It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

For the Phoenix suns it was beating the top team in the league, but its two best players are sidelined with injuries.

It was Shaq scoring 33 points, but having to play 35 minutes only five days before his 37^th birthday.

It was Matt Barns scoring 26 points, reminding management why they signed him away from Golden State, but watching him make boneheaded mistakes and get burned on the defensive end.

It was Shaq’s lively body swooping in for a rebound and slamming it home, after he missed the free throw.

It was holding the Lakers to 21 fewer points than their game last Thursday, but still giving up 111.

It was Louis Amundson switching onto Kobe to distract the star on a 3-point attempt that sealed the Suns victory, after a miscommunication between Jason Richardson and Barns allowed Bryant to come wide open.

For the Lakers it was Kobe scoring 49 points, but having to take 38 shots to get them.

It was Pau Gasol going for 30 on just 18 attempts, but having 3 starters score less than five points.

It was Lamar Odom dishing out five assists, but playing only 23 minutes before fouling out.

It was the bench playing well for once, but having to watch D.J. Mbenga try to guard Shaq.

It was Kobe putting on his “screw you, I’m carrying us” face and blowing up to start the second half, but it was Kobe needing to put on his “screw you, I’m carrying us” face.

*****

The Suns 118-111 victory over the Lakers Sunday was a microcosm of their season.

Without their top two players they were able to outrun the Kobes just long enough.  Yet it is difficult to imagine they can sustain this type of play.

The question still remains whether or not Shaq can play at this pace for the rest of the season.  He played 35 minutes in their last two victories, scoring 45 and 33 points respectively.  But with his age it might not be in the Suns best interest to grind him down, if it just means getting him hurt before the playoffs-if they make the playoffs that.

It was evident during the game that without Shaq on the floor the Suns offense was lost when they were forced to play in the half court.  They lack movement, continuity and players skilled enough to play effectively when they aren’t running up and down the court.

For Alvin Gentry this is a signature win.  It was his first victory as head coach that didn’t come against a JV team.  His heralded ascent to the top job has “rejuvenated” “energized” “Gatoradeized,” or any other hyperbolic word meaning “they are playing better,” the Suns team.  It seems evident that Gentry plans to ride Shaq as long as possible, which unfortunately may result in him breaking the big man.  At this point, however, the Suns don’t have much else going for them, so it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see the Diesel’s minutes stay high the rest of this season.

The Lakers on the other hand, looked exactly like the Lakers usually look on defense (since Bynum went down).  They couldn’t stop the Suns, and gave up easy shots in the half court when they did play transition defense.

The un-Laker-like part of this game was the roll players did absolutely nothing except stand and watch Kobe.  No one except Gasol did anything on the offensive end, and even Pau got abused on defense. We don’t need to get into how terrible a match-up Shaq is for Gasol, because when Shaq plays like he did Sunday no one matches up with him-except Elden Campbell, aka ‘Shaq of the East’.

The potential remains high for a Suns-Lakers first round match-up, and if you are a fan of basketball its something we all would love to see (especially the media).  But if Shaq doesn’t make it until then they don’t have a shot.

The Suns need to ride the Shaqtus, and he needs to keep playing like he is 25.

*********************************

Kevin Patra lives by the adage: Those who can’t do, teach, and those who can’t do or teach, write. Currently, he is a graduate student at the University of Southern California studying Online Journalism, after spending four years at the University of Michigan obtaining a bachelors degree from the school of Language, Science & Fun. Patra still owns a teal Grant Hill jersey and is looking for his old FILA basketball shoes.

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2. ⊚  The Setting Suns: an Epic Verse
3. ⊚  Lakers’ Bynum Cursed by Memphis
4. ⊚  Grading the All-Star Game
5. ⊚  The Top-5 Western Conference All-Stars (of my era)