Suns at Jazz 8:30 MY45 HD TNT HD

[green machine]

Perhaps you're correct, but i thought i saw him playing in the middle of the zone a few times.

I saw the same thing.

The entire team had a bad rebound game, but I won't point out Amare tonight. If he finished with 5 rebounds it would be one thing, but he didn't. If he played his normal minutes he may have finished with 20+.

Could Amare have done a better job? Sure. But I don't think he's the reason they lost tonight.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I'll check the play by play but I am pretty sure Amare was out for a fairly large portion of our zone. We only zoned in the second quarter though then the Jazz started hitting their shots.

 

[Suns_fan69]

I forgot about the trade exception from the KT trade.

Not that there's any chance Sarver would let Kerr use it but are there any teams with anything remotely resembling a big that we could pry away? Surely someone out there is looking for cap relief...

Tim thomas maybe?

 

[Suns_fan69]

D'Antoni needs to sit the entire team down and show them this tape and point out how Utah boxes out. They sorely need that lesson.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I saw the same thing.

The entire team had a bad rebound game, but I won't point out Amare tonight. If he finished with 5 rebounds it would be one thing, but he didn't. If he played his normal minutes he may have finished with 20+.

Could Amare have done a better job? Sure. But I don't think he's the reason they lost tonight.

Any player finishing at over -20 is the reason we lost tonight. Those players are:

Barbosa -27. Simply awful. Not good defensively. Too much 1 on 1 play. Shot 3-10 from 3.

Raja Bell -26. Below Average defensively. Awful offensively. Needs to go to the basket more when the outside jumper is abandoning him.

Amare -25. Nice scoring numbers. Spent a lot of time away from the basket for some reason. Rebounding on the offensive end was good. On the defensive end it was lousy as always. Beaten every way imaginable by perrenial all pro and swift footed Mehmet Okur.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Special Honor:

Marcus Banks. Don't toot your own horn Marcus if you can't drive the truck.

 

[SO91]

Beaten every way imaginable by perrenial all pro and swift footed Mehmet Okur.

LOL. I had to laught at that one

 

[Suns_fan69]

After watching Strawberry play I'm hopeful that he can be that elusive backup PG. He was the only one out of the trio of 1's that played tonight that had a decent pass off the screen & roll.

 

[green machine]

Any player finishing at over -20 is the reason we lost tonight. Those players are:

Barbosa -27. Simply awful. Not good defensively. Too much 1 on 1 play. Shot 3-10 from 3.

Raja Bell -26. Below Average defensively. Awful offensively. Needs to go to the basket more when the outside jumper is abandoning him.

Amare -25. Nice scoring numbers. Spent a lot of time away from the basket for some reason. Rebounding on the offensive end was good. On the defensive end it was lousy as always. Beaten every way imaginable by perrenial all pro and swift footed Mehmet Okur.

Banks was only a -12, are you going to tell me he played better then Amare?

+/- can be a fairly misleading stat.

 

[cly2tw]

Chris, you must have seen a different game. We hang in there till middle of 3rd with lot of zone with Amare on it. Also, Amare was on Boozer a lot too. In one case, Amare blocked a shot got the rebound and threw a full court pass for an easy 2. Amare seemed to be very comfortable in the zone defense in the middle.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Banks was only a -12, are you going to tell me he played better then Amare?

+/- can be a fairly misleading stat.

He was so bad he got his own post. Banks did play defense and it showed in his +/-.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Chris, you must have seen a different game. We hang in there till middle of 3rd with lot of zone with Amare on it. Also, Amare was on Boozer a lot too. In one case, Amare blocked a shot got the rebound and threw a full court pass for an easy 2. Amare seemed to be very comfortable in the zone defense in the middle.

That could be true. I was splitting my attention between here and the board in the 3rd. I do remember the full court pass to Banks.

Regardless, he finished -25. He should be getting killed but the free pass for Amare comes as always.

 

[green machine]

He was so bad he got his own post. Banks did play defense and it showed in his +/-.

Amare plays better defense when he doesn't have to worry about fouls, and I think in this game he knew he couldn't afford to get into foul trouble.

We're not going to agree on this one Chris, and that's OK. You're still a good person.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

After watching Strawberry play I'm hopeful that he can be that elusive backup PG. He was the only one out of the trio of 1's that played tonight that had a decent pass off the screen & roll.

I agree. I may take a seat on the Strawberry band wagon. Right now I have just about had it with Barbosa and his ball hogging.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Amare plays better defense when he doesn't have to worry about fouls, and I think in this game he knew he couldn't afford to get into foul trouble.

