Suns vs Lakers

[JCSunsfan]

Kobe Bryant is a piece of garbage.

Kobe is just really frustrated. These two games are making it look like ESPN is right.

 

[BigRedRage]

So I couldnt tell with Bledsoe. His forst T he appeared to just stop playing and start yelling at the ref.

The second T, was he on the bench? what did he do? It seemed like everything stopped out of nowhere, they called the T and ejected him but I couldnt see anything happening.

 

[Chaz]

So I couldnt tell with Bledsoe. His forst T he appeared to just stop playing and start yelling at the ref.

The second T, was he on the bench? what did he do? It seemed like everything stopped out of nowhere, they called the T and ejected him but I couldnt see anything happening.

He got tied up for the jump ball right before the second T.

 

[Suns_fan69]

So I couldnt tell with Bledsoe. His forst T he appeared to just stop playing and start yelling at the ref.

The second T, was he on the bench? what did he do? It seemed like everything stopped out of nowhere, they called the T and ejected him but I couldnt see anything happening.

Probably easily missed when at the game but Bledsoe kicked the scorers table very hard right in front of the ref after the called jump balled instead of a foul. He had a few choice words for the ref (and a bleeding lip from the smack to the face) on his way out.

 

[Suns_fan69]

Few random thoughts from the game:

- It's clear that Plumlee's minutes should be anchored to Bledsoe's. Bledsoe is much better at those little dump off passes around the rim than Goran (and I think IT but I haven't seen enough of him); Dragic is pretty one tracked once he gets near the rim. This sounds like a knock on him but given him craftiness and ability to finish through contact I doubt anybody minds it at all. Well, except for maybe Plum. I did like the return of that bankshot and the top of the key jumper. I don't know if it's consistent enough to be a large part of his game but I would guess he'll have those shots available all season long because of the guard penetration we have.

- If Marcus can keep up this play the SF rotation is going to be mighty difficult to balance and I'm afraid TJ might feel the brunt of that, especially if we're chasing the playoffs. What impressed me most was his effort on defense. He made Kobe take some extremely tough shots and played him really well overall. That air-balled 3 from Kobe was all Marcus. He saw the shot clock winding down and started his shot contest even before Kobe started his shooting motion. I was pleasantly surprised at his awareness (or his team was yelling at him to do so).

- With that SF rotation so heavy, Green is going to get squeezed out too, unfortunately. IT has replaced his role as the gunner off the bench and we already know from last season that Green needs regular minutes to get his shooting rhythm. I love the guy, but it might be time to sell (relatively) high on him before he torpedoes his value. (I know, it's only one game...)

- This was the Len we've been hoping to see on defense; stood tall, didn't overcommit, altered shots and grabbed rebounds. Hopefully he can bring this throughout the year.

 

[BigRedRage]

green got one of the loudest cheers of any player in the building during introductions.

I thought Len looked better from a raw talent standpoint than plumlee

 

[Superbone]

Looking at the Lakers schedule a 2-10 start is almost a best case scenario.

Kobe 32 points on 25 shots
Bledsoe, Dragic and Thomas 57 points on 27 shots

That's a good stat.

 

[Mainstreet]

He got tied up for the jump ball right before the second T.

Looked like he got mugged for the tie ball. I don't think Bledsoe got enough respect from the referees.

 

[Superbone]

Although, I counted it up a little different, slinslin:

Kobe had 31 points on 25 shots.
Bledsoe, Dragic, and Thomas had 57 points on 30 shots.

 

[Cheesebeef]

as one of the Len "haters", I liked what I saw out him tonight.

 

[jbeecham]

Green was definitely lost out there last night and spent a lot of time standing around watching the ball. He's always been an up & down player, but it looks like he's gonna need some time to develop chemistry with Isiah Thomas. I really expected him to take over the scoring load when he was out there with Ennis... for a little while, he tried & failed.

Overall, it was a good team effort against a very bad team. Plumlee & Len were serviceable. The Point-Guardians of the Galaxy looked solid, but they're obviously still working on balance... it was like they each took a turn in the game to dominate the ball rather than all of them being effective/active on every play. Marcus Morris was on fire & made Kobe pay for his help defense... he played decent defense too. If he can score 12-15ppg as a starter then I'd keep him in that role and bring Tucker off the bench. Markieff struggled a little & got caught up in trying to be a stretch 4 shooting 3s instead of hitting the elbow jumper (15-20 footer) that he was good at last year.

The biggest question for me all season is if Tolliver can make himself serviceable enough as our backup PF and so far he looks like the weakest link.

