Portland @ Phoenix - Game Thread - Jan. 19, 2007 - 7:00 pm

[sunsfn]

Jan 19, 7:00 PM US Airways Center 620/92.3 FSN AZ

Portland (16-24) at Phoenix (30-8)

Preview

By DAN PIERINGER, STATS Writer
While winning 11 straight games is unknown to most teams, the Phoenix Suns have done it for the second time this season.
They'll look to push their latest run to 12 and draw closer to matching their longest win streak of the season when they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night.
The Suns (30-8) have won 27 of their last 29 games -- including an NBA season-high 15-game winning streak -- to propel them to the top of the Pacific Division. Since a 1-5 start, the Suns have lost three games by a combined 10 points.
Phoenix kept winning Wednesday despite falling behind by 15 late in the first half, rallying for a 100-91 victory over a Rockets team that was missing injured stars Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming.The Suns went on a 16-0 run over just three minutes that gave them a 43-42 lead.
"Houston played well and with a lot of energy," said Phoenix's Raja Bell, who made five 3-pointers in the win. "They took it right to us, even though they were undermanned. They gave us all we could handle."
Phoenix also put together a 17-2 run in the third quarter. Steve Nash had 21 points and 14 assists to lead the Suns.
"We weren't here mentally for the first quarter and a half and we didn't play great after that," Nash said. "But we played good enough."

While Phoenix has been good enough against every team lately, Portland was able to handle a superior team Wednesday. The Blazers (16-24), in fourth place in the Northwest Division, are coming off a 94-76 victory over LeBron James and Central Division-leading Cleveland. The Blazers held James to 23 points on 8-of-21 shooting.
"When he's making his jump shots, he's almost unbeatable," Blazers rookie Brandon Roy said. "Tonight he wasn't making those shots."
Zach Randolph led the Blazers with 26 points and 12 rebounds, and Roy added 19 points, 10 boards and six steals.
"We had to follow Zach," Roy said. "He did a great job of pounding inside, pounding those guys inside, and leading with energy and not just scoring."
The Blazers will surely need both Randolph's energy and his scoring Friday. The Suns are averaging a league-high 111.1 points, while the Blazers rank 29th at 92.2.

The Suns have won 11 of their last 13 home games against the Blazers, including five straight. Portland hasn't won in Phoenix since Feb. 4, 2004.
Phoenix also boasts a 2-0 record against Portland this season, winning the two games by a combined 41 points. Bell is averaging 24 points while shooting better than 56 percent from 3-point range in the season series.

 

[Divide Et Impera]

I'll be keeping a close eye on Sergio Rodriguez. Trading him away was a major blunder....

Suns 114
Blazers 93

Barbosa

 

[Zobaczcie suki]

I'll be keeping a close eye on Sergio Rodriguez. Trading him away was a major blunder....

Suns 114
Blazers 93

Barbosa

I agree.

Hey, better put this in the prediction thread if you want to help your standings.

 

[devilfan02]

Goin to the game tonight, should be awesome. Should be a blowout with plenty of Marion and Amare high flyin acts!

 

[Bufalay]

Rodriguez looks pretty good.

Did anyone notice Bell's terrible alleyoop attempt to Marion? I hate watching Bell handle the ball.

 

[Griffin]

I am more and more impressed with the Suns D. Marion gets his hand on so many shots, he's got five blocks already.

 

[jlove]

I'm at work and can't watch the game, but checking the score on USA Today. Are they not going to Marion on the offensive side or is he just not looking for his shot tonight?

 

[slinslin]

Rodriguez looks pretty good.

Did anyone notice Bell's terrible alleyoop attempt to Marion? I hate watching Bell handle the ball.

Whats worse are his pathetic drives to the basket and weak finishes, he must get blocked at least 50% of the time.

 

[az1965]

Pretty crappy effort today letting a sucky team hang around and possibly steal one.

 

[Ronin]

Nash!!

 

[jlove]

From the looks of the scoring and the offensive rebounds that the Blazers are getting, the Suns are not looking very inspired, nor tough enough inside defensively. Is this true from someone that's actually watching the game?

