(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) If you can’t defend the painted area, attack it ! That was the game plan last night in the Suns 108-88 easy victory against the Clippers.

The Suns went to Stoudemire for the first four possesions of the game and established the inside game early on. It took three minutes to see a Sun not named Amaré take a shot (a missed mid-ramge jumper from Grant Hill with 9:10 left in the quarter).

Nash (12 assists for Steve) kept passing the ball inside to Stoudemire, playing pick and roll with him on consecutive plays and Amaré responded by scoring the first 11 points for Phoenix.

Stoudemire had 30 points (11-of-14 from the field) and 15 rebounds in the game. Phoenix also got 16 points from an excellent Grant Hill (7-for-10) mostly on lay-ups and mid-range shots.

The Clippers tried to do the same but Kaman (9 points, 4-of-17 shooting) was no match for STAT on the night as the Suns center contested every shot early in the game.

Despite this “inside-first” approach there’s still a lot of work to do, even if the Suns finally outrebounded an opponent (46-42).

Rebounding is a team effort and you need five players working together, helping each other, cutting off opponents.
The Clippers had eight offensive boards in the first quarter alone. That’s why, despite being up by seven (27-20 after 12 minutes), Coach D’Antoni started the second quarter with two centers. Skinner and Stoudemire did an excellent job together.

It was of great help the fact that the Clippers couldn’t score from outside all night (3-of-12 from downtown in the game). Maggette led the Clippers with 21 points but the “other” LA team missed some key players as Tim Thomas was added to the long list of inactive players, that already has Elton Brand and Shaun Livingston as long time members.

The game was over late in the second quarter as Phoenix took a 20-point lead (59-40 at the half) and never looked back.
The rest was more or less a useless training session for both teams. Coach D’Antoni was able to empty his bench and Macus Banks made the best of the opportunity, scoring 11 points and making some nice plays.

It’s quite clear by now that, except for the odd night here and there, the Suns (20-9) are too good for those less talented teams in either Conference. It’s not against those teams that the Suns will be judged in the end.

The Clippers (9-18) will get their chance for a rematch very soon, in fact the two teams play the second part of the home-and-home series tonight (7 PM) in Phoenix.

Yours truly, Steve Fan

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