Suns Lose Thriller in Dallas, 101-99
In a rematch of last year's Western Conference Finals, the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks met up Thursday night in Big-D. The game was pretty close throughout and had the playoff-type atmosphere that many expected. Final score - 101-99.
Phoenix had a chance to win it at the end of the game, but Amare Stoudemire missed a 3-pointer as time expired. Ok, you probably read that and said “What the f*** - why is Amare shooting a three w/ the game on the line?” I asked myself the same question and the only answer I came up w/ is that the inbounder didn't get it to the right guy when he had the chance. Steve Nash (get a Steve Nash jersey) was open on the baseline for a good 1-2 seconds before the ball went in to Amare, but the guy (Raja Bell?) didn't see him. Raja Bell also had a costly turnover with under a minute left - he anticipated Nash going behind a defender so he led the ball there... problem is, Nash went the other way and the ball goes out of bounds.
Dallas was led by Jason Terry (35 pts) and Dirk Nowitzki, who I found out during the game doesn't have any front teeth... are you kidding me? Thunder Dan (Majerle) was kind of a jerk on the broadcast, making fun of Dirk w/ an “all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth” line towards the end of the game. Dirk's jumper from the top of the key with a few seconds left sealed the victory for the Mavs (get a Dirk Nowitzki jersey).
The Mavs won their 8th straight game and have the NBA's best record at 22-7. The Suns are now 19-8 and have the 2nd least amount of losses in the league - they'd have the 2nd best record in the league if San Antonio hadn't played more games to this point (22-8).
Phoenix plays the New York Knicks tonight in Arizona.
Phoenix Suns Rumors...
The Suns are reportedly keeping their eye on the Charlotte Bobcats' Melvin Ely, although I can't figure out why... Rumors also abound about them possibly going after Ely's teammate, Brevin Knight, though it probably wouldn't work for salary cap reasons.