Suns At Jazz Game Thread

[Griffin]

Big win, and we did it mostly with defense, holding Utah to 86 points. Who would have expected the Suns to win both of their final games in blowouts? I don't think the Suns trailed in either game once. Great way to finish the regular season, but now the real season starts.

 

[jagu]

Did not expect the Suns to win all these games down the stretch. The bench really is what put us in a better position in all of these games. The second quarter our bench manhandled the Jazz . I think they all were a bit tired by the end of the game though, and the Jazz looked frustrated and started throwing bodies around. Deron Williams just runs into people at full speed.

Bench for MVP for this game!!

 

[SunsTzu]

You know, i never really thought about that until you mentioned it. He is always lying on the floor. I think it is a good sign, his back must be feeling good.

He always goes to the bench once he knows for certain he isn't going to be put back in the game.

 

[SunsTzu]

stop... FORCING THE BALL TO AMARE!

Amare was getting hacked each time they did that, the refs just weren't calling it because of the huge lead.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Think about this folks, in victories against the against the Spurs, Nuggets and Jazz in the last week of the season, Steve Nash played ZERO 4TH QUARTER MINUTES.

Way to finish as strong as any Suns team I can ever remember. Now get your heads on straight, take care of the walking wounded up in Portland and get Robin healthy as we wait for the annihilation of Dallas or SA after they beat the crap out of each other for 7 games.

 

[cly2tw]

Think about this folks, in victories against the against the Spurs, Nuggets and Jazz in the last week of the season, Steve Nash played ZERO 4TH QUARTER MINUTES.

Way to finish as strong as any Suns team I can ever remember. Now get your heads on straight, take care of the walking wounded up in Portland and get Robin healthy as we wait for the annihilation of Dallas or SA after they beat the crap out of each other for 7 games.

Sounds like a great plan!

 

[jagu]

Think about this folks, in victories against the against the Spurs, Nuggets and Jazz in the last week of the season, Steve Nash played ZERO 4TH QUARTER MINUTES.

Way to finish as strong as any Suns team I can ever remember. Now get your heads on straight, take care of the walking wounded up in Portland and get Robin healthy as we wait for the annihilation of Dallas or SA after they beat the crap out of each other for 7 games.

Sigh I can still remember back in the days when we had to drag Nash back in the game because the backup PG was non-existant and big leads would just wittle away. Dragic has been a godsend to Nash this year. I don't know why he passes the ball to Barbosa though, in a half court set Barbosa is not going to do much with the ball.

 

[jagu]

Let us not underestimate Portland. Great D and Camby the rebounding machine. I just hope we go to Amare early and get Camby in foul trouble.

 

[GYDevil]

Portland worries me. Their style will bother the Suns. It will be ugly but without Roy being 100% and with the Suns playing as well as they are they should win in 5 or 6 games. The Suns could not have asked for a better bracket.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Let us not underestimate Portland.

And, they are arguably the most physical team in the NBA. We already lost to them once with Roy sitting out and that was before we lost our starting center. If the refs just "let them play" we'll lose this series. Hopefully we'll get a few whistle blowers.

Steve

 

[AfroSuns]

My Only worry with Portland is Miller and Camby. The former for his regular abuse of Nash and the latter; rebounding. Someone has to dedicate to blocking Camby out and Nash has to man up before the bench is inserted. we lost to Portland during that slump and the Suns wont let it happen again in post-season. The Suns have more experience in terms of playoff and should handle Portland just fine.

The fact that the Suns can go into Utah, in that building, with that crowd and beat them tonight says a lot about their desire, we are also probably not giving Jazz and Nuggets enough credit because the Suns shot lights out, those two are pretty physical and more experienced than the Blazers.

No Series in the West is going to be easy, not even the Lakers/OKC, i say we beat the Blazers in 5.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Think about this folks, in victories against the against the Spurs, Nuggets and Jazz in the last week of the season, Steve Nash played ZERO 4TH QUARTER MINUTES.

This is Gentry and Kerr's touch. Finally we have a bench that can sustain and every now and then even build on leads.

 

[nashman]

Great finish to the regular season to secure our easiest way to the WCF now its time to go to work and prove we deserve it! Go Suns! Nice to have a bench for once heading into the playoffs.

 

[cly2tw]

My Only worry with Portland is Miller and Camby. The former for his regular abuse of Nash and the latter; rebounding. Someone has to dedicate to blocking Camby out and Nash has to man up before the bench is inserted. we lost to Portland during that slump and the Suns wont let it happen again in post-season. The Suns have more experience in terms of playoff and should handle Portland just fine.

The fact that the Suns can go into Utah, in that building, with that crowd and beat them tonight says a lot about their desire, we are also probably not giving Jazz and Nuggets enough credit because the Suns shot lights out, those two are pretty physical and more experienced than the Blazers.

No Series in the West is going to be easy, not even the Lakers/OKC, i say we beat the Blazers in 5.

Miller can be contained with selective zone defense. And, due to defensive intensity this series would certainly see, we should, and I believe could afford to, rest Nash a lot more before crunch time say 6 min left in the 4th. They can't defend Amare in his current form. Nobody can!

 

[Cheesebeef]

This is Gentry and Kerr's touch. Finally we have a bench that can sustain and every now and then even build on leads.

Steve Nash has played 30 minutes or less in 11 of the last 15 games. Could you imagine if DA was still around? At age 37? Nash would be freaking dead by now instead of looking as fresh at this point of the season as I can ever remember him being.

 

[cly2tw]

Steve Nash has played 30 minutes or less in 11 of the last 15 games. Could you imagine if DA was still around? At age 37? Nash would be freaking dead by now instead of looking as fresh at this point of the season as I can ever remember him being.

And only after allstar break did we start the changing of philosophy to limit Nash's dribbling, as documented in my sig, which uncovered the talent of Amare's and JRich's. Only in the last 3-4 games did we start to see Nash appear to have regained some of health he showed up with at the season's start. Imagine when we resolutely carry this new philosophy out for a whole season next year, we'd be hot favorite to win it all.

 

[Superbone]

Give me the beat up Blazers and avoid the Lakers for as long as possible. That's a DREAM scenario IMO folks.

We're living the dream!

 

[Mainstreet]

Sigh I can still remember back in the days when we had to drag Nash back in the game because the backup PG was non-existant and big leads would just wittle away. Dragic has been a godsend to Nash this year. I don't know why he passes the ball to Barbosa though, in a half court set Barbosa is not going to do much with the ball.

You are so correct in your assessment of the backup PG position in years past. In the future I wouldn't mind a third PG on the roster as insurance. I think Barbosa is still struggling to get in the flow of the game, IMO most of it relates to him regaining his confidence. In the past LB had been a very good 3 point shooter not mention he used to be able to make the quick slashes to the basket when the floor was spread even in a half court set. If LB can find his niche again the Suns will be just that much harder to beat. Of course LB is better in the running game.

 

[joshstmarie]

If LB finds his "niche" again (which is back in 2007) he will only be taking away minutes from goran. I think hes currently doing a find job finding his role on the bench.

 

[mjb21aztd]

great way to finish the season by beating the jazz and nuggets, I really hope the suns protect homecourt in the playoff's I really like our chances against Portland in the 1st round better then if we have had to play the spurs.... But no matter what every playoff team we face is going to be hard to beat. Can't wait till the playoff's begin GO SUNS!!!! GREAT SEASON GUYS

 

[Cheesewater]

Stern is going to have Mauer's head for calling the game so fairly. I was astonished (as were the Utah fans) at the officiating.

 

[nashman]

Yeah it was a total shocker to actually get some fair officiating in such an important game in Utah none the less!