Awww! C'mon, keep your chin up.

[nothin' but net]

I am not trying to minimize JJ's injury. I am not trying to be a homer with his head in the sand. We have thread after thread outlining in greatest detail the negative side of this injury. Here are a couple of positive thoughts I have:

1. What do we still have?
-Three all-stars, league MVP, Three point Champ and Coach of the Year. Did these people deserve these awards or not? Now is the time they will prove it.

2. We have defied odds and expectations all year. The season has been a dream. When something seems "too good to be true", we look for obstacles that will trip us up. We have some pretty resilient players. Somebody go tell Amare that he can't win without JJ. We still have players that pose real matchup problems with the Mavs. JJ was only one of their fears.

3. Crap happens. Champions dig deep and overcome obstacles. Losers give up. If the Suns fold like a cheap suit because they lose one starter, they don't deserve the championship. With JJax, there are still 5 that can go for 20+ everynight.

4. Crap happens. Wait, I already said that... Oh yeah. Crap happens all over. Even in Dallas. Will we still be saying the same thing if Finley, Dirk, or Terry goes down. (I don't wish injuries on anyone.) They will have their obstacles too. We just have to keep it as close as we can.

A wise man once said, "When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty."

Feel free to add more positives that I may have overlooked. I hereby proclaim this a positive comment only thread. Go piss and moan somewhere else.

-Captain Optimism

 

[mribnik]

I am not trying to minimize JJ's injury. I am not trying to be a homer with his head in the sand. We have thread after thread outlining in greatest detail the negative side of this injury. Here are a couple of positive thoughts I have:

1. What do we still have?
-Three all-stars, league MVP, Three point Champ and Coach of the Year. Did these people deserve these awards or not? Now is the time they will prove it.

2. We have defied odds and expectations all year. The season has been a dream. When something seems "too good to be true", we look for obstacles that will trip us up. We have some pretty resilient players. Somebody go tell Amare that he can't win without JJ. We still have players that pose real matchup problems with the Mavs. JJ was only one of their fears.

3. Crap happens. Champions dig deep and overcome obstacles. Losers give up. If the Suns fold like a cheap suit because they lose one starter, they don't deserve the championship. With JJax, there are still 5 that can go for 20+ everynight.

4. Crap happens. Wait, I already said that... Oh yeah. Crap happens all over. Even in Dallas. Will we still be saying the same thing if Finley, Dirk, or Terry goes down. (I don't wish injuries on anyone.) They will have their obstacles too. We just have to keep it as close as we can.

A wise man once said, "When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty."

Feel free to add more positives that I may have overlooked. I hereby proclaim this a positive comment only thread. Go piss and moan somewhere else.

-Captain Optimism

I'm staying positive, and hope others will as well. I think the hardest part is just waiting until the next game starts. They'll be positive once they see the Suns play again! Go suns!

 

[arthurracoon]

Thanks, I REALLY needed that

 

[Chaplin]

I'm actually really excited to see how the team responds. If they curl up into a ball and get beat, well, then, we can say it wasn't a "surprise". But if they stay competitive (no more blowouts this series), then anything can happen. If we are within 5 points with 4 minutes left or so, there is NO reason we can't win the game from there.

All this negativity is self-defeating and doesn't make any sense. Are we supposed to say, "Awww, it's going to be all right"? We've lost one game by 2 points against a team that was playing as well as they are going to play against us (sorry cheese/ouchie, but that's a fact in these playoffs). We still have 3 losses to go, that's a lot of minutes of basketball.

Don't count us out when we still have a healthy Amare, Shawn and Nash, who, incidentally, are STILL our 3 best players.

 

[az1965]

I hereby declare that we will win Friday's game...!!!










I hope and pray...

 

[Dr. Dumas]

All this negativity is self-defeating and doesn't make any sense. Are we supposed to say, "Awww, it's going to be all right"? We've lost one game by 2 points against a team that was playing as well as they are going to play against us (sorry cheese/ouchie, but that's a fact in these playoffs). We still have 3 losses to go, that's a lot of minutes of basketball.

Don't count us out when we still have a healthy Amare, Shawn and Nash, who, incidentally, are STILL our 3 best players.

Thank you for bringing up this point Chap- All year long this team has found ways to win. Besides, you know that Finley is not going to continue to be as hot as he was. The guy had to have one of his best played games along with Dirk to even have a chance of winning by two freaking points.
Please-no more posts that we can't win. We did have the best road record-

 

[frdbtr]

I still think that the suns win this series in 5. Go ahead and flame me, tell me that it will be impossible with JJ out of the line up. Phoenix played terrible in game 2 and had a chance to win it in the end. Like the articles said, they played selfishly and shot poorly. This will not happen in game 3. Phoenix became a victom of its own success. I think that they players did start thinking that they didn't have to play hard, focused basketball to win and it bit them in the butt. I don't forsee this being an issue especially since one of thier best players is now down with an injury. Dallas still has a problem keeping up with the speed that Phoenix has on the floor, I repeat: Phoenix in 5.

