Atlanta @ Phoenix - Game Thread - Friday Feb. 9, 2007 - 7:00 pm

[Evil Ash]

winning to 17 in a row is meaningless because we should beat those teams anyway. it just happened that we played them all in a row and didnt blow it bad enough to lose. Look at the teams we have lost to this year, clippers, hawks, twolves, and 7 decent teams. so 30% of our losses come to teams that are not good at all, probably wont make it to the 1st round of the playoffs if to that point. 30%, come on now.

The Spurs lost to the friggin Bobcats earlier this year. Does that mean that they should be eliminated from the playoffs now?

Its an 82 game season and last I saw no one has ever gone undefeated

 

[mribnik]

winning to 17 in a row is meaningless because we should beat those teams anyway. it just happened that we played them all in a row and didnt blow it bad enough to lose. Look at the teams we have lost to this year, clippers, hawks, twolves, and 7 decent teams. so 30% of our losses come to teams that are not good at all, probably wont make it to the 1st round of the playoffs if to that point. 30%, come on now.

I don't see the problem with that at all. What exactly are you worried about?

 

[arwillan]

The Spurs lost to the friggin Bobcats earlier this year. Does that mean that they should be eliminated from the playoffs now?

Its an 82 game season and last I saw no one has ever gone undefeated

sure nobody has gone undefeated and sure overall this game probably wont effect us much as far as where we get seeded and how far we go but if we cant beat atlanta, at home, them having lost 7/8, can we expect to compete with the likes of the mavericks, whom of which have beaten us this year as well? the answer is simply no.

 

[cly2tw]

Amare had 5 assists. How did he get them? Out of double teaming? How was his play in general?

 

[az1965]

its playoff positioning. with race is so close with Mavs these types of losses really hurt...

 

[arwillan]

I don't see the problem with that at all. What exactly are you worried about?

THey scored more fast break points than we did, and we had what, 11 assists?


what am i worried about?
Lack
of
Execution

 

[mribnik]

sure nobody has gone undefeated and sure overall this game probably wont effect us much as far as where we get seeded and how far we go but if we cant beat atlanta, at home, them having lost 7/8, can we expect to compete with the likes of the mavericks, whom of which have beaten us this year as well? the answer is simply no.

I'm sorry, but your logic is completely flawed. For one, the outcome of one game against the Hawks has nothing to do with Dallas. Two, if it did, we played this game without our best player. Three, and I've said this before, every championship team in the history of the NBA has lost to poor teams. No team in the history of the NBA, except for the Suns, has gone this long without losing by double-digits. There are plenty of reasons to doubt whether the Suns can beat the Mavericks, but losing one game to the Hawks is not one of them.

 

[mribnik]

THey scored more fast break points than we did, and we had what, 11 assists?


what am i worried about?
Lack
of
Execution

We actually out assisted them 19-14 and had 2 more fastbreak points. Regardless, this team has been the best assist team in the year through 50 games, and is one of the best fast-break teams as well. Are you really worried about fast-breaks and assists?

 

[Evil Ash]

sure nobody has gone undefeated and sure overall this game probably wont effect us much as far as where we get seeded and how far we go but if we cant beat atlanta, at home, them having lost 7/8, can we expect to compete with the likes of the mavericks, whom of which have beaten us this year as well? the answer is simply no.

Maybe. Too many times people try to figure out what will happen in the plaoffs based on what happened in the regular season. Many teams admit going through tough times because it is such a long season, others admit to half-assing it until it comes near playoff time. Based on the regular season last year, was there anything that lead you to believe the Heat would win it all?

I'd rather be prepared for the playoffs rather then mostly meaningless games right before the allstar break

 

[Evil Ash]

its playoff positioning. with race is so close with Mavs these types of losses really hurt...

To a point. I'd rather have Nash healthy and prepared for the playoffs then worry about playoff positioning before the All-Star break

 

[hsandhu]

To a point. I'd rather have Nash healthy and prepared for the playoffs then worry about playoff positioning before the All-Star break

Our playoff position is almost locked in. We will be the 2 seed. We're down two games in the loss column, they are up 2-0 on us during the season, and have an easier schedule. On the other hand we're up 6 in the loss column on utah/s.a., so we're locked in at 2.

Nothing wrong with that, in fact it could be better. With san antonio sliding, they may fall to 4. Thus utah/lakers would be in our bracket, houston/sanantonio in the dallas bracket. Really, it's gonna be a tough draw either way.

