Apparently, the Suns thought Portland would just roll over and die without Brandon Roy.
Their mistake.
If Phoenix didn't know before, they know it now. Portland's not going away. Anyone who thought Roy was irreplaceable hasn't been watching Portland over the last three years.
They've stockpiled talent through the draft and trades. Guys who might be starting on other teams (see: Jerryd Bayless, Rudy Fernandez) see more bench than playing time on Portland. That's how deep they are.
Phoenix just saw that first-hand.
Now the Suns have to see how deep they are—meaning can they dig deeper for a better effort than they showed in Game One?
The revolutionized Amare Stoudemire never showed. Instead, the quasi-All-Star version returned in his ref-complaining, turnover-committing, and crunchtime-absent glory.
The Suns can only hope it was a one-game hiccup, and not a series-long slump, because without Stoudemrie producing, Phoenix is a die-by-the-three team. It's that simple.
Unlike Bayless or Miller, Nash isn't strong enough to penetrate and force at least a foul on the opposing team. He has ...
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Article written by Matt Petersen
Phoenix Suns, Amare Stoudemire, Need To Learn Game One Lessons…Fast
April 18th, 2010 by Matt Petersen Leave a reply »
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