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those are Nash's assist totals for the last 5 games!!!!!
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those are Nash's assist totals for the last 5 games!!!!!
and still no ring
How were the TV ratings? That, of course, is the key number.
And team assists the three games before that: 38 ast on 53 FGs; 38 ast on 45 FGs; 37 ast on 49 FGs.
Jesus. That's impressive.
It is impressive indeed! And, it's not just Nash dishing out the ball. I just hope they can do that even if Nash isnt playing.
It's great for my fantasy team since Nash and Barbosa are on there... and so is Parker who has terrible FG% with Duncan out, which is killing me.
Funny thing is the stat guys credit Nash for an assist when he throws a roll of toilet paper or a towel to a teammate in the locker room. Watch a game sometime from start to finish and keep your own stats. Nash's assist stats are always inflated.
John Stockton part II??
Nash is ridiculous. Un-freaking-believable. And at his age!!!!
Oh My God! Think of the rating championships they'll win!
holy crap!
Regular season champs baby
Moreover the Suns are beating up on the East while putting up all these numbers. Sure they are 16-4 in 20 games, but 12 of those 20 have been against the East. They are 5-3 vs the West and 11-1 vs the East.
The Spurs on the other hand have only played 5 games vs the East and are 12-3 vs the West in compiling their 17-3 record.
And I can't emphasize this enough: the East sucks hind . Did you know that:
1. There are only 3 teams in the East that are better than .500 right now (BOS, DET, ORL). All the rest are .500 or below. In comparison, 9 out of 15 West teams are better than .500. There are more teams from the Southwest division (4) with a winning record than the entire East.
2. There are exactly 4 teams in the East with a positive PPG differential: the 3 division leaders and the Raptors. The freaking Southwest division alone has 4 teams with a +ve PPG differential. The West has 9 teams with a +ve PPG diff.
The East sucks and Phoenix (12 games) and Boston (15 games) have feasted on this fodder to rack up impressive records and stats. The Suns got spanked by the Lakers, Warriors and Rockets who are in the bottom half of the West playoff picture. They narrowly squeaked past the Kings and the Sonics, and beat the Rockets w/o McGrady once. They smashed the Kings and the Clippers. That's all they have done in the stronger conference. Let's wait till they play the likes of SA, Dallas, Utah, Denver, NO first.
Warlord, that's all very true, but the Suns have beaten the Magic twice and they have a very talented frontcourt, Western Conference-like frontcourt. So, let's not pretend they can't. But i'll concede that they haven't yet.
Also, their Houston loss was like a one possession game until the final minute, hardly a spanking.
Furthermore, they have had some significant injuries early, with Amare, Bell and Barbosa all missing games.
While the latter isn't an excuse, I bring it up because you brought up McGrady being out in their Houston win.
And while the Warriors may be in the bottom half overall, the Warriors team they played was the more recent, nearly-unstoppable version, not the 0-fer version that stumbled out of the gate.
Lots of context being added, and while none of it matters in the long run, if we're going to tear apart what they've done as "not good enough against the West" then perhaps it's needed now?
I would agree with your bigger point, as I have yet to get excited yet because they have just a handful of very good wins, most against the East.
Will the Suns be raising a banner for 42 assists on 50 FG in a game?
I said that Parker is not an elite PG without Duncan with him and this injury is starting to prove it. Ginobili is way better than Tony Parker.
I can't really speak to what they'll do against the other teams you mentioned, but I'm really dreading playing the Suns. I fully expect Phoenix to crack 130, maybe 140 with the way we're playing. We ing suck right now.
Except that you're ignoring Parker's injury.
The Suns opponents have had a better winning percentage than Spurs opponents:
Suns opponents: .486 winning percentage
Spurs opponents: .479 winning percentage
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerranking
week for the Suns.Washington in awe
The fans in Washington, D.C., always seem to enjoy watching the Suns more than other away fans. Maybe it's the democracy of the Suns offense with all of its equal rights and privileges to score.
With one of their area sons rejuvenated (Grant Hill) and another initiated (D.J. Strawberry via college), they seem to enjoy the show even more. When Amare Stoudemire, Caron Butler and Shawn Marion had three consecutive dunks in the first half, there was a bigger gasp for Stoudemire's and Marion's dunks than their Wizard's slam.
Even the Wizards sounded in awe.
"Tonight, we got to see a big-time playoff team," Washington center Brendan Haywood said.
Wizards fans do boo the Suns but it's funny. They put up photos of Dallas Cowboys, like Troy Aikman and Jerry Jones, or the Cowboys star to incite their fans during Phoenix free throws (What would happen if they put up Calvin Hill, Grant's father?). Don't take much from the boos. They even booed Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs, obviously there to cheer on his hometown Suns.
But just in case you're getting too excited about the Suns beating up on a bunch of mediocre teams, here's your daily dose of Steve Nash. He basically said the Suns are just doing what they should be doing.
"I think it's just a little run that we are on," Nash said. "I think we still have a lot of work to do even though we're playing well."
In other words, check back with him in two weeks after they have played Utah, New Orleans, San Antonio and Dallas consecutively.
On an unrelated subject, I was watching the Knicks and Bulls from 92 on NBA tv today and they were previewing the next game which would be the next day.
How lucky are the Spurs that teams no longer have to do that (play back to back in the playoffs)?
4 Rings>
Steve Nash is an amazing player, no doubt about it.
That is precisely the point I was trying to make about winning percentages. They are deceptive. Just like the Suns' 16-3 record is deceptive, so is the winning % of the teams they have beaten. A .500 East team is nowhere close in caliber to a West team with the same win %.
Let's try to do this a little more objectively:
Good teams the Suns have played:
Orlando X 2, Houston X 2, Golden State, Lakers (total = 6, record = 3-3)
Bad teams the Suns have played:
Seattle, Cleveland, Charlotte, Atlanta, Miami, NY X 2, Chicago, Sacramento X 2, Clippers, Indiana, Toronto, Washington. (total = 14, record = 13-1)
Potential Western playoff opponents the Suns have played:
Houston X 2, Golden State, Lakers (total = 4, record = 1-3)
Good teams the Spurs have played:
Orlando, Houston X 2, Dallas X 2, Utah, New Orleans, Lakers (total = 8, record = 6-2)
Bad teams the Spurs have played:
Sacramento X 2, Portland X 2, Memphis X 2, Miami, Milwaukee, Atlanta, Seattle, Washington, Minnesota (total = 12, record = 11-1)
Potential Western playoff opponents the Spurs have played:
Houston X 2, Dallas X 2, Utah, New Orleans, Lakers (total = 7, record = 5-2)
The Suns are 13-1 against poor teams and 1-3 against potential WC playoff candidates. The Spurs are 11-1 against poor teams and 5-2 against WC playoff candidates.
That is what I was referring to, and it is something that cannot be captured in Strength-of-Schedule that is computed solely via win %.
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