This is a post from the ESPN message board. Unfortunately it's an excellent post detailing the methods that are being employed and will be employed by teams that are successful against the Phoenix Suns. The original post in the thread was about how poor the officiating was in the second half of last night's game.
How to beat the Phoenix Suns
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We have already seen teams doing all of these things.
The thing I don't ubderstand is why the league office would stand for the part that they have control over.
Stern has said nothing but great things about the Suns. All the critics agree that the Suns style of play is the best thing that has happened to the league in 20 years. Every reporter in America is writing about how entertaining this new brand of ball is.
Why would the league want to let a bunch of boring teams ruin such a good thing?
We've all seen special rules for certain players and teams in the past. All the league needs to do for the Suns is enforce the rules the way they were written.
The Suns could be the beggining of something great. Several other teams are playing the same brand of basketball as the Suns. We're seeing a renasaince.
The league has to decide whether it wants to move forward or slip back into the same old slow down basketbrawl that has been causing a decline in interest for the past decade.
The thing I don't ubderstand is why the league office would stand for the part that they have control over.
Stern has said nothing but great things about the Suns. All the critics agree that the Suns style of play is the best thing that has happened to the league in 20 years. Every reporter in America is writing about how entertaining this new brand of ball is.
Why would the league want to let a bunch of boring teams ruin such a good thing?
We've all seen special rules for certain players and teams in the past. All the league needs to do for the Suns is enforce the rules the way they were written.
The Suns could be the beggining of something great. Several other teams are playing the same brand of basketball as the Suns. We're seeing a renasaince.
The league has to decide whether it wants to move forward or slip back into the same old slow down basketbrawl that has been causing a decline in interest for the past decade.
Capt'nCard
Veteran
3. Kill Nash.
Your primary goals is to injure him, however if you even if you don't succeed you'll still hurt him enough to cause problems.
Foul him constantly. Sure he'll hit all his freethrows, but foul him hard.
Handcheck Nash as much as possible. Undercut him, elbow him, anything. The flagrant foul or fine is well worth ending the Suns season.
If your guards can't do this, bring in a medium sized role player for help D. The type of guy that has no talent but plays with lots of emotion.
This is complete garbage. You should play to win, not to intentionally hurt another player. I dont agree with this guys quote at all. It's one thing to play physically tough on someone but crap if your trying to hurt him. You here people talk about Hack-a-Shaq but you never here anyone say, Our primary goal is to injury him and hope we end he's season. where does anyone get such a lack of respect for basketball or even sports in general. I'm really disappointed to read something like that. It's either pure iggnorance or pure jealousy that someone thought this up.
Your primary goals is to injure him, however if you even if you don't succeed you'll still hurt him enough to cause problems.
Foul him constantly. Sure he'll hit all his freethrows, but foul him hard.
Handcheck Nash as much as possible. Undercut him, elbow him, anything. The flagrant foul or fine is well worth ending the Suns season.
If your guards can't do this, bring in a medium sized role player for help D. The type of guy that has no talent but plays with lots of emotion.
This is complete garbage. You should play to win, not to intentionally hurt another player. I dont agree with this guys quote at all. It's one thing to play physically tough on someone but crap if your trying to hurt him. You here people talk about Hack-a-Shaq but you never here anyone say, Our primary goal is to injury him and hope we end he's season. where does anyone get such a lack of respect for basketball or even sports in general. I'm really disappointed to read something like that. It's either pure iggnorance or pure jealousy that someone thought this up.
Capt'nCard said:3. Kill Nash.
Your primary goals is to injure him, however if you even if you don't succeed you'll still hurt him enough to cause problems.
Foul him constantly. Sure he'll hit all his freethrows, but foul him hard.
Handcheck Nash as much as possible. Undercut him, elbow him, anything. The flagrant foul or fine is well worth ending the Suns season.
If your guards can't do this, bring in a medium sized role player for help D. The type of guy that has no talent but plays with lots of emotion.
This is complete garbage. You should play to win, not to intentionally hurt another player. I dont agree with this guys quote at all. It's one thing to play physically tough on someone but crap if your trying to hurt him. You here people talk about Hack-a-Shaq but you never here anyone say, Our primary goal is to injury him and hope we end he's season. where does anyone get such a lack of respect for basketball or even sports in general. I'm really disappointed to read something like that. It's either pure iggnorance or pure jealousy that someone thought this up.
Actually I believe this guy is a Phoenix Suns fan talking about the game plan for opposing teams. I agree with you though. While I do think that some teams play intentionally rough against Steve Nash I don't think they try to knock him out of the game altogether. At least I don't believe the coaches come right out and tell them players to knock him out of the game.
Joe Mama
justAndy
Jolly Nihilist
...
very few NBA players INTENTIONALLY injure another - they all know that their health is their livelihood, D Fortson notwithstanding.
The writer of that post is a goon, and probably never played sports to have such a misanthropic attitude towards any athelete.
very few NBA players INTENTIONALLY injure another - they all know that their health is their livelihood, D Fortson notwithstanding.
