Playoff basketball is a different animal than the regular season, as the game slows down and matchups become that much more critical. With that said, here is a breakdown of Phoenix and Portland’s positional battles in their respective starting lineups:
PG — Steve Nash vs. Andre Miller
2009-2010 regular season
Nash: 16.5 ppg, 11.0 apg, 3.64 TO, [...]

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ValleyoftheSuns writers Michael Schwartz, Mike Schmitz and Tyler Lockman pick our key players and key stats that will decide the Phoenix Suns’ first-round series against the Portland Trail Blazers before making our predictions.
Key player
Michael Schwartz: I’m going to cheat and go with two, and they’re the guys stepping in for Brandon Roy: Rudy Fernandez and [...]

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PHOENIX — On one hand, the Suns should be feeling fat and happy. Their 28-7 tear pulled them up to a No. 3 seed in the West, where they get to face a Portland squad missing its best player and a host of other guys.
Suddenly, after a season full of people underestimating the Suns, Phoenix [...]

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PHOENIX — In previous years the Phoenix Suns were expected to win the NBA championship.
In 2007 the team the went so far as to gear its whole marketing plan around a “Trophy Guy” who was considering paying Phoenix a visit in June, and prior marketing slogans have promised the the team had its “Eyes on [...]

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PHOENIX — Jared Dudley drove baseline, barely rose up as high as he could and slammed it home with as much authority as an NBA player who refers to himself as “unathletic” could muster Tuesday against the Denver Nuggets.
On the bench, five-time All-Star forward Amare Stoudemire, who makes a living posterizing hapless victims, jumped up [...]

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PHOENIX — The 2009-10 NBA season has been a wild ride for your Phoenix Suns.
There was the shockingly good 14-3 start, the surprisingly bad 12-18 middle and the focused 28-7 sprint to the finish that vaulted the Suns into the No. 3 spot in the West.
We here at ValleyoftheSuns certainly weren’t alone in not having [...]

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