 

[seesred]

The real story is we were behind with JJ in. In the third quarter we beat them and took the lead. We were leading in the fourth at about the 5 minute mark. We had a chance to win on the last shot of the game and it rimmed off. The team did this all without JJ in the arena. JJ is a key and he will be back for the championship round. There is no doubt in my mind that in the long run we will beat the Mavs.

Tonight we win 114 - 103

GO SUNS!

 

[yotes1921]

I agree with everyone here, the Suns are NO WAY out of this, if I recall we beat Dallas in Dallas without Nash the MVP. I love JJ and he has been my favorite player ever since we got him, but come on, the Suns dictate who will win and have all year. When they come out with energy no team in the league can run with them or score with them. Game 3 Phx

 

[jibikao]

The real story is we were behind with JJ in. In the third quarter we beat them and took the lead. We were leading in the fourth at about the 5 minute mark. We had a chance to win on the last shot of the game and it rimmed off. The team did this all without JJ in the arena. JJ is a key and he will be back for the championship round. There is no doubt in my mind that in the long run we will beat the Mavs.

Tonight we win 114 - 103

GO SUNS!

Applause from Jibi!!


JJ is important to our championship run but Mavs ain't the championship team yet. We still have Nash/Amare/Marion. If one of these 3 is down, then we are really doomed.

I am sure Jim Jackson and Q will step up big time and so are the bench players.


Come to think of it, it may be blessing in disguise.... think about it. We have the best 7-men rotation in the league but what if one or two of them are in foul trouble? Who will step up? Hunter can provide some defense but he has no offense game at this moment. Barbosa is still as confused as ever.

JJ plays the most mins and with this -40mins from JJ, that means Jim Jackon, Hunter and Barbosa/McCarty will see a lot more playing time. Our Bench's improvement can only be a good thing and not a bad thing!!!

 

[Cheesebeef]

(sorry cheese/ouchie, but that's a fact in these playoffs).

I love that this is a "fact" in these playoffs - even though they blew someone out in a Game 7 pressure game by 40 and Jason Terry hasn't even had one game in the siereis where he's gone nuts yet - but keep telling yourself it's a "fact" in these playoffs if it makes you feel better.

but - as far as the rest ofyour post - I too am very excited to see how we respond tonight - I have the sneaking suspicion we gut out a win - people have been waiting for us to fold all year and it hasn't happened yet - it didn't even happen when we lost JJ as we came out on fire in the 2nd - but we'll see.

 

[Chaplin]

I love that this is a "fact" in these playoffs - even though they blew someone out in a Game 7 pressure game by 40 and Jason Terry hasn't even had one game in the siereis where he's gone nuts yet - but keep telling yourself it's a "fact" in these playoffs if it makes you feel better.

It never once occurs to you that it could be more than just being in a "funk"--our switching defense has worked pretty well (with the exception of Finley in the last game) around the perimeter. But to you, every opposing player will blow up at some time--no matter how good our defense may or may not be! Did it ever occur to you that Terry won't even have a game where he "goes nuts"? Houston is one team, but Phoenix is a totally different animal.

but - as far as the rest ofyour post - I too am very excited to see how we respond tonight - I have the sneaking suspicion we gut out a win - people have been waiting for us to fold all year and it hasn't happened yet - it didn't even happen when we lost JJ as we came out on fire in the 2nd - but we'll see.

At least we agree on something...

 

[Cheesebeef]

It never once occurs to you that it could be more than just being in a "funk"--our switching defense has worked pretty well (with the exception of Finley in the last game) around the perimeter. But to you, every opposing player will blow up at some time--no matter how good our defense may or may not be! Did it ever occur to you that Terry won't even have a game where he "goes nuts"? Houston is one team, but Phoenix is a totally different animal.

it did occur to me - and I still think it's more than likely that us - not being as good of a defensive team - WILL allow at least one game where Terry goes nuts (and how does saying that two players with a propensity for huge scoring outbursts - Dirk and Terry - is saying EVERY OPPOSING PLAYER WILL GO NUTS?)

As far as being a different animal than Houston, well, Phoenix WITH JJ is a different animal than Houston - agreed - in fact if JJ hadn't gotten hurt and we still lost - I would still see this series going 6 MAX - but we're NOT the same Suns team that we were before and to just assume we can put back the pieces completely and be so is myopic in my opinion. We don't know WHAT this team is gonna be like so to say Dallas can't play better and that IS FACT seems a tad ridiculous to me.

