Filed under: Lakers , Suns , FIBA , USA Basketball , FIBA World Championship ISTANBUL — The Americans won’t be able to use guards on the opposing team fighting between themselves to their advantage Sunday. You might recall the Slovenian Squabble during last spring’s Western Conference finals between Goran Dragic ‘s Phoenix Suns and Sasha Vujacic ‘s Los Angeles Lakers , when the countrymen went at each other. After the deciding Game 6, which the Lakers won to advance to the NBA Finals , Vujacic called Dragic a “low human being” due to allegedly insulting his family while Dragic said Vujacic was lying. Perhaps it’s good for Slovenia that only Dragic is playing in the World Championship here even if Dragic claims he would have been able to get along on the same team with Vujacic. “We are professionals,” Dragic said in an interview with FanHouse after scoring 16 points in an 80-56 win over Tunisia on Saturday, the day before his team faces the Americans. “We are playing for our national team. So if you have something against each other, we don’t have to make this on the court.” ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: Lakers , Suns , NBA Playoffs PHOENIX — As a sidelight to what turned out to be a scintillating series, we give you the Slovenian squabble. It’s no doubt headline news in the nation that used to be part of Yugoslavia, with Kobe Bryant having been reduced to a footnote. Early in the fourth quarter of the Lakers ‘ 111-103 Game 6 Western Conference finals win over Phoenix on Saturday night at US Airways Center, Suns guard Goran Dragic appeared to jaw at fellow Slovenian Sasha Vujacic , a Lakers guard, after Dragic hit a jumper. Then Vujacic lifted his arms up, hitting Dragic. Dragic went down as if he’d been struck by lightning . Vujacic was assessed a flagrant foul 1 with 11:28 left in the game. That aided a 16-4 spurt by the Suns to start the fourth quarter, which cut the deficit to 95-90. It marked the second straight game the two had an altercation, following a minor shoving match in Thursday’s Game 5, when both got technicals. But the real fireworks came when Vujacic talked about Dragic after Saturday’s game. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: Suns , NBA Playoffs PHOENIX — Amar’e Stoudemire removed his Phoenix Suns jersey almost immediately after he and his teammates were eliminated from the postseason by the Lakers in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals. It would be somewhat of a leap to read anything into that gesture beyond what it was: a player trying to put a difficult loss behind him as quickly as possible. But for Stoudemire, as we’ve heard incessantly for the past two seasons, there is much more to his reality. Amar’e has a player option for the final year of his contract. If he chooses to to take it, he’ll earn roughly $17 million next season, and can become an unrestricted free agent in the far-less-crowded summer of 2011. But many believe Stoudemire won’t wait that long, and will instead explore his options this summer — either through an extension with his current team, or by signing a new deal somewhere else. And maybe that’s true, which might have been the reason that Stoudemire candidly admitted afterward that he did indeed consider the fact that this game may have been his last as a member of the Phoenix Suns. “It did, actually,” Stoudemire said, when asked if that thought had crossed his mind. “It did. I didn’t know how to feel. As I was walking out, I was thinking it could be my last time walking through this tunnel with the Suns uniform on. I’ve been here my whole career, so I definitely had that feeling. But there’s a good possibility that I may be back.” Share There are two things that Stoudemire will weigh heavily as he ponders where to play next season, and in the seasons beyond. Despite all the talk about wanting to win a championship, first and foremost on the list is securing himself a max deal. So far, the Suns haven’t been willing to go quite that far. And it’s unclear whether any other teams will step up and offer a guy who, despite his wealth of primarily offensive talents, clearly isn’t on the level of a Kobe Bryant , LeBron James , or Dwyane Wade , in terms of being someone who could carry a team to the promised land all by himself. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: Spurs , Suns , NBA Playoffs SAN ANTONIO — It’s happened plenty of times before in NBA locker rooms. A player engages in a mock interview with a teammate who just had a big game. There was one big difference Friday night at the AT&T Center. Phoenix reserve guard Goran Dragic (right) actually answered the questions from Jared Dudley as if it had been a regular interview. Hey, when you have a game like Dragic did, you might as well milk it for everything it’s worth. After Dragic stunningly scored all 26 of his points in the final 13 minutes of Phoenix’s 110-96 win over San Antonio, Dudley held his camera phone up before Dragic and said, “We are live with the star of the game, Goran Jordan. What’s going on, baby? Hey, Goran, take us through that fourth quarter. How big did the basket look out there?” Dragic, a second-year man from Slovenia, did take Dudley through it. Why not? It’s a game he’ll be talking about for years anyway, one that enabled the Suns to take a 3-0 lead in a West semifinal. In fact, they figure to be talking about this game for years to come in NBA history. