There is one reason why the Phoenix Suns would not win the NBA championship and it is to the right of me. The one basic, fundamental flaw in their hopes and dreams is the fact that Amare Stoudemire has no defense right now. Seriously. They should consider calling him Amare Stouemire cause he ain’t got no D.
It’s ironic that on those Magic Johnson Fundamental DVDs Magic chose Amare to help teach people post defense. And calm down with the whole ‘Amare is in the top 10 in blocks’ because his defensive failures go beyond that. There is a reason why he consistently finds a way to get in foul trouble and its not because the refs are trying to screw the Suns. It’s because he’s late on a defensive rotation, or in poor defensive position to start with. On defense sometimes he just looks absolutely lost. Especially when you throw a pick and roll at him like Dallas and San Antonio has. And if a big man catches it on him…uh-oh. Add this to his defensive struggles: he is in the top 10 in the NBA right now in fouls with 98 on the year. He’s averaging 3.92 fouls a game. Unfortunately for this Suns team they can’t afford to have him foul trouble because it makes his already weak defense even weaker. Here are the stone cold facts people…Big men smell blood against Amare and the Suns. After going through nearly every Suns box score I found some interesting facts.
- Guys are coming out of nowhere to have breakout games against Phoenix. Udonis Haslem has had 20/10 twice this year…both against Phoenix (21/13 and then 21/12). Chris Wilcox has had 20/10 twice…once against Phoenix (23/11) and Luis Scola has had 20/10 only once this year….against Phoenix (20/11).
- Old people have looked young against Phoenix. Jermaine O’Neal had his season high in points with 30 and added 11 rebounds against the Suns. Shaq averaged 21.5 pts and 10.5 rebounds in his two matchups against the Suns.
- Andrew Bynum owns Amare. It’s almost official. In their two matchups, Bynum is averaging 21 pts and 12.5 rebounds while Amare is averaging 13 pts and 3.5 rebounds. Ouch.
- Dwight Howard owns Amare. Amare is averaging 16 and 8 rebounds against Dwight, which is better than against Bynum…however in their two games Dwight averages 31.5 pts and 20.5 rebounds. Damn.
- Tim Duncan owns Amare. They’ve had one matchup so far and Duncan had 36 and 17 while Amare had 5 fouls. By the way he plays for the team that the Suns will more than likely have to beat to get to the Finals.
- Chris Bosh owns Amare. And Bosh usually gets killed against good post players. As does Al Jefferson. Amare consistently gets outplayed in the ‘big name’ post matchups.
- There isn’t exactly a direct correlation between Amare getting blasted and the Suns losing…mainly because of the fact that they are 19-9, but lately that has been the case. The Suns are 3-5 over their last 8 games and below me are the numbers that big men on opposing teams have been putting up on Phoenix. Yikes.
12/8 @ Minnesota: Al Jefferson (32 pts, 20 rebs) vs. Amare (16 pts, 5 rebs, 5 fouls)
12/10 vs. Miami: Haslem (21 pts, 12 rebs), Shaq (18 pts, 11 rebs) vs. Amare (19 pts, 9 rebs)
12/12 vs. Utah: Boozer (24 pts, 13 rebs) vs. Amare (18 pts, 9 rebs)
12/15 @ New Orleans: Chandler (14 pts, 18 rebs), West (15 pts, 11 rebs) vs. Amare (16 pts, 8 rebs)
12/17 @ San Antonio: Duncan (36 pts, 17 rebs) vs. Amare (17 pts, 6 rebs, 5 fouls)
12/19 @ Dallas: Dampier (10 rebs, 5 pts, 5 offensive rebounds) vs. Amare (25 pts, 8 rebs)
12/22 vs. Toronto: Bosh (42 pts, 13 rebs) vs. Amare (28 pts, 11 rebs)
12/25 @ Lakers: Bynum (42 min, 28 pts, 12 rebs) vs. Amare (19 pts, 6 rebs, 5 fouls)
Now don’t get me wrong people, Amare Stoudemire is a very special talent we all know that. But if the Suns want to win the NBA championship, they absolutely have to get him to start playing some post defense. They honestly have to or else they will have no chance when it comes to playoff time. Fortunately for the Suns their schedule looks as if it will give them every chance in the world to go on a win streak (two games against the Clippers, @ Sac, vs. Seattle) but this is something they have to address. And it turns out Phil Coro of the Arizona Republic shared my same sentiment. Nothing like when that happens. Oh well.