To be fair, Phoenix fans were simply trying to express their love for Steve Nash. For some person that meant a poorly drawn penis picture. I’d like to think the phallic marker was a paean to Nash’s virility as a point guard. Or, you know, a crass attempt to get on TV.

h/t Deadspin

37 notes

1 year ago

Creatures of a day! What is a man?
What is he not? A dream of a shadow
Is our mortal being. But when there comes to men
A gleam of splendour given of heaven,
Then rests on them a light of glory
And blessed are their days.

-Pindar, Pythian 8

I have no idea what’s going to happen to Steve Nash, but he brought a “gleam of splendour” to my time as a basketball fan. I’m sure most of Phoenix agrees. I also hope Robert Sarver lets him leave to continue his odyssey for a ring elsewhere. He’s not going to get a chance in Phoenix.

PHOTOS VIA

73 notes

1 year ago

This is a Steve Nash appreciation blog today.

PHOTOS VIA

45 notes

1 year ago

Tonight’s game between the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz will determine the fate of both teams. Currently sitting at 9th place in the standings, Phoenix sits one game back from Utah. That means if the Suns lost tonight, they’re done, but if they win tonight, and lose to San Antonio on Wednesday in their finale and Utah wins in Portland on Thursday, they’re also done. Utah has to win tonight, or Thursday night when lowly Portland comes to town plus Phoenix would have to lose their final game to San Antonio. Got that? Basically, tonight is do-or-die for both teams. It’s nothing new for them, as both squads have been battling all month over the final playoff spot out West. With a playoff birth on the line, it’s the most exciting match-up left in the regular season (set to conclude on Thursday night with 13 final games).

Why don’t we go over what people are writing about this NCAA Tournment-type game tonight at 10:30/9:30 CT on TNT

Zach Lowe thinks it the biggest game of the year. [The Point Forward]

Utah Jazz guard, Gordon Hayward told Brian Smith “‘it’s like a play-in game.”’ [Salt Lake Tribune]

Phoenix Suns coach, Alvin Gentry told Paul Coro “‘We have to go there with the intentions that we know that this is the seventh game of the championship series, really.’” [Arizona Republic]

This might just be my cynicism concerning cheap Suns owner, Robert Sarver, but he’s offering fans a chance to come to a viewing party at US Airways Arena tonight. Sure, it’s free, and Tom Chambers and Kevin Ray will emcee and describe the action playing out on the scoreboard, but they’re still charging $1 for food items. I know, I’m an ass, but Sarver started it by cutting the payroll and offering Nash very little chance of finally winning a ring. [Arizona Republic]

Jackson Rudd uses an interesting Apollo Creed Rocky reference to explain why the Jazz should get the playoff nod over the Suns in the West. It has something to do with young, energetic teams deserving the spot more than an aging squad like Phoenix. I don’t know; it’s a Simmons trope, so I stopped reading. [Salt City Hoops]

Kevin Zimmerman has a look at the Utah Jazz and what the Suns must do to slow them down tonight. Phoenix leads the season series 2-0, so they’ve got that in their favor. [Valley of the Suns]

And one Jazz blogger already put together a post similar to this one. [SLC Dunk]

The Suns are unsure whether Channing Frye or Grant Hill will play tonight. That’s bad news for Suns fans. [Salt Lake Tribune]

Alex Laugan believes the key to tonight’s game “lies in the matchup mismatches.” [Bright Side of the Sun]

Photo: Chris Detrick/The Salt Lake Tribune

11 notes

1 year ago

Sometimes we forget—after all the knee injuries and tweaks—Chris Paul is an explosive ball of dribbling prowess when getting to the rim. That is, if he’s out of that knee brace that forms like Voltron and makes it appear like he’s playing on one leg. Conversely, Michael Redd’s knees look like they’ve been spending the last few years in the DMZ. Here, one player young enough to recover from his knee problems burns a player too old and worn to fully reach the explosive highs from his career in the early aughts.

This Clippers-Suns game had all the makings of a blow-out. Suns coach Alvin Gentry decided to rest his 38-year-old and 39-year-old back-court made up of Steve Nash (congrats on ending your ~~career~~ contract without a ring in Phoenix!) and Grant Hill because it was the second night of a back-to-back-to-back stretch that can waylay any 30-something not named Kobe Bryant.

The Clippers, fresh off the deal landing them Wizards off-guard, Nick Young, were ready to pounce. Blake Griffin came out shooting, regardless of whether it was an 18-footer or a jump hook from the paint. CP3 continually yelled at him to be aggressive on the offensive end i the first half. Blake has struggled at the line, and at making faster decisions, most adequately summed up in Jay Caspian Kang’s piece earlier this year. Not on this night; he finished with 25, a game high.

The Clippers held a lead throughout the game and even led by 17 at one point in the first half, but the Suns just kept sticking around. In the waning minutes of the 4th quarter, a rash of bad shots and turnovers by LA allowed Phoenix to get back into the game, and in the end, win.

Alvin Gentry even employed the loathsome practice of deliberately fouling free throw averse players, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, with a little over 2 minutes to play. Jordan connected on 3 of 4 in that stretch and Blake did air-ball one foul shot earlier, but connected on 1 of 2 in the same time frame. It didn’t matter that they hit their free throws because Shannon Brown hit a huge 3 down the stretch and connected on his own free throws on his way to 21 points and a win for the short-handed Suns.

The Clippers have now lost 6 of their last 9 games, and they’re only 3 1/2 games from being eliminated from the playoffs in the tight Western Conference mid-tier (they’re in the 5th spot, 1/2 a game back of Memphis). Maybe the addition of Nick Young into the off-guard spot left empty when Chauncey Billups went down with a torn ACL, will help turn things around?

Read the ClipperBlog 3 on 3 roundtable about Nick Young, and the Clips continued failures to hold onto leads in the 4th quarter. Mike Bresnan of the Los Angeles Times also discusses their pick-up of the 6’6” Nick Young at the 2-spot. Size like Young’s will help (especially on the defensive end when they play their cross-town rivals), but if they can’t protect the lead with solid free throw performances and execution in the 4th, then their dreams of a run this spring are all for naught. Their owner’s malevolent juju doesn’t help matters from a karma perspective either.

11 notes

1 year ago