Just when you thought the Phoenix Suns’ luck was improving, another player gets injured. This time it happened at the end of the first quarter of the Suns’ game against the Philadelphia 76ers when Leandro Barbosa went down with a hyper-extended left knee. It was sickening even to watch, but…
When last we met the Philadelphia 76ers, back in Philly on February 9, the Sixers’ young and relatively rested legs made quick work of the punchy Phoenix Suns, who were coming off a tough win the previous night in Detroit and looked like they could’ve used some more quality sack…
Over the weekend, the Phoenix Suns did what they do best — beat bad teams. The score was 106-95 against the 18-48 Oklahoma City Thunder at US Airways Center on Saturday night and a running-and-gunning 154-130 against the 23-43 Golden State Warriors in Oakland on Sunday night. In the six games before that, they also did…
The ASU men’s basketball team has one last chance at 6 p.m. tonight to beat one of the Washington schools this season, when they meet the Washington Huskies in semi-final action at the Pac-10 basketball tournament here in L.A. The Sun Devils are fresh from completing a trifecta of victories…
What do the Phoenix Suns have left to play for, following their epic, disheartening, and potentially playoff killing losing streak? If the Suns catch fire and the Mavs majorly choke, perhaps a postseason berth, a not-impossible-but-improbable scenario. Or what about pride? Naw, this isn’t college ball, so all that hokey…
Arizona State’s 68-56 win over the boys from Tucson in a Pac-10 tourney game that ended a few minutes ago can be attributed to one player’s piss-poor performance: Arizona’s Chase Budinger. The highly touted Wildcats’ forward played as soft as a cushy little pillow for the entire contest, finishing with…
Following the Phoenix Suns’ figurative demise in their do-or-die game versus the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night, the dudes in orange have about as much chance of making the playoffs as did Don Quixote of slaying a windmill. But that doesn’t mean the end of championship-caliber NBA hoops at US…
Time was that the Arizona Wildcats hated the Pac-10 postseason basketball tournament with a passion. That was when the `Cats routinely dominated league play, finishing first or second seemingly every year after now-retired Lute Olson revved up the program in the mid-1980s. Olson and his minions considered the tourney an…
Shaquille O’Neal scored 21 points against the Dallas Mavericks to go ahead of Elvin Hayes for sixth on the NBA career scoring list (he needs 88 points to best the next guy on the list, Moses Malone). Matt Barnes also had 21 points, and Steve Nash had 23 and 13 assists. All the Suns’…
The Goldwater Institute has submitted a public records request to the City of Glendale, asking for information on lease negotiations between it and the Phoenix Coyotes. Goldwater attorney Clint Bolick told the Phoenix Business Journal that the institute is not ruling out legal action regarding the lease terms between the Coyotes…
By the time a must-win game for the Phoenix Suns rolls around, we’re usually breaking out the sunscreen and decorating the Maypole. This year, desperation’s come early. In the race for the Western Conference playoffs, the Suns sit in ninth place in an eight-team sprint following their disastrous 0-4 road…
Although the ASU men’s basketball team didn’t win the Pac-10 Conference championship this year, Sun Devils guard James Harden was named Pac-10 Player of the Year today by conference coaches.The 6-foot-5 sophomore led the Pac-10 in scoring with 20.8 points per game. He also averaged 1.7 steals, 4.1 assists, and…
There’s only bad news about the fading Phoenix Suns, whose chances of making the Western Conference playoffs get slimmer by the game. The sad thing is, the Suns could’ve won every one of the past four road games in Orlando, Miami, Houston, and San Antonio. They were in each game…
The Phoenix Suns are cringe-worthy these days, after losing the first two games on a four-game road trip at a time when they desperately need to win to squeak into the Western Conference playoffs. (We’re praying for a miracle tonight against the Tracy McGrady-less Rockets in Houston, before they meet the Manu…
The less said about the ASU men’s basketball team’s effort against an average Stanford team in last night’s loss at Wells Fargo Arena, the better. Hard to believe it’s been just a month since the Sun Devils humilated the Cardinal by 30 points up in Palo Alto, California. This time, Stanford took it…
As the saying goes, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.” Well, considering the current tongue-lashing dished out by Shaquille O’Neal at Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy, the hate is all-encompassing for the Suns’ big man. The triggering episode occurred Tuesday night in Orlando during Phoenix’s 111-99 loss…
Coming off two spirit-crushing overtime losses last weekend in Washington, the Arizona State Sun Devils try to regroup tonight against Stanford in a 6:30 game in Tempe. ASU’s Pac-10 championship hopes went out the window with the back-to-back defeats, and now the team is playing for a decent seed at…
Two of Shaquille O’Neal’s old teams on the road in two nights. Two losses. Tuesday night, it was to the Orlando Magic, and Wednesday it was to Dwayne Wade, Shaq’s brother in arms in the 2006 NBA championship, and the Miami Heat. It wasn’t Shaq’s fault that the Phoenix Suns lost to…
You could see this coming after Kurt Warner’s trip to visit the San Francisco 49ers and his compromise offer to the Cardinals: He has agreed to a two-year, $23 million contract, with a $15 million signing bonus and $4 million in base salary. The remaining $4 million would be paid…
On tap tonight in Miami: basketball at its most poetic and primal. Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade, the NBA’s most elegant player, will provide the athletic iambic pentameter. A couple of aging but still dominant alpha bulls named O’Neal — the Heat’s Jermaine, the Suns Shaquille — will bang their…
It was billed as a battle of Supermen — old-school man of steel Shaquille O’Neal versus youngblood Dwight Howard — but the key players in last night’s Suns/Magic game in Orlando turned out to be a bunch of zebra-shirted mental midgets who whistled way too much while they worked. While we hate to…
Kurt Warner makes a Christian move (sort of). In what ESPN’s calling a “hometown discount,” the Arizona Cardinals starting quarterback and his agent, Mark Bartelstein, apparently have amended his contract demand to the team to a two-year, $23 million deal, with $12 million guaranteed. The Cardinals had been offering $20 million over two…
