Stoudemire & Felton Destroy Nash's Suns

  Amar'e Stoudemire returned to Phoenix to show the Suns organization what they missed out on by not outbidding New York for his skills. He led the Knicks to their biggest blowout win of the season 121-96.

 Amar'e is an MVP candidate in New York and he's changed the Knicks from bottom dwellers to playoff contenders. Meanwhile, Suns point guard Steve Nash is going down with the Suns' ship. Phoenix is having their worst season since Nash's arrival. They've gutted their roster and every recently departed player has a better record with his new team than the Suns have.

 Nash, arguably the most overrated MVP in NBA history (twice), is now the subject of trade rumors. Some reports claim that the Knicks are interested in Nash.

 There was a time where it would've seemed that Knick coach Mike D'Antoni would love to have his old Phoenix point guard Nash running his fast paced offense in New York. But after what the Knicks did to the Suns on Friday night, D'Antoni must be feeling good about his departure from Phoenix as well as the players he has now compared to the somewhat limited talents of Nash.

 Knick poing guard Felton Spencer put any 'Nash to New York' rumors to rest by getting his first career triple double against the Suns. He finished with 23 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. His Phoenix counterpart had 14 points, 9 assists and only 2 rebounds. The Knick guard outplayed Nash up and down the court, silencing the Phoenix crowd.

 Nash played his usual soft matador defense and Felton took advantage and abused him all night. Slow and reluctant to play physical basketball, Nash was helpless in doing anything to stop Felton.

 When Nash's lack of defense failed, he resorted to his favorite soccer technique of flopping to get calls. That didn't work either. Fifteen years in the NBA and he still hasn't learned how to play defense. What kind of MVP is that?

 Nash and the Suns were outhustled and outworked by New York. The Knicks were up by eight points after the first quarter and 22 after the third. Suns owner Robert Sarver sulked in his courtside seats as reality set in that re-signing Amar'e should've been at the top of his 'to do' list last summer.

 The Knicks keep rolling towards the playoffs while Phoenix flounders into irrelevance. Friday night showed us more of the greatness of Amar'e and the emerging talents of Raymond Felton. It was also another example of how Nash has never been good at slowing down top point guards in the NBA.

Amar'e Stoudemire, the Suns' Real Star Returns to Phoenix

 Amar'e Stoudemire leads his New York Knicks into Phoenix to face Steve Nash and the rest of his old Suns teammates. The Knicks are 20-14 and Amar'e is a leading candidate in the MVP chase this season. Phoenix is 14-19 behind their ex-MVP Steve Nash.

 When Amar'e left Phoenix, there was rampant speculation that he would miss playing with Nash. Amar'e has proved that wrong in all ways. He's averaging career bests with 26.4 ppg and 2.5 apg. He's turned one of the league's worst teams around and made them relevant for the first time in a decade.

 Meanwhile Nash, the only MVP in NBA history never to play in the Finals, has struggled without Amar'e. The Suns are having their worst season since Nash's arrival in 2004. Granted they haven't found a suitable replacement for Amar'e in Phoenix. Yet Stoudemire has helped Raymond Felton become a top point guard in New York while Nash hasn't found a way to elevate anyone on the Suns in similar fashion.

 Dirk Nowitzki also saw a boost in numbers when Nash left the Mavericks in 2004. That season, he had his highest scoring average to that point and continued to elevate his game until he eventually became a more worthy MVP winner than Nash in 2007.

 Offensive minded basketball fans praise Nash as being one of the best point guards ever despite his horrendous defense. Nash is good at creating shots and passing. He's a great free throw shooter and excellent from downtown. Yet dominant big men like Stoudemire and Nowitzki seem to improve with less heralded point guards.

 Here's to Amar'e returning to Phoenix and giving Phoenix 50 reasons to miss him. Here's to Raymond Felton outclassing & outdishing Nash. Here's to the Knicks pushing Phoenix deeper into the abyss of rebuilding.

