Suns V. Lakers Game Thread

[Broseph]

Effort matters to me. I don't expect this team to go nowhere so effort counts. Solid night of bball.

Dude they played well for portions of the game, in reality they got beat soundly. This is a bad team, they may hustle, but they are a bad team that will continue to dig themselves into double digit holes nearly every game.

 

[AzStevenCal]

"Worked hard against the Lakers, the Suns came out with effort" ...thanks for the moral victory eddie.

Did you really expect anything better than a moral victory? There is a disparity in talent such that our only real hope of getting a win at the Lakers was fired a week ago.

Steve

 

[Broseph]

Only redeeming value of this game is they got denied tacos and watching dragic is probably the only reason I still tune into games.

 

[jagu]

Dude they played well for portions of the game, in reality they got beat soundly. This is a bad team, they may hustle, but they are a bad team that will continue to dig themselves into double digit holes nearly every game.

They are a bad team. I never said they were great or even good. All I want to see is effort this year and development from our young players. The win/loss record I can care less about since it won't matter, there is no ring waiting for the Suns this season.

 

[Mainstreet]

Only redeeming value of this game is they got denied tacos and watching dragic is probably the only reason I still tune into games.

Suns fans must relish the small victories.

 

[jagu]

Tonight was a victory for me because Dragic was great. This guy is evolving into a real star PG in the game.

 

[SirStefan32]

Effort matters to me. I don't expect this team to go nowhere so effort counts. Solid night of bball.

That's how I look at it as well. I like what I saw in this game. They were playing a superior team and the officiating was terrible, but they never gave up. I liked what I saw from the Suns.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I disagree with the "bad team" label unless you just mean any team that isn't playoff bound is bad. I think we are slightly below average right now and barring trade or injury we'll be slightly above average the second half of the season. That's going to make some people unhappy as it will cost us a decent shot at a star in the draft but we all know this management group has a mandate to try and win every year.

Steve

 

[SirStefan32]

our only real hope of getting a win at the Lakers was fired a week ago.

Steve

LOL!

 

[Broseph]

I disagree with the "bad team" label unless you just mean any team that isn't playoff bound is bad. I think we are slightly below average right now and barring trade or injury we'll be slightly above average the second half of the season. That's going to make some people unhappy as it will cost us a decent shot at a star in the draft but we all know this management group has a mandate to try and win every year.

Steve

Which translates to just missing the playoffs and having a small chance of a top pick =/

 

[AzStevenCal]

Which translates to just missing the playoffs and having a small chance of a top pick =/

Probably, which was part of my point. Still, did anyone expect excellence this year? I sure didn't. They are going to try and rebuild on the fly, it remains to be seen whether that will work better than grabbing one of the top picks several years in a row.

None of these "rebuild plans" are sure-fire or teams like the Clippers (through the draft) or the Knicks (from FA's and frequent trades) would have been racking up the championships the past couple decades. Either way, you need patience, a strong front office and some luck. Without the strong front office, the other two might be superfluous - we'll find out what we have over the next few years.

Steve

 

[sunsfan88]

Did we really give up 17 offensive boards to the Lakers? Wow I'm glad I chose to go out on my Friday night instead of watching the Suns get smothered by LAL.

Gortat really needs to grow a pair and man up against good front courts. First the Urah game and now this. SMH

I'm actually encouraged by this loss though. I like that our guys are developing more chemistry with each other. Beasley's 9 assists and Scola's 18 points speaks volumes.

But I think the most ironic thing is that the newcomers to our starting lineup (Dragic, Scola, Beasley) are the ones who did good while our returners (Gortat, Dudley) sucked.

Now time to get butt whipped tomorrow at the mercy of the Heat.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Did we really give up 17 offensive boards to the Lakers? Wow I'm glad I chose to go out on my Friday night instead of watching the Suns get smothered by LAL.

Gortat really needs to grow a pair and man up against good front courts. First the Urah game and now this. SMH

I'm actually encouraged by this loss though. I like that our guys are developing more chemistry with each other. Beasley's 9 assists and Scola's 18 points speaks volumes.

But I think the most ironic thing is that the newcomers to our starting lineup (Dragic, Scola, Beasley) are the ones who did good while our returners (Gortat, Dudley) sucked.

Now time to get butt whipped tomorrow at the mercy of the Heat.

Check the box scores this season, a lot of centers will struggle trying to play against Gasol and Howard at the same time. Gortat is good but he's not THAT good.

Steve

 

[sunsfan88]

Weird stat of the night: Beasley with 9 assists.

Career high supposedly.

 

[sunsfan88]

Check the box scores this season, a lot of centers will struggle trying to play against Gasol and Howard at the same time. Gortat is good but he's not THAT good.

Steve

What about the Utah game? Do centers struggle against the mighty defensive duo of Jefferson and Millsap?

 

[jagu]

What about the Utah game? Do centers struggle against the mighty defensive duo of Jefferson and Millsap?

Emm. Here's some news for you.. Al Jefferson is friggin hard to guard and he's a very good PF/C

 

[SirStefan32]

Emm. Here's some news for you.. Al Jefferson is friggin hard to guard and he's a very good PF/C

Millsap is a very underrated player as well. People forget just how tough he is and how hard he works.

