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Nothing Ground-breaking, but positive.
Original Article
Rial Cummings: Future's so bright for Suns
We have seen the future here at Sports Central, and it combines the best of solar energy, hybrids, and wet, stringy hair.
The Phoenix Suns are the highest scoring team the NBA has seen in a decade, and the most fun to watch since Magic Johnson was dishing to that bespectacled dunkmeister - yo, Kurt Rambis - and assorted other greyhounds on the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s.
Suns coach Mike D'Antoni d'ashed convention this season when, harkening back to his days as a player and coach in Italy, he went to a smaller lineup. By unleashing the hounds, Phoenix rose from No. 13 in the West to No. 1 in the entire league. Along the way, D'Antoni's team proved that you can be successful with a power forward at center, a small forward at power forward and a Canadian import at point guard who suffers from a bad hair day, every day.
These Suns matter, because they have the power to change the pro game for the better. After a decade of watching NBA teams mud wrestle their way through halfcourt isolation plays, the Suns' record may spur others to crack the whip - if they win the championship.
Like the defending champion Detroit Pistons, the Suns have made teamwork cool again, but in a more spectacular way.
The Suns push the ball relentlessly, and all five starters can stop and pop on the fastbreak. If they don't have a numerical advantage, they spread out and take the first open 3-pointer. No one is bashful. The Suns shot 39 percent from the arc during the regular season, and drained 9.6 treys per game, the most in NBA history.
The Suns have a superb ringmaster in Steve Nash, who grew up playing lacrosse, soccer and hockey in Victoria, British Columbia. Nash, formerly of the Dallas Mavericks, plays as if he had just liberated the basketball from a Tombstone bank vault and is trying to stay one step ahead of Wyatt Earp and the posse.
Unlike Magic & Co., the Suns don't have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dominating the middle. But they've done just fine with 22-year-old Amare Stoudemire, a human freight train, high-balling through the yard. The 6-foot-8fi, 245-pound Stoudemire, who jumped directly to the NBA from high school in Orlando, Fla., is a mere stripling compared to giants such as 7-1, 325-pound Shaquille O'Neal of Miami and 7-6, 310-pound Yao Ming of Houston. But no one in the league attacks the rim with greater gusto.
The Memphis Grizzlies tried to get physical with Phoenix the other night in Game 2 of their opening-round playoff series. Stoudemire, who is shorter than his listed height of 6-10, kept his composure after picking up two early fouls, and hit 18-of-22 free throws en route to 34 points in a 108-103 victory. Stoudemire added 30 more on Friday, when the Suns won 110-90 at Memphis to grab a 3-0 series lead.
Pocket power forward Shawn Marion and streak shooter Quentin Richardson have also been keys for Phoenix, along with Joe Johnson, a former Arkansas Razorback who might be the best player you've never heard of.
The knock on Phoenix is that it has trouble scoring in the halfcourt jousting that playoff basketball tends to promote, and that its defense is exploitable. Indeed, the Suns have at times managed to make Memphis center Pau Gasol look like the second coming of Wilt Chamberlain, which doesn't bode well for the future.
Still, if you love racehorse basketball, you have an obligation to root for Phoenix.
Defensive stoppers still tend to get the best of offensive machines, no matter what the sport. The Indianapolis Colts didn't wind up holding the Super Bowl trophy last year, coming up short against the methodical New England Patriots.
Let's hope that isn't true come June. Let's hope the "Funs" win the title, and blaze a path for others to follow.
Rial Cummings can be reached at 523-5255 or [email protected]. His column appears every Sunday.
Original Article
Rial Cummings: Future's so bright for Suns
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We have seen the future here at Sports Central, and it combines the best of solar energy, hybrids, and wet, stringy hair.
The Phoenix Suns are the highest scoring team the NBA has seen in a decade, and the most fun to watch since Magic Johnson was dishing to that bespectacled dunkmeister - yo, Kurt Rambis - and assorted other greyhounds on the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s.
Suns coach Mike D'Antoni d'ashed convention this season when, harkening back to his days as a player and coach in Italy, he went to a smaller lineup. By unleashing the hounds, Phoenix rose from No. 13 in the West to No. 1 in the entire league. Along the way, D'Antoni's team proved that you can be successful with a power forward at center, a small forward at power forward and a Canadian import at point guard who suffers from a bad hair day, every day.
These Suns matter, because they have the power to change the pro game for the better. After a decade of watching NBA teams mud wrestle their way through halfcourt isolation plays, the Suns' record may spur others to crack the whip - if they win the championship.
Like the defending champion Detroit Pistons, the Suns have made teamwork cool again, but in a more spectacular way.
The Suns push the ball relentlessly, and all five starters can stop and pop on the fastbreak. If they don't have a numerical advantage, they spread out and take the first open 3-pointer. No one is bashful. The Suns shot 39 percent from the arc during the regular season, and drained 9.6 treys per game, the most in NBA history.
The Suns have a superb ringmaster in Steve Nash, who grew up playing lacrosse, soccer and hockey in Victoria, British Columbia. Nash, formerly of the Dallas Mavericks, plays as if he had just liberated the basketball from a Tombstone bank vault and is trying to stay one step ahead of Wyatt Earp and the posse.
Unlike Magic & Co., the Suns don't have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dominating the middle. But they've done just fine with 22-year-old Amare Stoudemire, a human freight train, high-balling through the yard. The 6-foot-8fi, 245-pound Stoudemire, who jumped directly to the NBA from high school in Orlando, Fla., is a mere stripling compared to giants such as 7-1, 325-pound Shaquille O'Neal of Miami and 7-6, 310-pound Yao Ming of Houston. But no one in the league attacks the rim with greater gusto.
The Memphis Grizzlies tried to get physical with Phoenix the other night in Game 2 of their opening-round playoff series. Stoudemire, who is shorter than his listed height of 6-10, kept his composure after picking up two early fouls, and hit 18-of-22 free throws en route to 34 points in a 108-103 victory. Stoudemire added 30 more on Friday, when the Suns won 110-90 at Memphis to grab a 3-0 series lead.
Pocket power forward Shawn Marion and streak shooter Quentin Richardson have also been keys for Phoenix, along with Joe Johnson, a former Arkansas Razorback who might be the best player you've never heard of.
The knock on Phoenix is that it has trouble scoring in the halfcourt jousting that playoff basketball tends to promote, and that its defense is exploitable. Indeed, the Suns have at times managed to make Memphis center Pau Gasol look like the second coming of Wilt Chamberlain, which doesn't bode well for the future.
Still, if you love racehorse basketball, you have an obligation to root for Phoenix.
Defensive stoppers still tend to get the best of offensive machines, no matter what the sport. The Indianapolis Colts didn't wind up holding the Super Bowl trophy last year, coming up short against the methodical New England Patriots.
Let's hope that isn't true come June. Let's hope the "Funs" win the title, and blaze a path for others to follow.
Rial Cummings can be reached at 523-5255 or [email protected]. His column appears every Sunday.
