See you in the WCF's

[reader]

I respect the Suns highly and it more to do with Steve Nash then Amare, Marion and the rest of a talented squad put together.

He has raised his already pretty good game as much at the mid point to later parts of a career to simply greatness, as much as anyone I can remember. Simply a fabulous player period.

Suns would be a test and a good one. Spurs have to be healthy and motivated to win over them.

Nash is one thing for certain, not stupid. He knows who the team to beat is and he knows they will probably struggle when Amare returns.

The trick will be building a different team. Phoenix has carved its niche with a Stoudemire-less squad, going from 4-5 to 22-11. Nash and Marion found their forms on a team that relies more on perimeter shooting and defense and less on speed and dunks.

But bringing back Stoudemire as soon as next month and Leandro Barbosa as soon as this weekend does not make for simple math. The Suns won't be scoring an extra 40 points just because Stoudemire averaged 26 last season and Barbosa was averaging 14 this one.

"Everyone always says, 'Wow, you add Amaré and Leandro to this team, and it's unstoppable,' " Nash said. "But that's not really how basketball works. Obviously, you add two good pieces, and that will help us make a better team. It does not add up like you think it would. You're still in a dogfight every night no matter who's on the floor. We've got to think of our team no matter who's on the floor as our team. Getting a win with or without players in the lineup to me, in many ways, is irrelevant.

"It's going to be a different ebb and flow into a new team, especially this far into the season. We're going to go through some growing pains again, as we have at times this year losing four or five winnable games that would put us right next to the Spurs."

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns...story0109.html

[Bruno]

Barbosa.. I started calling him Bobo because he looked like a clown his first few years on the court.

after JJ1, JJ2 and JJ3, you have Bobo1 and Bobo2 : Boris' friends call him "Bobo".

[Solid D]

BoBo Forum

[1Parker1]

^ I can't believe what this thread has evolved into...

[Duncanoypi]

bobo in the philippines means has low IQ, stupid....

[1Parker1]

bobo in the philippines means has low IQ, stupid....

Bobo in the United States refers to no-name, brandless shoes (Bobo's for plural)...or you know, Bobo the Clown

[SenorSpur]

In the immortal words of the great Roger Staubach, "we'll see you chokers in the playoffs"

[Rummpd]

Lets not rule out the Mavs just yet = they seem to have a habit lately of pulling wins out of their *&% in the last seconds - but how long can that house of cards last?

[boutons_]

This Mavs' habit of pulling out close games late is not totally house of cards.

Those are tough games to win, good tests (Pop likes good tests, not blowouts), require execution/shot-making/stops/FTs in the crunch, are great confidence builders. After the Celtics game, the Mavs guy interviewed said they now just believe in themselves in those situations.

[Rummpd]

It goes both ways though, it they typically let teams in and some slip they could lose confidence real quick but you make a good point.

Spurs used to get hammered for losing leads, Mavs making a point of it and then pulling them out sometimes on remarkable plays - got to give them credit but they maybe playing with fire? (in Duck speak)

Love to see them lose some of these to give some breathing room.

[DDS4]

The Suns certainly are not the 3-point threats they used to be w/o Q and JJ. They got more athletic.

Until they find some playoff type defense to stop the Spurs, the same result will ensue.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

If the Lakers finish in the 7 spot I think a Suns-Lakers first round series would be interesting.

What's ironic with the way things are shaping up this year is that the Suns with a 2-seed will probably have an easier walk to the WCF than the Spurs with the 1.

Of course, you could argue that the Spurs tough series against the Sonics and Nuggets helped them in the Suns series and then against the Pistons.

[reader]

The way the seedings are currenlty structured, the Spurs will meet the Mavs in round two, regardless of who has home court. There is alwlays a battle of Texas.