SB Nation Arizona - Grant Hill Reminds Kevin Durant How It's Done, Suns Beat Thunder, 113-110https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/46593/arizona-fave.png2010-12-19T20:28:44-07:00http://arizona.sbnation.com/rss/stream/16493452010-12-19T20:28:44-07:002010-12-19T20:28:44-07:00Phoenix Suns Follow Grant Hill To Win Over OKC Thunder, 113-110
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<p>The Oklahoma City Thunder probably were thinking the same thing most of us were: the Phoenix Suns, after playing poorly on Friday and coming in short-handed thanks to the trade, wouldn't give much of a battle. Whatever the reason, the Suns jumped into this game with both feet and energetically took an early lead. The shots were falling and the intensity was there on the defensive end and on the glass. When the Suns are playing like that, they are still a very good team. </p>
<p>Oklahoma, on the other hand, were flat in the first part of game on the defensive end and refused to knock down open shots against the Suns' zone defense. That allowed Phoenix to take a 54-45 lead into the half, with the Suns shooting 55 percent and the Thunder only 28 percent. Excessive foul shots by the home team, a reoccurring theme for the game, kept the game from being an early blowout. Oklahoma shot 24 free throw attempts in the first half compared to 11 for the Suns. </p>
<p>The Suns were led by a fantastic performance from Grant Hill, who was matched up with Kevin Durant on one end and scored 30 points on the other. Hill also grabbed 11 rebounds. Durant finished with 28 points and four rebounds. Steve Nash added his own double-double with 20 points and 10 assists.</p>
<p>The key player for the Suns, however, was Robin Lopez, who looks like he's returning to the form we saw last season. He was knocking down open shots and playing solid defense in the paint. Robin finished with 19 points and while he only had four rebounds of his own, his presence on the floor was key to the Suns finishing plus-five on the glass overall. Not surprisingly, the only quarter the Thunder won the rebounding battle was the third and Lopez played less than five minutes in that period.</p>
<p>Josh Childress and Goran Dragic both gave the Suns solid performances off the bench. Childress, who had to cover Kevin Durant late in the game due to Grant Hill's foul trouble, had his best all-around showing as a Sun. He drew a charge on Durant and had one of his three steals during an important stretch of the game. Josh finished with 10 points, five rebounds and three steals in 28 minutes. Dragic had 11 points and five assists in 32 minutes. </p>
<p>The Suns now travel to San Antonio for a game against the Spurs on Monday. The Suns will still be without their three new players acquired in the trade with Orlando. Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat and Mickael Pietrus won't be ready to play for the Suns until Thursday's home game against Miami. </p>
https://arizona.sbnation.com/phoenix-suns/2010/12/19/1886463/phoenix-suns-follow-grant-hill-to-win-over-okc-thunder-113-110Seth Pollack2010-12-19T10:12:16-07:002010-12-19T10:12:16-07:00Trade Leaves Phoenix Suns Short-Handed For Visit To Oklahoma City Thunder
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<p>Just another boring day on Planet Orange. Jason Richardson, <span>Hedo Turkoglu</span> and <span>Earl Clark</span> are taking 25 percent of the team's minutes played, 48 percent of the three-point shots made and 28 percent of the total points to Orlando. In the meantime, <span>Vince Carter</span>, <span>Marcin Gortat</span> and Mickael Peitrus won't be cleared through physicals and in <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/">Phoenix Suns</a> uniforms until Thursday's home game against Miami. That leaves the team short-handed tonight in Oklahoma City against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.welcometoloudcity.com/">Thunder</a> and even more so if <span>Steve Nash</span> can't play.</p>
<p>Nash suffered a neck stinger that caused numbness and tingling in his hands and arms after colliding with <span>Tyson Chandler</span> early in the Dallas game on Friday. Nash is said to be fine to play tonight after suffering what was essentially a whiplash type of injury.</p>
<p>Even with Nash in the lineup, it will be difficult for the Suns to keep up with the 19-8 Thunder. <span>Kevin Durant</span> and friends have won eight of their last ten games with the two losses coming to Chicago and Toronto and the wins coming mostly against teams with losing records. Of course, the Suns are also a team with a losing record (12-13) so that makes the home team the heavy favorite.</p>
<p>Without Jason Richardson, <span>Goran Dragic</span> will have to play a big role in this game even if <span>Jared Dudley</span> starts at shooting guard. Dragic had 14 points (5-11 shooting) and 10 assists in 39 minutes of play against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.mavsmoneyball.com/">Mavericks</a> on Saturday. He gives the Suns their best chance at slowing down <span>Russell Westbrook</span>, who has been tearing through the league this season. I would look for Dragic to mark Westbrook with Nash "hiding" on Thabo Selolosha. If Nash can't play, Dragic will still get Westbrook with Childress and Dudley splitting time at the two guard position. </p>
<p><span>Grant Hill</span> will get the unenviable task of guarding Kevin Durant while up front the Suns will have a size advantage with <span>Robin Lopez</span> and <span>Channing Frye</span> against <span>Jeff Green</span>, <span>Serge Ibaka</span> and Nick Collison. Thunder center <span>Nenad Krstic</span> is questionable for this game due to a lower back strain.</p>
<p><i>The game tips off at 5:00 p.m. local time (7:00 ET) and will be broadcast in Phoenix on UPN My45, NBA TV nationally and Sports 620 KTAR radio. Fans can also follow along with other fans live during the game at the <a href="http://www.brightsideofthesun.com" target="_blank">Bright Side of the Sun</a> live game thread.</i></p>
https://arizona.sbnation.com/2010/12/19/2326616/trade-leaves-phoenix-suns-short-handed-for-visit-to-oklahoma-citySeth Pollack