Suns vs Lakers - The Return of the Marshall

[sunsfan88]

9pm EST @ US Airways Center

Paul Coro ✔ @paulcoro
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Barbosa said his right shoulder is sore. He'd like to play his first game back in Phoenix but is questionable for #SunsVsLakers.
10:25 AM - 15 Jan 2014
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Hope Dragic breaks Marshall's ankles or at least puts him on skates with the Euro step

In the meantime, yet ANOTHER injury for the Suns...this time to Barbosa

 

[sunsfan88]

Lakers are on the 2nd night of a back to back after losing yesterday. I think this has to be a must win and a blowout win where Dragic can finally rest a little.

 

[Superbone]

Ah, the perfect time for the sad sack Lakers to hit town. Just what the doctor ordered.

 

[Suns_fan69]

Honestly there's really no teams that the Suns can underestimate at this point. They need to make sure they don't come out flat like the last few games.

 

[Mainstreet]

I mentioned it a couple of times during the closing minutes of the Knicks game that Barbosa was rubbing his shoulder like it was hurt. It turns out to be true.

 

[sunsfan88]

The injury-depleted (see above) Lakers have allowed 120.6 points per game during their five-game losing streak and have lost 10 of their past 11 games.

Los Angeles is on the second night of a back-to-back after losing 120-118 at home to Cleveland, which made 13 of 17 3-pointers.

The Lakers have the second worst rebounding percentage in the league and allow a league-high 10 steals per game while getting only 6.4 steals per game.

Marshall and Wes Johnson have not won a game they have started together in eight tries (three for the Suns, five with the Lakers).

There really is no reason for the Suns to not win this in a blowout fashion. Even Bledsoe and Barbosa's absence aren't excuses good enough.

 

[SirStefan32]

Man, Dragic looks like crap. Wonder if he's hurt/sick.

 

[BC867]

Man, Dragic looks like crap. Wonder if he's hurt/sick.

I think he turned his ankle (to some degree) vs. the Knicks.

 

[sunsfan88]

Dragic is amazing and I love him but I think he may be among the worst PG in the league in terms of throwing alley oops. He missed Green like 3 times just now for wide open looks. He's done this a lot this season too.

 

[SirStefan32]

Kaman comes in, and what does Hornacek do? Take Plumlee out in favor of Marcus Morris to form a lineup of a PG, SG, two SFs and an undersized PF. Brilliant!

 

[sunsfan88]

The Lakers are actually leading lmao.

 

[Mainstreet]

Len is showing his potential.

 

[SirStefan32]

Len being the enforcer. I like it!

 

[Mainstreet]

Dragic looks to be punched by Nick Young.

 

[Mainstreet]

Len being the enforcer. I like it!

I like Len's toughness as well.

Len should not have been ejected. Young rightfully was ejected.

 

[SirStefan32]

That was a flagrant one at most! Ejection for Len was crap! Nonetheless, I like Len's toughness.

 

[Mainstreet]

Len was showing some toughness the Suns have not often seen often at the center position taking nothing away from Plumlee.

 

[Suns_fan69]

Suns might want to play some defense.

 

[elindholm]

Len was showing some toughness the Suns have not often seen often at the center position taking nothing away from Plumlee.

Just for the record, how is it toughness to cheap-shot a guy seven inches shorter than you? Is that like Horry showing toughness against Nash?

 

[FutureSuperstar]

Len was moving really well in his minutes - You can tell he's getting more comfortable game by game

After getting posterized against Memphis, Len wanted to send a message I guess - Of course if you look at the play by itself it's probably unwarranted, but as a Rookie I think it's good to get rough in certain instances. Especially for centers, who want to be looked at as an enforcer / intimidating presence. Players may think about challenging Len from now on, so from a long-term perspective, the cheap shot may pay dividends for Len ...

I don't think it's about "toughness" so much as strategy (Making players think before trying to dunk on Len in the future) - as a young center known for defense / rebounding, you need to have a presence and so far this season Len has sure shown a lot of effort, been physical, and has had hard fouls (I think hard fouls are good for a rookie - They get whistled for fouls anyway, might as well make them count, right?)

 

[SirStefan32]

I don't think that was a cheap shot, really. Didn't look intentional to me- piss poor timing, but not really intentional. He should just use his body to send messages, not hands.

 

[Mainstreet]

Just for the record, how is it toughness to cheap-shot a guy seven inches shorter than you? Is that like Horry showing toughness against Nash?

I disagree Len committed a cheap shot. It was a hard foul. Since when does short or tall define a person. You have to be joking about the comparison between the foul Horry committed on Nash to this play. Horry hip checked Nash into the scorer's table where he could have been severely injured. Do you really believe what you are saying?

 

[Suns_fan69]

I think you guys are reading too much into Len's intentions. It looked to me that he was trying to go for a block but was way too slow on the play. By the time he went up Young was already more or less at the rim and Len was already committed.

 

[SirStefan32]

I think you guys are reading too much into Len's intentions. It looked to me that he was trying to go for a block but was way too slow on the play. By the time he went up Young was already more or less at the rim and Len was already committed.

That's exactly how I saw it.

On an unrelated note- I LOVE what Green is doing tonight!

 

[FutureSuperstar]

I think you guys are reading too much into Len's intentions. It looked to me that he was trying to go for a block but was way too slow on the play. By the time he went up Young was already more or less at the rim and Len was already committed.

You may be right that Len didn't really think it through, but I think after the fact it could be beneficial long-term. I'm basically talking about Len's whole aggression this whole year - Even getting into it w/ Thomas Robinson in the preseasons. You can tell that Len want to have a certain image in this league - As someone who watched Len last year at Maryland, he did get testy sometimes, but he wasn't out of control w/ hard fouls. So, it is something he can control.

I do think he didn't want to get dunked on again though, so he wanted to create contact.