Down deep, Next Town Brown has a lot of groupie in him when it comes to (Charlotte boss) Michael Jordan. I dare say he'd probably work for nothing (admittedly a "slight" exaggeration; Larry definitely wears Michael's underwear brand) to hang around His Airness on a regular basis.

A hush engulfed the locker room. "Hey, coach," Chris Bosh interrupted. "Bynum's been out for weeks with an injury."

D'Antoni's purported defects aren't restricted to his failure to make adjustments from game-to-game, much less while in the heat of battle.

For instance, Shaquille O'Neal does not do anything behind the pick to challenge Tony Parker and the Suns haven't trapped him coming off the screens either? Said a member of the Spurs, "We keep waiting to adjust to something but . . . "

When I visited Phoenix for Shaq's first game I heard several stories about management's dissatisfaction with D'Antoni's attention to detail and his failure to set rules, boundaries and limitations.

Obviously, I'm watching dog trainer Cesar Milan too much.

Suns' insiders compared D'Antoni to Paul Westphal in terms of not being a disciplinarian (specifically concerning Amare Stoudemire), recalling how he allowed pet Charles Barkley to do as he pleased.

Last week D'Antoni's easy going style (I love dealing with the guy) was being underlined by team sources to the local media as a detriment. And that was before the Suns lost convincingly at home in Game 3 in large part due to Parker's 41 points and 12 assists, and fell behind the Spurs 0-3.

Why did D'Antoni start Steve Nash on Parker rather than hide his defensive shortcoming on Bruce Bowen? By the time he switched the assignment to Boris Diaw and then Grant Hill, Parker already had flushed 6-7 from the floor and handed out four dimes.

"Your Matrix [Shawn Marion] argument is mute," said a Spur. "We won eight of 11 games when Neo was complaining about his $18M salary, nightly double-doubles and 40 minutes a night playing alongside Nash.

"The Shaq move was still a good move, I just think they needed a first-round series against someone else. That confidence would have been good for them given their lack of time together.

"They're missing a perimeter threat to give Steve more room to operate," continued the Spur. That's the key. "We used to be very concerned with their three-point shooting, but we can offer more interior help without a pure shooter there.

"Moreover, they never played us healthy this season. Take a look at the season box scores to see who was out to verify but that is saying something. We are getting hungry now.

"This team has been waiting for the playoffs to start since winning last year so our focus [injuries haven't helped] has been off. But I'm starting to see and feel that swagger that comes with knowing what we are capable of doing."