SB Nation Arizona - Suns Drop 4th Straight, Hornets Win 100-95https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/46593/arizona-fave.png2011-03-16T20:08:34-07:00http://arizona.sbnation.com/rss/stream/18183822011-03-16T20:08:34-07:002011-03-16T20:08:34-07:00Phoenix Suns Drop Fourth Straight As Playoff Hopes Dim, Hornets Win 100-95
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<p>The Phoenix Suns, similar to the loss in Houston on Monday, got down big on the road and battled back but couldn't get over the hump at the end. It was a night that saw the return of Steve Nash after missing two games with an injury but against a smart defensive game from New Orleans Hornets' coach Monty Williams, the Suns only shot 43 percent from the field and committed 17 turnovers.</p>
<p>Defensively, the Suns did as well as could be excepted given the lack of size at power forward and Nash's inability to stay with Chris Paul. Paul lead scorers with 26 points on the night and David West put up 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter against a Suns lineup that featured center Marcin Gortat and a mixture of wing players trying to defend a bigger man. </p>
<p>The effort was there and the Suns benefited from another gutty performance from Jared Dudley (25 points, 8 rebounds) but the bigs were shut down by Emeka Okafor in the paint and the expected scoring punch from Aaron Brooks has yet to arrive. Brooks finished with just one assist and six points on 2-7 shooting in 13 minutes of disappointing play. </p>
<p>The Suns could get a boost on Friday against the Golden State Warriors as Channing Frye could return early from his dislocated shoulder. The Suns are 1-4 without him and miss both his shooting and interior defense and rebounding.</p>
https://arizona.sbnation.com/phoenix-suns/2011/3/16/2055400/phoenix-suns-loss-new-orleans-hornetsSeth Pollack2011-03-16T10:29:31-07:002011-03-16T10:29:31-07:00Phoenix Suns Schedule: Steve Nash Returns To Face Hornets
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<p>Don't be surprised, it's <span>Steve Nash</span> after all and it's not like this guy was going to let some painful pelvic instability keep him off the court for more than two games. Especially when the <a href="https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Suns</a> are desperately trying to make the playoffs and have a game scheduled against the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/nba/teams/new-orleans-hornets" class="sbn-auto-link">New Orleans Hornets</a>, a team they could (in theory) catch.</p>
<p>To make matters even more desperate, Nash's new under study <span>Aaron Brooks</span> hasn't looked any better than most of the other guys who have tried to fill Steve's shoes.</p>
<p>Brook's scored 19 points in his first start against an apathetic Orlando defense and then proceeded to score two more points in the next game and a half. Against his former team, Brooks got benched in favor of third-string point guard <span>Zabian Dowdell</span> who played excellent defense and had a rare good shooting night. It would be nice if Nash had seen enough from Brooks to give him confidence in resting more, but that's not the case and so Nash told beat writer Paul Coro at shootaround that he's playing tonight.</p>
<p>The Hornets (39-30) come in having gone 2-2 over their last four games with a win over Denver and Sacramento and losses to Dallas and Chicago. New Orleans comes into the game with a full roster. Suns forward/center <span>Channing Frye</span> is still out (shoulder) but could play as soon as Friday's home game which would be ahead of his scheduled return.</p>
<p><i>The game tips at 5:00 p.m. local time on My45 and will be broadcast on Sports 620 radio. Fans can follow along during the game with other Suns fans at the live game thread at <a href="http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/" target="_blank">Bright Side of the Sun</a>.</i></p>
https://arizona.sbnation.com/2011/3/16/2331671/phoenix-suns-schedule-steve-nash-returns-to-face-hornetsSeth Pollack