NBA Girl

thesuns:

Channing Frye out indefinitely.

Some devastating news today:

The Phoenix Suns today announced that forward Channing Frye will be sidelined indefinitely for medical reasons. Frye has developed a dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart. The condition was discovered during a screening echocardiogram conducted as part of a routine preseason physical… 

Frye will be followed closely by his team of medical specialists. He will not participate in basketball activities and will be re-evaluated in December.

Anyone who is familiar with Hank Gathers realizes that cardiomyopathy is a serious condition, but it is also definitely treatable.

You can send your encouragement, well wishes, and prayers to Channing here, on Twitter, Facebook, or send messages directly to him on his Tumblr.

So sad to hear this.
I wish all the best to Channing, and hope for his safe recovery and return.

Steve Nash
Grant Hill
Channing Frye
Jared Dudley
Marcin Gortat
Michael Redd
Ronnie Price
Sebastian Telfair
Markieff Morris
Shannon Brown
Robin Lopez
Hakim Warrick
Josh Childress

That win felt good.

The Suns won 2 straight games for the first time this season and extended their winning streak in Phoenix against the Bucks to 24 straight games. 
Again, this game was a total team effort propelled by the manly basketball magic of Steve Nash.

The first 9 baskets of the game were assisted by Steve Nash and the 10th was made by him. He finished with 12 assists in the half, and it looked like he was well on his way to breaking Scott Skiles record of 30 assists in a game. However, he finished with 17 assists and 10 points, due to the devastating dominance the Suns exerted on the Bucks tonight that allowed all 5 starters to rest the entire 4th quarter.
The fact that the team will be well rested for Tuesday’s game against Los Angeles is just one of the many positives from tonight’s win. 

• Ladies and Gentleman, Channing Frye is BACK (God, I hope I’m not jinxing it.) Going 4/4 from the 3-point line, Frye displayed his offensive wonders of ol’ tonight, giving us hope that we won’t just have his defensive and rebounding improvements to rejoice about. His 3-point shooting is crucial to the flow of our offense, and I’m certain is one of the reasons everything played out so smoothly tonight.
• Markieff Morris… I think I speak for all Suns fans when I say that we are so thankful he was drafted to our team this year. Recording his first double-double and going 3/4 from behind the 3-point line, Morris is slowly turning into a vital, dangerous part of this Phoenix Suns team. He currently ranks 9th in the NBA in 3-point shooting. This kid is a winner.

I could go on and on with the positives of tonight’s game, but Steve, Channing, and Markieff are my MVP’s and it’s getting late since I have school tomorrow.

Final Score was 109-93. The Suns are now 4-4.

Next game is Tuesday against the Los Angeles Lakers.

WOW. 

That was one incredible game to watch. I mean, REALLY. 

Smiles and laughter up and down the bench, three-pointers raining, Steve Nash getting Nashty…
These are the Phoenix Suns I know. I’ve been wondering where they’ve been hiding out. I just love them so much..

Moments of Happiness:

• Steve Nash had 21 points and 9 assists. He absolutely came alive in that fourth quarter, propelling the team to a win and being a total MAN. I’m so pleased to see that he’s feeling better. I hope that he can continue to play through his rib injury without it being terribly painful for him. 
• Channing Frye hit a 3-pointer! Slowly, but surely, it’s coming back to him. He’s an amazing shooter - it’s all there for him. He just needs to find his rhythm and confidence again. I’m sure it’s hard to step back into a season and be ready to go. We don’t have much time though, so, I do hope that he can get back in full-form here soon. He’s such an important piece of our offense. However, his effort on the defensive end has been making up for what he’s been lacking elsewhere. His 10 rebounds today were a huge part of allowing the Suns to out-rebound the Warriors 49-36.
• Ummm.. Markieff Morris…
   
  Seriously, though. Ever since the retirement of my Goran Dragic jersey, I’ve been considering getting a new jersey, and I’m thinking that Markieff Morris could be a wise investment to make in the matter of jersey purchasing. ESPECIALLY if he continues down the road he is currently on. 16/9 today.. For once, it appears that we not only got the better brother, but that we also actually got a seriously good draft pick. I don’t want to get too optimistic too soon, but wow. This kid could do some great things in Phoenix. LOVE him.
• Shannon Brown is making me regret putting him in my negative category. I still think he has a long way to go before he is fully acclimated into the Phoenix system, but, I definitely like the road that he’s headed down right now. 10/5 and just a ton of hustle and heart. There’s one thing you have to credit the guy for, and that is the fact that he is always working hard.

I’m not going to jump ahead here and say that this team is back on track, or even really that talented. But, I will say that I think things are getting better, and that they are going to continue to get better. We’ll just have to see how far that can take the Suns in this shortened season.

Final Score today was 102-91. The Suns are currently 2-3.

Their next game is Wednesday at Dallas.  

CELEBRATE!
 

After losing the first two games of the season in horrendous fashion, the Suns rolled to their first win of the season against the New Orleans Hornets, 93-78. According to the the mighty Paul Coro, “Hornets’ 28.9 percent shooting is the 2nd lowest for a Suns opponent in the last 25 years.”
This is most excellent news.

