Sixers- Suns game thread.

[SirStefan32]

Should be a fun game to watch/ listen to.

Suns better win this game.



Suns by 15.

 

[Ganachan]

Right on!! We should get a win against AI-less 76ers tonight.

Go Suns!!

 

[Chaz]

Yea, just like they should have won against Boston on Friday.


Whoops I am being negative.

Sorry,
bad Chaz, Bad.


GO SUNS!!

WE RULE!!!

WE'RE NUMBER 1!!!!

 

[Joe Mama]

I'm convinced that when this team gets Amare Stoudemire and Zarko Cabarkapa back and into the system they are going to be very good. Unfortunately I'm also convinced they will be well out of the playoffs by then.

Joe Mama

 

[matt_whitlock]

Does Mike D'Antoni have any rhyme or reason to his lineup patterns? I understand he's searching for wins, but if he's trying to simply find some odd lineup choice that one day just works, he's going about the whole winning thing the wrong way. Consistency breeds victory, it's not the other way around. This team needs a capable starting lineup, and relatively consistent substitution patterns to be consistently good. The way we're doing it now, consistency, comraderie, chemistry - all those good C-words that teams utilize to win - we're simply not going to have them.

Right now, it seems like Tim Gurgurich is blindfolding Mike D'Antoni, spinning him around 10 times, and telling him to throw a dart at a list of Suns players' names. The first five players he hits, those are the players that will start tonight.

Not only does that seem like a stupid way to pick a lineup, but it's also dangerous. I mean, you could poke an eye out.

 

[SirStefan32]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
I'm convinced that when this team gets Amare Stoudemire and Zarko Cabarkapa back and into the system they are going to be very good. Unfortunately I'm also convinced they will be well out of the playoffs by then.

Joe Mama

I think you are right, but I wouldn't count them out just yet.

 

[scudney]

man.. it is really frustrating watching the suns trying to rebound after a missed free throw. It is absolutley pathetic how many they give up

 

[sly fly]

Originally posted by matt_whitlock
Does Mike D'Antoni have any rhyme or reason to his lineup patterns?

Lay off D'Antoni. He's probably got more ball knowledge in his little pinkie than you have 10 times over.

The only way for this team to improve is to be willing to listen to their coaches, play hard every night, have each others backs on the court, and stay injury-free.

The Suns are slowly evolving into a physical brand of ball. White and Harvey are really banging bodies in there. It's going to be interesting to see Amare, Jahidi, and Harvey flying around the paint.

 

[sly fly]

Looks like the refs have taken the night off.

Jahidi has been hit with two terrible calls. The offensive charge on Glenn Robinson, and now the phantom foul on Eric Snow.

Thats called getting ZERO respect.

 

[slinslin]

We are lucky that Marbury, Marion and JJ are a combined 9-18 from behind the arc.

Clutch jumper by JJ and 2 freethrows. And a nice drive to the basket that resulted in second chance points for us and a one on one against Robinson that lead to another offensive rebound and points for Marion.

 

[slinslin]

Another clutch basket and 2 more freethrows for JJ.

What's funny is that even the bad teams regularly come to AWA and shoot a decent amount more freethrows than the Suns at least until before they intentionally foul the Suns at the end of some games.

Penny makes a stupid foul to give Snow a 3pt play, though the Suns should have locked this in.

 

[scotsman13]

dang it this is the 3rd game i have missed the last 2 because the power has been out. you know that is one thing about living in arizona that i miss, a goverment that gets things done. if a power company told the people down there that it would take 34 hours to get the power back on in the heart of town i done know that that power company wouldnt be fined by the state. here (in utah) they say that it will take them until tuesday to get some people back up and that is from 3 am on the 26.

 

[George O'Brien]

I only caught the last few minutes of the game. The Suns shooting was pretty bad 41.6%, but at least they outrebounded the 76ers 43 to 39.

I notice that Harvey had 34 minutes and grabbed 8 rebounds while shooting 3 of 4 from the field with 2 blocked shots. White played 20 minutes and grabbed 10 rebounds while shooting 3 of 5.

The combination of Voskuhl, White, and Harvey generated 17 fouls. Only 19 fouls were called against the entire 76er team. This "respect" issue is becoming a concern. If the refs won't let the Suns play the same kind of defense opponents do to them, they have no chance of becomeing a contender.

 

[matt_whitlock]

Well, the Suns need to earn their respect. It's not a personal grudge against the Suns that the refs have, it's that they tend to have more faith in the better teams that they are playing the game the correct, clean way.

Picture it like this: in two identical situations, if Kobe Bryant and Casey Jacobsen go up for a shot in the lane, seem to get bumped, and miss the shot badly, and you as a ref dont' really know if either was fouled, who are you more likely to think got fouled? All things being equal, whose bad miss would more likely be the result of being fouled?

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by matt_whitlock
Well, the Suns need to earn their respect. It's not a personal grudge against the Suns that the refs have, it's that they tend to have more faith in the better teams that they are playing the game the correct, clean way.