We're not going to agree on this one Chris, and that's OK. You're still a good person.

We can disagree on it. My discontent with Amare this season just grows. He talks himself up all the time and rarely delivers. Of course the same could be said about 99% of the athletes out there.

 

[cly2tw]

We lost the game the moment DA put Pike in instead of Strawberry. Our offense was not going well but our defense with zone frustrated them a lot until the aging Pike came in and we couldn't defend as well. This is similar to when Nash is on the court. The defensive rotation was simple lacking. We were behind a lot more in the Pacers' game when Nash left, but with defense, we turned it around. Yet, in this game, putting Pike in was ruining the only chance we had, i.e. hanging in there with defense.

I know some would view this loss as satisfaction, "I told you guys we can't win without Nash". That's self-fullfilling prophecy/fallacy. I say coach didn't really want to win, not to mention they were not prepared for games without Nash. With 45 min practice a day as a team, I doubt they ever have time to work on it. If you really, want to know whether the team can win without Nash, either fire the coach or have Nash sit for 10 games and force the coach to really work on alternative game plans.

 

[cly2tw]

We can disagree on it. My discontent with Amare this season just grows. He talks himself up all the time and rarely delivers. Of course the same could be said about 99% of the athletes out there.

Well, Amare, to convince you, has to overcome a lot of obstacles. One of them is the coach, obviously. All his doing seems to be setting up Amare for failure, because the latter is now expressing more demand for a role on the team.

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

Amare did guard Boozer at the beginning of the game, when a lot of the offensive rebounds were given up. Brewer was smoking Raja/Barbs on the boards. Amare switched to Okur when Skinner came in. Then it was a zone for the rest of the time. Amare was pretty bad on D, but in his defense, he didn't see those Okur moves on tape, because there are none except for those we saw tonight.

Kerr needs to show some control, or the fans will start thinking about Kerr what they are thinking about D'Antoni....

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Well, Amare, to convince you, has to overcome a lot of obstacles. One of them is the coach, obviously. All his doing seems to be setting up Amare for failure, because the latter is now expressing more demand for a role on the team.

Yes the coach would rather fail and the team lose to prove a point....

 

[Hat]

Guys, please don't see this game as the end of the world. We were missing 3 starters, what do you expect to happen?

 

[JS22]

After watching Strawberry play I'm hopeful that he can be that elusive backup PG. He was the only one out of the trio of 1's that played tonight that had a decent pass off the screen & roll.

Apart from an odd play here or there (FROM LACK OF REAL GAME EXPERIENCE) he had a fairly solid 4th. He looks very natural with the ball.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Guys, please don't see this game as the end of the world. We were missing 3 starters, what do you expect to happen?

Oh I don't think it is the end of the world. I am just disappointed in the effort that was displayed. Losing isn't the issue. It is the manner in which you lose.

If I saw Barbosa try to be more of a team player and fail at it, at least I would consider it a step in the right direction.

Same with Amare on defense.

Or Banks with running the offense.

 

[TheHopToad]

We lost the game the moment DA put Pike in instead of Strawberry.

We lost this game when Nash and Marion couldn't answer the bell. There's no way the Suns could have won this game with three of their starters out, on the road, the back end of a back-to-back.

Take away Nash, Marion, and Hill and this is at best a slightly below average team, and not a playoff team, especially in the Western Conference. And that's if they had a chance to practice, gameplan, and develop as a team with that roster. Take them away with less than a day to prepare....they have no chance.

 

[cly2tw]

We lost this game when Nash and Marion couldn't answer the bell. There's no way the Suns could have won this game with three of their starters out, on the road, the back end of a back-to-back.

Take away Nash, Marion, and Hill and this is at best a slightly below average team, and not a playoff team, especially in the Western Conference. And that's if they had a chance to practice, gameplan, and develop as a team with that roster. Take them away with less than a day to prepare....they have no chance.

Still, wouldn't it have been better that we gave Straw the chance to get acquainted with his teammates and get some experience than the over-the-hill Pike? Has Pike ever done anything positive in the non-garbage time minutes he got this reason, which have been quite a few?

 

[cly2tw]

Apart from an odd play here or there (FROM LACK OF REAL GAME EXPERIENCE) he had a fairly solid 4th. He looks very natural with the ball.

The way the stroke that long 3 with his first shot, you must wonder why he was not put in before Pike, who couldn't make anything as long as the game is still competitive.