I finally got to watch the Suns live last night! Only lived here in the states for a couple of years and living in the east coast, you don't get to see a lot of suns basektball...And what a game it was!!!
I can't imagine the feelings I had watching that game at the Fleet Center. I was soooo pissed during the first half. Suns were just standing around on defense, no spacing on offense. There were four guys on one side of the court standing around, passing to each other. No wonder they got so many turnovers during that half! The Celtics didn't have to move to play defense
Here are my thoughts on what I saw:
Stephon - He has proven over and over that he's the man during crunch time. Those back to back threes awesome. However, his play during the first half distrubed me a little bit though. LIke the rest of the team, he had no passion and looked like they was running the plays like a robot.
JJ was awesome and I just wich he can be consistent. That dunk really took me by surprise and out of my seat. Even the Boston fans were woooing I was impressed by his defense. Very active and good anticipation
Penny had a so so game. HIt a very difficult shot in the 4th but did that after committing a couple of turnovers. He still plays the passing lanes very well but is a bad one on one defender now. In fairness to him though, some shots by eric williams or mike james I actually thought he defended them well but they still made it anyway. Loved how he was diving for looseballs too but was holding my breath for another injury every single time
Jake Voskhul is a keeper. HE was the lone bright spot in that first half. Marbury did a great job feeding him the ball. Voskhul was doing very good finishing around the basket too. Wish Marbury would do the same for Stoudamire.
Speaking of Stoudamire, IMO, he still needs to improve his offensive game. He's still going by his athleticism too much which isn't necessarily a bad thing but there's always room for improvement. He looked frustrated at times because the guards don't give him the ball when he is free. T
Barbosa is a very good pickup. He is very long and quick. He went for a steal in the 2nd half that I never thought he'd have a shot at it. I was like, "Where'd he come from?".
Bulking up really hurt Marion's shot. NOticed a funny thing about him too. When he gets to that free throw line area, it seems like he feels that he HAS to put up a shot. He used to hit those before but this season, it's just not going in. It also looks like he's half a step behind on defense too. He's not as active on the boards and the passing lanes and forgets to cover his man.
Jacobsen has really improved on both ends of the court. He made smart decisions and never looked out of control. He also made a very big three in that run.
Googs gave me a laugh when he decided to face up and shoot over Battie. Result? A Block!
Suns defense in the 1st half was awful. They were double teaming players that were not supposed to be double teamed. THey were leaving the celtics guards wide open a lot which lead to made threes. 2nd half was more improved. I actually thought their man to man defense was more effective. Everybody's hands were very active and they got a lot of steals from their full court press. Rotations still need to imrpove if they are going to use that gimmick defense.
Offense was the same story. IMO, it is very predictive. Heck, I've only seen three suns games total this year but I felt like I knew the suns plays already. ALso, I wish the guards would learn how to split the defense on a pick n roll. Several times, I thought, there were plenty of opportunities to do this but they went around the defender and passed the ball around the three point arc. If they split the defense, somebody could at least penetrate and maybe dish or go hard to the basket.
FJ's substitutions in the second half were very good, IMO. I know there were times it looked like it was all small ball but I liked how he gave the starters and JJ enough breathers to keep them fresh. I thought it really helped in maintaining the Suns' run in that 2nd half.
That was a great game! Looking at their score in the first half, you wouldn't expect them to even break the 100pt. barrier but they somehow did. Hope this turns this season around and open their eyes. Too bad Stoudamire got injured and that's going to make this road trip very tough.
I'm so glad I finally got to watch a suns game live! Got to see their orange unis in person and of course, the great comeback for the win
I can't imagine the feelings I had watching that game at the Fleet Center. I was soooo pissed during the first half. Suns were just standing around on defense, no spacing on offense. There were four guys on one side of the court standing around, passing to each other. No wonder they got so many turnovers during that half! The Celtics didn't have to move to play defense
Here are my thoughts on what I saw:
Stephon - He has proven over and over that he's the man during crunch time. Those back to back threes awesome. However, his play during the first half distrubed me a little bit though. LIke the rest of the team, he had no passion and looked like they was running the plays like a robot.
JJ was awesome and I just wich he can be consistent. That dunk really took me by surprise and out of my seat. Even the Boston fans were woooing
I was impressed by his defense. Very active and good anticipationPenny had a so so game. HIt a very difficult shot in the 4th but did that after committing a couple of turnovers. He still plays the passing lanes very well but is a bad one on one defender now. In fairness to him though, some shots by eric williams or mike james I actually thought he defended them well but they still made it anyway. Loved how he was diving for looseballs too but was holding my breath for another injury every single time
Jake Voskhul is a keeper. HE was the lone bright spot in that first half. Marbury did a great job feeding him the ball. Voskhul was doing very good finishing around the basket too. Wish Marbury would do the same for Stoudamire.
Speaking of Stoudamire, IMO, he still needs to improve his offensive game. He's still going by his athleticism too much which isn't necessarily a bad thing but there's always room for improvement. He looked frustrated at times because the guards don't give him the ball when he is free. T
Barbosa is a very good pickup. He is very long and quick. He went for a steal in the 2nd half that I never thought he'd have a shot at it. I was like, "Where'd he come from?".
Bulking up really hurt Marion's shot. NOticed a funny thing about him too. When he gets to that free throw line area, it seems like he feels that he HAS to put up a shot. He used to hit those before but this season, it's just not going in. It also looks like he's half a step behind on defense too. He's not as active on the boards and the passing lanes and forgets to cover his man.
Jacobsen has really improved on both ends of the court. He made smart decisions and never looked out of control. He also made a very big three in that run.
Googs gave me a laugh when he decided to face up and shoot over Battie. Result? A Block!
Suns defense in the 1st half was awful. They were double teaming players that were not supposed to be double teamed. THey were leaving the celtics guards wide open a lot which lead to made threes. 2nd half was more improved. I actually thought their man to man defense was more effective. Everybody's hands were very active and they got a lot of steals from their full court press. Rotations still need to imrpove if they are going to use that gimmick defense.
Offense was the same story. IMO, it is very predictive. Heck, I've only seen three suns games total this year but I felt like I knew the suns plays already. ALso, I wish the guards would learn how to split the defense on a pick n roll. Several times, I thought, there were plenty of opportunities to do this but they went around the defender and passed the ball around the three point arc. If they split the defense, somebody could at least penetrate and maybe dish or go hard to the basket.
FJ's substitutions in the second half were very good, IMO. I know there were times it looked like it was all small ball but I liked how he gave the starters and JJ enough breathers to keep them fresh. I thought it really helped in maintaining the Suns' run in that 2nd half.
That was a great game! Looking at their score in the first half, you wouldn't expect them to even break the 100pt. barrier but they somehow did. Hope this turns this season around and open their eyes. Too bad Stoudamire got injured and that's going to make this road trip very tough.
I'm so glad I finally got to watch a suns game live! Got to see their orange unis in person and of course, the great comeback for the win
