Official Game Thread: Suns Vs. Hawks

[Cheesebeef]

I think I just caught a glimpse of the game - some Tabuse highlight - but not sure - did we completely change our court?

 

[elindholm]

Yeah, the court is different. Not sure on the details.

I loved the Suns' garbage-time lineup: Hunter, Lampe, Vroman, Barbosa, and Tabuse. Two point guards and three "centers" (at least by Phoenix standards).

 

[Chaz]

I think I just caught a glimpse of the game - some Tabuse highlight - but not sure - did we completely change our court?

Yep, it is all wood with orange stripes down the sides of the lane.


Suns were lights out tonight. The Hawks had a lot of O-reb but they also missed a ton of shots.
The Hawks had no answer on defense for the Suns. Q was off with his shooting tonight. JJ was very efficent and looked great.

The bench played the entire 4th quarter against many of the starters for the Hawks.

This game was not as close as the final score.

 

[George O'Brien]

I was disappointed that the Suns did not do better keeping the Hawks off the offensive boards (of course they had a lot of chances because they shot so poorly), but realistically Walker, Harrington, and Willis are all exceptional offensive rebounders. And that kid Josh Smith can fly. Still, the guards have to be willing to come back and battle.

Atlanta looked like they might make a game of it for about 6-7 minutes and then all of a sudden the pace got too them and the Suns never looked back. The Hawks are not a good team, but the Suns till held them to 33% shooting, which was pretty impressive.

Voskuhl grabbed 10 rebounds in only 15 minutes while shooting 3 of 4 for his best game in a very very long time. Maybe having Vroman around is helping Jake to rediscover his roots. (Vroman grabbed 5 rebounds in 16 minutes to go with a steal and block).

Lampe did not shoot well until near the end of the game, but grabbed 7 rebounds in 17 minutes. However, he really struggled defending against Walker.

IMHO, starting Q did not work well. He missed all six three point shots and seemed to be pressing (he did best when moving without the ball). However, he did get 7 rebounds.

Highlights:

Marion saves a ball from going out of bounds with a behind the back flip that Amare takes and does a monster jam.

Yuta hit a three and the crowd went wild. He actually looked pretty good.

 

[TopGamer]

Great game. Imagine if Q had a great offensive night we'd probably have won by 40 or more. Good thing about the Suns is that they have plenty of scorers so one player having an off night won't effect them. Q's off nights last year cost the Clippers plenty of games. Q still hasn't sold me on his shooting, he's still way too streaky but he contributes in rebounding which is always a plus. I hope I see more of pre-season Q this season.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Marion saves a ball from going out of bounds with a behind the back flip that Amare takes and does a monster jam.

Yuta hit a three and the crowd went wild. He actually looked pretty good.

I personally liked it when Amare chased a ball out of bounds, threw it backwards between his legs off an Atanta player for Phx ball.

 

[JS22]

Just got back from the game! And what a great game it was!

And finally, the curse is broken. My team has finally won a game that I went to! (I'm something like 1-13 overall.)

 

[George O'Brien]

I personally liked it when Amare chased a ball out of bounds, threw it backwards between his legs off an Atanta player for Phx ball.

There were so many fantastic plays I forgot that one.

Amare shot really well from the outside, including a turnaround jumper I haven't seen before, which was probably the most exciting thing about the game. He is going to have a monster year.

 

[sly fly]

Some notes while observing the game LIVE...

- Should rename the Platinum Club to Silicon Valley. Very nice.

- Yuta Tabuse is very likely the biggest fan favorite since, well... Yuta Tabuse. The kid's got charm. I love stories like this. Imagine the odds.

- Very impressed with the crowd, and thought the roof was going to come off on the Amare one-handed jam.

- Nice tribute to Jerry Colangelo being inducted into the Hall. And, the crowd responded with a long and lively standing O.

- Jon Barry looked like he needed a nap. Such lazy play, coming from a guy who used to fly around the court. He was so bad, I couldn't believe an NBA team was actually paying him to play. Talk about stealing money. He wouldn't even stand out in our ball league.

- Nash grabbed the mic at center court before the game and told the crowd it's going to be a helluva year.

