Emotional fuckwits!

I just woke up early from a dream that had me posting reasons that I'm angry at Barbosa. About how he's been lost and unable to connect on anything. Which is all true. And I am angry, but I think I'd rather not post about that.

I want to post asking why in a game like last night's, we played without Jalen Rose or Marcus Banks. A shooter like Rose with fresh legs? A player who has purportedly good D like Banks? Get them out there when we still had a lead. Rest the guys who looked so sloppy in the fourth.

I was so giddy and elated in the first half. It was like the team that I fell in love with last year in the playoffs was back. No one plays basketball like they did last year, not even this year's team. Last year everyone counted them out and they got so far playing such amazing and beautiful ball. They had so much to prove. This game was shades of that, and I really was excited to see them come out and do it again.

And then midway through the third they started getting tired. They started losing that beautiful lead. In the fourth when it was all gone, I thought I'd cry.

I don't know if I'm on the conspiracy bandwagon, that this was fixed by the NBA, but I can tell you that I think that it was an unfair ruling that did benefit the team that perpetrated the flagrant. I know that if Duncan and Bowen walked on that court following the Elson and Jones incident, they should have been suspended too. There is some bias in that, even if it's not intended to be game-fixing bias. If rules are rules and we should suck that up as Suns fans, then rules should be rules for everyone.

The latest I've heard about that (and this hasn't been confirmed, just word of mouth) is that Stu Jackson (NBA exec vp of basketball operations) said that Stoudemire and Diaw got their suspensions as a result of leaving the bench to participate in the near brawl, but that Duncan seemed to get up out of concern for Elson, and therefore wasn't suspended.

Do I really need to address that asshattery? No I didn't think so. (It does briefly bear mentioning that that's been Diaw's story about why he left the bench from the get go. He was worried about Nash.)

Whatever. I feel robbed by fate, frustrated by the outcome, and angry at Barbosa.

Tomorrow's game had better be awesome.

I need to figure out pithy ways to name my posts

Well, even if the rest of the day sucked, we got another satisfying win tonight against the Kings to help wash the taste of last week out of our collective mouths.

Again D'Antoni went 10 deep on the bench again, albeit barely. Stat had an amazing game. 33 points and 21 rebounds? When the man puts his mind to it, he's unstoppable. Yeah, the Kings were missing Ron Artest, but I have little sympathy around that. Diaw's double double was also nice to see.

I'm very glad to find out that Leandro Barbosa is doing alright. I was watching the play-by-play and box score, so I didn't actually know that he was hurt, but I have a soft spot the size of Brazil for the guy and would have been worried had he needed to miss a game.

I'm curious about Marcus Banks. I honestly don't think that he has much of a role to play on the team. I feel like D'Antoni has all but given up on him (and I would not blame him if I were to actually hear that that's the case). But I've both read and been told about his prowess on defense. So, a. Why are we not using him more for that, and b. Why does he seem to collect so many fouls? Is he that much of a hustler? It seems as though someone who was good at D (like Shawn Marion) would be quick enough and savvy enough to rarely pick up fouls (unlike Banks' two in three and a half minutes). Or maybe that's just me.

I am so excited about the FIBA Americas Championship this summer. I'm going to one game, and I think I have them ranked in order of preference. From highest preference to lowest, I want to see Brazil v Virgin Islands, Brazil v Canada, Brazil v Venezuela, and Brazil v USA.

I really like Argentina, but otherwise couldn't care about Group A. I also like Team USA alright, but I don't think I really want to go to that game. For one thing I like Brazil more, and I don't think they have a big chance. For another, well, hubris. Also I don't think I'm likely to score tickets, and I don't want to go and be fussed at for liking the "wrong" team. I had enough of that rooting for Portugal in the World Cup.

I hope Raja Bell plays for the Virgin Islands, because that would make it very fun to watch.

Next up for the Suns, oddly, it's Sacramento again. This time it's in California and it's actually going to be on national TV. ABC Sunday at 330pm EST.