Game Thread: Suns vs. Cavs

[elindholm]

How many fantasy points did Cabarkapa get?

LOL. I'm keeping Cabarkapa in reserve until he, uh, develops. Theoretically, Adonal Foyle is about to come back, which lessens the pressure on my backup center rotation.

 

[jbeecham]

I still wish we had drafted Boozer instead of Casey Jacobsen. We'd have a lot more power down low with Amare & Boozer in the game.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

21 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists.

Lebron is SOOOO overrated

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by Chris_Sanders
21 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists.

Lebron is SOOOO overrated

Give me a break. I simply was saying that he was overrated because of what was hyped up about him before he even put on a Cleveland jersey.

So get your smug attitude and stick it.

He ain't Jordan and he ain't Kobe. Period.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

You could at least give the kid some credit for far exceeding your expectations.

I am just happy I had the foresight to draft him.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Originally posted by Chaplin


He ain't Jordan and he ain't Kobe. Period.

I would never compare his game to Jordan or Kobe's.

I like Lebron's comparison of his game to Penny's before he got hurt. I think that is a fair comparison.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Originally posted by jbeecham
I still wish we had drafted Boozer instead of Casey Jacobsen. We'd have a lot more power down low with Amare & Boozer in the game.

Hell, I wish I had drafted Boozer instead of Caron in the fantasy league. Give me a year and I'll get the hang of this stuff

 

[slinslin]

Lebron James is much stronger than Bruce Bowen. Why would Marion rather post up the much stronger James than Bowen?

Also Bowen is an excellent defender on the perimeter, not sure about other stuff.

 

[slinslin]

Also I think that Amare had only 1 rebound after halftime and Marbury had only 1 assist after halftime.
They could have had huge games otherwise.

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by Chaplin
Give me a break. I simply was saying that he was overrated because of what was hyped up about him before he even put on a Cleveland jersey.

So get your smug attitude and stick it.

He ain't Jordan and he ain't Kobe. Period.

How the hell do you know? I'm not saying he is ever going to be as good as Michael Jordan or even Kobe Bryant. Frankly he is a different type of player with his passing abilities. But at the very least you could admit that he has far surpassed your expectations for him in his first two games.

I realize it is very, very early to speculate how the rest of his career will go, but from what little we have to go by so far he is a very special player. He's done much, much more than either Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant did in their first few games. He is also only 18 years old with no college experience whereas at least Michael Jordan had numeral 2-3 years of top-level college experience when he came into the NBA.

I like the comparisons to Penny Hardaway although I think he is probably already a better passer than Hardaway ever was. That last statement ought to have all of the Penny Hardaway lovers up in arms.

I was tired as the next guy of the LeBron James over hype machine, but I can admit that so far he has exceeded the extraordinarily high expectations.

This is from today's ESPN Insider

How good was he? So good that he evoked this response for Larry Bird, a guy not normally known for gushing over anyone.

"He's going to be one of the top players in the league by the time the season's over," Bird told the New York Times. "These other players in the league, these veterans, can say all they want about him not being ready, but this kid is for real.

"I've never seen anybody like this. He passes as well as anybody I've seen, and with his quickness, his size and his strength -- I hate to put a label on a guy, but if we're not talking about him being in the Hall of Fame within the next five years, something went wrong. He's the best talent I've seen come out in years."


Joe Mama

 

[SweetD]

Great Game:

Good:
1) Amare looked much better shooting the ball he was practicing a hour before the game and he was making allot of them.

2) Zarko is going to be a very nice piece of this team and he can do the trapping like Bo did.

3) The Suns kept feeding Amare down low

4) D was good but can be better

5) I had better seats then David Spade.

6) Free T-shirts I got (Amare, Marion, and Marbury), Plus I bought the new Alt Jersey for Amare SWEET!!

Bad:
1) Barbosa is not ready to run the point in a real game.

2) The Ref are letting Labron push off every time he shoots and not calling it.

3) Zarko is still a little lost out there... but he will learn.

