Where The Suns Are Scorching (Day 20)

Jason Richardson (35 points on 13-20 shooting, 7-10 treys, with 8 boards, 3 assists, and 3 steals) went berserk and Steve Nash (21 points on 6-11 shooting, 2-3 treys, 7-7 free throws, with 2 boards, 13 assists and a steal, without a single turnover) methodically led the Suns to 22 three-pointers- 2nd most in NBA history- and beat the Lakers, 121-116. Even Channing Frye (20 points on 7-12 shooting, 4-9 treys, with 6 boards, 2 assists, a steal and a block) and Hedo Turkoglu (17 points on 6-9 shooting, 5-7 treys, with 2 boards, 5 assists and a steal, with no turnovers) contributed a bunch of long bombs. For the Lakers, Pau Gasol (28 points on 12-17 shooting, with 17 boards, 2 assists, a steal and a block), Kobe Bryant (25 points on 11-20 shooting, 2-2 free throws, with 9 boards, 14 assists, a trey and a steal), and Lamar Odom (22 points on 10-18 shooting, with 11 boards, 4 assists, a steal and a block, with only 1 turnover) all had monster nights, but it was all in vain, as Phoenix simply couldn't miss. What can you do? Teams get lucky, sometimes.

The dynamic athletic defensive frontcourt of Al Horford (28 points on 9-14 shooting, 10-10 free throws, with 10 boards, 3 assists, a steal and 3 blocks, with no turnovers) and Josh Smith (23 points on 10-20 shooting, 1-2 treys, 2-2 free throws, with 10 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block) just do it night after night. They are so efficient from the field on offense and play amazing defense despite their guards' poor defense. And they are the reason why the Hawks won tonight, 111-105, over the Wolves. I guess Joe Johnson's (17, 3 and 5, with 2 treys and 2 steals) okay, too. For Minny, Kevin Love (22 points on 7-15 shooting, 8-8 free throws, with only 17 boards and 2 steals) double-doubled (what's new?), Michael Beasley (25 points on 10-16 shooting, with 4 boards, 3 assists, a trey, a steal and a block) led the team in scoring (again- what's new?), Sebastian Telfair (18 points on 6-9 shooting, 4-5 free throws, with 8 assists, 2 treys and 3 steals) posted an efficient line with Minnesota thin on healthy guards tonight, and Anthony Tolliver (13, 4 and 1, on 5-7 shooting, with 2 treys and a block) came off the bench with some positive production.

Luis Scola (24 points on 9-18 shooting, with 8 boards, 5 assists, and 2 steals, with only 1 turnover) and Kevin Martin (28, 5 and 4, with 3 treys and a steal) carried the Rocket offense (with Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks sidelined) to pound a frustrated New York Knicks team to lead Houston to a 104-96 win. For the Knicks, Amare Stoudemire (25 points on 10-19 shooting, with 8 boards, 2 assists and a steal) started off hot but struggled to single-handedly carry the offense as the Houston defense focused on him in the second half, Wilson Chandler (17, 7 and 3, with 3 blocks) continued his productive season with a nice line, and Landry Fields (12, 6 and 1, on 5-6 shooting, 1-1 trey, 1-1 free throw, with no turnovers) was quietly efficient.