eleven and three

The Suns (11-3) were on their way to at least tie the best start in franchise history after 16 games, but they won't make that magic 14-2 record anymore after this loss to the Golden State Warriors (6-7). The Suns had 37 points after the first quarter, but that didn't stand up to the Warriors' 45 (remind you of any recent games but flip-flopped?). The Suns lost every quarter, never being able to shoot as well as the Warriors were shooting all night long. A lot of the reasons for losing are summed up in this: 20 turnovers. The Suns didn't even have most of these turnovers force on them by good defense; it was just sloppy play. Steve Nash had 23 points, 13 dimes, but an uncharacteristic 8 turnovers. Grant Hill had 17 points, 5 dimes, and 5 boards, but added in his own 5 turnovers. The Matrix had another solid game for him with 10 points and 14 rebounds, though we could have used more points from him, too. 6 Suns' players scored in double figures, but this time it wasn't enough. Stephen Jackson and Monta (pronounced mon-tay) Ellis, both of the Warriors, scored 32 and 31 points, respectively. Baron Davis added in his own 28 points and threw in 10 dimes just for fun. The Warriors cooled off the Suns with a 129-114 win. A 15 point loss after an 8-game winning streak kind of stings, but the Suns have to have control of the basketball, and it just wasn't there. The sad part is, the Suns even out-rebounded the Warriors 48-39, and even got 15 offensive rebounds. Sounds like the Warriors simply beat us at our own game. We will bounce back with better lessons learned, though. The next game is tonight at home against the Houston Rockets (8-7). Should be another good match-up (that we should win). GO SUNS!

(Now that's a cool pic!)