4) The 2nd team did not play well together.

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by SweetD

Bad:
1) Barbosa is not ready to run the point in a real game.

2) The Ref are letting Labron push off every time he shoots and not calling it.

3) Zarko is still a little lost out there... but he will learn.

4) The 2nd team did not play well together.

1) Barbosa didn't even play last night.

2) the referees won't make that call very often. It's a good thing for the Phoenix Suns also because Marbury would be getting called constantly for it. Overall I did not think the referees were that that last night, but there was a stretch during the third quarter where I spent about 10 minutes yelling at the TV.

3) he looked a little unsure of his shot again last night. Maybe he has been hanging out with Joe Johnson too much. But still even through his struggles you have to like the potential he shows. That slam over Davis was awesome.

Joe Mama

 

[SirStefan32]

Originally posted by Yuma
Also, that dunk by Zarko was SWEET!! I haven't seena Euro dunk with that kind of authority since the guy who died overseas tragically, sorry I can't remember his name, and that sucks since he is in the Hall Of Fame now!

Drazen Petrovic.

 

[Chaz]

Originally posted by SirStefan32
Drazen Petrovic.

One of my favorite players.



Well I am not sure how good James will be but he is sure getting treated like a superstar by the refs.

Since when do rookies get freebees on traveling and phantom fouls?

 

[SirStefan32]

James is an outstanding player, no question about it, but he ought to pay his rookie dues.

 

[SweetD]

Originally posted by SirStefan32
James is an outstanding player, no question about it, but he ought to pay his rookie dues.

I am sure the loosing will get to him. You could tell at the end of the game he was pressing to much and started getting out of control. He will be an outstanding NBA player and I wish the Suns had him.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Originally posted by SweetD
I am sure the loosing will get to him. You could tell at the end of the game he was pressing to much and started getting out of control. He will be an outstanding NBA player and I wish the Suns had him.

I am actually glad Cleveland has him. It gives me a team to watch in the East that I find interesting besides the Magic.

 

[SweetD]

Originally posted by Chris_Sanders
I am actually glad Cleveland has him. It gives me a team to watch in the East that I find interesting besides the Magic.

Plus he could get them to the playoffs one of these days and give up their #1 pick.

 

[Chaz]

About the Suns offense and the drought in the third:

The Suns just don't look sharp in thier offense. They are not getting solid screens and the look confused a good portion of the time. To me this is coaching and practice.

Also I think Amare is still rushing his shots a little. There are time when he needs one more dribble or a pivot and it is an easy shot. Sometime he throws it up there and gets himself in trouble.

When he begins master the finer points of his post game defenders will have nightmare about trying to guard this guy.

I already love how Amare is running the floor. He looked like Karl Malone last night running over a moving Rickey Davis and getting the basket +1.

 

[Joe Mama]

I agree. Amare Stoudemire also needs to learn that there are times when he will need to pass the ball back out to give him a chance to establish better position. Otherwise he is going to be picking up a few offensive fouls per game.

Joe Mama

 

[Wally]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
Hogwash. The Suns struggled ostensibly because for the most part the Cavaliers packed the middle and forced them to shoot from outside. However the Suns also tightened up their defense and won the game.

Joe Mama

Haven't heard "hogwash" in a looong time. How did you get that voice program to work that in


Boozer's slam gave the Cavs a one-point lead in the fourth. A series of turnovers and the Cavs poor interior defense led to an 86-80 Suns lead with 5:40 left. The Cavs trailed by four following Darius Miles' alley-oop dunk, but Marbury answered with a trey. The Cavaliers out rebounded Phoenix, 52-43, and led, 73-72, after three quarters. But poor shooting and ball handling in the 4th qtr contributed to their loss. The Cavs only scored 13 points in the 4th qtr due to poor shooting more than good defense by the Suns.

I didn’t say it was all bad…. I said Good, Bad & Ugly and I believe a few others might agree that the Cav’s folded their tent in the 4th qtr.

