Suns clinch Pacific Division, Defeat Wolves by 18
Phoenix ran to a pretty easy victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night 108-90, despite a horrible night by Amare Stoudemire.
I gotta be honest... I looked at the stat sheet several times in the 2nd half and wondered if Amare was injured or got T'd out of the game. Much to my surprise, it was neither... he just had a off night (for him) w/ only 5 shots for 4 points. STAT did register 3 blocks, which is a bonus for fantasy owners who got screwed by his other stats.
With the win, the Suns clinched the Pacific Division title - players celebrated by putting on orange shirts before the game was completely over (what were they thinking?). At least give the opposing team some respect by waiting until the game is over to start celebrating.
The Suns rotation seems to be getting a little bit bigger these days, w/ Jalen Rose and Pat Burke getting some minutes yesterday. Rose finished w/ 8 points in 14 minutes, while Burke did his job as usual (nothing special). 10 Suns players made it onto the court w/ Burke getting the fewest minutes (3) - Rose was 2nd w/ 14 minutes. Overall, good effort by the Suns bench, including Boris Diaw who was very effective (5-6 FG, 9 ast, 6 rbs).
Steve Nash was his usual self, finishing w/ 11 assists, but Diaw and Barbosa surprised w/ 9 and 6 assists, respectively. The other Suns players all did their jobs - Thomas rebounded, Marion scored & rebounded, and Jones contributed 5 pts off the bench.
Minnesota was led by Kevin Garnett's great effort - 30 pts & 16 rbs - but it wasn't enough to keep up w/ the Suns. No other player on the Timberwolves scored more than 14 pts, so KG's great night was for nothing (as usual). Minnesota is on the verge of being out of the playoff race - they're currently in the 12th spot, 2 1/2 games behind the red-hot Warriors.
The Phoenix Suns next game will be at home against the Sacramento Kings, who may be without Ron Artest, who was charged w/ 4 counts for his alleged assault a few weeks ago. Get ready for the game w/ your Suns fan gear or Kings fan gear.