 

[elindholm]

Millsap is a very underrated player as well.

I think if people have been saying for years that a guy is underrated, he's not underrated anymore. My opinion is that Millsap is rated about right.

 

[sunsfan88]

Emm. Here's some news for you.. Al Jefferson is friggin hard to guard and he's a very good PF/C

I understand that but that doesn't excuse the fact that Gortat played like crap offensively.

Or is Jefferson one of the best defenders in the league as well now?

 

[jagu]

I understand that but that doesn't excuse the fact that Gortat played like crap offensively.

Or is Jefferson one of the best defenders in the league as well now?

That was his worst game all year. So? That isn't Gortat on most nights. No one said he was going to be the greatest center the NBA has seen. He'll have crappy nights, but he'll have some good ones too.

 

[carey]

Dragic is playing outstanding basketball right now. Too bad we can only surround him with a couple of good players. Oh, well. He'll never make the all-star team this year, but it would be awesome if he could garner a sizable amount of votes.

Here's Dragic compared with some of the league's best PGs.

Player ------------- FG% - 3P% - TRB - AST - STL - TOV - PTS - SALARY
Goran Dragic ----- .471 - .351 - 2.8 - 7.2 -- 1.8 --- 2.4 - 16.1 - $7.5M
Kyrie Irving ------ .472 - .432 - 4.1 - 6.5 --- 1.1 --- 4.1 - 24.3 - $5.3M
Tony Parker ------ .391 - .333 - 3.3 - 8.1 -- 0.4 --- 2.0 - 14.3 - $12.5M
Chris Paul -------- .478 - .400 - 3.3 - 10.3 - 2.3 --- 2.1 - 17.0 - $17.8M
Rajon Rondo ------ .510 - .273 - 4.9 - 12.5 2.1 --- 3.1 - 14.3 - $11M
Deron Williams ---.449 - .297 - 2.3 - 7.7 -- 0.7 --- 4.0 - 18.6 - $17M

Shooting % comparble to Irving, better than Parker and D. Williams. Assists comparable to D. Williams and Irving. 3P % better than Rondo, Parker, & D. Williams. Scoring more than Paker and Rondo. Almost as much as Paul. Taking care of the ball as well as the likes of Parker and Paul, two of the best ball handlers in the game. All for 1/2 the price of most of these guys, and honestly the only reason Irving makes that little is because he's on the rookie deal. He'll get a max contract just as soon as he's eligible.

 

[Griffin]

Shooting % comparble to Irving, better than Parker and D. Williams. Assists comparable to D. Williams and Irving. 3P % better than Rondo, Parker, & D. Williams. Scoring more than Paker and Rondo. Almost as much as Paul. Taking care of the ball as well as the likes of Parker and Paul, two of the best ball handlers in the game. All for 1/2 the price of most of these guys, and honestly the only reason Irving makes that little is because he's on the rookie deal. He'll get a max contract just as soon as he's eligible.

Dragic is definitely having a good season and earning his paycheck, but your comparison implies that he's the best bang for your buck among non-rookie scale PG's. To be fair, the comparison should include Lowry (18.3 ppg, 6.3 ast, 3.0 stl, 54.5 fg%, $5.8M) and Conley (14.1 ppg, 7.0 ast, 1.8 stl, 47.9 fg%, $7.3M). Lowry has been limited to only four games this season so his shooting stats may not hold up, but he is definitely a bargain among PG's. We also need to keep track of Lin whom Houston chosen to replace both Lowry and Dragic. So far he has struggled shooting the ball and is averaging 10.9 ppg and 6.7 ast.

In the rookie-scale range, Holiday, Jennings and Lillard are having solid seasons. To think that Lillard and Marshall were rated as the top two PG's in the draft and now one plays almost 40 mpg while averaging 19.3 ppg, 6.4 ast while the other has played a total of 11 minutes on a lottery-bound team.

 

[AzStevenCal]

I understand that but that doesn't excuse the fact that Gortat played like crap offensively.

Or is Jefferson one of the best defenders in the league as well now?

It's just peculiar that you're directing your ire at Gortat, we'd be winless this season without him. Dragic has clearly moved into the top spot but the gap between Gortat and our 3rd best player has been huge. If you're going to rail on him every time he has a disappointing game then you might as well get in the practice because it will happen several more times this season. He won't always be playing against the Lakers front line nor will he be playing a back to back following an incredible hard-fought comeback victory but he'll have some down nights anyway. We have two very good players and a good pair of backup guards and pretty much nothing else.

Steve

 

[Absolute Zero]

Beasley w/ 9 assists, but gets lit up by Metta, and has worse +/- on team (-19). Come on Beaz!

 

[elindholm]

Beasley w/ 9 assists, but gets lit up by Metta, and has worse +/- on team (-19).

Beasley's defense is bad, but I don't blame him for Artest making a bunch of fluke threes. Artest couldn't make 50 out of 100 threes if you left him alone in an empty gym. He's only a 34% career shooter from behind the arc; those are shots you want him to take. If he makes a handful, oh well, but it's still good defense.