Amar'e Stoudemire's Hanukkah High

 Amar'e Stoudemire is currently playing the best basketball of his NBA career, including his first ever streak of five straight 31+ point games. The last three of those games, all Knick wins, were played during Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. Amar'e has averaged 33 ppg, 10.3 rpg and 1.6 spg during the first 6 nights of Hanukkah. He was named NBA Player of the Week on December 6.

 Last off-season, Amar'e discovered that his mother is part Jewish. He visited Israel to learn more about his Hebrew heritage. Perhaps his newfound connection to the Star of David is inspiring Amar'e to play his best basketball during Hanukkah.

 Fellow Jew Jordan Farmar of the Nets had career highs in points (28) and assists (9) on December 1, the first night of Hanukkah. He followed that with three straight 16 point games and is now riding the most prolific scoring streak in his NBA career. Farmar also earned his first career double double on the third night of Hanukkah with 16 points and 10 assists against the Bobcats.

 Unfortunately, Omri Casspi from Israel hasn't achieved any career greatness for the Sacramento Kings during Hanukkah this year. Maybe Yahweh is waiting for him to leave the anti-Jewish fans of Sacramento before blessing him with any basketball highs during Hanukkah.

 Amar'e faces the Toronto Raptors in New York tonight, the last night of the Festival of Lights. He already put 31 points and 16 rebounds on the Raptors in Canada on the fifth night of Hanukkah. Let's see if he's saved his festival best for New York, the most Jewish city in America.

Basketball is Kosher cool

    

  LeBron James should've made a show about how he decided to take his talents to Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto. I heard Mel Gibson & Dan Gilbert are collaborating on a vitriolic audio response to LeBron's change of faith. But it ain't like James is the only baller checking out Yahweh on the way to wins.

 Sue Bird has been one of the best PGs in the WNBA for 9 seasons. A dual U.S./Israeli citizen, Bird has won a WNBA title, 2 Olympic gold medals, 2 college championships at UConn and 2 championships in Russian and European leagues. 

 

 Jordan Farmar's two Laker championships give him more rings than any Jewish player in NBA history. Farmar can't yet afford the $100,000 it costs to meet up with Rabbi Pinto, but maybe he'll get a local discount once his New Jersey Nets move to Brooklyn.

 Orthodox Jew Idan Ravin is one of the top private trainers of NBA players. He's worked with Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Jason Richardson and accepts whatever payment they think is fair, roughly $1000 to $2000 per week. His methods include throwing tennis balls at shooters, pushing dribblers off balance, and constantly attacking players' psyches, making them ready for difficult NBA battles. 

 Omri Casspi became the first Israeli first round draft pick in NBA history in 2009. 6'9" Casspi had 14.7 points and 4.7 boards in 24 mpg during his rookie year with the Kings. Casspi could be just a summer visit to Ravin away from a breakout year. 

 And now there's Amar'e. Speaking Hebrew. Rocking a yarmulke. Stoudemire even said he's planning to fast on Yom Kippur as long as it doesn't fall on a game day. Once he checks the calendar and sees that Yom Kippur will never fall on a regular season or playoff game day, he will be a full on fasting Jew.

 Sue Bird y'all. 

      

Amar'e the Jew

 Amar'e Stoudemire is currently on a trip to Israel to discover his roots after learning that his mother is Jewish. Earlier today, he tweeted, "Jerusalem is a beautiful city, I'm at a cafe eating a late lunch. I'm learning Hebrew by the min. Keep up !! Shalom."

 He wasn't kidding about learning Hebrew. En route on the plane, he tweeted, "This is going to be a great trip. The holy land. Learn about it. This ze ha'halom sheli. Shalom." Haaretz.com translates that to mean, "This is my dream."

 Amar'e has the words "Black Jesus" tattooed on his neck. Where was Jesus from? Israel. 

 Amar'e's twitter account is @Amareisrael. Is it Amare is real or Amare Israel? 

 Amar'e didn't wait to see where LeBron James or Dwyane Wade were signing. He went straight to New York, the city with the most Jews outside of where? Israel!

 Peace to Amar'e on his journey to Israel. Woody Allen must be thrilled.

Thanks to Hibachi. Check out his blog, General Rodetsky.