Suns @ Celtics 3-14-14

[Mainstreet]

I wanted to come back to P.J. Tucker. Without his energy the Suns would not have won this game tonight. He played hard for 41 minutes, scored 11 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had 5 steals. Although he had 7 turnovers, IMO he was the heart and soul of the Suns tonight. Bledsoe and Dragic played well and in combination they are a lethal 1-2 punch.

 

[Catlover]

I wanted to come back to P.J. Tucker. Without his energy the Suns would not have won this game tonight. He played hard for 41 minutes, scored 11 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had 5 steals. Although he had 7 turnovers, IMO he was the heart and soul of the Suns tonight. Bledsoe and Dragic played well and in combination they are a lethal 1-2 punch.

Not just his energy but his toughness. This was his second best game in the NBA. That lockdown of Harden earlier this season was something special.

He really needs to play smarter though. Most of his turnovers were his fault and very avoidable.

 

[sunsfan88]

I wanted to come back to P.J. Tucker. Without his energy the Suns would not have won this game tonight. He played hard for 41 minutes, scored 11 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had 5 steals. Although he had 7 turnovers, IMO he was the heart and soul of the Suns tonight. Bledsoe and Dragic played well and in combination they are a lethal 1-2 punch.

We still gave up 20 offensive rebounds even with Tucker though.

 

[AfroSuns]

How about the next game, the Suns start: Len, Markieff, Tucker, Dragic and Bledsoe. The Suns should be much better defensively.

That line up may throw opponents off for a few games but i question its efficacy in the long run. Len is not a banger, not yet. He's got the length, but lack the strength or experience for now. Plus we really dont know if limiting his playing time is due to his ankle, with the expectation to fully get to 100% in the off-season.
Everyone in that lineup with the exception of Dragic are not good 3pts shooter. Frye sucks bad right now, but he still draws out the big men, even when he sucks. Without another 3pts threat, the lane may get too clogged.

With the funk Green is right now, make Kief a starter and the bench sucks. The bench/Kief have been huge for the Suns this season. Frye also play like crap coming off the bench, it has been proven multiple times, not starting him is not going to help him either. If only Marcus could produce like his brother....

 

[Catlover]

We still gave up 20 offensive rebounds even with Tucker though.

Big deal. We still out-rebounded them by 5. When you hold a team to 30.9% from the field and 14.3% from the three point line it's not unusual to give up a lot of offensive rebounds.

 

[Catlover]

That line up may throw opponents off for a few games but i question its efficacy in the long run. Len is not a banger, not yet. He's got the length, but lack the strength or experience for now. Plus we really dont know if limiting his playing time is due to his ankle, with the expectation to fully get to 100% in the off-season.
Everyone in that lineup with the exception of Dragic are not good 3pts shooter. Frye sucks bad right now, but he still draws out the big men, even when he sucks. Without another 3pts threat, the lane may get too clogged.

With the funk Green is right now, make Kief a starter and the bench sucks. The bench/Kief have been huge for the Suns this season. Frye also play like crap coming off the bench, it has been proven multiple times, not starting him is not going to help him either. If only Marcus could produce like his brother....

Marcus has played fairly well (for a rotation player) this season given his sporadic minutes. He hasn't stepped up like Keef has and he looked like a deer in the headlights in his recent start but he's had plenty of quality games for us. He shoots close to 40% from the three so maybe it's time to cash in on that tired joke and have him and Keef switch jerseys.

I really don't know what the solution is and it's dangerous to be playing around with rotations this late in the season but we might have to do something. Instead of moving him to the bench I'd probably lean towards giving Channing a couple of nights off to see if it's just exhaustion. He looks a step slow out there and has gone from playing very good team defense to being mostly a liability. When you add in his 1 for 9 nights, it's a real problem.

Anyway, even though Keef has struggled from three this season he still has a nice shot out to fairly deep. They have to honor his mid-range and deeper shot along with PJ in the corner so I think we can get the spacing Bledsoe and Dragic need to operate. I'd like to see the twins out there with Len, Eric and Goran too just to see how that lineup works for extended stretches. I still think we'd be better served with PJ as an energy guy off the bench especially if Frye isn't starting either. I think Channing and PJ pair well and it's easier to survive Frye's rebounding issues if Tucker is on the court with him.

 

[sunsfan88]

I think Frye is garbage but I don't think starting Kieff would solve any problems. We just have to live with Frye starting.

 

[sunsfan88]

We still out-rebounded them by 5.

No they actually out rebounded us...

 

[Sunburn]

I personally feel like Dallas is going to crumble.

 

[AfroSuns]

I personally feel like Dallas is going to crumble.

My fear is Dirk will carry them, i haven't had time to look at their schedule. if it's fairly tough, then its a possibility.

 

[Catlover]

No they actually out rebounded us...

I swear the stat I looked at last night said they had 46 total rebounds, now it says 56. Either my eyes are going or they had it wrong. Okay, then, even with such a horrible shooting percentage they only out rebounded us by 5. Not bad considering we held them to 30.9 from the field.

 

[Mainstreet]

Anyway, even though Keef has struggled from three this season he still has a nice shot out to fairly deep. They have to honor his mid-range and deeper shot along with PJ in the corner so I think we can get the spacing Bledsoe and Dragic need to operate. I'd like to see the twins out there with Len, Eric and Goran too just to see how that lineup works for extended stretches. I still think we'd be better served with PJ as an energy guy off the bench especially if Frye isn't starting either. I think Channing and PJ pair well and it's easier to survive Frye's rebounding issues if Tucker is on the court with him.

This is an interesting lineup to try with Tucker bringing energy off the bench.

 

[Errntknght]

I'm glad, finally, to not be the only one wanting Len to get longer stretches but I'm wary of not starting Plumlee at this juncture. He is looking energized again and we don't want to do anything to trigger a regression. Why not keep the rotation pretty much the way its been and just keep a C on the floor as long as possible - essentially reduce Frye's minutes at C. If Len can handle 20 minutes, zero for Frye.

Actually, I'll be somewhat surprised it Hornacek doesn't move in this direction... unless he feels like shaking things up thoroughly instead

 

[Suns_fan69]

Not sure if it's a trend but last night Plumlee looked a lot better with Bledsoe than with Dragic. Bledsoe is much better at the drop off pass once he's gotten near the rim whereas when Goran gets near the rim he's usually finishing.

Will be interesting to see if this carries on.

Also, Goran needs to work on his FTs!

 

[BC867]

I'm glad, finally, to not be the only one wanting Len to get longer stretches but I'm wary of not starting Plumlee at this juncture. He is looking energized again and we don't want to do anything to trigger a regression. Why not keep the rotation pretty much the way its been and just keep a C on the floor as long as possible - essentially reduce Frye's minutes at C. If Len can handle 20 minutes, zero for Frye.

Actually, I'll be somewhat surprised it Hornacek doesn't move in this direction... unless he feels like shaking things up thoroughly instead

There is the key! It doesn't matter so much if Frye starts at PF to see if his 3-point shot is falling.

What really matters is if Frye is our finisher at Center. If so, he holds the rest of the team back.

 

[sunsfan88]

I think Hornacek feels obliged to give Frye crucial minutes cause he's seen as one of the leaders of the team.

 

[BC867]

I think a Hornacek feels obliged to give Frye crucial minutes cause he's seen as one of the leaders of the team.

I'd like to see Channing lead by example. For an all-around professional ballplayer, he's a good announcer.