We're locked in at 2 at this point, positioning thus means nothing, and if we truly are the best team in the league we'll get to the finals regardless of the draw (which is gonna be difficult either way).

 

[hsandhu]

I'm actually much more upset about the fact that atlanta won, than we lost.
This win could give them a lot of confidence, and that pick could slide up to 8-9.

Hopefully redd will be back soon for milwaukee and move them ahead of atl.

 

[arwillan]

we arent necessarily locked in at number 2. there are a number of things that could happen to change that. Dallas has houston, denver, miami all coming up. What if dirk or josh howard get injured? That could spark a loss or two. number 1 isnt far out at all

 

[Muggum]

This game hurt the franchise. Bottom line. Atlanta is climbing out of the lottery. And we just boosted them in their climb.

 

[Evil Ash]

This game hurt the franchise. Bottom line. Atlanta is climbing out of the lottery. And we just boosted them in their climb.

Thats a bit of a jump. They only have 19 wins at this point

 

[Ollie]

2/4/1996 CHI at Denver Nuggets (35-47) L 99 - 105
2/6/1996 CHI at Phoenix Suns (41-41) L 96 - 106
2/23/1996 CHI at Miami Heat (42-40) L 104 - 113
3/10/1996 CHI at New York Knicks (47-35) L 72 - 104
3/24/1996 CHI at Toronto Raptors (21-61) L 108 - 109
4/8/1996 CHI Charlotte Hornets (41-41) L 97 - 98

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

where is Diaw when we needed him most with Nash out?

Better question - where was Shawn Marion? The only times I really noticed him was when Josh Smith was scoring at will against him.

 

[Mulli]

Better question - where was Shawn Marion? The only times I really noticed him was when Josh Smith was scoring at will against him.

Careful, you are going to hurt Marion's feelings.

 

[DeAnna]

Oi vey...that was painful to watch. Had it been any other 2 teams, I would've said it was a good game.

Not having Nash has nothing to do with letting a crappy offense like Atlanta score 120pts; that's all on the defense. Embarassing.

Coach D said in post game that Diaw has been playing with a bad back and tweaked it last night.

What's with that ZaZa guy? Is he on some kind of steroids? he has terrible back acne - yuck...

 

[Mulli]

Oi vey...that was painful to watch. Had it been any other 2 teams, I would've said it was a good game.

Not having Nash has nothing to do with letting a crappy offense like Atlanta score 120pts; that's all on the defense. Embarassing.

Coach D said in post game that Diaw has been playing with a bad back and tweaked it last night.

What's with that ZaZa guy? Is he on some kind of steroids? he has terrible back acne - yuck...

Gross. Maybe you should turn down the Hi-Def to Lo-Def for games he plays in.

 

[sly fly]

Better question - where was Shawn Marion? The only times I really noticed him was when Josh Smith was scoring at will against him.

Marion was in Las Vegas already.

He better pull his head out. Stupid mistakes and getting outworked. It's been going on for quite some time now.

Even EJ alluded to him already fouling out of 5 games this year. Very un-Marion-like. Something is definitely wrong.

 

[CaptainInsano]

This pathetic loss is basically going to almost lock nash for 3x mvp.

 

[Phxchris1989]

It hurt too watch the highlights. But you can't beat them all I guess. We NEED too win the championship this year, when Nash retires as a Sun (and he damn well better!) I don't see us being a powehouse in the Pac. division, just an above average team. When's gonna be our time!? The Lakers have 16, I'd be happy with even one title.

 

[Chaplin]

It hurt too watch the highlights. But you can't beat them all I guess. We NEED too win the championship this year, when Nash retires as a Sun (and he damn well better!) I don't see us being a powehouse in the Pac. division, just an above average team. When's gonna be our time!? The Lakers have 16, I'd be happy with even one title.

Nash isn't going to retire for awhile, and you never know who we will acquire or lose in the future--so to say we're not going to be a power in 4 years (after Nash is too old or retires) is pretty premature.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Even EJ alluded to him already fouling out of 5 games this year. Very un-Marion-like. Something is definitely wrong.

I wouldn't go that far, I think it's a lot to do with Nash not playing as around 8-10 of Marion's points per game are a result of him ctaching the ball and putting in the hoop thanks to Nash. Another thing is Shawn Marion just isn't that good of a defensive player. Yeah, he plays against everyone from PGs to PFs but getting torched by all of them equally does not make you a good defender. The 'Marion for Defensive POY' campaign headed by ******* Gambo is laughable at best.