Suns struggle but pull off a win against Bobcats

By Megan Martin
February 6, 2008

A difficult loss to San Antonio on Thursday, and an eventful weekend off, the Suns hosted the Charlotte Bobcats with some first-half hurdles.
The first-half of Monday’s game wasn’t the slam-dunk many had expected to see. The Bobcats, which were sitting at 18-30 before the game, were able to accomplish some great feats including a successful zone defense, which held the Suns to a 42.3% field-goal average. Yet, what may be more impressive was the Bobcats 60% shooting average held during the first quarter.
The inability of the Suns to pull ahead to a great lead meant instead that there was never more than a 5 point difference between the two teams, leading to the fear that it would be a rehash of Thursday’s loss.
The first-half was also marked by the ball not finding the basket, as players like Raja Bell saw only two of six shots fall. “He didn’t make any early, but he had a good attitude about it, and he got back in there and started launching threes and he got seven of them,” said Steve Nash of Bell’s first-half troubles.
Bell’s heat transferred to the rest of the Suns, as the offense adapted to the zone and they were finally able to get buckets to drop. “There are some nights you can feel it. You have to stay confident and you have to keep shooting,” said Bell, who ended the night with 24 points.
Leandro Barbosa served as a lifeline from the Suns bench, as he was able to bring 19 points to the struggling first-half offense. “LB gave us a nice boost in the first half, and then Raja kicked in the second half,” said Head Coach Mike D’Antoni.
Many factors may have lead to a disappointing first half, and D’Antoni acknowledged the distractions, “three days off, and the Super Bowl… but no harm, no foul,” he said, the “no foul” being the Suns ability to gain a win with a final score of 118-104.
As seen in the past, the Suns continued to struggle against big-men as Emeka Okafor and Nazr Mohammed were able to pull down 24 boards, helping the Bobcats to dominate with 22 second chance points.
The Suns next game will be at home on Wednesday night against the New Orleans Hornets, and the Suns are quick to learn from their mistakes. “It’s going to be a big game, and we’re going to have to play obviously a lot better than we did tonight,” said Nash.