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: Hawks , Magic , NBA Playoffs ATLANTA — Since the NBA went to a best-of-seven, first-round playoff format for the 2002-03 season, only two teams have managed back-to-back sweeps going into the conference final. The Orlando Magic expect to make that three. The Magic, the only unbeaten team in the 2010 playoffs, easily dispatched the Charlotte Bobcats, 4-0, in the opening round, and they lead the Hawks, 2-0, going into Saturday’s Eastern Conference semifinal Game 3 in Atlanta. It’s like blood in the water for a shark with its eye on the prize. “It’s natural to feel confident, good about yourself, when you’ve won (six in a row in the playoffs) like we have,” said Magic forward Rashard Lewis . “We like what we’re doing, but we’re not taking anything for granted. Where we want to go, there is no room for any kind of letup.” The only two teams that previously managed a pair of four-game sweeps to open the playoffs were the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009, and the Miami Heat in 2005. The Cavs crushed Detroit, then Atlanta. The Heat pounded New Jersey, then Washington. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: Suns , NBA Videos , Thunder Most people didn’t give the Suns much of a chance to win in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, and that includes the team’s own head coach, Alvin Gentry. With his All-Star point guard Steve Nash playing through back and abdominal ailments, the decision was made to let Nash skip the quick trip to OKC, even before he handed out 17 assists in a win over the Kings on Sunday. The Thunder had won nine in a row, and were playing as well as anyone in the league. And after they had come back from a 15-point deficit in the third quarter to go up by 10 with under three and a half minutes to go in the game, it seemed like their 10th straight victory was in the bag. But the Suns ended the game on a 16-4 run, capped off by this floater in the lane from Jason Richardson with 0.7 seconds to go that sealed it for Phoenix. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: Cavaliers , Hornets CLEVELAND — It’s not tough to know which team came out of Tuesday night’s game at Quicken Loans Arena feeling better about its play. The New Orleans Hornets , without standout point guard Chris Paul , gave the Cleveland Cavaliers everything they could handle. Led by the rookie tandem of Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton , the Hornets were that close to giving Cleveland its second loss in a row at home. The Cavs ended a three-game losing streak with a 105-95 win that was nearly as deceptive as Bush over Gore, 2000. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: Spurs , Suns PHOENIX — The last team to hold the Suns under 100 points at home was the Spurs , who did so back on Christmas Day of 2008. San Antonio couldn’t repeat the feat on Tuesday, so Phoenix extended their home hundred-plus streak to 35 games, on the way to a comfortable 116-104 drubbing of the Spurs. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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Filed under: Rockets , NBA Injuries With Trevor Ariza serving a one-game suspension, Tracy McGrady was a surprise addition to Houston’s active roster on Tuesday night. He made his season debut with seven minutes off the bench, all coming in the first quarter, before finishing with three points and three rebounds. The Rockets topped the visiting Pistons 107-96. Rick Adelman, who downplayed the possibility of McGrady’s return when asked by reporters on Monday, didn’t tell McGrady he was playing until after McGrady arrived to the arena 90 minutes before tip-off. “It surprised me,” he said. “I went in there and talked to him, he said he was going to play me about seven minutes and just try to work our way through this. Tonight was that night.” For McGrady, it was a night that couldn’t come fast enough. Sidelined since last February after undergoing microfracture surgery on his left knee, McGrady was eager several weeks ago — and was clearly annoyed when Adelman refused to give him a timetable. But all of that is in the past, and McGrady seems happy to be living in the moment. “It’s been so long since I’ve played, it was just a great feeling to be back on the court,” McGrady said. “Just to get up and down the court with these guys and to be back out there competing is what I missed. To have that back, finally, and feel good and have fun doing it, there’s nothing better.” The Rockets are obviously intent on bringing McGrady along slowly, so it’s unclear when he might return to the starting lineup. Fortunately, there’s no rush, especially after seeing how well rookie Chase Budinger played in his first career start. Filling in for the suspended Ariza, Budinger played 40 minutes, the most of his young career, and tallied 16 points (6-11 shooting) with a game-high 12 rebounds. Budinger, the 44th overall pick last June, has experienced the ups and downs you’d expect from any rookie (he’s shooting .412 on the season) but seems to be hitting his stride: he’s broken double-digit scoring in five of the last seven games, shooting .483 in the process. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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