Does Steve Nash look lke the type to escalate a fight?
(Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images)

A new coaching staff. A different style of play – more emphasis on defense and no more “7 seconds or less” on offense. Preseason injuries to their 2 best players. A rookie backing up Steve Nash. Various family matters and league rulings that have pulled players from the lineup. An early schedule that included 5 of the first 7 games away from home. (more…)

Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty

The Detroit Pistons rolled into town looking for their fourth-straight win but instead found a team with an answer for everything. Terry Porter’s Suns wouldn’t back down from a challenge came through their identity crisis with a new attitude. While they showed traces of the fast-paced, offensive-minded team of previous years, the Suns also brought a “no excuses” edge to both ends of the US Airways Center court.
(more…)

It has been an article of faith (or maybe hope) that the re-tooling, back-inside-the-box-thinking Suns would get better as the season went along, but who knew they’d be this good this soon?

This was by far their most impressive performance of the young season, a night when the new system produced everything it promised, namely precision offense at one end and sticky defense at the other. (more…)

(Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images)

Terry Porter said he wanted to get Steve Nash some rest this season.  I don’t think a suspension was what he had in mind.  With Leandro Barbosa heading to Brazil to be with his family after the passing of his mother, the last thing the Suns needed was to lose another two players – let alone two of their starters.

But at the end of the day, the Nash/Barnes suspension may end up being a good thing.  The two rookie point guards for the Suns, Goran Dragic and Sean Singletary, played a combined 53 minutes and scored a combined 10 points.  Both of the guys kept their composure in a somewhat pressured situation and they helped Phoenix to a win in Sacramento.  Considering the next three opponents for the team, this win against an also-depleted Kings team will hopefully get them on the right track – even if it did take an extra 5 minutes of overtime to get the job done. (more…)

As one who never could carry a tune I couldn’t recognize whether this was a wakeup call (i.e., reveille) or taps. But even one with a tin ear could tell this game demonstrated not only where the Suns are but how far they have to go to get where they want to be.

Where they are is clearly not ready for prime time at this stage in their development. And don’t let that 94-82 score fool you. This one wasn’t nearly that close, and the Suns weren’t nearly as respectable offensively as even those feeble numbers would have you believe.

(more…)