(Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images)
Too much LeBron! Well, actually if you’re a basketball aficionado, you can never really get too much of the Cleveland superstar, even when he’s making chopped liver of your favorite filet.
This was one of the few buildings on the planet LeBron hasn’t flat-out owned in his meteoric career, but he corrected that oversight with a 29-point, 6 rebound, 4 assist, 2 steal game that was even more eye catching on the court than on paper.
Not that this was a one-man show by any means. Perennial Phoenix pain in the posterior Mo Williams chipped in 24 points, and Cleveland shut down the NBA’s most potent three-point attack with a suffocating transition defense that cut the number of wide open looks the Suns are accustomed to getting to a minimum. Oh, and the Suns chipped in too, with 19 turnovers leading to 30 points.
When all is said and done the Suns tend to live by the three, and so maybe the only stat you really needed to know was their 4 for 19 from arc city. And they hit nary one in the last 33 minutes!
The loss was the first at home for the Suns this year and also snapped a 19-game streak over a two-season span.
Although you’d never guess it from the final score, this was a six-point game with 6:51 to play. Five minutes later it was a 21-point game as the Cavs went on a 15-0 run. And fittingly, it was a LeBron three at 5:12 that started the fans on their way to the parking lot.
In fact, for the better part of 40 minutes this was a very good game to watch, especially if you didn’t care who won. The teams were seldom more than six points apart, and there were 18 lead changes and 16 ties before the 15-0 cave in.
That Cleveland “D’ didn’t stop Steve Nash, who dribbled through it for several lay-ups, including one right under Shaquille O’Neal’s nose. Nash finished with another double double (18 and 10), but Amare suffered through a night that included as many turnovers as baskets (6-6). He also was in early foul trouble and was tagged with a technical. His line in the second half was zero points on 0-4 shooting. He did have 12 boards for the night, but the officials seemed to bother him almost as much as the Cavs did.
If you want to know about Shaq, by the way, the only time he was visible in his return to the Valley was during introductions when he got a nice welcome. He also was in early foul trouble, played only 8 minutes in the second half, and managed only 3 points and 5 rebounds.
This wasn’t the end of the world for the Suns, of course. Just the end of a few impressive streaks that you knew were going to end sooner or later, and, looking at the schedule, probably sooner.
Still, when they look at the film, they will be disappointed (maybe even appalled) by their careless ball handling and glaring defensive breakdowns. The late Cotton Fitzsimmons used to preach that you don’t want to help teams like the Cavs and Lakers. “They don’t need it,” he would say.
Monday night, alas, the Suns didn’t practice what Cotton preached.
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:30 pm
So well put Joe, as your unbiased insight always is, but thats why your our favorite. When the season started some of us let our love for the Suns cloud our reality, myself included, but wasn’t it fun? We have no superstar. Our best player can’t play a whole game or defend his opposite position. The big forward seldom defends, is always in foul trouble, and will never attain superstar status. Suns are a good team, limited by the requirement that a salary cap presents. Sooner than later we won’t have Nash or Amare, will dredge the bottom of the NBA for a season and hopefully draft with some intelligence. Someday that Championship will come to us. Have a happy holiday Joe.