Diaw's stock might be going up

[Lefty]

Diaw is having a great game today and just maybe there will be teams out there that would be interested in him after this season. I can hope, can't I?

 

[AnonymouslyKnown]

If Diaw plays like this, keep him, start him!

 

[boisesuns]

we know what he is capable of. the probem is that it's ever 5-10 games he has a great one.

 

[AnonymouslyKnown]

They should start Diaw and bring Hill off the bench

 

[LV-Suns]

Keep Diaw.


But I don't really want a man that talented being wasted under D'Antoni.

 

[Lefty]

we know what he is capable of. the probem is that it's ever 5-10 games he has a great one.

That's what we know but there might be teams that don't see that. Trade Diaw and Barbosa in a package.

 

[AnonymouslyKnown]

Keep Diaw. Show him the tape of todays game after every bad game he has.

 

[LV-Suns]

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[Rockstar]

LOL. He's getting the same opportunities he was getting in game 3 and everyone was flaming him because he was missing everything, but he's having a great day today and now he's a savior. It's crazy, a guy has an off night and it's time to ship him out of town, he has a great game and he's in the Ring of Honor.

 

[AnonymouslyKnown]

I've always liked Diaw, even after bad games because I know what he is capable of.

 

[Lefty]

Keep Diaw.


But I don't really want a man that talented being wasted under D'Antoni.

I wonder if there is a new coach next year and Diaw is still on the team, maybe he will get the most out of Boris every night.

 

[hsandhu]

Well I'm gonna have to use this as another chance to bash coach offense. Maybe we should have been playing diaw at the 3, all along? Instead of going with all these stupid small lineups and playing people out of their natural positions.

Put him at the 3 no sf can keep him out of the post, they put a big on him and h e can take them off the dribble. Plus he can guard wing players as he moves his feet very well and has length.

 

[az1965]

If Diaw plays like this, keep him, start him!

NOOO...

I hope he has a great 5th game... so we can get some team to bite.

 

[LV-Suns]

Well I'm gonna have to use this as another chance to bash coach offense. Maybe we should have been playing diaw at the 3, all along? Instead of going with all these stupid small lineups and playing people out of their natural positions.

Put him at the 3 no sf can keep him out of the post, they put a big on him and h e can take them off the dribble. Plus he can guard wing players as he moves his feet very well and has length.

Exactly.

 

[btimsah]

I love Diaw now! lol

His defense really stiffled Parker. Great MOVE by Dantoni to play Diaw on Parker and put Nash on Bowen. SOMETHING WE'VE ALL SAID TO DO BEFORE.

 

[Mathew81]

I've always liked Diaw, even after bad games because I know what he is capable of.

Knowing what he's capable of makes it all the more frustrating for me.

 

[TJ]

I think the key is to keep Diaw in the starting line up. For some reason, he gets up for the game when he starts and plays lax off the bench. Perhaps the Hill injury could be a blessing in disguise

 

[Cheesebeef]

Well I'm gonna have to use this as another chance to bash coach offense. Maybe we should have been playing diaw at the 3, all along? Instead of going with all these stupid small lineups and playing people out of their natural positions.

Put him at the 3 no sf can keep him out of the post, they put a big on him and h e can take them off the dribble. Plus he can guard wing players as he moves his feet very well and has length.

i still can't believe DA started the midget lineup in Game 3. So ridiculous.

 

[Ronin]

more on Diaw.http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8079032/Diaw-stops-Parker,-sparks-Suns-in-big-win-

PHOENIX - While the Phoenix Suns remain on autopsy alert, their victory in Sunday's Game 4 of a Western Conference first-round playoff series with the San Antonio Spurs produced an interesting concept.

Get ready for it. OK, here it is:

