Game Thread: Suns vs. Hawks

[Joe Mama]

Penny Hardaway sure looks like crap so far. I wish they would just let Amare Stoudemire guard Shareef Abdur-Rahim one-on-one instead of trying to double-team him.

Joe Mama

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

I agree Joe, I need him to do good this game anyways

 

[slinslin]

Suns 4 assists - 6 turnovers

.....

 

[matt_whitlock]

Penny Hardaway sure looks like crap so far.

I think we could expect this kind of play from Penny all year if his minutes stay the way they do. He's going to have to play more than 1/4 of the half if we want him to be effective. The guy isn't instant offense, he's not instant defense, and he's not going to magically mold into that because all of the sudden Frank Johnson thinks Casey Jacobsen is worth something. He does happen to be the team's 2nd best defender in FJ's mind, but I can fly around the world just like Neo in my mind, and the last time I jumped off a building trying to fly after somebody who looked like an agent..

Well, that analogy is getting too involved, so I'll just get to the point - my limbs are broken and Jacobsen shouldn't be getting time over Penny. Or, judging from his 5 minute permance, he shouldn't be getting time over Barbosa either, for that matter.

 

[matt_whitlock]

Googs is having his best game of the season though!

(I'm just kidding, I like Googs a lot and think he is a great guy and his injury is unfortunate).

But he is having his best game....

 

[Chaz]

Amare looks like a monster on the boards tonight.

 

[Wally]

Originally posted by matt_whitlock
Googs is having his best game of the season though!

(I'm just kidding, I like Googs a lot and think he is a great guy and his injury is unfortunate).

But he is having his best game....

You read my mind

 

[slinslin]

Hawks with the ball and up by 5 with 5 minutes to go.

And they are on back-to-back road games!

 

[arthurracoon]

Ouch. Suns down by 1 with 1:28 left, and Glover of the Hawks sinks the three...

 

[matt_whitlock]

Marion's attempt at a crossover was laughable.

Is this guy still a rookie?

 

[slinslin]

The Hawks are 10-21 from behind the arc including 3 in a row to start the 4th quarter.

 

[Wally]

So, when does FJ put Barbosa in the game for Amare?
Those last three 3-pointers went in but that's not the way that will work in the long run.
Why is CJ still in?Where is Jake or White??? Did they foul out when I was gone?
It's a nail biter & sholudn't be.... O brother!

 

[Cheesebeef]

Why the hell is Joe Johnson shooting the ball in the clutch?

 

[slinslin]

Because he made the clutch baskets before.

2 steals and they don't come up with a bucket that hurts.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Again - why the hell is Joe Johnson shooting threes?

 

[slinslin]

Because he was 2-4 and the only one who made a three all night were Casey and Marion who were both 1-3.

What a bad loss.

 

[Cheesebeef]

this team is starting to bug the sh*t out of me. When the hell is Joe Johnson ever going to become a consistent NBA player - you know what this team looks a lot like - last year's squad when Penny got injured.

 

[Chaz]

That sucks.


Untill they learn to move without the ball they will struggle against the zone.

bad shots taken at the end.

and why not a TO after the offensive rebound down by 1?

 

[elindholm]

Blame small ball for this loss. The Suns went with a lineup of Stoudemire/Marion/Johnson/Jacobsen/Marbury for most of the fourth quarter. That left Marion guarding Abdur-Rahim, which he was completely unable to do. The Hawks got good looks on most of their possessions, because either Marion guarded Abdur-Rahim one-on-one and got abused, or the Hawks quickly moved the ball to the open shooter when the Suns doubled. The Hawks went to Abdur-Rahim every time, and most of the time something good happened.

There's no reason that the Suns should put themselves in such a hole defensively. Put a lineup on the floor that at least has a chance of holding its own in straight-up man-to-man play. Otherwise, it's all gimmicks and hoping to get lucky.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

JJ played pretty good. He has awesome defense tonight. He poked out a lot of balls. He was the one who gave the suns a chance in the 4th quarter with his 3s.

I didn't like his last shot, but I didn't mind him taking the final one.

Casey should not have been in there. If you want to have an offensive lineup, fine, but put Zarko in there. At least he can rebound and take it inside.

Just a bad loss. I actually thought Frank was doing a good job on the lineups tonight. We didn't see our worst 5 once! He was able to give the starters a break, without giving us an apparent hole.

Then he let CJ play the entire 4th quarter........

 

[Chaplin]

Originally posted by elindholm
Blame small ball for this loss. The Suns went with a lineup of Stoudemire/Marion/Johnson/Jacobsen/Marbury for most of the fourth quarter. That left Marion guarding Abdur-Rahim, which he was completely unable to do. The Hawks got good looks on most of their possessions, because either Marion guarded Abdur-Rahim one-on-one and got abused, or the Hawks quickly moved the ball to the open shooter when the Suns doubled. The Hawks went to Abdur-Rahim every time, and most of the time something good happened.

There's no reason that the Suns should put themselves in such a hole defensively. Put a lineup on the floor that at least has a chance of holding its own in straight-up man-to-man play. Otherwise, it's all gimmicks and hoping to get lucky.

How much of this loss would you say is Frank Johnson's fault? We're talking about substitution patterns and play calling.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Our shooting guard is - drum roll please - T.R. DUNN! 36 percent just doesn't cut - 2 good games out of 7 doesn't cut it - and Frank Johnson's line-ups are really souring me right now.

 

[Yuma]

Casey should not have been in there. If you want to have an offensive lineup, fine, but put Zarko in there. At least he can rebound and take it inside.

Also, he has hit threes before behind the NBA arc. Right now he has as much chance of hitting a three as Casey!! He guards opposing players better than Casey, too!!

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Like I said again, he had a bad shooting night, but he came up in the 4th quarter. He played great defense all night.

He had 6 assists and 4 steals. Not to mention all the deflections.

Having a good game doesn't mean he has to put up 20 points.

 

[matt_whitlock]

you know what this team looks a lot like - last year's squad when Penny got injured.

I wonder why.




No I don't! Saying that the Suns were under .500 last year without Penny Hardaway is irrefutible. Nothing has changed from last year to this year. Now, the Suns are under .500 without Penny Hardaway.

Put Penny back in the starting lineup. Try it out. Afterall, it doesn't get much worse than losing to a 2-6 Atlanta Hawks team (1-5 on the road), and for what? Because Frank Johnson likes Casey Jacobsen's defense?

You know how many times Joe Johnson has shot equal to or above 50% from the field this season? I'll give you a hint, it rhymes with "hero". Yeah, so he makes 3 shots in the fourth quarter, big deal. They were big shots, I won't try to take that away from him, but if you shoot enough times a few are bound to go in.

Thirty games from now, I don't want to be saying this exact same thing because we're 13-19, and just have everybody say, "shut up, Penny fan!" I'm not even a Penny fan!

But one thing I can't stand is losing, especially when if you just look at last season, you'll pretty much know exactly why it's happening. And yet we keep losing.