In the beginning of the game, it appears that the coaching staff prepared our team very well Gentry and Majerly, however, have not gained the confidence of the team during the game. Perhaps they are not rotating the right guys at the right time. Perhaps they call a time out but then give the team the wrong message and/or call the wrong play. Nash leads this team on the floor but he may be the best one, who has enough of the players’ confidence, to lead them on the bench as well. Give him double duty and I believe the payoff will be huge.

I believe we have many competitive players but when they lose their focus and confidence and energy, I must look at the coaching job and believe that is how, as indirect as it may seem, big leads are lost. Nash needs to work on taking care of the ball. He is not perfect and we need to practice on sending him help to get out of a trap. LB is back and we have everyone basically healthy and we need to take advantage of that.

MUST start and also finish with LB. Let’s go SUNS!!!!

Our offense was clicking on all cylinders in the first quarter. Amar’e was sinking his jumper, Richardson was taking smart spot-up shots, Grant was getting out for transition baskets, and even Leandro found the bottom of the net with a back-court cut. It is hard to criticize the first quarter we had, but I would have liked to have seen Richardson and Hill punish the much smaller Bell on the block, and had Channing crash the boards (particularly on a night when nothing was falling from outside).

Yet late in the second quarter the Suns started to relinquish their lead. Emulating the Miami game, it was the starters who let the game begin to slip away. It began with the Suns giving up offensive rebound after offensive rebound. And their woes were compounded by turning the ball over, even giving up several inbounds late in the first half. Glancing at Nash’s line you’d only notice his impressive 30,11, and 7, but Nash followed up his 6 TO performance with 7 miscues against the lowly Bucks.

And as has been the case since Nash returned to the Valley in 2004, as goes Nash goes the Suns. When Nash gets sloppy, the Suns get sloppy. Another troubling trend lead by Nash is his propensity to complain to the refs rather than getting back on defense. Nash’s feverish pace to his game makes it hard to call. And the zebra’s likely miss a lot of fouls. But the Suns are not a good enough defensive team to survive playing 5 on 4 while Nash pleads his case on the other end of the floor. Without him, there is no way we build such impressive leads. But with him, we are consistently blowing big leads.

The Suns are about to take off on another road trip after having a recent home-heavy schedule. If they are lucky, they can regain the tenacity and focus that helped them jump out to a 14-3 start. If they continue their lackluster play, they are in jeopardy of falling to the bottom of the West’s playoff picture.

On a side note, Earl Clark got early minutes, starting the second quarter on the pine. Whereas Clark’s MO has been to launch long jumpers in trash time, he mixed it up with a little penetrating and dishing to Dudley. Clark then proceeded to take the shot every time he touched the ball, missing his first four shots before draining one from the elbow. Earl didn’t see any second half minutes, but his aggression and confidence were encouraging despite his poor shooting.