The writer of that post is a goon, and probably never played sports to have such a misanthropic attitude towards any athelete.
jbeecham
ASFN Addict
Actually I think this is a Suns fan that's merely posting what he's seen other teams try to do. Utah & Indiana really tried to take Nash out of the game physically. Indiana succeded with really hard fouls and a well placed knee to Nash's thigh after he went around the screen. Teams since Utah have set Hard & Illegal screens that knock Nash to the floor with no calls from the refs (on the play Nash was injured by Croshere's intentional knee there wasn't a foul called).
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AZZenny
Registered User
Actually, I thought the writer was overstating a bit for effect - not too different than the occasional poster here. 
jibikao
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There is some truth in that post.
Do you think people will do dirty things to win championships? HELL YEAH. We all know how Suns function without Nash so it's a no brainer that the opposing teams will take our Nash first.
The only thing that can stop this is the refs. They need to constantly call handchecking fouls for Nash and moving (knee) picks on Nash. Nash will hit 85% of the foul shot and after a while, the opposing team will stop fouling Nash.
Well, the tempo of the game can be stopped easily with timeouts so it's not really a "trick". It's something that Suns has to live with.
If other teams choose to foul, then we need to make our free throws. Amare needs to be 75-80% in the playoff. If Amare can shoot 75%+ free throw in the playoffs, it will be very helpful for us.
I think we will play tougher in the playoff. Right now, we are labeled as a "soft" team but in that game against the Spurs, we were great defensively and offensively in the first 3 quarters. I know we CAN do it. It's just that our players need to stick with it.
I think young players tend to lose focus against losing teams like Knicks, Celtics and Bucks. They think they can blow them out anytime (which they did during the game) but what they fail to realize is that home team will battle back with the help from refs. That is why Home games are so important in the playoff and Suns should aim for that goal first!
Forget about beating Spurs or whichever team, get #1 spot first!
The good thing is with JimJ, Nash can rest more.
Do you think people will do dirty things to win championships? HELL YEAH. We all know how Suns function without Nash so it's a no brainer that the opposing teams will take our Nash first.
The only thing that can stop this is the refs. They need to constantly call handchecking fouls for Nash and moving (knee) picks on Nash. Nash will hit 85% of the foul shot and after a while, the opposing team will stop fouling Nash.
Well, the tempo of the game can be stopped easily with timeouts so it's not really a "trick". It's something that Suns has to live with.
If other teams choose to foul, then we need to make our free throws. Amare needs to be 75-80% in the playoff. If Amare can shoot 75%+ free throw in the playoffs, it will be very helpful for us.
I think we will play tougher in the playoff. Right now, we are labeled as a "soft" team but in that game against the Spurs, we were great defensively and offensively in the first 3 quarters. I know we CAN do it. It's just that our players need to stick with it.
I think young players tend to lose focus against losing teams like Knicks, Celtics and Bucks. They think they can blow them out anytime (which they did during the game) but what they fail to realize is that home team will battle back with the help from refs. That is why Home games are so important in the playoff and Suns should aim for that goal first!
Forget about beating Spurs or whichever team, get #1 spot first!
The good thing is with JimJ, Nash can rest more.
AZZenny
Registered User
Well, this is interesting...
Taking it slow Raptors' goal
By MIKE ZEISBERGER, TORONTO SUN
HERE'S ONE idea on how to stop Steve Nash and the high-flying Phoenix Suns from lighting up the Air Canada Centre scoreboard like a pinball machine this afternoon. It seems a young lady wearing a see-through top was spotted in one of the private boxes at the Raptors-Miami Heat game Wednesday night, a sultry sight that still had tongues wagging at the Raptors' practice facility yesterday.
If the suits running the Raptors organization had any street smarts, they would invite the fair damsel to put on that same wardrobe and sit under the Toronto basket for the matchup against the 35-10 Suns. (And yes, she would change ends at half time).
If that doesn't rattle an opponent's shooting eye, nothing will.
Whatever they do, the Raptors definitely must find a way to somehow derail a Suns team that is averaging 120 points per outing in its past three games, all road victories.
Not good news for Toronto, which is 0-21 when allowing at least 100 points this season.
So, what measures must they take to negate Nash, the Canadian point guard who is being trumpeted for league MVP honours?
"Push him down, step on him, kick him," Jalen Rose suggested.
In other words, just mug the Suns' mop-haired floor leader.
"It's not like the old days when you could put a bounty out on a player," Rose said with a big laugh. "Those are known as flagrant fouls, now."
Matt Bonner figures he has a more realistic solution.
"I do kind of back (Jalen's) idea, so long as it is not too dirty," he said. "But what we need to find is the best genetically altered super athlete and have him guard Nash."
Sorry, Matt, but Michael Jordan retired years ago.
Joking aside, coach Sam Mitchell does feel his team has a shot to upset the visitors and their star guard if the Raptors stick to one specific game plan.
"We have to slow the game down," Mitchell said.
"We won't be running with them. They've shown on this road trip that they can play anywhere. Right now, (Nash) is the best guy in the league at running the show for his team."
Rose agreed with his coach, adding that he feels Nash and LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers are the frontrunners for the NBA's MVP award this season.
