Suns @ Hornets (11/19/09)

[Griffin]

Phoenix Suns (10-2) @ New Orleans Hornets (4-8)
November 19, 2009
8pm ET (TNT)

The Phoenix Suns didn’t catch any breaks with a road-heavy schedule to start the season, but they get a big opportunity Thursday night when they visit the New Orleans Hornets, who are without All-Star guard Chris Paul(notes).

Phoenix (10-2) plays 15 of its first 22 games on the road, but that hasn’t stopped it from building the best record in the Western Conference. The Suns are the first team to reach 10 wins, half of them coming after they trailed in the fourth quarter.

“We’ve been good in the fourth quarter so far this season,” coach Alvin Gentry said.

A comeback wasn’t needed when the Suns won 124-104 over the Hornets (4-8) last Wednesday. Phoenix shot a season-high 55.4 percent and posted its highest point total of the season.

That contest proved to be the last for Hornets coach Byron Scott, who was fired the next day with general manager Jeff Bower taking over.

Things went poorly in Bower’s first game Friday, when Paul went down with a left ankle injury in an 86-78 loss to Portland. Paul remains out indefinitely.

The superstar guard helped New Orleans win six of its last eight against Phoenix, averaging 26.8 points and 11.4 assists in those matchups - with Suns guard Steve Nash(notes) having trouble keeping up with a player 11 years younger then him. Nash, though, averaged 19.3 points and 10.7 assists in that span versus the Hornets.

Nash is the NBA assist leader with 11.9 per game and had 16 in a 111-105 victory at Houston on Tuesday. He had a season-low two baskets, but helped the Suns rally from another fourth-quarter deficit.

“We’ve got a little toughness,” Nash said. “We’re not physically the toughest group, but mentally we’re tough. We started to battle at the end of the game and we got a lot of stops.”

Amare Stoudemire scored 23 points and Jason Richardson(notes) 20 for Phoenix, which improved to a West-leading 6-2 on the road.

Bower earned his first win as Hornets coach Tuesday, 110-102 over the Clippers. David West(notes) scored 24 points and rookie Darren Collison(notes), making his second straight start in place of Paul, added 12 and six assists.

“It made me feel good,” Bower said. “They gave great effort and it was a pretty good night for us.”

Shooting guard Devin Brown(notes) broke out of a slump with 16 points. Brown averaged 6.3 on 24.0 percent (6 of 25) shooting in his last three games.

“After everything that we put into it yesterday, it was great to come out and reward ourselves with a victory,” Brown said. “I think guys felt a lot better after that practice. I think it showed tonight because we were able to move the ball around and we were knocking shots down.”

 

[Proteus]

Sigh...the Tnt Suns are back...Suns down 2-11 with about 9 1/2 minutes left in the 1st quarter.

 

[binkar]

Amare is being lazy. He has watched Emeka get 2 offensive boards with no resistance whatsoever.

 

[Griffin]

Down by 11. I guess we can now start working on another comeback from a double digit deficit.

 

[Proteus]

The Hornets have scored on all 7 of their possessions. Suns down 2-15 with about 8 minutes left in the 1st quarter.

 

[binkar]

Wow this is awful. We look like we have cement boots on thus far. Amare is nowhere to be found on the defensive glass.

 

[Wonder]

They'll win by more than 15

 

[Proteus]

Suns down 22-26 after the 1st quarter. Suns shooting 36%. Hornets have hit 3/6 3 pointers and have 9 offensive rebounds.

 

[cly2tw]

LB needs Porter bad! Already 3-4 very bad decisions 3 min into 2nd q.

 

[cly2tw]

LB out, our offense back in hands of Dragic and moves smoothly with Dud's 3 and Hill's jam!

 

[Proteus]

Suns tied at 43 with 2:44 left in the 2nd quarter.

 

[Proteus]

Can we actually guard the 3 point line? The Hornets have hit 6/12 3 pointers.

 

[jagu]

Channing Frye sucks, in every game he is friggin wide open and can't hit the shot. What's the point in him standing out there wide open then. Amare can hit those shots.

 

[cly2tw]

JRich's defensive awareness is really bad in this game, like Amare he played too long in a system that neglected defense for flashy offense for too long, to acquire the instinct for it.

 

[Proteus]

Suns down 49-52 after the 2nd quarter. Pathetic basketball by the Suns.

Suns are shooting 40% with 4/14 3 pointers.

 

[TJ]

Looks like the Suns' M.O.: lag behind the first quarter, turn it up the next two, then shut them down the 4th (or at least I hope it goes that way tonight)

 

[cly2tw]

Channing Frye sucks, in every game he is friggin wide open and can't hit the shot. What's the point in him standing out there wide open then. Amare can hit those shots.

The problem is that's the shot the defense will be giving you with the ball in Nash's hand and we openly tell people we will take what the defense is giving us. Sometimes, we need to force on the defense with some other looks like feeding Amare harder, actually to take pressure off Frye.

In this game, we played Frye too long who couldn't contain Okafor. And LB back to his DA-self did not help.

Good sign that Gentry substituted Dragic for Nash for the last 20sec of the half. DA'd never done that either.

 

[Proteus]

The Hornets are normally a below average team in terms of offensive rebounding yet they have 15 offensive rebounds after the 2nd quarter.

 

[Proteus]

Frye (3/11) and LB (3/10) are shooting us out of the game with their 6/21 field goals.

 

[dodie53]

go suns!

 

[Ronin]

David West with his fourth personal foul.

 

[Ronin]

Nice post up by Jason Richardson

 

[dodie53]

David West with his fourth personal foul.

good news

 

[Ronin]

good news

 

[cly2tw]

Amare has been playing really good defense with bent knees and we are grinding it out again. Heheh