Suns-Pistons: Not So Sunny for Phoenix

I buy into the argument that it is going to take some time for the Phoenix Suns to gel with Shaquille O’Neal in the mix.

Suns coach Mike D’Antoni has to play around with the lineup and see what works and what doesn’t.

However, so far I give this trade a D as they lost another game last night, at home, to the Detroit Pistons.

The Pistons (41-15) basically dominated the entire game and pretty much embarrassed the Suns (38-18) 116-86.

Losing at home to an Eastern Conference team by 30 points is unacceptable.  The Pistons also ended the Suns' 11-game winning streak against Eastern Conference.

Rasheed Wallace put up 22 points and eight rebounds, as he was one of six Pistons who had scored in double figures.

Besides Wallace, the Pistons were led by Rip Hamilton who had 18 points, Chauncey Billups had 14 points and 11 assists, and Antonio McDyess had 12 points and 13 rebounds.

"This was a big game for us," Billups said after the game. "You know how we are, man, when we play against other elite teams, we lock in.  We lock in big-time. I thought everybody played great today, everybody."

The Suns were led by Amare Stoudemire who scored a game-high 31 points.

Shaq had another disappointing game offensively scoring only seven points but had 11 rebounds in 34 minutes of action. Shaq was also one for eight at the charity stripe.

Suns coach D'Antoni tried to blame the loss on the team being spent.

"Maybe we used all the adrenaline left these last two games. Emotionally, we've been on a high for the last three days and you wake up on Sunday at noon and we're not quite ready to play." Yeah okay Mike, I have watched a lot of Suns games and this team never looked tired or "spent".

Again it is a bit to early to say whether this trade was a complete failure or not.

However, if the Suns lose another game they should hit panic mode as other Western Conference teams are looking better by the week.