thirty-seven and nine

The Suns took on the San Antonio Spurs, one of the best teams in the NBA the last five to six years. Until last night, the Suns (37 - 9) had not beaten one of the top West teams, losing to the Mavericks (38 - 9) in both meetings, the Jazz (30 - 17), the Lakers(28 - 18), and to the Spurs (32 - 16), their first meeting. Not this time. The Suns were down by 11 in the first, but came back to within a couple points early on in the second. At the half, the Suns were down by three points. San Antonio looked like they were a dominating team in the first half, and for the most part they really are, Tim Duncan got a double double with 20 points and 18 rebounds, but they couldn't keep running with the Suns in the second half. The Suns outscored the Spurs 22 - 17 in the third, and 31 - 17 in the fourth, winning the game by a 16 point lead, which they didn't even build until the last two minutes or so in the final quarter. The Suns kept fighting, and the Spurs stopped hitting their shots and playing the defense that led them to the lead in the first half. Amaré Stoudemire got a double double with 24 points and 23 rebounds; Nash had 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Suns are on a one-game winning streak! WOOHOO! They have another big match coming up tomorrow nigh, 7pm, in Phoenix against the Utah Jazz (30 - 17). GO SUNS!

dvccc

The second meeting of dvccc that was open for all students was last night. Last week we had between 20 and 30 students show. This week we were down toward 15 students. While authenticity is not based on numbers, the more students that dvccc can impact with the Gospel the better. The dvccc student leadership and I had some great prayer before the meeting. We talked about the need to ask for things that could only be explained by God having done it. We are looking for the supernatural to take place in our lives and in the lives of the students dvccc will be able to reach. Some of the leaders really seemed to be getting it and cared. Others might take a while longer. We're all at different places, and God is good. I didn't lead very well when a situation arose that, in my mind, shouldn't have even been an issue. Our speaker was supposed to be one person, or another, both of whom I knew already, but neither were asked about speaking because the student didn't come through who was supposed to ask them. So she got someone else who was never mentioned to me, and I was taken off-guard, and I was rude. I was jerkish. I had to apologize to him later, and I did. I ate crow. I was totally wrong. He told me that he felt I was wrong to act the way I did, that he had felt God laying something on his heart that day to share, and that he didn't want to do it anymore because of me. Yeah; I messed up. I apologized, but he still felt like leaving, so I didn't object. The Lord does what He will. A few other students shared what God was laying on their hearts lately, and there was a youth pastor (Nate Sams, 23) from New Heart (about 43rd Ave & Greenway in Phoenix) who got up toward the end and shared what he'd been studying in Galations 5. A few of the things the students had said they would do, they didn't, and I let my expectations in man defeat me and my attitude toward the evening. But God...that's a good phrase...but God still did His thing. He alone changes hearts, even despite me. *Lord, forgive me for trying to take Your place as Sovereign and Judge. May all honor, glory, majesty, power, authority, and dominion be Yours, before all ages, now, and forever. Amen.*

great comic

One of the best "on Vista" pokes I've read yet. Click on it for a larger view:

thirty-six and nine

Whelp, the run is over. The Minnesota T-Wolves (22 - 22) beat the Suns (36 - 9) in a very well-played game, 121 - 112. Even though Minnesota was under 500 at the time, the fourth quarter was all Wolves, and the Suns looked tired from their road-trip. It could have even been that the Suns took the Wolves for granted and were solely looking on to the competition against the Spurs (32 - 14) coming up next. Time for long run number 3! GO SUNS!

thirty-six and eight

The Suns (36- 8) now meet a very select few of other teams on the list of teams with 17+ game winning streaks. The Suns tie 3 other teams for the 7th longest winning streak in the NBA's 60+ years of existence. The Cavaliers kept in the game throughout the first three quarters, but almost no one can run with the Suns for all 48 minutes. The Suns ended up winning by 15, 115 - 100. Not quite as close as it had been; the Suns started pulling away from the beginning of the fourth quarter and kept pulling away. I believe their largest lead was the lead that they ended with. 5 Suns had double figure scoring: Nash with a double-double (23 points, 15 assists), Matrix (23), Stat (22), Blur (19), and Raja (15). The Suns now go on to 18 wins when they play the Timberwolves (21 - 22) in Minnesota tomorrow night at 6pm. GO SUNS!