It’s past time for the Suns to panic. But they can’t muster up enough energy to even care whether another sub-.500 team blows them out. Pride? Apparently they have none. Is it that they hate Coach Terry Porter, he of the long practices, clich’ed press conferences, and tough-guy persona? Because they can’t really be this…
You know what it means that the Suns blew out the Sacramento Kings 129-81 at US Airways Center Monday night? Nothing. The Kings are 11-39, officially the third-worst team in the NBA at 11-39 (the L.A. Clippers and the Washington Wizards are tied for worst at 10-38). Running them out…
The biggest game in Arizona Cardinals history — the second-biggest in Arizona sports history — is over, and what can we take away from it? Sure the Cardinals snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, but they certainly had the odds-makers in Vegas sweating. For the fourth game in a…
This time, it wasn’t a heartbreaking three at the buzzer that pushed the San Antonio Spurs past the Phoenix Suns. It wasn’t a cheap-shot foul by a Spurs sub against a Suns star. It wasn’t Suns turnovers killing any chance Steve Nash & Co. had of winning the game. It wasn’t…
The Phoenix Suns longest road trip of the year was a disaster — until the Big Three (no, not those Big Three) found a way to win against the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday. We’re talking about Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Shaquille O’Neal. Nash played so brilliantly against the Hawks that we’ll…
Mike D’Antoni had the last laugh. His work-in-progress New York Knicks held on and beat the Phoenix Suns at Madison Square Garden by five points. Mighty mite Nate Robinsion, in 25 minutes off the bench, demolished the Suns on Wednesday night. Seemed everything the 5-9 one-time NBA slam-dunk champion threw up went in…
The last time the Phoenix Suns played a great NBA team, they lost by a point. Last night, the Suns lost to the Boston Celtics 104-87 in Bean Town. But the only reason it was that close was that the Suns’ bench — notably Lou Amundson — played better than…
Remember that February 9 beat-down win over the formidable Dallas Mavericks at US Airways Center? It was easy to believe that the Phoenix Suns had turned it all around after they toppled a top Western Conference opponent by 28 points, to hope (Barack Obama’s favorite word) that they could contend for a championship this season — after all. Then, what…
It was fourth and inches late in the fourth quarter, and it wasn’t the play we would’ve called with our team down 25-24 in the NFC Championship. But two running plays up the middle had yielded next to nothing. Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner takes the snap and hands off to Tim Hightower (pictured), who…
Yeah, it was a terrible call. In the last seconds of regulation against Denver with the score tied 103-103, Grant Hill drove toward the basket and was tripped by Nuggets forward Dahntay Jones. Hill hit the hardwood. Tripped, and no call by head referee Dick Bavetta (pictured, the ref who…
It was Shaquille O’Neal’s night again — and thank God for it! Without him, the Suns would’ve lost to the Atlanta Hawks, who led the game at US Airways Center late in the fourth quarter before a Suns spurt. O’Neal had 26 points and 10 rebounds in 40 minutes against the 22-15 Hawks, who…
The big news here’s that the really big guy went 12 for 12 from the free-throw line in weekend wins against the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers. Shaquille O’Neal’s been saying he’s gone back to the basics his father taught him when he was a little boy of 6-9. Well, it’s working…
Bay on February 1. First, though, they must take care of the Philadelphia Eagles — 23-11 winners over the New York Giants on Sunday — at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals get to play the Donovan McNabb-led Eagles at home this coming Sunday ’cause they’re NFC West champions and Philadelphia came into the playoffs as…
Ths Suns lost 113-110 at the buzzer to the Indiana Pacers, the second-worst team in the Eastern Conference. But who’s fault was it? When Phoenix lost by a point on Christmas Day to the hated San Antonio Spurs, one of the best teams in the Western Conference, it was newly acquired guard Jason…
The game was clinched on a third-and-16, 23-yard pass from Captain Kurt to Mr. Spach. It was logical. Most teams would’ve kept it on the ground and probably had to punt, giving their opponent another chance to score and win the game. But most teams don’t have Arizona’s passing attack…
The Phoenix Suns played all but nine minutes of Monday night’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder without Steve Nash, and the team seemed to pick up steam after its floor leader went to the locker room with back spasms. Even if it was against the team with the worst…
Finally, we get to report good news about the Arizona Cardinals, who finished the regular season 9-7 — just as we predicted they would when we named Ken Whisenhunt top head coach in the PHX in our 2008 Best Of edition. Our prediction was based on the Cardinals going 8-8 last season behind…
This year’s Phoenix Suns are playing better than ever. They’ve looked good in the last six games. Unfortunately, they’re 3-3 in those contests against (save for the New York Knicks) good teams. Turnovers have killed the Suns all season, and while they’ve gotten better at protecting the basketball lately, ham-handed botches are the…
It wasn’t the worst defeat in Cardinals history. The worst was a 49-0 ass-kicking by the Kansas City Chiefs in December, 2002. But it was an ass-kicking, all right. I know we’ve said it before, but the Cardinals were really pathetic this time. And it wasn’t all about the weather in…
The Suns have looked good for two games in a row! Unfortunately, they lost the first of these in a heartbreaker against an emerging Portland team. On Saturday night, Phoenix actually won the turnover war (16 to 21) against a good Denver Nuggets team, and therefore the game. Keeping turnovers down is…
The Suns played well in Portland. They actually demonstrated some cohesion. It looked for this game like the running Suns, returned suddenly from the old Mike D’Antoni days, could actually work Shaq into the offense. It wasn’t his best night; the big man had 19 points and six rebounds, but he dominated…
Here’s an idea: play Shaquille O’Neal every third game. The other idea would be to play him only against Milwaukee (he scored 27 and 35 points in two games against the Bucks this season), but that wouldn’t be cost-effective for a guy making $20 million a year. After missing two…
