Suns @ Mavs game thread

[Proteus]

Suns lose 101-102.

 

[Proteus]

Too little too late from Nash.

Gentry needs to fix the freaking offense...44% shooting tonight to go with our 43% shooting for the month so far.

 

[AfroSuns]

Crazy how the 3pt desperate shots seem to fall at the last moment

 

[Proteus]

Why not try Clark on Dirk?

 

[82CardsGrad]

Too little too late from Nash.

Gentry needs to fix the freaking offense...44% shooting tonight to go with our 43% shooting for the month so far.

I really llike Frye, but I can't recall any successful teams that have ever had their center as their key 3-point/outside shooting threat. Ain't a recipe for success no matter how you slice it.

I've said this before... this team is no better than any of the pre-Shaq teams, and actually might be worse.
Amare remains more a liability than an asset - particularly on defense. Nash and Hill will show their age (It's happening already with Hill and I suspect it's not far off for Nash).
We can't rebound to save our lives... The Mavs had 12 Offensive Boards to our 6.

 

[cly2tw]

Nash plays 1st too long, 2nd with too many TOs, and 3rd leads the team in scoring. This is the pattern for guaranteed loss ever since Gentry took over. Good teams know how to contain Nash's dribble dominant offense. The last time we won when Nash led the score was against Kings a couple of days ago, when he had only 2 TOs and 5 assists or something like that. We properly diversified offense sets in that game with great results.

Also, now the opponents switch a lot on Nash, we still don't have better ways to exploit the ensuing mismatches for our bigs. Amare and Nash apparently have different feel for how Amare should hold position for a pass. This should be worked out in practise. We also had several other entry pass TOs, which indicates the lack of preparation.

On defense, we have the pattern of not being able to timely recognize the opponents' hot hands. And we are particularly bad at transition defense to pay sufficient attention. That makes Nash's TOs and other intercepted pass TOs more costly. Amare's TOs for example mostly result in dead balls, whether it's traveling call or offensive foul. In this game, he had only one TO with ball stolen or intercepted. Actually, his off. foul was a flop by Terry and the traveling call was not a good call.

In any way, this team needs to diversify offense and work on defensive rotation particularly on attention at transition defense, before they could have any chance in playoffs.

 

[Duke of Oysters]

After Terry missed the second free throw .... could this have happened?

Suns get rebound. Someone on the Suns calls a timeout. Because they don't have any time outs, the Suns get a technical. Dirk makes free throw. Grant Hill throws in the ball length of the court to Channing Frye, who plays the role of Laettner and nails a three.

This has to be a better idea than just letting Stoudemire heave one from the parking lot.

Or did they change the rules on calling a timeout without having a timeout rule?

 

[cly2tw]

After Terry missed the second free throw .... could this have happened?

Suns get rebound. Someone on the Suns calls a timeout. Because they don't have any time outs, the Suns get a technical. Dirk makes free throw. Grant Hill throws in the ball length of the court to Channing Frye, who plays the role of Laettner and nails a three.

This has to be a better idea than just letting Stoudemire heave one from the parking lot.

Or did they change the rules on calling a timeout without having a timeout rule?

That'd be smart!

 

[AfroSuns]

After Terry missed the second free throw .... could this have happened?

Suns get rebound. Someone on the Suns calls a timeout. Because they don't have any time outs, the Suns get a technical. Dirk makes free throw. Grant Hill throws in the ball length of the court to Channing Frye, who plays the role of Laettner and nails a three.

This has to be a better idea than just letting Stoudemire heave one from the parking lot.

Or did they change the rules on calling a timeout without having a timeout rule?

Carlisle is smart, Went and watched that last play again, Carlisle already passed a message to Terry through Kidd to deliberately miss the second free toss, (it didn't even look like it touched the rim) I guess they figured if he missed, one of our big or theirs either gets it. Whatever happens, don't let the Suns Hot hands get the rebound and that way we don't get an inbound play with an opportunity for a long pass.

 

[krazyasiankid]

Can I just say, althroughtout my entire gourteen year life, I have always hated Dirk Nob!tchski. Always has and always will be my LEAST favourite player in the league. I needed councilling when I heard about a Dirk for Amare trade rumor.

 

[Lorenzo]

Can I just say, althroughtout my entire gourteen year life, I have always hated Dirk Nob!tchski. Always has and always will be my LEAST favourite player in the league. I needed councilling when I heard about a Dirk for Amare trade rumor.

big shot dirk always kills the suns. i love it. how could you hate a guy that is one of the greatest 7 footers ever to play the game? he revolutionized the sport for a guy with his size. and he is still getting better.

 

[Sunburn]

I would love a dirk for amare trade

 

[Lorenzo]

I would love a dirk for amare trade

not a fair deal at all. dirk can create on his own. amare is great with a great pg like nash because you can't stop them in tandem. imagine amare with chris paul(yikes). chris paul is like a athletic nash. but nash was great with dirk. i don't know if it was ideal that nash left, but dirk did improve a lot. his game elevated sooo much after that. he is a marvel and I hope he wins a title so his reputation isn't tarnished.

 

[cly2tw]

not a fair deal at all. dirk can create on his own. amare is great with a great pg like nash because you can't stop them in tandem. imagine amare with chris paul(yikes). chris paul is like a athletic nash. but nash was great with dirk. i don't know if it was ideal that nash left, but dirk did improve a lot. his game elevated sooo much after that. he is a marvel and I hope he wins a title so his reputation isn't tarnished.

Nash is great, but he makes it too easy for teammates so that they don't feel the pressure to develop a more complete game! That's no coincidence that Dirk improved a lot after separation with Nash. And so was JJ.

Amare with either of Paul/Ellis/Wade would make a killer tandem, as long as his partner knows how to play PnR.

 

[Lorenzo]

Nash is great, but he makes it too easy for teammates so that they don't feel the pressure to develop a more complete game! That's no coincidence that Dirk improved a lot after separation with Nash. And so was JJ.

Amare with either of Paul/Ellis/Wade would make a killer tandem, as long as his partner knows how to play PnR.

very true....i'm just amazed that the mavs once had these two hall of fame players on the same team and how much they both improved once they split. It will be very disappointing if neither player wins a championship...dirk is about to eclipse the 20K point mark(34th player in history). and he appears to have a lot left in the tank if he wants to stay in the game.

 

[cly2tw]

JUst to follow up on potential dynamic tandem with Amare talks:

Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson compared Ellis favorably to Nash, a two-time MVP who is arguably having the best season of his career.

"Nash comes off screen rolls, carries the ball, discontinues his dribble while he looks around and finds someone he can dish it to," Jackson said. "Meanwhile, Monta Ellis comes off like a bullet. He's right by you and in front of the hoop. His explosion is remarkable off the same screen-roll. He's playing at a very elevated level right now. This is a guy that missed most of last year with a leg injury and has recovered and has been playing as well as anybody. He's someone to be reckoned with for sure."

Wouldn't that be even more devastating with Ellis being able to drive on anybody after the pick, while Amare being able to catch any pass once Ellis draws the big guy to commit on protecting the basket? Nash in contrast would be no big threat for the big to commit in the paint.