| Amare Versus The Blazers Authored by Matt Aemmer - March 24, 2006 - 3:03 am
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Stoudemire’s start lasted only 5 minutes or so and was storybook from the start. It seemed that every Suns player went out of their way to get the young superstar buckets. Off a planned play, Stoudemire came off a screen to hit an 18-footer on the games first shot. On a fast break, Raja Bell slowed down to allow Stoudemire to cut down the middle for an easy lay-in. All in all, a confidence booster for young Amare playing against a lackluster Blazers squad and finishing with 19 points.
RealGM writer Hunter Johansson once wrote a piece warning the Suns to be careful when signing Stoudemire to a max contract, citing Antonio McDyess as an example of a young, big, athlete who lost his rise after a season ending injury. I couldn’t help thing of that piece whilst seeing Amare run the court tonight. He never leapt more than 8 inches off the ground and, while he seemed to dominate; he also appeared very timid in terms of his leaping, which has always been considered his greatest asset.
As far as the game, it was about what one could expect. The Suns lazily trampled the poor Trailblazers, a team that hasn’t been the same since the days of Sabonis. Zach Randolph was nowhere to be seen and the one bright spot was the man once dubbed as “The Amazingly Suckie” Juan Dixon who looked very impressive all-around in the loss.
On the Suns end, it was fairly typical, reining MVP and MVP favorite Steve Nash continued to make his teammates better (if he can make Tim Thomas (15 points) look good, he can make any player in the League look good), Marion crashing the boards, and Arizona favorite Eddie House scoring a fast and furious 13 points off the bench. Please pardon my pedantic reference to that really bad movie about street racing in L.A.
One of the few forms of entertainment also happened to be the saddest. “The Garbage Man” Cedric Ceballos was standing tall with a microphone at every quarters end, dictating every cheesy promotion, sporting an unfortunate ensemble which featured a tight grey shirt with a matching beanie.
But the real story was the return of Amare Stoudemire and how a hobbled-half speed man coming off of major knee surgery could walk all over the Portland Trailblazers. Not wanting to be too much the cynic, it was heart warming to see the fans rabidly behind Mr. Stoudemire on every play. You would think it was Sir Charles Barkley himself running the floor tonight. |
