First, that’s how every game oughta be played.  Up and down the court, runnin’ and gunnin’ (and sunnin’), scoring like crazy.  Let’s just look, just for fun, at a couple of key stats from Sunday’s game and last night’s game for comparison (these are from basketball-reference.com):

That first table?  Ugh.  Garbage.  The second one?  Basketball!  Those turnover percentages are a little higher than we oughta be comfortable with from the Suns (TOV% is per 100 possessions), but still…basketball!

Second, the officiating during that game last night was some of the worst I’ve seen in a long, long time.  I say a lot of things about NBA referees, and I often feel like games are called unevenly, and I think there’s some intent there.  Last night?  Just straight-up bad.  Awful, even.  At one point, there were fouls being called just about every time down both ends of the floor…and most of those had very little contact at the most.  The rest were just straight-up bogus, phantom foul calls.  That was ridiculous.  Dear The Refs, Nobody tunes in to an NBA game hoping to see you call a shit-ton of fouls and make yourselves the show.  We tune in to watch basketball.  Get bent.

One more note from last night’s game: there appears to be something developing for the Suns that I’m certain will greatly improve their playoff chances.  I’m talking about the kind of intangible boost that can either make or break a team, especially in the postseason.  I’m talking about the kind of thing that takes a good-maybe-great team like the Suns and launches them over the top, pushing them beyond the teams who don’t have what they have.  I’m talking about that LittleBitExtra.  I’m talking about the straw that stirs the drink.  I’m talking, of course, about Goran Dragic’s upper lip.  Now, maybe the arena lights last night were just shining in just the right way, or maybe Goran was just gettin’ a little lazy with the shavin’…but it sure looked like the Mighty Slovenian was working on the faintest beginnings of a mustache.  A thin, wispy, Eurostache?  Just what the Suns need!  No photos yet, but I’ll find ‘em.

(And by the way…since I wondered the other day if the Suns were going to get it done over this last portion of the season, they’re 3-0.  And 2-0 against playoff teams.  I’m happy to look stupid on this one.  Keep it up, STAT!)