"We didn't execute down the stretch," Cavaliers coach Paul Silas said. "That's a disappointing thing. The last two ballgames, we have to find a way to win ballgames. We are just giving games away."

I agree with Marbury’s summary of the game….“We won. We won. That was the most important thing.”


All wins are nice, but on a scale of 1 - 10 this one doesn't go above a seven. I think when Williams gets back in the lineup. he will add some much needed help in the middle. We really need to solve the lack of rebounding this team has been showing in the first two games and all of the preseason.

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by Wally
Haven't heard "hogwash" in a looong time. How did you get that voice program to work that in


Boozer's slam gave the Cavs a one-point lead in the fourth. A series of turnovers and the Cavs poor interior defense led to an 86-80 Suns lead with 5:40 left. The Cavs trailed by four following Darius Miles' alley-oop dunk, but Marbury answered with a trey. The Cavaliers out rebounded Phoenix, 52-43, and led, 73-72, after three quarters. But poor shooting and ball handling in the 4th qtr contributed to their loss. The Cavs only scored 13 points in the 4th qtr due to poor shooting more than good defense by the Suns.

I didn’t say it was all bad…. I said Good, Bad & Ugly and I believe a few others might agree that the Cav’s folded their tent in the 4th qtr.

"We didn't execute down the stretch," Cavaliers coach Paul Silas said. "That's a disappointing thing. The last two ballgames, we have to find a way to win ballgames. We are just giving games away."

I agree with Marbury’s summary of the game….“We won. We won. That was the most important thing.”


All wins are nice, but on a scale of 1 - 10 this one doesn't go above a seven. I think when Williams gets back in the lineup. he will add some much needed help in the middle. We really need to solve the lack of rebounding this team has been showing in the first two games and all of the preseason.

Hogwash works just fine, but apparently the voice program is having trouble with offensively which keeps coming out "ostensibly".

You are right. Last night was not a great victory for the Phoenix Suns. It was good to get the win, especially with the Lakers next up, but it wasn't pretty at times. The first half was fun, exciting basketball though.

I'll be shocked if the Lakers don't slaughter the Suns tomorrow.

Joe Mama

 

[JCSunsfan]

Not much has been said about Stephon. We seem to take him for granted at this point.

I have been extremely pleased with his play this year. He is playing patient, under control, and including his teammates. He seems to be getting a pretty good handle on when to take over himself and when to get others involved.

 

[matt_whitlock]

I'll be shocked if the Lakers don't slaughter the Suns tomorrow.

See, this is what I think the problem is. Not the fact that anybody is saying it, but because it's true. The question I have to ask, is why?

Last year, there wasn't a single team in this league we didn't feel we could beat on any given night. Sure, the Lakers seem better now than they were a year ago, but it's not the point. Why do we consider ourselves a top 6 team in the West, and yet don't feel we can compete with any of the top 5?

Supposedly, we got better in the offseason. Now obviously, Marion didn't really get stronger, his jump shot looks about half of what it was last year, and Amare's improvement in his jumper that we've heard so much about isn't exactly jumping out at me, but even if we were no better than we were last year, we haven't gotten worse. The Kings haven't gotten better, the Spurs have gotten worse, and the Mavericks now have offensive fire-power that takes shots away from their better offensive fire-power. The Lakers and Twolves are better, but we should be able to compete with them.

I remember guys talking about our upcoming season last preseason, saying how "the sky's the limit" and that we could, if everything comes together, make a run for the title. Now this year, we're saying that we're good, but not title contenders. How are we all of the sudden too young this year, when last year we were a year younger? The media is saying we're a young and exciting team who will, although not win a championship this year, will at least be fun to watch; we now say the same thing. I have to wonder, is the media dictating our expectations of us, or are we?

 

[elindholm]

Last year, the Suns had a player who had some hope of containing Shaquille O'Neal. This year they don't. Even the greatest supporters of the Outlaw/Tsakalidis trade on this board have acknowledged that it will make the Suns much less competitive against the Lakers.