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When: Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
Where: FedExForum - Memphis, Tennessee
When exactly: 8:00pm, Eastern Time (2:00am CET)
TV: LeaguePass

The lineups:

The Suns
Starting 5:

C: Shaquille O'Neal (#32 / 7'1'' / 325)
PF: Amare Stoudemire (#1 / 6'10'' / 249)
SF: Grant Hill (#33 / 6'8'' / 225)
SG: Raja Bell (#19 / 6'5'' / 215)
PG: Steve Nash (#13 / 6'3'' / 178)

Bench:

G: Leandro Barbosa (#10 / 6'3'' / 202)
F-C: Boris Diaw (#3 / 6'8'' / 235)
G: Gordan Giricek (#2 / 6'6'' / 220)
F-C: Brian Skinner (#54 / 6'9'' / 255)


The Grizzlies
Starting 5:

C: Jason Collins (#34 / 7'0'' / 255)
PF: Hakim Warrick (#21 / 6'9'' / 215)
SF: Rudy Gay (#22 / 6'8'' / 222)
SG: Mike Miller (#33 / 6'8'' / 218)
PG: Mike Conley (#11 / 6'1'' / 180)

Bench:

G: Kyle Lowry (#1 / 6'0'' / 175)
G: Javaris Crittenton (#3 / 6'5'' / 200)
C-F: Darko Milicic (#31 / 7'0'' / 275)
G: Juan Carlos Navarro (#2 / 6'3'' / 170)


GOOO SUNS!!!

This will start the winning streak that leads us to the chip.

This is a HUGE game following a very frustrating loss to Dallas.

A win today would have clinched a playoff spot, and instead Phoenix could be in huge trouble if they don't take this one.

It's going to be very tough to beat San Antonio and Houston, and then Golden State will play Phoenix again with both teams fighting for their playoff lives.

All of a sudden, the Memphis and Portland games become MUST WINS because Phoenix might be in huge trouble if they don't win them.

I had a bad feeling Phoenix would lose today and I was exactly right.

It was similar to the win vs. San Antonio; everybody was bashing the Shaq trade until they pulled off the unexpected win and Phoenix got rolling after that.

Similar thing here...everybody was bashing the Kidd trade until they pulled off a huge, unexpected win today.

What a frustrating loss...

Bad day just got worse:

- San Antonio, Houston, Lakers, Denver, and Dallas all won today and Phoenix blew a huge 4th quarter lead.

What a terrible loss. Ugh. Made even worse by today's results.

nope, denver will lose today..

i gave up already about the playoff positioning. i just dont want to face san antonio in the first round. other than them, i think we are ready to face anyone..

Denver won...

And we clinch a spot, baby!

Now let's work on seeding.

What clinched a spot?

How?

My bad...

They lost! OMG!

To Seattle!

Does this officially clinch a spot for Phoenix? Or no?

I was hoping we could make a run at the 3rd seed so we can land houston as our first round matchup but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen. Now I would much rather have the 5th seed so we can have Utah in the first and if we get out of that one we land either New Orleans or Denver/Golden State.

It is still possible that we can get the third seed if we win most/all of our remaining games. If we beat the Spurs on Wednesday and they lose at least one game (they play the Lakers and Utah still), we will have the tie-breaker and swap places with them (assuming that Houston drops down, which I think they will). The West will be tough no matter what, but I think we can do it! Not to mention we HAVE to have some good luck after all our horrible luck in each of the past three years!

Who would have though 6 months ago we'd be celebrating just clinching a playoff spot

After showing the chokers how to choke the sky is well and truly in sight. At least my sky is no longer black.

GET SOME NUTS!!!

My bad; ESPN.com now says Phoenix DID clinch a playoff spot.

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Call me crazy but I'd rather face LA in Round 1 than Utah. Utah's just dominant at home.

Let's come out strong against Memphis!

rsavaj wrote:Call me crazy but I'd rather face LA in Round 1 than Utah. Utah's just dominant at home.

Let's come out strong against Memphis!

We might be able to finish with a better record than Utah even though we might end up finishing at a lower seed. If we do finish with the better record we would still get home court advantage.

Gimme Houston...only way it'll happen is if they somehow catch SA...3 vs 6 or 4 vs 5

Either way I don't see it changing all that much...which leaves me rather nervous...UTA has our number...Deron matches/surpasses Nash 1 on 1...

Honestly, the only teams that scare me are San Antonio, Los Angeles, Dallas (a bit) and (yes) Denver.

- San Antonio for obvious reasons

- L.A. if Bynum comes back; but they have some injury concerns now.

- Fisher and Kobe are playing hurt and Bynum has been out for a long time.

- Denver is going to be very dangerous if they get in; I don't want to go against Carmelo, Iverson, Camby, and Martin in a 7 game series.

- New Orleans doesn't scare me much; Paul is great, but I don't think they have enough star power to go deep in the West.

- Houston doesn't scare me at all; if they had Yao, they would. Shaq and Amare destroyed them in Phoenix recently and I don't think they enough size to deal with them and I don't think they can beat Phoenix without Yao.

- Utah doesn't scare me that much either.

- I think Phoenix is better than Dallas; they just choked big time in the 4th quarter. However, they do have the potential to be dangerous; Nowitzki is an amazing player, Kidd is a future HOFamer, and Stackhouse and Howard are capable scorers.

I think a Phoenix/Dallas series will be very close if they meet.

I am most afraid of San Antonio, L.A., Dallas (a bit) and Denver (Because of Carmelo and Iverson)

Seems pretty clear to me that the reason the West's top teams are so close in the standings is simply because they're all really close.

San Antonio and Dallas have dropped a bit, and the others have all risen a bit. This year's playoffs are going to be amazing; even the Finals are going to be interesting.

suns have dropped too...

the game is in the listings in Canada so it must be on tv down in the US as well, as we would be getting the feed from the states.