Hornets at Suns 11-14-14

[Phrazbit]

P.S.: On a serious note, Eric Bledsoe led the Suns in scoring, assists and rebounds with 22-5-11 . . . and we lost at home. If he were a team leader, wouldn't those stats lead his team to a home court victory against a team we should have beaten? Opinions?

What a joke. BC, I know you and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of stuff, but this is inane, biased garbage. He was the best statistical guy by far, we outscored the Hornets by more with him out there than anyone else. And somehow its still his fault... basically because the bench didn't play better.

If Thomas, Green or Dragic swapped stat lines with him you'd be singing their praises... and ripping Bledsoe for having a bad game. The standard you are holding him to compared to other guys is laughable.

 

[82CardsGrad]

What a joke. BC, I know you and I don't see eye to eye on a lot of stuff, but this is inane, biased garbage. He was the best statistical guy by far, we outscored the Hornets by more with him out there than anyone else. And somehow its still his fault... basically because the bench didn't play better.

If Thomas, Green or Dragic swapped stat lines with him you'd be singing their praises... and ripping Bledsoe for having a bad game. The standard you are holding him to compared to other guys is laughable.

Agreed... Bledsoe finally did his part tonight. Yet, we still lost. I need to process that some more. I'm hoping there is nothing more insidious about that. And that it's simply a matter of the rest of the team stinking it up...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Absolute Zero]

It's those damn Friday home game polo shirts!


P.S.: On a serious note, Eric Bledsoe led the Suns in scoring, assists and rebounds with 22-5-11 . . . and we lost at home. If he were a team leader, wouldn't those stats lead his team to a home court victory against a team we should have beaten? Opinions?

My opinion is that you are clearly looking for a reason to hate on Bledsoe and have therefore lost whatever credibility you had. Bledsoe's play tonight epitomized leadership.

 

[JustWinBaby]

I think it is pretty obvious what our problem is.

Lack lf talent.

Plumlee - Stiff - bench player at best
Len - Stiff - can't catch a cold may not be kept past rookie contract
Markieff - Possible starter but belongs on a bench somewhere
Marcus - further down the bench than Markieff
Tucker - Bench player
Thomas - Midget that puts up numbers on occasion but not a player to build around - should play over seas.
Dragic - one good year - don't know what to make of him - I like him and he had a great year last year but I don't know what I would do with him at this point.
Bledsoe - Shows legit signs of being worth his contract - seems frustrated with teammates - has no one else on the roster at his level. Thus far inconsistent if effort and results - not good.
Green - legit bench player, possible starter needs better group around him, at this point very inconsistent.

I expect a trade sooner than later. I have no idea who will be going and who will be coming but this is not a good team. The Suns have no chance to make the playoffs with this team.

If anyone really thinks this team has enough talent to compete for a playoff spot you are sadly mistaken. We really need to suck and to get lucky in this summers draft. This entire roster is made up by a bunch of guys drafted 13th or later in the the year they were picked with the exception Len and he could be our worst player. I know people have hope for him but he just stinks.

I like Hornacek but it is getting old watching everyone just jack up 3 pointers all night long. It appears that is the goal of this offense, to shoot another 3 pointer. When MDA and Amare were here along with Marion and Nash we usually dominated points in the paint.

This team is becoming unwatchable.

I do not think I am alone in that opinion. The attendance at games seems poor and message boards on the net have very little conversation.

Does anyone even care if we suck.

I will watch ASU tomorrow night instead of the Suns. That would have never happened in 7SOL.

 

[sunsfan88]

Missed the 2nd half, thank god I didn't waste my friday night on the Suns.

 

[sunsfan88]

This is a terrible loss. The Suns continue the trend from last season where they show up with half ass effort against the "non top" teams in the NBA. This team will not make the playoffs. Even if they beat the Spurs again, Warriors again, Clippers, HEAT, Cavaliers, Grizzlies, Bulls, whatever, they still won't make playoffs because they will lose to too many bottom and mediocre teams.

Last season, out of the top 9 teams in the West, no team lost to more sub .500 teams than the Phoenix Suns. People blamed it on Bledsoe's injury, what's the excuse now?