- Nice video tribute to the late but not forgotten, Cotton.

- The new scoreboard is lively, with the game action being broadcast at all times w/replays.

- Atlanta will be hard-pressed to win 20 this year. Antoine Walker is going to strangle somebody.

- Suns will win 50+ w/o a major injury. Only team I don't see them beating in the playoffs (with this current roster) is San Antonio. 1 big body away from taking the next step.

- Some of you need to quit crying when the Suns go small. Some nights it will work, some times it won't. That's life. My philosophy has always been putting the best 5 on the court, regardless of position. If you don't have a big to take the pressure off, you're not going far anyway.

- JJ is becoming a man (or, THE man). The player on the outside looking in could be Shawn Marion. If the Suns are serious about going for it this year, Marion may have to go. But, I'd have to be blown away by an offer to get rid of him.

- Heard Bob Kemp (KDUS) say today that JJ had no J. Put down the crackpipe, Bob. He also was ripping on Nash. Put down the crackpipe again, Bob.

- Anybody still upset that we got Nash with the FA money we had?

- That's all for now!

 

[jbeecham]

I just got home from the game. The changes to America West Arena look great (inside & outside). The new scoreboard, banner & lighting really enhance the experience (especially when introducing the starting lineup for the Suns and the place is pitch black except for the ring of fire around the arena banner & scoreboard.........very cool. I got to stand next to Tom Chambers as he and Tom Leander were getting ready for the Suns pre-game show which was broadcasted kinda on the outside of the arena.

Onto the game, it started out a little sloppy with Nash trying to force some highlight passes when he had open shots. It was good that he was trying to get his teammates involved though. The Hawks had no answer for Amare......they double teamed him and he'd still get the basket and the foul call. Marion struggled trying to guard Antoine Walker down low (walker repeatedly did a Shaq impression and tried to plow through Marion to the hoop). Marion seemed like he really didn't look to score tonight. Q really struggled shooting, but still played hard on defense. He was left open a lot for 3 and just couldn't make them. JJ played outstanding (I think he was 7-10FG) and just took over at times. He was making 3's, 18ft jumpers, running the break for dunks, driving the lane and finishing, etc.

The bench play tonight was actually pretty decent until the 4th qtr. Jake came in an grabbed a lot of strong rebounds (looks like he really worked on this) and played about 10 minutes before picking up a foul (a new record for him and destroying his old record of 30 seconds). Barbosa really helped spark the run that got the Suns ahead (he came in about 6 minutes into the 1st and went out with about 8 minutes left in the 2nd). He hit a couple of three's and really drove into the lane well and pushed the ball well. Tabuse may be faster than Barbosa and he had some really nice passes that would have been easy layups if Vroman & Lampe could've caught the passes. It's too bad Tabuse can't really shoot yet, I'm sure he'll be working on that this season. The crowd really cheered hard for Tabuse every time he did anything (even when he was called for a foul).

 

[jbeecham]

One of my favorite plays was when Hunter power blocked a layup and sent it back towards the other end of the court and it went right to the Suns to start the fast break. It would've been a wide open dunk, but one ref inadvertently blew a whistle because he thought the block was a goal tend so the fast break was voided and the Suns took the ball from out of bounds.

That block looked like a spike on the AVP volleyball tour.

 

[SirStefan32]

Well, I didn;t watch the last quarter, but I was really impressed with Amare Stoudemire and Joe Johnson. I am glad Amare is starting to block shots and make those jumpers. He will be unstopable if he can keep htting those jumpers.

Johnson was great- he was taking good shots- going to the hoop, and taking jumpers when he was open. He was moving without the ball.

Steve Nash was great too. He is so good in transition that it is unbelievable. He also penetrates through the middle very well. When he went out, Barbosa came in and he did a great job too. I think Lampe and Jake played well too. Marion was ok, though he and Q were taking some bad shots.

I am excited about this season.

Go Suns!

 

[slinslin]

Lets beat Philly in the same fashion but maybe a little closer so Amare can put up bigger stats than that.

 

[JS22]

Yeah, the court is different. Not sure on the details.

