Waiting for Shaq, Suns beat Sonics with a little help from Wally
(AP Photo/Matt York) With the Suns leading 100-99, with only 15.1 seconds left, the most experienced player, Wally Szczerbiak, on a very young Sonics team pulled a C-Web and called a time out.
What he forgot was there were no time out left !
The Suns thankfully nailed a free throw, resulting from the technical foul, and on the ensuing possession Nash drew another foul and scored both FT resulting in a 103-99 win.
Phoenix, waiting for Shaq, didn’t really look focused the whole night, but was perfect on FTs, 32-for-32. Stoudemire (33 points, 10 rebounds) was 15-of-15 from the line, just two shy of Paul Silas 1971 record of 17 without a miss.
“It was one of these games, I think with all the distractions going on, we were not really sharp” confirmed Coach D’Antoni at the end.
The young Sonics were led by Chris Wilcox with 22 points and 15 rebounds while Rookie of the Year (in the making) Kevin Durant scored only 9 points on a poor 2-for-12 shooting.
The Suns had 16 points from Hill - who put the Suns ahead for good with a mid-range jumper with 28 seconds left - 15 from Barbosa, and 10 rebounds from a solid Brian Skinner.
As good as the Suns were on FT they shot awfully from the field, 39.5% total and 20% (3-of-15) from 3-point. Nash, Bell and Barbosa combined for a 13-for-39 from the field.
Phoenix is now 35-15 still with the best record in the Western Conference at an even .700.
The game was preceding a tough stretch of contest against winning teams starting on Sunday night (7:30 PM) against the Wizards.
It looks like, according to ESPN.com, Shaq will make his Suns debut late next week, possibly against Dallas at home on Thursday night on National TV (on TNT). I guess Mr. Stern wouldn’t mind too much…
Yours truly, Steve Fan
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Posted by Steve Fan
Blogger and Steve Nash enthusiast. Don't get in his way, he'll MVP your ass.
http://sonsofstevenash.blogspot.com
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[…] Wally Szczerbiak called a timeout when Seattle had none remaining with 15.1 seconds to play, allowing the Phoenix Suns to pull out a 103-99 victory over the Sonics. […]