This trend of only showing effort against the top teams in the NBA is completely on HC Jeff Hornacek. He needs to grow a pair and actually yell at his players instead of being so calm all the time. Gregg Popovich isn't the best HC in the NBA by being calm all the time. Neither is Tom Thibedou or Doc Rivers.

Hornacek looks like he's about to pass out dead sometimes because of the lack of emotion he shows on the sideline sometimes. He'll randomly argue with a ref and draw a tech every now and then but most of the time, this dude does nothing even while his team chokes away a lead. The no time out call while the Suns gave away their entire lead was baffling to say the least.

Instead of always lookin to put the blame on Dragic or Bledsoe or Plumlee or Tolliver or Thomas or Green or the loss of Frye, we need to start looking at what Hornacek is doing.

 

[Hoop Head]

I was at the game and here are some things I noticed....

Marcus had a really good start but got into foul trouble fairly quick which hurt a lot. With Green completely off and Tucker not much of an offensive player it put the Suns in a bad position at the SF spot in the 2nd half.

Kieff didn't play very well offensively while Marcus was on the bench, it was like he tried playing outside more like Marcus does which wasn't working for him or the team. Those 2 really need to be on the court together to reach their full potential which hurts the Suns building for the future. They can be good starters in the league on a 500 team they need an All-Star caliber Center to play alongside them in order to be able to really compete. Of course that is if the starting 5 continues to include Dragic & Bledsoe in the backcourt. Plumlee isn't enough and neither is Len at this point.

Dragic seemed to be the primary ballhandler/point guard while he was in the game in the first half but wasn't that effective. There was a play in the 2nd quarter I think, maybe 3rd, where Dragic got called for a charge on Zeller where it looked like Zeller was in the restricted area. After that play it seemed that Goran was less aggressive and started deferring the PG duties around the same time. Stephenson seemed to be on Dragic most of the time which I'm sure didn't help things for Goran offensively.

Bledsoe had a really good game. I was surprised to see he had double digit rebounds when I checked the box score when I got home. I was watching him on defense in the first and he seemed to set the tone for a really good first quarter but when he went out that was lost completely. While he had the ball I was trying to see why he was turning over the ball so much but he only had 1 all night which I don't even recall seeing, let's hope something clicked and he keeps his turnovers down going forward but I think that's wishful thinking on my part. He was playing off Dragic a good bit and managed to hit some nice 3's because of that. He was moving more overall while someone else had the ball than the last game I saw.

Plumlee and Len did a really good job against Jefferson who is one of, if not the best offensive center in the league right now. They kept him from getting many touches and he didn't go to the line at all either. I thought if the Suns were going to lose it would be because Jefferson had a huge game but that wasn’t the case. Defensively Plumlee/Len are serviceable but provide little to nothing on the offensive end.

Tolliver is one of the worst PF’s I've ever seen. He plays like a PG on defense. He avoids contact and is lost most of the time. He seemed more concerned with running down court to stand at the the 3 point line rather than even looking at a rebound. Jogging down court would be a better way to put it because either he is incredibly slow or he doesn't actually run.

The Hornets defense after the first quarter was much better, the Suns couldn't get open shots like in the 1st and the Suns defense seemed to disappear when Thomas, Green, and Tolliver were in during the 2nd quarter and other than a stretch towards the middle of the 4th the defense the Suns guards and wings played was horrible. Each 3 the Hornets took seemed to be uncontested.

Green was a black hole on offense, forcing all of his shots and it was apparent after the 2nd or 3rd shot he took that he should have been pulled from the remainder of the game. His shot selection was terrible right from the start and he was way off. If Marcus didn't get in foul trouble maybe he would have been used less. I think we need Warren on the main roster for nights like tonight, if Green can't buy a shot in the first half then he shouldn't see the court in the second. Give Warren or Goodwin his minutes, depending on the size of the other team. From what I've seen before from Goodwin and Warren in college and summer league both go inside to score, which is the opposite of Green and could have helped out tonight. Instead Green was just jacking up awful 3's when he's cold as ice, he may as well hand the ball to the other team rather than shoot when he’s off like tonight.

