Mar. 1, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns center Jermaine O

In the final seconds of last night’s game between the Phoenix Suns and the Houston Rockets, Jermaine O’Neal was whistled for goaltending at the buzzer on a James Harden three-pointer which ultimately gave Houston the win with a bow on top.

“It was off the rim, for sure,” O’Neal said. “He (Jones) is saying it was still in the cylinder when I did it. The problem is that they called goaltend and counted the basket before they did the review. So there’s not enough evidence to change the call. You should make sure that’s the call you should make, and it should be clarified before you say, `Basket counts.”

Bottom line, clearly O’Neal affected the shot, and it was indeed goaltending.

Here’s the thing, O’Neal is a veteran, a veteran who’s been in the league for a 16-years, a veteran who possesses relatively high  basketball-IQ. The buzzer had already sounded, he had no reason to touch the basketball, he knows better.

Some may call or think it’s a brain fart but there are reasons to believe it was intentional. O’Neal knows better. O’Neal didn’t need to touch that ball, it wasn’t going to go in, and all he had to do was box-out 6’1 point guard Patrick Beverely(Who was fighting O’Neal for the rebound), O’Neal didn’t need to jump with him; I doubt O’Neal would have problems boxing out the 6-foot guard.

Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld tweeted this yesterday after the game: “Jermaine O’Neal brain fart or Phoenix Suns tank job?”

Jared Dudley tweeted this after the game “Wow!! I never lost a game like that before in my life.. Just one of those seasons I guess..”

Maybe J.D is right and it’s just one of those New York Jet like seasons but the O’Neal goaltending play was certainly sketchy. The Suns are in competition with the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third worst overall record in the NBA which essentially means the third best chance to win the lottery in May.

“They called three or four calls late in the game that helped determine the outcome of the game,” O’Neal said.

Had the Suns beat the Rockets last night, there would only be a 1/2 game separating the Suns and Cavaliers in the standings given that the Cleveland lost to the Pacers last night.

The Suns are 1 1/2 games behind of the Cavaliers right now in the overall standings as the Suns are ahead of the Bobcats and Magic in terms of winning percentage. That means if the season ended tonight, the Suns would have the third best chance in the lottery. The Cavaliers have five games remaining on their season against the Pistons, Knicks, Sixers, Heat and the Bobcats to close out their season.

Was O’Neal’s goaltending intentional? Tough to say, but one can certainly make a case for it.

Oct 26, 2012; Orlando, FL, USA; Houston Rockets shooting guard Kevin Martin (12) attempts a layup against the Orlando Magic during the first quarter at Amway Center. Mandatory Credit: Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

Before late last night, if you asked me or any other sports analyst where they thought where would Harden wound up if he were to leave Oklahoma City? Most of them would’ve either said Phoenix or Dallas. Well unfortunately for the Suns and Mark Cuban, Harden will take his talents to Houston.

At this point many Suns fans are probably consumed by the question of why didn’t the Suns try to trade for Harden instead of letting Houston snatch Harden right out from under them. A few things will factor in that, but first and most importantly, assets.

The Rockets offered the Thunder a top 50 player in Kevin Martin who will help cushion the blow of losing Harden, a young lottery pick talent in Jeremy Lamb, two 1st round picks(one lottery pick) and a 2^nd round pick. The Suns simply don’t have those assets, Martin’s huge contract of 12 million dollars allowed the Thunder to dump the contracts of Lazar Hayward, Dequan Cook, and Cole Aldrich; Martin’s contract also expires at the end of the season which will give the Thunder more cap room flexibility.

The Suns top asset at this point is Marcin Gortat, whom of which the Thunder wouldn’t need since they already have Kendrick Perkins. The Rockets also offered Jeremy Lamb who was supposed to be drafted by the Suns 13^th overall during the draft back in June but the Rockets traded up to the 12^thspot and snatched up Lamb before the Suns could. To be frank, Lamb has more star potential than anyone on the Suns not named Michael Beasley then again the word potential means “Ain’t done nothing yet”.

Oct 15, 2012; Dallas, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard Jeremy Lamb (1) during the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. The Mavericks defeated the Rockets 123-104. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE

Another thing that factored in is the lottery pick the Rockets offered which they got from the Toronto Raptors and the Raptors are a young team that’s likely to finish somewhere in the bottom 10 this season in the NBA. Ultimately the Toronto draft pick would most likely be higher than any the Suns could’ve thrown the Thunder’s way.

This Rockets deal also came out of left field, no one saw this coming. I’m sure the Suns spoke with the Thunder about a Harden deal but I’m also sure the talks weren’t extensive nor serious, had there been there would’ve been news about it. This deal caught the NBA world as off-guard as the Steve Nash trade caught the NBA world off-guard.

So bottom-line is that, this Harden deal is one of the best deals the Thunder could’ve gotten anywhere. Did they take a step back in terms of making a run at the title? Yeah, a little. Martin is a sizable drop off to Harden in terms of overall play,  however at the same time Martin’s expiring contract helped relieved the Thunder of some contracts, the draft picks will provide great value for the Oklahoma City Thunder in the future, and the x-factor Jeremy Lamb could potentially develop into a great talent in the future.

May 5, 2012; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden (13) shoots against Dallas Mavericks forward Shawn Marion (0) during game four of the 2012 NBA playoffs at American Airlines Center. The Thunder beat the Mavs 103-97. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

The Suns simply didn’t have the assets to package together to present the Thunder a more attractive deal than the Houston deal. With Harden now out of the picture the Suns will most likely turn 100% of their attention to the upcoming draft in June. Missing out on Harden is going to be a tough hit for the Phoenix Suns to endure, he was going to be one of the best players on the market next off-season and Harden has already gone on paper saying he’d love to play in Phoenix, and it’s his second home in terms of comfort. But just like Shawn Marion flying out to contest James Harden’s 3-point attempt, the Suns are one step too late.