Hmmm I regret to say that I wasn't able to catch any of this one. Looks like i'm just going to have to do this one based off of stats. Let's see..... so Portland shot a very impressive 46% from the field and 50% from 3-point range. Their go-to guy Bradon Roy had a team high 24 pts on 9-20 shooting to go along with 6 assists. Not a bad way to start off. Young player Nicholas Batum had a strong showing with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Hopefully Batum will develop into a consistent force to complement Brandon Roy game in game out.
The Suns also shot very well from the field 49% and 47% from the 3-point arc. The Suns were led by point guard Steve Nash who had a game high 26 pts to go with 6 assists and 4 rebounds. Jason Richardson also had a big game for the Suns with 22 points and 6 rebounds. However, the final score was in Portland's favor 106-92.
Some thoughts....
Again I wasn't able to catch this game so I don't really have much to say about this one. However, for Portland it seems like they are off to a strong start. One thing that drew my attention was the play of LaMarcus Aldridge. During the offseason there was talk of hope that Aldridge would finally breakthrough this year into the NBA's elite. However, he didn't have a strong showing last night, going 3-9 with 8 points and 9 rebounds. I'd keep my eye on Aldridge, hopefully he has the break out type of game that everyone's been waiting for.
Final Grades:
Portland: B+. It seems like Portland has a very good chance of retaining the playoff spot that they held last year. Rudy Fernandez does not seem to be getting the playing time he's asking for and we might see a potential meltdown between these two parties as the year goes on. But with the way he played last night, I'm not surprised that the Trail Blazers aren't taking his pouts seriously. If he wants more playing time, he needs to perform at a higher level. Batum had a great game and hopefully he well develop into a very reliable starter for the Trail Blazers.
Phoenix: C-. Ok, I admit, I might be a little bit too harsh on the Suns but following their offseason was a little bit frustrating to say the least. Steve Nash has always been one of my favorite players of all time, and he is the unquestioned leader of this Suns team. However, if your leader is frustrated and "doesn't see this team in the playoffs". Well, there isn't much you can say really. This is the situation for the Suns right now. They lost one of their two best players in Amare Stoudemire to free agency. And to counteract that, they brought in Hedo Turkoglu from Toronto. While this move may have been great a couple years ago, it is clear now that Hedo's career is on a sharp decline. He had a very subpar year last year while with Toronto and his performance last night bodes the same way for this season. Grant Hill and Jason Richardson can only do so much as age slowly catches up to them. That leaves Steve Nash. A legend. A lock in for the Hall of Fame. But he can't do it all by himself. That's exactly what the stats suggest from last night's game. If this type of play continues where the Suns rely solely on Nash to carry this team, well as Nash himself put it: Don't expect the Suns to be in the playoffs this year.
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