 

[marios13]

basically this was a win or lose game with 3 pointers ... 28 % :/

just looking at the stats ... Bledsoe and Morises were ON tonight ... everyone else OFF

Tolliver is not doing 10 % of what was expected of him this season ...
I think Shavlik is the better option at the moment if Horny wants a big inside ...

I hope Goodwin, Warren and Z. Dragic get their chances soon ...

Z. Dragic is basically Gerald Green / PJ Tucker mix without Greens athleticism, but when he is hot its basically like watching Green everything is possible.

I hope I don''t have the same thoughts tomorrow, but since its the Clippers next I am not to optimistic ...

 

[TJ]

M

 

[BC867]

Agreed... Bledsoe finally did his part tonight. Yet, we still lost. I need to process that some more. I'm hoping there is nothing more insidious about that. And that it's simply a matter of the rest of the team stinking it up...

And that was my point. When your lead Point Guard leads the team in all key categories and you lose a game you should have won, something is wrong.

It sublimated two of our three best players. And the rest of our medicore roster was . . . mediocre.

The Point Guard's success in the game didn't translate into team success. That is a factor that needs to be looked into.

Specifically, that is the detriment of your three best players sharing one position. Lack of team balance was never more evident.

 

[Mainstreet]

And that was my point. When your lead Point Guard leads the team in all key categories and you lose a game you should have won, something is wrong.

It sublimated two of our three best players. And the rest of our medicore roster was . . . mediocre.

The Point Guard's success in the game didn't translate into team success. That is a factor that needs to be looked into.

Specifically, that is the detriment of your three best players sharing one position. Lack of team balance was never more evident.

The Suns look like scrambled eggs right now. Whether Hornacek can sort the team out remains to be seen. I do think Hornacek is playing his centers more hoping it will pay dividends down the road.

 

[Superbone]

The Suns look like scrambled eggs right now. Whether Hornacek can sort the team out remains to be seen. I do think Hornacek is playing his centers more hoping it will pay dividends down the road.

I like fried eggs better. So whatever it takes to look like that.

 

[Mainstreet]

I like fried eggs better. So whatever it takes to look like that.

Same here.

I think Hornacek is scrambling eggs because he the Suns bought too many.

 

[WildBB]

Kieff didn't play very well offensively while Marcus was on the bench, it was like he tried playing outside more like Marcus does which wasn't working for him or the team. Those 2 really need to be on the court together to reach their full potential which hurts the Suns building for the future. They can be good starters in the league on a 500 team they need an All-Star caliber Center to play alongside them in order to be able to really compete. Of course that is if the starting 5 continues to include Dragic & Bledsoe in the backcourt. Plumlee isn't enough and neither is Len at this point.



Plumlee and Len did a really good job against Jefferson who is one of, if not the best offensive center in the league right now. They kept him from getting many touches and he didn't go to the line at all either. I thought if the Suns were going to lose it would be because Jefferson had a huge game but that wasn’t the case. Defensively Plumlee/Len are serviceable but provide little to nothing on the offensive end.

Tolliver is one of the worst PF’s I've ever seen. He plays like a PG on defense. He avoids contact and is lost most of the time. He seemed more concerned with running down court to stand at the the 3 point line rather than even looking at a rebound. Jogging down court would be a better way to put it because either he is incredibly slow or he doesn't actually run.

The Hornets defense after the first .

That was the key - they limited the Suns fast breaks and really got in the Suns players grill.

About Plumlee and Len, they need to be out there more thAn Isaiah Thomas. They were abusing him on the offensive end. While there are times in the late1st-2nd and 3rd-early 4th qtrs. he can have an impact- in close games towards the end, I just don't see it.

They need to play with their centers and get used to bearing down defensively to win games.

Eddie Johnson was right, saying it was about stops. Ask any team with a banner hanging overhead!

We almost got there with Mark West. He should be able to get it done with Plumb and Len. If they can catch at least as well as West did and not try to do TOO much on the offensive end, it!s all they need - besides REBOUNDS!