Suns Defeat Sonics in Opener, 106-99
Despite a hot start by rookie Kevin Durant and a hard fight throughout, the Sonics drop to 0-2 and your Phoenix Suns open the season with a victory.
The Suns started the season pretty slow and a little out of sync - Phoenix guard Steve Nash committed 5 turnovers in the first half and the rest of the team also struggled. A halftime half-court heave from Damien Wilkins put Seattle up by 3 going into halftime, but that's really about as close as they would be the rest of the game.
Phoenix closed the 3rd quarter and opened the 4th on an 11-0 run to recoup the deficit and takeover the lead for good.
Amare Stoudemire led the Suns in scoring (23 pts) in rebounding (11 - tied w/ Marion), but he didn't play his usual minutes due to early foul trouble. New Suns' player Grant Hill got off to a decent start and made his presence known, but he shot an awful lot of 3's for someone who's not normally a 3-point shooter. The game announcers indicated that Hill took only 12 3's last year, but he took 7 last night, making only 1. Raja Bell also struggled from beyond the arc, shooting 2-7, but the Suns did enough to get the win.
Tonight's game: Home opener - the Suns will play the 0-1 Los Angeles Lakers in Phoenix. There will be a lot of talk about Kobe Bryant and Shawn Marion's trade requests, but the game still has to be played... Suns win by 12.