Suns/Trail Blazers

[sunsfn]

This will also be a good test for the suns.

Everybody needs to remember that this team is 13-3, no matter what D'Antoni says or who he plays, he has them winning, and they are FUN to watch.
This is his first year with these guys, Amare is still learning how to play the game, Hunter is new to the team, Nash is new to the team, Richardson is new to the team and they are fitting in rather nicely.
I have to believe he will play Hunter more as the season goes on. Jake knows the other players better and that is probably why he is getting more minutes, although not many at that.
This team is very young, and Amare, JJ, and Richarson are young and learning on the job, they will get better as this year goes on.

I am hoping Zarko can get stronger and get back to helping this team, it appears he really knows how to play basketball and could really help with his size and shooting and running the floor.

Lampe & Vroman are only going to get mop up minutes late in blow out games.
We will probably see Bo tonight in this game.

I try to always think positive and not get to negative, at least until later in the year.........

 

[fatosber]

Suns Win 2night . Randolf will have a great game but nash steals the show

SUNS 115-106

 

[George O'Brien]

Portland is 8-7 after losing last night in Seattle. This is a difficult matchup for the Suns because Ratliff, but the Blazers have been pretty inconsistent so far. They beat Shaq and the Heat plus the Sonics playing at home. However, they have lost to some fairly weak teams:

In Toronto 97-101
In New Jersey 60-64
Home to Memphis 82-101
Home to Houston 93-97

They lost in Dallas which is not surprising and like everyone else lost to the Sonics in Seattle. Overall, their big problem is poor shooting. They are averaging only 42.1% from the field while letting their opponents shoot 43.7%. In terms of scoring, Portland ranks 24th in the NBA AND 25TH in field goal percentage, but only 15th in defensive percentage.

The key to stopping the Blazers is to defend the paint. Randolph at 21.1 ppg and SAR at 15.3 ppg are their main threats. Their guards are simply not shooting well:

Derek Anderson 12.8 ppg on 39.2% shooting
Damon Stoudamire 11.3 ppg on 33.7% shooting
Nick Van Exel 7.6 ppg on 33.9% shooting
Darius Miles is scoring 10 ppg on 43.7% shooting

Ruben Patterson is the only "outside" guy on the Blazers who has a high shooting percentage at 55.4%, but that is because he only shoots in close and averages only 5.5 ppg.

I know I sound like a broken record, but this is an ideal team to play Hunter against. Stop their inside game and they can held to scoring 60 points.

 

[Billythekid]

OK!

Whose the cornholio that ratted out KTAR620 online listening!

 

[arthurracoon]

Should be a fun game to watch/listen to!

 

[JS22]

Join the chat!

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/chat.php

 

[playstation]

Q had a pretty good game, eh?

this was a fun game to watch...starting in the second quarter, and through the end of the 3rd....

i think the suns are doing this whole 'turn it on when you want' thing. don't know if that's good or not, but its hard not to like the results.

 

[carey]

One thing that was neat... Nash only played 29 minutes and still got his average of 11 assists.

Barbosa seems to be regressing instead of progressing. I was hoping that the Nash tutelage would have worked out a little better than it has. There's still time though.

 

[sly fly]

Boy, those Suns sure have problems with long, lanky teams don't they?

Portland got ran right out of their own gym. If it was a bit closer, PHX may have scored 140 tonight.

- Steven Hunter continues to impress. Not only can he guard the rim, but he hustles his ass off. I really hope he continues to improve. The sky's the limit for this guy. Great attitude, as well.

- Looks like Q is getting his groove on. Damn, he was even calling glass. Funny how he started darting by his defenders after he hit a few 3's. Makes the game pretty easy.

- Barbosa was eaten alive by Telfair in garbage time. Wonder if his ankle is still bothering him. Because I haven't seen an ounce of improvement in his game from last year (especially on the D side of the ball). We're going to need Leandhro. Let's hope he picks it up.

- Darius Miles is an enigma. On a few plays he looked like Magic. Yet, he commits 3 palming violations. Where's the sense of urgency with this guy? He's in another world.

- Does Portland have a serious chance of seeing Jason Kidd and Vince Carter on this team this year?

- Amare still seems to be in a bit of a funk. The energy level hasn't been quite the same on the defensive end. I'm sure he'll bounce back, and it's a good sign that he's being picked up by his teammates.

 

[George O'Brien]

We've heard rumors that Amare has the flu or something. He scores only 19 points and 9 rebounds, so I'm sure he is under the weather.

Seriously, Portland has one of the premier shot blockers in the NBA and a huge front line, so I'ms not surprise Amare struggled. Still, he did seem more passive than normal.

It was not a good game for Leandro. He's had some very good games but tonight wasn't one of them. He looks like a guy who is didn't start playing PG until a year ago.

This was undoubtely Hunter's best game as a Sun. We've been wondering why he wasn't getting more minutes and he came through.

Q had the kind of night we've been hoping for since he was signed. He was as hot tonight as he was cold on Friday. Maybe it is due to Portland not being as good on defense, but he was clearly feeling it. Needs to happen more often.

 

[playstation]

suns have 17/17 games >=90
13/17 games >=100
8/17 games >=110
3/17 games >= 120

meanwhile, the pistons average 91 a game. maybe wins more games, but i wouldn't know since i don't want to watch that basketball after seeing this.

here's the thing. teams KNOW they can't run with the suns. they're coached to walk the ball up the court against the suns, slow the game down as much as possible, and still they put up these numbers.

4 of their next 5 are at home, so they might start up a new streak. we'll see though.

The suns and sacto have the 3rd and 4th best records in the league, respectively. They also are 1st and 3rd in scoring, respectively. if sacto stays healthy, they might win 60 this year. pragmatically, however, its only a matter of time till cwebb goes down, and that's when the suns have to pull away (hopefully).

