Live from the Rose Garden as the Portland Trail Blazers host the Phoenix Suns. Today, December 7th, is a date which will live in infamy: Andre Miller's consecutive games played streak is coming to an end at a whopping 632. Miller earned a single game suspension after pretending to be a one-man wrecking ball against Blake Griffin. Nicolas Batum will the get the start in Miller's absence, giving Portland three guards—none of them of the point variety—starting the game tonight.
Bummer. Patty Mills was this close to being able to tell his future grandchildren he once started an NBA game.
These Phoenix Suns are not the same team that bounced the Blazers from the playoffs last year, mostly due to the fact that their main interior presence, Amar'e Stoudemire, bolted to New York to play alongside LeBron James Raymond Felton. And while opinions on Stoudemire may vary, he is without question infinitely better than pizza loving, former almost-Blazer Hedo Turkoglu, the man the Suns got to replace him.
But hey, what do I know? The Suns are currently 11-9, riding a three game winning streak, and are two games ahead of the Blazers for the eighth playoff spot in the West.