For those who think there aren’t enough basketballs for the Suns star players to share, let tonight’s game in Portland be an example.  The way the offense looks right now reminds me of what it’s like when I get together with my boys from high school.  Whenever we hit the bars we have a knack of rotating who buys the rounds throughout the night, and nobody worries about being left out of the rotation.  It’s something that we’ve picked up over years of practice, and while our core group has remained the same there have been new additions to the posse and they eventually blend right in the fold.

Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire and Leandro Barbosa are the three guys left from the Suns core over the past few years.  Those guys know they are going to get their touches and while Shaq, J-Rich, Grant Hill and Matt Barnes are new to the group, it seems as if their roles are starting to get defined.

Phoenix opened the game pounding it down to Shaq while Amare showed some surprising unselfishness in the post.  Jason Richardson got free and hit 3 of 4 shots from downtown to help the Suns out to an early lead which stood at seven at the half.  That was with just six points on 1 of 5 shooting from Amare, prompting a studio discussion between technical director Jarrett Carlen and myself about when Stoudemire will start complaining of the lack of touches.  That issue was kicked to the curb as the Suns made STAT the focal point of the offense to start the second half and built a 12 point lead on his broad shoulders and smooth stroke from the free throw line. Steve Nash and Shaq both took a back seat to start the second half, while Matt Barnes and Leandro Barbosa continued to give the team solid minutes off the bench.

The bugaboos that continue to hurt the Suns are turnovers and perimeter defense and once again those were both exploited by the Blazers.  Brandon Roy was the man doing the damage this time as he continued his hot stretch with his 5th straight game over 29 points and a career high 52 points.  Before you point your finger at Jason Richardson and yearn for Raja Bell’s so-called defensive prowess, watch the film and you’ll see that Roy did most of his scoring when guarded by those not wearing #23, but that doesn’t excuse the Suns for their inability to shut the Blazers star down.  In the end it goes down as a very entertaining but painful 124-119 loss to an extremely talented and young Portland team who had lost 11 in a row to the Suns heading in.  I guess the streak had to end sometime.