"Opening Day"Well, for my first installment in what I hope to be a long running series of articles. I start off on opening day. The day every NBA fan waits for. The day every NBA fan sets their alarm clock for because they were out until 4:00 the previous night and thoughts of over sleeping continuously creep into the back of their minds while they try and fall sleep to sounds of Al McCoy shouting "Shazaam!". Today the Suns venture to the loud city of Los Angeles to take on the Lakers. We all remember the gritty playoff series they played last year. Of course the biggest headlines of the series was, no Amare Stoudemire and the vicious clothesline by Raja Bell. The first part of the sentence is what brings me to my next thought......
Preseason is a time where you gather the family around the rectangular table and eat fried pumpkin seeds. And as you eat one salty pumpkin seed at a time, you wish for your team to make the playoffs. You wish for your favorite player on your favorite team to go to the all-star game. You wish your favorite player scores 101 points to surpass Wilt Chamberlain for the highest scoring game ever. Or perhaps you’re not weird like me and do not have a opening day tradition. Either way, we all know this preseason has been anything but normal for Suns fans. The Suns first began training camp overseas, which is something all players look forward too. It’s also different for a big reason, that big reason is Amare’s status and health concerns that have been talked about over and over and over. So, why would I change the topic now? It’s opening day and we will hear Amare’s name go through Barkley’s, Ernie’s, Kenny’s and of course Doug Collin’s mouth a hundred times before, during, and after the game.
It was little over a year ago when Amare Stoudemire went under one of the scariest operations known to players, coaches, fans, and organizations. Still known as micro fracture surgery, it has been credited to taking the athletic mobility of big names such as, Chris Webber and Kenyon Martin. The only one who has given the surgery a respectable name, if you will, is Jason Kidd. Who still manages to run the break as effortless as he did before. Many push that fact away considering Kidd plays the point guard position which many believe does not use athletism as much as the other positions such as center, where Stoudemire mainly plays.
Amare started the preseason on a large dirt road that went over many pumps, lumps and abounded trash cans. But he managed to overcome the first week of what appeared to be Hell. After having stiffness in both his knees and sitting out practice, he bounced back to play all of his preseason games. On top of that, giving many highlights to show for. The giant block on Lamar Odom, the posterizing dunk on the opposing European center, and went on to show the soft shooting touch against the Los Angeles Lakers. Where he posted 15 points, 9 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 monster blocks in 31 minutes of play. He finished out the preseason averaging 9.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, and .500.% from the field in 21.3 minutes per game. He continues to show flashes of the Amare we were so used to. It appears not to be ‘if’ anymore. But more so ‘when’. When will we see him dunk on little children. When will we see that spin move that is followed by a vicious jam. When will we see Amare Stoudemire catch half-court alley-oops from Steve Nash.
All that will be put on display tonight, as Amare steps onto the hardwood for the first since that horrible night in New Jersey that ended his comeback. Tonight, Amare says “I’m back *****es!”
Enjoy tonight’s game fellas! Comments are very welcomed.
Premier: Dr. Seuss' Around the Sun in 80 Seconds (10/31/06)
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