Bench Rises to the Occasion for Suns

Hmm. Bit of a problem here with this one.

No, not for the Suns. Moi. The Suns, even with two regulars out, had surprisingly little problem disposing of the Pacers. In fact, they had no problem whatsoever.

But Moi was another story.

It is the custom here to award game balls, and the normal procedure is to round up the usual suspects and pick one or two for the honor. But that won’t work for this game.

Not that there was anything wrong with the usual suspects, mind you. Steve Nash, sore ankle and all, had 23 points and 7 assists. Amare Stoudemire had 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Leandro Barbosa, aka "SuperSub," stepped out of the phone booth after changing into his cape and, faster than a speeding bullet, delivered 14 points and 10 assists. But none of them get a game ball.

So what was my problem already?

My problem was I had to learn how to spell P-i-a-t-k-o-w-s-k-i. Yep, game balls this night go to Eric Piatkowski, aka "Who?," and Pat Burke, aka "The People's Choice."

The relatively little-used Burke and the almost never, ever-used Piatkowski came off the bench to deliver a combined 21 points, many of them when the Pacers were still hanging around hoping to turn a rout back into a game.

Burke delivered seven of his points in a two-and-a-half minute span to help push a lead that had shrunk as low as eight to 15. And talk about getting the crowd back into it! Fans usually roar with delight when he just stands up and heads for the scorer’s table. So you can imagine how they erupted when he went on his game-breaking spree. Burke is easily the most popular Sun per minutes plaid in the history of the franchise. He could probably get elected mayor just on the strength of the TV skits he stars in on the area screens.

Piatkowski is a different story. Although he’s in his 13th NBA season he looks almost young enough to be a rookie (unless you look too closely at the hairline) and is seen seldom enough to qualify for milk carton exposure.

He built a reputation as an outstanding shooter in his previous NBA lives, but prior to last night he had appeared in only two games, and that for a total of only seven minutes. But with Shawn Marion and Boris Diaw out and Head Coach Mike D’Antoni loathe to start Barbosa because he needed him to be in when Nash was out, Piatkowski entered the game in the FIRST quarter, which is 3.78 quarters sooner than he had in his two limited engagements.

He proceeded to drop three treys on the Pacers and score 11 points in 21 minutes. Oh, and he also blocked a shot.

And after the game Coach Mike, who is a little sensitive about criticism he doesn’t play enough people, conceded that maybe he should have give Eric a look earlier in the season.

The bottom line: Sometimes the uses of adversity really are sweet, and just possibly the injuries to Marion and Diaw may have uncovered another option Coach Mike might be able to go to in certain situation. After all, Cotton Fitzsimmons always said you can never have too many shooters, and whatever else he isn’t, Eric IS a shooter.