Tonight the Phoenix Suns face the Philadelphia 76ers at home with only one priority in mind: win. There’s no other way out to this Suns team, as they’re struggling bad and experimenting a free falling in the standings. Right now, after a three game losing streak, the Suns are 13-16 (.448) and 11th on the Western Conference. That means we would be not only out of the playoffs, but that we suck more than the Grizzlies (14-17 and .452) and we’re not that much better than the Warriors (12-18 and .400). In fact, we’re not a lot better than the own Sixers (12-19 and .0387).
I can say we, as Phoenix Suns fans, are not accustomed to sucking anymore. After the 2003-2004 season and the subsequent arrival of Steve Nash, we’ve been a winning team every year. It’s about time to regain that mentality and win some of these very winnable games.
I’m not looking forward to watch this game because of Carter’s debut. Don’t misunderstand: it sure is a good great thing and will give the team a lift, because Carter can play a vital role especially for our offense and dictate where we are headed this year. I admit it’s not good when you have to rely on a guy like him, in almost midseason, but I trust his talents and respect his game. I’m hopeful he’ll be on most nights that pure scorer he’s used to be and lead the Suns to some wins. Good luck, Carter. And please don’t disappoint us. It’s a good chance for us both. Play good and don’t pull an AllenIverson on your career.
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| Vince Carter is the X factor tonight |
But the reason I’m most intrigued to this game is the one that most fans talk about: our defense. Tonight we don’t have that big of a challenge, mainly because the Sixers stink on offense – 23rd on the league in points and 22nd in FG Pct and 3FG Pct. But if we can’t stop the most horrific offenses in the league, who we will be able to stop? The focus that the team supposedly is giving on defense has to appear now. I will be very pissed against the Suns if they surrender more than 100 points to this Sixers team.
All in all, this is a must-win game. The Suns are not playing good, but we’ve seen signs of improvements over the last games, especially with the new additions. And the Sixers are a team that don’t give us much trouble at US Airways Center. The Suns are 38-16 in games played in Phoenix against Philly, including 21 wins in the last 24 meetings. And we swept the season series in 2009-10 and have won three-straight in the series overall.
So, if the Suns play hard, everything will be OK. Let’s win this game and then start building some confidence for the remaining of the season.
And for the people who want to check some of the moves made by Gortat against the Clippers the last game:
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