So, let’s take a look at tonight’s game:

Positives:

• Channing Frye may not have fully found his shot yet, but he did have 10 pts. and 16 reb. in tonight’s win, which makes his performance mighty fine in my book.
• Hakim Warrick is alive, guys. 18 points in 25 minutes and a TON of energy.
• Jared Dudley seemed to back to normal tonight. 16 points and his usual JYD Hustle.
• Steve Nash may have only gone 2-8 from the field, but he did have 12 assists and only 3 turnovers, compared to 6 in the last game.
• Marcin Gortat was a beast out there tonight on the energy end. He had 12 points, 4 blocked shots, 7 rebounds, and great defense.
• Shannon Brown actually made an impact tonight. This is good.

Meh:

• In familiar Suns fashion, the guys had an 18-point lead cut to 6 in the 4th Quarter. Luckily, they managed to hold onto the lead for the Win.
• Markieff Morris had 2 fouls in 1:12 min. of playing time tonight.

Negatives:

• You know what? In honor of the first win of the season, I shall make nothing a negative tonight. (But if I were doing negatives, Josh Childress would be one.) ((Just sayin’))

They’ll be in OKC tomorrow to take on the Thunder in their last game of 2011.
Let’s Go Suns!!! 

Uuggghhhh….

Okay, I’ve got try and look on the bright side here. There were a lot of positives in this game. So let’s go ahead and list them.

Positives:

• Ladies and Gentleman, Robin Lopez is back. And I mean BACK. With great hustle and energy, a smiling Robin Lopez tallied 21 points and 7 rebounds. And looked positively fantastic doing it. I am so proud and so happy to see him out there, playing back on the level of two seasons ago; reaching his potential. I don’t want to get too optimistic too early, just in case, but I’m looking forward to a season where we’ve got this Robin.
• Steve Nash is still a beautiful, wonderful man. 14 points and 12 assists. And it seemed like every single pass he made tonight was the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen. 
• Markieff Morris. I’m telling ya, this kid’s going to be good. He’s got so much hustle and heart, it’s hard to ever get mad at him. Plus, there’s a lot of expectations on him, and I have a soft spot for rookies, so I’m going to be very patient and positive with Markieff. I think he has chance to make a significant impact on this year’s team. 7 points is nice for his first game, but I’m looking at those team-high 9 rebounds.
• Even with a hairline fracture in his thumb, Marcin Gortat scored 13 points and had 5 rebounds. This included some very pretty plays. I think that Robin play so many minutes and do so well will light a fire under Gortat and we’ll only continue to see great things out of him this season. I can’t imagine that we wouldn’t; his work ethic is incredible.
• Jared Dudley is just consistently good. There wasn’t anything specific that I can really point to tonight, but there isn’t anything bad. And you know, this Suns team could really use some good consistency. I love Jared Dudley and think that he’s going to play a huge role on our team this year.

Meh:

• Grant Hill. He definitely did not have his best game tonight. But the thing is, he’s such a man, that I’m really not concerned. It was the first game of the season, he’s recovering from a knee sprain.. he’ll be back and he’ll be just fine.

Not So Good:

• Shannon Brown… Not doing a whole lot. And I’m not enjoying that fact…
• Channing Frye. I know that he is in a shooting slump and that it’s just going to take time for him to get back into it. But, we really don’t have a lot of time. In a 66 game season, every single game is going to matter so much. It seems that when he can’t get his shot off, he loses confidence in all aspects of his game, which really doesn’t help the Suns.
• What is Josh Childress doing? I know he has potential. I know he can make a valuable impact on our team. But here’s the thing: he’s not. And I don’t think he’s going to. Yes, there has been only one regular season game so far, but I feel like there needs to be improvement and fast. If not, I don’t see him being on the Suns much longer.

I don’t have the energy or opinion to say anything about Ronnie Price or Sebastian Telfair. They’re both just kind of there and not really doing much.
However, I will say that I actually felt pretty good about the 2nd Unit, which is a new experience from last year.

This was a heartbreaking loss, but we’ll move forward and face the Philadelphia 76’ers on Wednesday. Here’s hoping for a solid practice tomorrow and a W on Wednesday.

Well, that was rough. 
And I mean rough.

The Suns ended their preseason by getting swept by the Denver Nuggets, 110-85. Luckily, I enjoy being at games so much, so I was able to still have fun despite the atrocious, sloppy play that occurred every time Steve Nash went out of the game.

High Points:

• Markieff Morris showed some serious promise.
• Steve Nash is still Steve Nash.
• Grant Hill is a man.
• Jared Dudley can score.
• Robin Lopez showed flashes of his old self.

Not So High Points:

• Channing Frye was disappointing. I hope to see him shape up as the season begins.
• Josh Childress is just plain disappointing and I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon.
• Every time Steve Nash leaves the floor, the offense goes to crap.
• Low energy and effort, particularly when the going got tough near the end.
• I can’t emphasize enough the importance I place on offensive rebounding and this Suns team does not do it. 

So, pretty much, this Suns team has a ton of work to do in 3 days time. I’d say we’re in for a pretty mediocre season; at least until the team can pull it together as the games go on. 
I was thinking this team had a real shot at a 6 or 7 seed.
I’m not thinking that anymore. At least not right now.