Picture it like this: in two identical situations, if Kobe Bryant and Casey Jacobsen go up for a shot in the lane, seem to get bumped, and miss the shot badly, and you as a ref dont' really know if either was fouled, who are you more likely to think got fouled? All things being equal, whose bad miss would more likely be the result of being fouled?

The 76ers haven't earned any more respect than the Phoenix Suns. The referees were just poor tonight. The 76ers were blatantly pushing the Suns rebounders in the back all night long, and I'm not sure it was ever called. I mean you see it happen all-time without getting called, but this was obvious and very often.

That said, even though the referees did a poor job much of the reason other teams go to align more than the Phoenix Suns is that they take the ball inside more often. The Suns are settling for a lot of jump shots. Early on they were making most of them. It was nice to watch, but I kept telling my brother-in-law that there would be stretches where the teams struggled tonight. I knew they would not be able to keep that kind of shooting going. Fortunately the Sixers did not catch fire like the Celtics did the night before.

Joe Mama

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by Joe Mama

That said, even though the referees did a poor job much of the reason other teams go to the line more than the Phoenix Suns is that they take the ball inside more often.
Joe Mama

The Suns are not very good shooting from outside, but they need to improve if opponents pack the inside. I suspect the Suns would go inside more if the refs would call some of the blatant fouls that they experience.

On the flip side, the Suns propensity to play the "small" lineup leaves them vulnerable to opponents driving to the basket.

 

[jbeecham]

Well the Suns were basically forced to play smaller tonight because White & Voskuhl fouled out and Harvey (who is small) had 5 fouls as well. It wouldn't have been a good move to try Williams or Googs when it was that late in the game and they hadn't played yet.

The Suns had 27 fouls called against them compared to only 19 against the Sixers (probably 4 of those were intentional fouls at the end of the game). That's just unacceptable. Steph only gets 2 ft's yet Snow shoots 7 fta's?

 

[Joe Mama]

One thing D'Antoni has done that I really don't care for is this "only play 2 centers per game" thing. I especially don't like it when one of the two centers is Scott Williams because he has done such a good job nailing that 15-18 foot shot... and the occasional three-pointer

Joe Mama

 

[Chaplin]

Well, we can at least look at some positives... Our rebounding wasn't too bad tonight, which is always a plus without Amare. Shawn Marion is finally able to be called consistant now, not perfect, but certainly he has made himself back into a vital piece of the team. Hardaway has been getting a few minutes in the 4th quarter as well.

And, of course, the biggest improvement is that Joe Johnson has actually had some consistency the last 6 or 7 games or so. (I know he only scored 10 against Boston, but I can attribute that to actually being a fluke)

I hope that doesn't go unnoticed. And hopefully D'Antoni is part of the reason why JJ seems to be waking up a little.

 

[phillycard]

Just didn't have enough to get over the hump. Good game 2nite fellas. This road trip is gonna be brutal! We need to get healthy...FAST! Oh and I still want a orange Suns jersey! Those joints are nice!

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
One thing D'Antoni has done that I really don't care for is this "only play 2 centers per game" thing. I especially don't like it when one of the two centers is Scott Williams because he has done such a good job nailing that 15-18 foot shot... and the occasional three-pointer

Joe Mama

I can only guess that Mike D'A is experiementing with lineups, but it seems weird. He played against the Celtics, but not Seattle.

 

[slinslin]

I think Scott Williams is only sitting out games because he is old and needs a breather.

 

[Krangodnzr]

Originally posted by phillycard
Just didn't have enough to get over the hump. Good game 2nite fellas. This road trip is gonna be brutal! We need to get healthy...FAST! Oh and I still want a orange Suns jersey! Those joints are nice!

Phillycard, you are an embarrassment to Cardinal fans, pulling for the Sixers. Just kiddin'

If that were true, I would have to say the same thing about BIM and Renz as well.

 

[slinslin]

In some cases it is true however.

 

[BC867]

Originally posted by matt_whitlock
Consistency breeds victory, it's not the other way around. This team needs a capable starting lineup, and relatively consistent substitution patterns to be consistently good. The way we're doing it now, consistency, comraderie, chemistry - all those good C-words that teams utilize to win - we're simply not going to have them.

You've made a good point, matt. It's amazing how most fans don't prioritize the benefits of consistency, comraderie, and chemistry, which you mentioned.

For years, the Suns (and now the Diamondbacks, too) have chosen their lineups based on that night's opposition, rather than our strengths.

You play match-up . . . you play catch-up. You're just not going to dominate.

Basketball, more than any other sport, benefits from its players (who are free to roam all over the court) feeling where their teammates are going to be, on both offense and defense. It's great to watch and, I'm sure, it's great to be part of.

I, too, would love to see the Suns pick their best, and most well-rounded, rotation when Amare and Zarco return and stick with it 90% of the time. Let's make things happen, rather than try to react.