"People always ask me who my favourite player is in the league, and my answer is always Steve Nash," Bonner said. "This guy always makes good decisions."
That's not a claim the Raptors could make, especially after suffering back-to-back losses to the Heat and expansion Charlotte Bobcats.
"We have to stick to our game plan and slow it up," forward Chris Bosh said. "If you try to run with them, they'll kill you."
Taking it slow Raptors' goal
By MIKE ZEISBERGER, TORONTO SUN
HERE'S ONE idea on how to stop Steve Nash and the high-flying Phoenix Suns from lighting up the Air Canada Centre scoreboard like a pinball machine this afternoon. It seems a young lady wearing a see-through top was spotted in one of the private boxes at the Raptors-Miami Heat game Wednesday night, a sultry sight that still had tongues wagging at the Raptors' practice facility yesterday.
If the suits running the Raptors organization had any street smarts, they would invite the fair damsel to put on that same wardrobe and sit under the Toronto basket for the matchup against the 35-10 Suns. (And yes, she would change ends at half time).
If that doesn't rattle an opponent's shooting eye, nothing will.
Whatever they do, the Raptors definitely must find a way to somehow derail a Suns team that is averaging 120 points per outing in its past three games, all road victories.
Not good news for Toronto, which is 0-21 when allowing at least 100 points this season.
So, what measures must they take to negate Nash, the Canadian point guard who is being trumpeted for league MVP honours?
"Push him down, step on him, kick him," Jalen Rose suggested.
In other words, just mug the Suns' mop-haired floor leader.
"It's not like the old days when you could put a bounty out on a player," Rose said with a big laugh. "Those are known as flagrant fouls, now."
Matt Bonner figures he has a more realistic solution.
"I do kind of back (Jalen's) idea, so long as it is not too dirty," he said. "But what we need to find is the best genetically altered super athlete and have him guard Nash."
Sorry, Matt, but Michael Jordan retired years ago.
Joking aside, coach Sam Mitchell does feel his team has a shot to upset the visitors and their star guard if the Raptors stick to one specific game plan.
"We have to slow the game down," Mitchell said.
"We won't be running with them. They've shown on this road trip that they can play anywhere. Right now, (Nash) is the best guy in the league at running the show for his team."
Rose agreed with his coach, adding that he feels Nash and LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers are the frontrunners for the NBA's MVP award this season.
"People always ask me who my favourite player is in the league, and my answer is always Steve Nash," Bonner said. "This guy always makes good decisions."
That's not a claim the Raptors could make, especially after suffering back-to-back losses to the Heat and expansion Charlotte Bobcats.
"We have to stick to our game plan and slow it up," forward Chris Bosh said. "If you try to run with them, they'll kill you."
playstation
Selfless Service
for those people that say #3 is mean, this was in the toronto sun today:
So, what measures must they take to negate Nash, the Canadian point guard who is being trumpeted for league MVP honours?
"Push him down, step on him, kick him," Jalen Rose suggested.
In other words, just mug the Suns' mop-haired floor leader.
"It's not like the old days when you could put a bounty out on a player," Rose said with a big laugh. "Those are known as flagrant fouls, now."
Matt Bonner figures he has a more realistic solution.
"I do kind of back (Jalen's) idea, so long as it is not too dirty," he said.
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this is what jordan had to deal with from mahorn, lambier, rodman, etc
So, what measures must they take to negate Nash, the Canadian point guard who is being trumpeted for league MVP honours?
"Push him down, step on him, kick him," Jalen Rose suggested.
In other words, just mug the Suns' mop-haired floor leader.
"It's not like the old days when you could put a bounty out on a player," Rose said with a big laugh. "Those are known as flagrant fouls, now."
Matt Bonner figures he has a more realistic solution.
"I do kind of back (Jalen's) idea, so long as it is not too dirty," he said.
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this is what jordan had to deal with from mahorn, lambier, rodman, etc
There's no question in my mind: every team the Suns face in the playoffs will be trying to 'wear down' Nash, meaning they'll beat him up as much as they think they can get away with.
In a year or two, the younger Suns will start to do some 'enforcing' in response (Sprewell-style back-picks, for instance), but the main thing is learn how to play when Nash is off the court, so Nash can play fewer minutes and fewer games of playoff basketball. It wouldn't hurt to give Nash a couple of weeks of rest at the end of the season, either.
In a year or two, the younger Suns will start to do some 'enforcing' in response (Sprewell-style back-picks, for instance), but the main thing is learn how to play when Nash is off the court, so Nash can play fewer minutes and fewer games of playoff basketball. It wouldn't hurt to give Nash a couple of weeks of rest at the end of the season, either.
thegrahamcrackr
Registered User
F-Dog said:
I dont know, 1st seed versus 6th seems to hurt a bit
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F-Dog said:One more injury in Sacramento, and the Suns won't do any worse than 3rd.
said the man who didn't see Sactown beat Minny in Minny today with BOTH Webber and Peja out of the lineup. It's gonna be abattle with those guys all year long - I figured they'd drop 2 of three at least in this roadie they've been on, if not all three - but winning two of three has been rpetty impressive - especially considering their injuries.
