teams by 7 points a night to being outscored by 3 points a night. They are still scoring the same amount, but their defense has gotten significantly worse. Isn't that the main reason as to why they Suns wanted him in the first place? To make them tougher in the paint? Teams are realizing that they can run on the suns due to their terrible transition D, and Nash's inability to guard anyone. Its not even Nashs' fault. I mean come on! He's a 35 year old, 6 foot 3 inch white guy, 170 lb, soccer player. Why would anyone expect him to even be physically able to play D? So Nash isn't the problem. He's never been able to play D but that didn't stop the Suns from winning the majority of their games pre-Shaq.
Yes thats right, the problem is Shaq. I personally am glad to see him struggle. True he is going through a rough divorce but i have a feeling he knew that was coming. What he didn't see coming was how much worse he would make the Suns. Fans went from shouting "Big Cactus" to shouting "Fat Loser-No one Likes You"
Denver with consecutive victories versus the Suns and Spurs are my prediction to get into the playoffs over the Suns.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
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