Suns at Grizzlies

[elindholm]

They lost, by the way.

 

[slinslin]

I bet the post game shows with callers calling about TMac and Kobe will be more exciting.

 

[George O'Brien]

Actually the lost the usual way, got close and then fell apart near the end.

It was a weird game. The Grizzlies totally shut down JJ (just 12 points), but Marion had good game 21 points, 11 rebounds, 5 steals, and 2 blocked shots. Voskuhl was totally ineffective but White had his best game of the year: 5 of 10 shooting and 13 rebounds in 24 minutes.

Amare had a good game, 10 of 20 shooting and 7 rebounds. Unfortunately when he fouled out, the team seemed to fall apart.

D'Antoni put Voskuhl in late in the game and all of a sudden the Grizzlies were having a layup drill. Jake only played 14 minutes but ended up with 5 fouls. Replacing White with Jake was a disasterous mistake and all but cost the Suns the game.

I watched the first quarter and listened to parts of the rest of game. Al McCoy was particularly upset about the way Memphis was getting away with fouls. He said that with the Sun's youth, a string of bad calls and non-calls seemed to suck the life out the team.

Dice played 10 minutes and looked very rusty but did grab 4 rebounds. Zarko had a couple of rebounds and a tip-in, but did not look much better in his four minutes.

It was an ugly game. The Suns had 21 turnovers and really let the Grizzlies pressure get to them.

 

[Joe Mama]

I was bitching about it plenty in the chat room, but I'll say it here as well. That officiating was horrible. It was very lopsided in favor of the grizzlies. At least three of Amare Stoudemire's six fouls were not just bad calls. They were very bad. His fourth foul was clearly an offensive foul. Not only did it put Amare in foul trouble, it gave the grizzlies two points from free throws. His last foul should have been a no call.

I do not like Little Jake and Amare Stoudemire in making together. They just do not play well together.

Joe Mama

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
I do not like Little Jake and Amare Stoudemire in making together. They just do not play well together.
Joe Mama

I wish I could have watched more of the game (music biz you know), but on the radio it sounded like White and Amare worked together pretty well. On offense, this may be because White can set screens on baseline and get offensive rebounds. One way or another, the Suns defense in the first quarter was non-existent and did not get going until White came in.

Some people on this board have suggested that D'Antoni prefers to play "small ball". My suspicion is that he prefers to play guys with offensive skills rather than have someone whose strength is defense and rebounding.

This worries me because it could mean the Suns will never get a good enough center. Centers who are great on both offense AND defense are very rare and make tons of money.

With only a few exceptions, the center is usually less than 20% of most teams offense but more than 40% of their defense. That is why it is usually better to get a strong defensive center and have the low post scoring done by the PF. For example, Cleveland has a great offensive center but remains a long shot for making the playoffs.

 

[fordronken]

Originally posted by elindholm
They lost, by the way.

Hahahaha. Well, at least I found it funny.

(Eric's post. Not the game.)

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by George O'Brien
I wish I could have watched more of the game (music biz you know), but on the radio it sounded like White and Amare worked together pretty well. On offense, this may be because White can set screens on baseline and get offensive rebounds. One way or another, the Suns defense in the first quarter was non-existent and did not get going until White came in.

Some people on this board have suggested that D'Antoni prefers to play "small ball". My suspicion is that he prefers to play guys with offensive skills rather than have someone whose strength is defense and rebounding.

This worries me because it could mean the Suns will never get a good enough center. Centers who are great on both offense AND defense are very rare and make tons of money.

With only a few exceptions, the center is usually less than 20% of most teams offense but more than 40% of their defense. That is why it is usually better to get a strong defensive center and have the low post scoring done by the PF. For example, Cleveland has a great offensive center but remains a long shot for making the playoffs.

I don't think it's necessarily that D'Antoni likes to play only guys with nice offensive skills. I think he is trying to give Little Jake good minutes because he believes Jake is a bigger part of the future. It's really too bad the Phoenix Suns can't take a run at free agents before they trade away Jahidi White this summer. I would just assume they hold on to him if/when they can't get Kobe Bryant.

Joe Mama

 

[George O'Brien]

Originally posted by Joe Mama
I don't think it's necessarily that D'Antoni likes to play only guys with nice offensive skills. I think he is trying to give Little Jake good minutes because he believes Jake is a bigger part of the future. It's really too bad the Phoenix Suns can't take a run at free agents before they trade away Jahidi White this summer. I would just assume they hold on to him if/when they can't get Kobe Bryant.

Joe Mama

One of the reasons I keep posting questions about minimum level centers is for exactly this reason. Assuming they offload White, they will need to find someone to fill in while they wait (and hope) for Lampe.

The stupid part is that the may be forced to give up a draft pick to move White prior to the free agency run, yet likely could get a draft pick for him next February (look at how valuable Clark was and he can't even play).

Now if we found that Eisley had a drinking problem...