Two things jump out after the Suns lost to
The other thing that was troublesome was just how long it took Amare Stoudamire to get his head in the game. Defensively, he was letting Dampier have his way early on. Offensively, he got off to a real slow start. Stoudemire recovered to lead the team with 25 points, but his motivation took too long to come around.
It’s frustrating it took
Another slow start, another example of a lack of early inspiration, which cost this team another win.
* Suns coach Mike D’Antoni joined Burnsy on an abbreviated version of The 620 SportsLine.
* Just like beforehand, coach downplayed the significance of this first meeting between San Antonio and
* D’Antoni emphasized Grant Hill’s role in the win, especially a key block on Tim Duncan down the stretch. He’d also like to see Hill matchup with Tony Parker the next time the two teams meet. As for Parker’s absence playing a key role in the loss for the Spurs, D’Antoni said the Spurs did miss Parker‘s ability to get out on the break, but they’ll have plenty of opportunities to face him this year.
* Of course, the Suns will face off with the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night, and D’Antoni says he and his team can empathize with the Mavericks, since both teams have “blown a couple (of championship opportunities),” and may have problems gearing it up in regular season with their eyes on the ultimate prize.
* And coach was very complimentary of Shawn Marion’s role in the win, even though his point total was low, saying, “if nobody cares who gets who gets the credit, then we’re going to be really good.”
Somebody asked me before the Suns/Spurs game if I thought the Suns could beat the Spurs.
Not only did I think they could win, I thought they would win. This is just the kind of game that makes it maddening following this team sometimes.
When inspired, when motivated, they can beat anybody, any night of the week. They get up for games like this - just like they got up for the
It slips in and out like the consciousness of a weary late night driver. Sometimes the bumps on the side of road are necessary to wake him back up. That’s the Suns.
So, if you want to look at the small picture - the here and the now - it’s a pretty impressive win.
Boris Diaw showed up and was an engaged, functioning member of the offense and the defense down the stretch. Amare Stoudamire played with some intensity. Grant Hill was key. They handed the Spurs their first home loss of the year. They’re now 2-1 during this big four game stretch of games against tough Western foes.
But you want to check out the big picture? C’mon. It’s still December right? They didn’t have Tony Parker, right? Trust me, if the Suns and the Spurs meet up again in the playoffs, nobody -and I mean friggin’ nobody - will look back at this mid-December game and offer it up as Exhibit A as to why the Suns can beat the Spurs in a seven game series.
In the big picture, it means nothing.
Bold moves by the Diamondbacks.
Not content to rely on the improvements of the young players they went out and got an impact player of the trade market in Dan Haren.
He’s young, talented, relatively inexpensive and under the teams control for the next few years. He is a tremendous upgrade in the rotation over Livan Hernandez, and now, if you can just find a way to keep Randy Johnson healthy, that’s quite a rotation for the next season.
Even if they can’t, Webb and Haren is a good one-two punch. Haren was third in the American League in ERA, seventh in strikeouts with 192. And, he’s another innings-eater, racking up 217 innings pitched or more in each of the last three years.
The cost was high. Not only did it cost them top prospect, outfielder Carlos Gonzalez and left-handed pitcher Brett Anderson, but I suspect it also cost them Jose Valverde.
The Diamondbacks are a cost conscious organization, and adding salary like Haren means taking it away somewhere. Valverde, I suspect, was the victim of that.
He was due for a big raise through arbitration this year. He was, in my mind, the MVP of the Diamondbacks last year after recording 47 saves. But, if you are looking at positions of strength for the Diamondbacks, power arms in the bullpen is one of them. They have a lot of them. And it allowed them to deal Valverde and replace him with Tony Pena or Brandon Lyon. Juan Cruz can slide up. Chad Qualls, picked up from
And if Valverde is a stock, now is perhaps the time to sell. Do you trust him to save 47 games next year?
Either way, they have the arms in the bullpen to replace him, and now, they’ve got a one-two punch in the National League that makes just about everyone else jealous.
Is it the best in the NL? The only one I can think of off the top of my head that might be better is Peavy and Young in
Here’s what happened on The 620 SportsLine with Dave Burns:
Kerr talks about the Suns big win over the Jazz last night and the big games ahead versus the Western Conference elite like
* The Mitchell Report is released and it includes 14 one-time D-Backs, including two current employees. Diamondbacks Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick discussed the ramifications of the report.
* On the subject of Matt Williams and Mike Bell, Kendrick said he was, “going to follow the leadership of the commissioner” on what to do about their cases. He also said Williams and he had spoken on the matter several times before and was content to keep him on the payroll for the time, “if with what he told me at the time was truthful.” Kendrick followed up by saying “if (Williams’) explanations hold up” and Bud Selig “determines no action is warranted” then Williams will stay on. So, it seems Mr. Williams’ fate may be in the hands of the commissioner.
Apparently the devil carries a clipboard.
Atlanta Falcon players. Falcon owner Arthur Blank. The governor of
But if you apply the “real world smell test” I think you’ll see that Petrino is no different than you or me. What’s the “real world smell test”?
Take a set of circumstances and apply it to the real world and you tell me if it holds up.
Do people in the “real world” look for jobs, leave jobs, take jobs, bounce around, even if the timing of those departures often stink?
Have you ever done that?
Do you know someone who has? Have you ever walked in a room with the sole intention of networking? Getting your name out there? Planting seeds for future opportunity?
Do people in the “real world” take a job but then realize a few months later that the job wasn’t what they thought it would be and they look to get out?
Aren’t you taught, in the “real world”, that you have to look out for yourself because no one else will?
When an owner gives a coach a vote-of-confidence, but then fires him two weeks later in the middle of a season, is he being dishonest, disloyal or was it just time for a change? What’s the difference?
I Googled “job hopping” yesterday. One expert said you should stay at a job for at least a year. Another said three years. One offered advice on how to “spin” a resume dotted with a history of job hopping.
When you think about it, in the “real world”, is what Bobby Petrino did, that bad? Why we hold professional sports to a higher moral standard is something I’ll never understand.
The two things he did that were truly egregious: He lied right to Blank’s face when asked specifically about the
But to have the Falcons players themselves rip Petrino is laugh-out-loud hypocrisy. These are the same boneheads who wore “Free Mike Vick” t-shirts Monday night. Why don’t they accuse Vick of abandoning them? Why is Vick not a dishonest man in their eyes?
And you’re going to tell me that every single Falcon player has played hard every single moment of this season? That nobody has quit?
Sorry, but I live in the real world.
Here’s what happened on The 620 SportsLine with Dave Burns:
Here’s what happened on The 620 SportsLine with Dave Burns:
* Suns coach Mike D’Antoni joined The 620 Sportsline. Dave and Coach talked about the Knicks game, previewed the
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