17 Hours

In an article written by Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic, he states that a few of the Portland Trailblazers players said the Phoenix Suns ‘bullied’ them and their play was physical.

What?

Are we talking about the Suns? I’m delighted to say we are. For the greater part of 20 years, the Suns have been labeled as soft. The closest they got to being tough was during the Charles Barkley years and that was basically only because of Sir Charles.

To have teams/players say (and to the media) that the Suns bullied them, frankly, makes me very enthralled! The NBA can be so physical, you have to be tough if you want to advance. The Celtics are tough, the Spurs are tough, the Rockets are tough, the Jazz have always been physical, and the Lakers are (I guess) tough.

But the fact is they do have a tough, gritty team. Shaquille O’Neal, Amare Stoudemire is playing more man-like, Steve Nash has always been tough, Matt Barnes is a scrapper, Raja Bell, Robin Lopez etc.

Personally, I’m not ready to label them as being a ‘physical’ team, but to have other players/teams think they are is definitely a good sign.