Wednesday night, Taylor Griffin continued to outshine his younger brother, Blake, in their rookie season.  Griffin got his first taste of minutes in a Suns victory this season while matching his career high in scoring (2) and falling one shy of his career bests in rebounds (0) and blocks (0).  What was most impressive was that Griffin manage it all in only 2 oncourt minutes.  The point-a-minute Griffin was the icing on the Suns cakewalk to victory (and if MVSteve had any say in it, I’m sure the dessert was completely sugar free)!

The box score may not show it, but the Suns appears in complete control apart from some second quarter struggles with Nash on the bench.  Jason Rags to Riches (thanks Fleeger) continued his torrid play, knocking down two quick threes to begin his night.  And a rested Nash came out aggressive - knocking down shot after shot in the first, including a long bomb to end the quarter.  What followed was a microcosm of the Suns recent resurgence.

With only seconds remaining the the first quarter, The Sixers inbounded the ball and tried to fervently push it up the court for a last second heave.  Three Suns defenders descended on the play and smothered the ball, eliminating any clear look at a Hail Mary buzzer beater.  THIS STUFF DIDN’T HAPPEN TWO MONTHS AGO!  The Suns would have been reaching for the towels and Gatorade in games past. On this 9 of 11 run, we are committed to finishing every play and eliminating the mental mistakes.  The Suns stellar 14-3 start to the season was predicated on mental toughness and ability to play the entire 48 minutes.  Aside from Amar’e watching a loose ball bounce away from him after an errant pass went off his hands, the effort on the night was flawless.

Watching the game, you didn’t even feel like we were clicking on all cylinders.  Yet our starting point guard and center combined for a mere 2 misses in 15 attempts.  The game went so smoothly I did a double take when I noticed in the box score that Hill and Dudley each went 2-7 for 4pts.  About the only puzzling aspect of the game was why Channing Frye regressed to heaving up ill advised treys after taking such wise shots the previous two contests.  Channing, I know you read IFTP because you changed when we gave you the same notes early in the season.  I’ll give you a brief reminder.  You are a spot up shooter.  Take an open 3 if you are set.   Look for the open man if your feet aren’t set.  Drive to the bucket if you have a man charging at you (remember when you went 6-7 from the charity stripe against The Kings… that was BRILLIANT).

Bastard Twin Watch: Robin bounced back from probably his worst game as a starter to have a solid double-double.  We are even starting to see some confidence in his mid-range jumper.  My prediction – we are going to witness a 16 and 16 game from RoLo soon.  The guy is too effective at boxing out his man to not have a breakout game on the boards.  If he pulls down 16 boards, he’ll easily get 16 points because a handful of those offensive rebounds will be going right back up for 2 easy points.

R U Gorange Yet?