 

[slinslin]

Pathetic effort by us, luckily still enough for a win unless Portland pulls off a miracle.

 

[az1965]

Rebounding 40-29 Blazers, 16-7 offensive Blazers!

 

[Griffin]

The Suns got outplayed in the 4th. They could not stop Roy or Randolph. But in the end, Nash and Barbs were clutch again.

 

[jlove]

The rebounding margin was rediculous. The Blazers only had 2 more rebounds than the Suns at half-time. Did the Suns look lethargic and not interested in the game or was it a lack of beef (missing Kurt) in the middle?

 

[elindholm]

The Suns looked pretty energetic to me, but Portland was just too big for their pipsqueak lineup. Asking Marion to keep Randolph off the boards is ridiculous. At some point, Stoudemire has to be able to match up defensively with the other team's biggest frontcourt weapon.

 

[cly2tw]

The Suns looked pretty energetic to me, but Portland was just too big for their pipsqueak lineup. Asking Marion to keep Randolph off the boards is ridiculous. At some point, Stoudemire has to be able to match up defensively with the other team's biggest frontcourt weapon.

Or we need more solid defender upfront, Nazr anyone?

 

[Ronin]

Steve Nash want's more out his teammates and i can't say i blame him.

For the third game in a row, the Suns started slowly.

"You beat a bunch of teams you should beat and fool yourself into thinking you're good because you've won 12 in a row or whatever," Nash said. "Our team needs to really realize the amount of ground we have to cover, the amount of improvement we have to make in order to be a championship team. Right now I think we've forgotten that."
Rookie Brandon Roy added 22 points for the Blazers, who lost in Phoenix for the sixth consecutive time.

The Suns, winners of a franchise-record 15 straight earlier this season, dominated the game at the free throw line, making 22-of-23 to Portland's 6-of-7.

"The officials are basically telling us they don't see what I see," Portland coach Nate McMillan said. "It's been that way for a number of games. It seems to be that way when we play teams such as Phoenix, Miami and Cleveland. That's unbelievable, but what can you do?"

The Blazers cut the lead to three four times in the final 1:34 before Nash and Raja Bell each made a pair of free throws to seal the victory.

Nash, with just two baskets up to that point, made a 20-footer with 1:17 to play to make it 98-93 and a 17-footer to boost it to 100-95 with 50.4 seconds to go. Roy's off-balance jumper cut the lead to 100-97, then Barbosa's 10-footer put Phoenix ahead 102-97 with 25.7 seconds to go.

Randolph's tip-in got Portland within three one last time, 102-99, 19.9 seconds from the finish.
Nash said the Suns might be better off losing.

"It wouldn't be a bad thing," he said. "Obviously it would hurt us because we're chasing homecourt, but in the grand scheme of things, it's about being the best possible team we can be, and if we can't learn the lessons when we're winning .... we've got a lot of lessons to learn and a lot of improving to do."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=270119021

 

[elindholm]

It's funny how if someone on this board wrote the same things, he'd be lynched.

 

[sly fly]

- In case anybody missed the game or watched it on the little animated video screen... Portland played solid.

Roy, Randolph, Jack, Rodriguez, Udeka. They all played good. Nate McMillan is a solid coach, and he has them buying into the system (for the most part... lately.)

- The comments by Nash and Mike D are what you would expect. Although, Nash himself came out lethargic. So, a little of the blame needs to land on himself and Marion.

That being said... crap like this happens in an 82 game schedule. And, it will happen again. I'm sure it's tough as nails getting motivated to play Portland on a dreary, rainy day in PHX.

 

[fordronken]

If they can squeeze by Minnesota, they'll be good and jacked up to play the Wizards. Plus, they tend to galvanize during long road trips.

 

[boisesuns]

It's funny how if someone on this board wrote the same things, he'd be lynched.

Yep. It depends on what Nash says it that's for sure!

During the playoffs, we have to be able to play some half court ball. We want to run most of the time, but there willl be times we need to get a "Planned" score. I think playing better D and the ability to get some half court offense will make or break the Suns.