I loved the Suns' garbage-time lineup: Hunter, Lampe, Vroman, Barbosa, and Tabuse. Two point guards and three "centers" (at least by Phoenix standards).

I was at the game.

That was the WORST lineup I have ever seen!

 

[jbeecham]

I was at the game.

That was the WORST lineup I have ever seen!

Yeah that lineup really stunk. There was very little defense and no rebounding. That lineup came in about the time when the Suns were up 95-55. They let the Hawks score 27 pts while they only scored 17. To be fair, the Hawks still had some of their starters in the game against the Suns 2nd-3rd string. It was fun to watch Tabuse though. He's so darn quick. He's got to learn the word "screen" or "pick" though (or his teammates need to tell him that there's a screen coming) because he got knocked down 2-3 times by hard screens.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Yah, I mean it was our worst 5 versus their middle tier guys most of the 4th quarter. And they only shaved 10 points off our lead. I feel bad for Atlanta fans

 

[JS22]

Yah, I mean it was our worst 5 versus their middle tier guys most of the 4th quarter. And they only shaved 10 points off our lead. I feel bad for Atlanta fans

agreed.

 

[Joe Mama]

With Steve Nash starting and Barbosa off the bench opponents will have no chance to catch their breath against his Phoenix Suns team. I mean I knew that Nash would push the ball, but he did it on every single possession. Then Barbosa came into the game and just kept them running. As long as this team can play a little bit of defense and keep opponents off the offensive glass a little better they are going to overwhelm a lot of teams.

Joe Mama

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

With Steve Nash starting and Barbosa off the bench opponents will have no chance to catch their breath against his Phoenix Suns team. I mean I knew that Nash would push the ball, but he did it on every single possession. Then Barbosa came into the game and just kept them running. As long as this team can play a little bit of defense and keep opponents off the offensive glass a little better they are going to overwhelm a lot of teams.

Joe Mama

No kidding. The problem with most of the running teams lately is afte their starters, they just couldnt run the break. So 10-12 minutes the team was forced to play a slowed down half court offense where there were hiccups (like the Nets for example). I actually can't think of a team in the past 5 years or so that has had their top 2 point guards push the ball so much. The best part is, Barbosa looked A LOT better running the break than he did last season.

If the game slows down, we could get into some trouble. Hopefully Amare and Nash can develop the same pick and roll game that Nash had with Dirk. If Amare's outside shooting from last night is an indication of the rest of the season, we may as well just give him the ball every possession.

I really want to see what the Suns can do against a legit top 5 team though. This defense needs to be tested. I want to see how much Amare actually improved over the summer.

 

[George O'Brien]

Yeah that lineup really stunk. There was very little defense and no rebounding. That lineup came in about the time when the Suns were up 95-55. They let the Hawks score 27 pts while they only scored 17. To be fair, the Hawks still had some of their starters in the game against the Suns 2nd-3rd string. It was fun to watch Tabuse though. He's so darn quick. He's got to learn the word "screen" or "pick" though (or his teammates need to tell him that there's a screen coming) because he got knocked down 2-3 times by hard screens.

They should have included Casey so they could have run the summer league starting lineup.

IMHO, Hunter was robbed on that block that was called a goal tend. I liked the way Hunter dove after that ball and he looked good on that alley-oop play. On the other hand, he is still not rebounding well enough to get solid minutes and his defensive rotation is non-existent.

 

[Joe Mama]

IMHO, Hunter was robbed on that block that was called a goal tend.

Really? I only saw it twice, but I thought the ball was clearly on the way down and would have hit the front of the basket. I had no problem with that call.

Joe

 

[jbeecham]

I didn't even know it was actually called a goal tend.......being at the game, I saw one official saying goal tend and another one shaking his head "no" and looked like he was waving off the other official. I assumed it was an inadvertant whistle because I didn't think the score changed. Either way it was a monster block and I'd like to see it happening regularly.

 

[thegrahamcrackr]

Really? I only saw it twice, but I thought the ball was clearly on the way down and would have hit the front of the basket. I had no problem with that call.

Joe

To me it lookd like it was going to be wayyyy short. I didn't think it had any chance of going in.