Necessity is the mother of adjustment.
2008 NBA playoffs


The adjustment on the table was necessitated by the lingering properties of a groin injury credited to Suns forward Grant Hill. Please note that groin injuries are to basketball players as laryngitis is to a professional tenor. Well, not quite equal, but in the ballpark. Anyway, an initial groin-injury adjustment rendered for Game 3 by Phoenix Coach Mike D'Antoni was the insertion of Leandro Barbosa into the starting lineup.
Then it was on to Plan B.
Plan B was put in motion late in Game 3, when D'Antoni answered a battle cry the entire franchise has embraced this season ... when in doubt, go big. That's why prevailing doubts regarding the Suns' capacity to win an NBA championship led to the acquisition of Shaquille O'Neal.
So, D'Antoni's big move later in Game 3 was lining up 6-foot-9 Boris Diaw next to O'Neal and Amare Stoudemire. This resulted in low-post matchup issues for the Spurs, whose double-teaming of Diaw inspired a few open shots for Phoenix. It didn't generate an offensive explosion, but it showed promise.
"It took me awhile to get there," D'Antoni said of going with Diaw in Hill's absence, "but I got there. It may be something we keep trying."
D'Antoni started Diaw in Game 4, and despite his mammoth statistical contributions (20 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists), Diaw checks in as the Most Valuable Player for Sunday due to his ability to sort of stop Spurs point guard, fellow French countryman and buddy Tony Parker.
The sort-of disclaimer should be applied, because Parker did finish with 18 points, including 16 in the opening half. But Parker entered Game 4 with a 33-points-per-game average in this series, including a 41-point salvo in Game 3. With Diaw using his reasonably quick feet to chase Parker over the Spurs' victory-sustaining ball screens, he delivered credibility to Phoenix's heretofore pick-and-roll-over defense. Unreasonable length enabled Diaw to at least bother Parker (7-of-17 from the field) during his dreaded mid-range jumper.
"Mostly, it's pick-and-roll that they hurt us with," Diaw said of Parker and the Spurs. "The main thing is to try to stay close to him. Once I'm close to him, I try to bother him on this shot."
That seems simple, but maybe not obvious enough to deploy earlier. Ah, well. Not much has happened during Diaw's time in Phoenix to suggest he could shut down one of the league's swiftest point guards. "I thought he was phenomenal," D'Antoni said of Diaw. "I trust him. I always have."

 

[Irish]

The key to today's game was the 12 minutes that Skinner played because it freed up Diaw to move to the 3 when Shaq and Amare were in the lineup and not be used at the 4.

Against some teams, Boris is very effetive playing inside, just not the Spurs. Duncan would just run him over when he tried to defense Tim and he was just a jump shooter when the Suns had the ball.

I will admit I had no clue that Boris would be so effective from the 3 slot, but in retrospect the logic made sense. With Shaq and Amare in the lineup, it meant the Spurs would have to use a small forward on him. If they used Bowen, the Spurs would lose a major offensive theat and not have Bowen to go after Nash. As it was, Bowen played on 20 minutes with no points, Pop benched hatchet man Bruce in an effort to get more offense.

The other Spurs wings are not prepared to stop a long armed low post threat with Diaw's moves who passes out of double teams like he does. What is move important, Diaw was big enough to fight through all the moving picks the Spurs set and long enough to bother Parker, who shot only 7 of 17. After three games of being destroyed by the Spurs' pick and roll, the Suns played some defense.

Without Parker having a layup drill and continual open jumpers, the Suns held the Spurs to just 39% shooting.

Obviously Pop will make adjustments, but Boris presents some interesting matchup issues for the Spurs.

 

[dodie53]

keep Diaw.
diss the coach.

 

[dodie53]

The key to today's game was the 12 minutes that Skinner played because it freed up Diaw to move to the 3 when Shaq and Amare were in the lineup and not be used at the 4.

Against some teams, Boris is very effetive playing inside, just not the Spurs. Duncan would just run him over when he tried to defense Tim and he was just a jump shooter when the Suns had the ball.

I will admit I had no clue that Boris would be so effective from the 3 slot, but in retrospect the logic made sense. With Shaq and Amare in the lineup, it meant the Spurs would have to use a small forward on him. If they used Bowen, the Spurs would lose a major offensive theat and not have Bowen to go after Nash. As it was, Bowen played on 20 minutes with no points, Pop benched hatchet man Bruce in an effort to get more offense.

The other Spurs wings are not prepared to stop a long armed low post threat with Diaw's moves who passes out of double teams like he does. What is move important, Diaw was big enough to fight through all the moving picks the Spurs set and long enough to bother Parker, who shot only 7 of 17. After three games of being destroyed by the Spurs' pick and roll, the Suns played some defense.

Without Parker having a layup drill and continual open jumpers, the Suns held the Spurs to just 39% shooting.

Obviously Pop will make adjustments, but Boris presents some interesting matchup issues for the Spurs.

will the adjustment be in the form of a zone defense??

 

[arwillan]

well i don't exactly want to bet the farm on diaw being able to shut down parker, but i definitely like the promise it showed today. who knows what can happen if parker continues to struggle. as we say today, he may score in the first half but if we shut him down later in the game we're fine.

 

[SirStefan32]

well i don't exactly want to bet the farm on diaw being able to shut down parker, but i definitely like the promise it showed today. who knows what can happen if parker continues to struggle. as we say today, he may score in the first half but if we shut him down later in the game we're fine.

I'd like to see a different defender on Parker every couple of minutes- Diaw, Giricek, Bell, Hill, etc. Keep him confused and don't give him time to adjust.

 

[arwillan]

I'd like to see a different defender on Parker every couple of minutes- Diaw, Giricek, Bell, Hill, etc. Keep him confused and don't give him time to adjust.

that would also work too. it's so nice to be able to hide out our worse defender on bowen all night long. it makes switching guys onto parker and ginobili much easier.