 

[myrondizzo]

glad amare grabbed 9 boards.

 

[Azlen]

Great Tivo moment when Nash threw that pass from half court and Amare caught it from a ways from the hoop and slammed the Alley-Oop. I had to rewind that a dozen or so times. Amazing.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Boy, those Suns sure have problems with long, lanky teams don't they?

Portland got ran right out of their own gym. If it was a bit closer, PHX may have scored 140 tonight.

Sly - Portland ain't who everyone's talking about and you know it. We are THE CLASS of the second tier in the NBA - in fact - I don't think anyone's even clsoe to us as we routinely just hand out seriously impressive ass-kickings with every game, but those long, lanky teams like Minnesota and San Antonio are the only ones any of us care about. I'll be interested to see how we'd matchup with Detroit as well.

Great bounce back win though - charge through this week boys!

 

[Joe Mama]

Boy, those Suns sure have problems with long, lanky teams don't they?

Portland got ran right out of their own gym. If it was a bit closer, PHX may have scored 140 tonight.

- Steven Hunter continues to impress. Not only can he guard the rim, but he hustles his ass off. I really hope he continues to improve. The sky's the limit for this guy. Great attitude, as well.

Yes, the Phoenix Suns do have problems with long, lanky, athletic teams when they play small ball almost exclusively. I honestly believe that had Hunter played 21 minutes in the game against Minnesota the Suns probably would have won that game. That's really the only thing most of us have been asking for. Had Hunter played five minutes last night like he did against Minnesota with Jake and CJ getting most of his time I think last night's game would have been much, much closer.

It was the defense that allowed the Phoenix Suns to really run the ball down Portland's throat last night. Until Hunter came into the game the interior defense was almost nonexistent.

I'm not saying that the Phoenix Suns NEED to play Steven Hunter 20 minutes per game to win every night. We've seen that that is not true. I'm saying that if they would play him 20 minutes per game this would be add even better team. Of course it helps when Q is on fire instead of shooting 25%.

Joe Mama

 

[F-Dog]

Yes, the Phoenix Suns do have problems with long, lanky, athletic teams when they play small ball almost exclusively. I honestly believe that had Hunter played 21 minutes in the game against Minnesota the Suns probably would have won that game. That's really the only thing most of us have been asking for. Had Hunter played five minutes last night like he did against Minnesota with Jake and CJ getting most of his time I think last night's game would have been much, much closer.

It was the defense that allowed the Phoenix Suns to really run the ball down Portland's throat last night. Until Hunter came into the game the interior defense was almost nonexistent.

I'm not saying that the Phoenix Suns NEED to play Steven Hunter 20 minutes per game to win every night. We've seen that that is not true. I'm saying that if they would play him 20 minutes per game this would be add even better team. Of course it helps when Q is on fire instead of shooting 25%.

Joe Mama

IIRC, Amare and Hunter were on the floor together for exactly three possessions in the fourth quarter against Minnesota. The Suns were outscored 6-0, and that was the end of that.

(The Suns probably would have had a better shot if they'd taken out Amare instead of Hunter--Amare was playing pretty bad--but winning that game wasn't worth the kind of trouble that would have led to.)


I think Portland (like New Orleans) is a team that is top-heavy enough that it makes sense for the Suns to go big and match up with them. (I guess D'Antoni thinks so, too, because Hunter was in the game early and often last night.) Golden State doesn't fit that template, so tomorrow we'll be back to Small Ball and whining.

 

[Joe Mama]

IIRC, Amare and Hunter were on the floor together for exactly three possessions in the fourth quarter against Minnesota. The Suns were outscored 6-0, and that was the end of that.

(The Suns probably would have had a better shot if they'd taken out Amare instead of Hunter--Amare was playing pretty bad--but winning that game wasn't worth the kind of trouble that would have led to.)

Actually this is how it went with Amare Stoudemire and Stephen Hunter in the game. It should be noted that the other players were Stephen Nash, Q, and CJ. The Timberwolves had KG, Sam Cassell, Trenton Hassle, Griffin, and Fred Hoiberg.

Phoenix possession: Hunter gets fouled going to the basket on pick and roll with Steve Nash. It's one of two free throws. 79-77 Phoenix

Minnesota possession : Hunter leaves KG to help with Cassell on pick and roll. CJ goes over to cover KG and Fred Hoiberg gets a wide-open three-point shot he makes. 79-80

Phoenix possession : KG is getting away with standing alone in the lane for 5-6 seconds. CJ drives, pretty clearly fouled by KG with no call. Turnover. 79-80

Minnesota possession : Sam Cassell missed a three-point shot in transition. Ball off of Amare on baseline. Hoiberg rose it away. Turnover. 79-80

(Joe Johnson comes in for Casey Jacobsen)

Phoenix possession : go quickly down to Amare Stoudemire. He is blocked by KG because he doesn't recognize the double-team quickly enough. Hunter is wide-open for a basket if he does. Turnover. 79-80

Minnesota possession : Griffin makes an open three-point shot before Phoenix really gets their defense set. Q was inexplicably fronting KG even though Hunter was guarding him. Amare then moved over to guard Hoiberg leaving Griffin open at the top. 79-83 Minnesota

Phoenix possession : Q missed an early, fairly open three-point shot. 79-83

Minnesota possession : Sam Cassell hits another long jump shot off the high pick and roll with Kevin Garnett. 79-85 Minnesota

That's when D'Antoni took Stephen Hunter out of the game and put in Shawn Marion. Of course it should be noted that nothing with the offense really changed once Hunter came out. They ran the same pick and roll play with Amare and Steve Nash that Steve Nash and Hunter ran earlier. After that there was very little movement in the offense, and the players could not make their shots.

Joe Mama