 

[Chaplin]

Don't use JJ as your excuse, you said the same thing before the injury. JJ's injury just added fuel to your fire.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Don't use JJ as your excuse, you said the same thing before the injury.

Okay - but that only MAKES MY POINT ALL THE MORE PLAUSIBLE, DOESN'T IT?

We are talking about the here and now - aren't we? And considering 5that Dallas had Terry in a funk for 5 out of 7 games as well, yet he still had TWO games where he scored 32 points - again - doesn't that show that it's possible for him togo nuts on us, especially since Nash is not the greatest of defenders?

 

[Chaplin]

Okay - but that only MAKES MY POINT ALL THE MORE PLAUSIBLE, DOESN'T IT?

We are talking about the here and now - aren't we? And considering 5that Dallas had Terry in a funk for 5 out of 7 games as well, yet he still had TWO games where he scored 32 points - again - doesn't that show that it's possible for him togo nuts on us, especially since Nash is not the greatest of defenders?

If Nash is such a bad defender, why hasn't Terry blown up yet?

 

[Cheesebeef]

If Nash is such a bad defender, why hasn't Terry blown up yet?

because he's a streaky shooter - I don;t know - why didn't he blow up in the Houston series in 5 of the 7 games?

Are we gonna do this all day - I've got a lot of time on my hands all of a sudden... also - what's the address for that place for Sunday - or at least the cross-streets? Ouchie and I are definitely in.

 

[Chaplin]

because he's a streaky shooter - I don;t know - why didn't he blow up in the Houston series in 5 of the 7 games?

You can't compare Houston to Phoenix. You just can't. Even with Nash's defensive shortcomings--which, since you have been watching this series so far, haven't been so bad. Funny how nobody has acknowledged that outside of a few lapses, Nash hasn't been too bad on defense.

 

[Chaplin]

Are we gonna do this all day - I've got a lot of time on my hands all of a sudden... also - what's the address for that place for Sunday - or at least the cross-streets? Ouchie and I are definitely in.

Do you know where the Burbank Media Center (it's called Town Centre now I think) is? Basically, the place is on San Fernando between Magnolia and Olive.

http://yp.yahoo.com/py/ypMap.py?Pyt...RkvWhPv7eQ--&stat=:pos:0:regular:regT:1:fbT:0

 

[Cheesebeef]

You can't compare Houston to Phoenix. You just can't. Even with Nash's defensive shortcomings--which, since you have been watching this series so far, haven't been so bad. Funny how nobody has acknowledged that outside of a few lapses, Nash hasn't been too bad on defense.

no - he hasn't - but you KNOW he's not that great of a defender so is it really all that outside the realm of possibilities that Terry could have a good game against him? I mean - it was when Terry started attacking in the fourth that we got down six - didn't he score 6 straight points on Nash to give him the lead?

 

[Chaplin]

no - he hasn't - but you KNOW he's not that great of a defender so is it really all that outside the realm of possibilities that Terry could have a good game against him? I mean - it was when Terry started attacking in the fourth that we got down six - didn't he score 6 straight points on Nash to give him the lead?

The odds of Terry going off on Steve Nash are equal to the odds of him not going off on Steve Nash, so I'm not sure what's being talked about here.

 

[Cheesebeef]

The odds of Terry going off on Steve Nash are equal to the odds of him not going off on Steve Nash, so I'm not sure what's being talked about here.

eh - I don't even want to really think about the possibility of Terry going nuts - so let's just end this right now. And wow - that's DEEP Burbank - I think I know of a pool/sports bar in Hollywood - can we split the difference in locales?

 

[Chaplin]

eh - I don't even want to really think about the possibility of Terry going nuts - so let's just end this right now. And wow - that's DEEP Burbank - I think I know of a pool/sports bar in Hollywood - can we split the difference in locales?

DEEP Burbank? LOL Burbank isn't THAT big...

 

[Suns_fan69]

You can't compare Houston to Phoenix. You just can't. Even with Nash's defensive shortcomings--which, since you have been watching this series so far, haven't been so bad. Funny how nobody has acknowledged that outside of a few lapses, Nash hasn't been too bad on defense.

The teams done a great job of recognizing when Nash is in trouble defensively and helping out. There were a couple times where he got temporarily switched on to some one he shouldn't have guarded (i want to say Finley but my memory is shady) and Q came quickly and switched with him so that he would take Howard before Dallas could recognize the mismatch.

Our team defense is definitely a lot better than some would give credit for, and even Nash's individual defense isn't downright horrible. He's actually pretty good at denying the ball.

 

[Cheesebeef]

DEEP Burbank? LOL Burbank isn't THAT big...

how bout this:

Hollywood Billiards:

5750 Hollywood Blvd

Kinda in between the two of us - what do you say?