The demise of the Phoenix Suns has been greatly exaggerated. After a week of doom and gloom in which the team was accused of not competing, they came out with fire and energy and got a quality two-point win over the Utah Jazz. Terry Porter made a change in the starting lineup, reinstating Grant Hill and choosing to bring Matt Barnes off the bench. This wasn't a reflection of Barnes' play at all; he's been mostly stellar in his role as a starter. It was more of a case of Hill never getting comfortable in a bench role, one that he hadn't tried since, by his own estimation, he was "six years old."
"I kind of wanted to try to ride it out and get better at it, and hopefully be better by the end of the season," Hill said. "I really tried, I would come in the back and do sprints in the hallways to try to get loose."
Porter said afterwards that the Hill experiment was unsuccessful, and he made it seem like it's over for good.
"It just didn't work out," said Porter. "I have no problem saying we tried something, we tried it for a while, and it didn't work out. Obviously Grant has not come off the bench before, Matt's been there, he's been successful, he knows what it's like to come off the bench, so we'll just keep going and see how it goes."
Barnes still played the bulk of the minutes (31 to Hill's 19), and was in there down the stretch when it mattered most. In fact, in addition to Hill, two other starters were on the bench late for Phoenix while the team was fighting its way to victory.
Shaquille O'Neal was very active and effective early, scoring seven of the team's first 15, and finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds in just 23 minutes. He left the game less than a minute into the fourth quarter after picking up his fifth foul, but did not return.
Raja Bell struggled with some early foul trouble and some cold shooting, so he sat down the stretch in favor of Leandro Barbosa, who had 25 points in 30 minutes. The lineup that won the game for Phoenix consisted of Nash, Barnes, Barbosa, Diaw, and Stoudemire.
Oh yeah. Amare.
Stoudemire was a beast on the glass, finishing the game with 20 rebounds, 11 of which came on the offensive end. After his big night, his teammates were heaping praise on him in the locker room, while also commenting on his choice of fashion. Steve Nash said "STAT, are you ready yet?" as he was being questioned by reporters about Amare's performance. Grant Hill simply yelled "ohhhh, STOUDEMIRE!," while Matt Barnes noticed that Amare had his "Michael Jackson jacket" on. (Which he can be seen wearing here.)
Amare said the game was "definitely a kickstart," and he's right -- a win over a quality opponent like Utah is something that the team certainly should be able to build on. If Porter continues to push the right buttons with his substitution patterns, and commits to the change in the starting lineup, the Suns should be in good shape. They're now 5-2 with Grant Hill playing as a starter this season.