 

[95pro]

Sit tolliver down for the year

 

[mjb21aztd]

Always good to see the Suns defeat the Lakers!!! I thought len looked pretty decent he looks bigger muscle wise than last year to me.
I am sure Green will find his shot soon
Really looking forward to seeing Thomas play this season dude has serious game that was sick when he passed down low than went beyond the 3 pt arc called for the pass and made the shot. Good signing by Suns
Sure it's the first game against a bad laker team but I like what I saw fast paced game and it sure was nice seeing Bledsoe remain a sun!!! GO SUNS PLAYOFF BOUND

 

[Errntknght]

An inspired defensive job by Marcus on Kobe - I kept thinking it was Tucker out there. His shooting was sparkling, too. He's always been a fair defender if he wasn't overmatched so I hope he can have repeat performances like this one in tougher games.

 

[elindholm]

I think it's safe to say that Marcus Morris is not going to shoot 56% from three-point range for the year, so let's not give him the starting gig quite yet. What I want to know is whether anyone on the Suns has an in-between game. I saw some from Thomas -- he looked surprisingly good at it, really -- but for everyone else it's either bomb away from three or put your head down and head for the rim.

To reinforce that point, here are the number of two-point baskets made by each Suns player last night:

Dragic 6
Plumlee 5
Morris, Morris, Thomas 4
Green, Bledsoe 2
Len, Ennis, Randolph 1
Tolliver, Goodwin 0

As a team, the Suns made only 29 two-point shots, compared to the Lakers' 33. They won the game at the three-point line (48-12), which is fine, but if your game plan requires you to outscore your opponents by that much from behind the arc, you're walking a thin line between success and failure.

 

[Ronin]

Missed the game. Too emotionally spent to watch anything else than the Giants celebration. Anywho good to hear about the Suns win.

 

[Errntknght]

I have no problem with the team's shot selection last night. Few of the the threes they took were contested and for most of the guys an uncontested three is a good shot. Friday night against the Spurs will be a different story - if they launch 32 three's they're almost guaranteed to lose, because most of them will contested. It will be a good test of the team's ability to adjust their offense to what the opps are giving them.

This is the game to crank the fastbreak up a couple of notches and keep it there all game long, try to tire out their old legs.

 

[CardNots]

And the "hater" stuff is stupid. No one here WANTS Len to be bad. We desperately need him to be good. There's just some of us that are a lot more skeptical then others

+1

 

[Phrazbit]

I think it's safe to say that Marcus Morris is not going to shoot 56% from three-point range for the year, so let's not give him the starting gig quite yet. What I want to know is whether anyone on the Suns has an in-between game. I saw some from Thomas -- he looked surprisingly good at it, really -- but for everyone else it's either bomb away from three or put your head down and head for the rim.

To reinforce that point, here are the number of two-point baskets made by each Suns player last night:

Dragic 6
Plumlee 5
Morris, Morris, Thomas 4
Green, Bledsoe 2
Len, Ennis, Randolph 1
Tolliver, Goodwin 0

As a team, the Suns made only 29 two-point shots, compared to the Lakers' 33. They won the game at the three-point line (48-12), which is fine, but if your game plan requires you to outscore your opponents by that much from behind the arc, you're walking a thin line between success and failure.

They took what the Lakers gave them. I don't recall many of those 3s being contested. And I'd hardly say we were required to be that good from 3 to beat them, it was a rout.

The shot selection was very good. What is going to give the Suns trouble is not so much the teams who defend the 3 well, its going to be the ones who crash the boards and defend well in transition.

 

[slinslin]

I think it's safe to say that Marcus Morris is not going to shoot 56% from three-point range for the year, so let's not give him the starting gig quite yet. What I want to know is whether anyone on the Suns has an in-between game. I saw some from Thomas -- he looked surprisingly good at it, really -- but for everyone else it's either bomb away from three or put your head down and head for the rim.

To reinforce that point, here are the number of two-point baskets made by each Suns player last night:

Dragic 6
Plumlee 5
Morris, Morris, Thomas 4
Green, Bledsoe 2
Len, Ennis, Randolph 1
Tolliver, Goodwin 0

As a team, the Suns made only 29 two-point shots, compared to the Lakers' 33. They won the game at the three-point line (48-12), which is fine, but if your game plan requires you to outscore your opponents by that much from behind the arc, you're walking a thin line between success and failure.

Good teams take a lot of 3s that is nothing new.

Byron Scott is too stupid, asking his team to not shoot 3s basically.

 

[asudevil83]

They took what the Lakers gave them. I don't recall many of those 3s being contested. And I'd hardly say we were required to be that good from 3 to beat them, it was a rout.

The shot selection was very good. What is going to give the Suns trouble is not so much the teams who defend the 3 well, its going to be the ones who crash the boards and defend well in transition.

exactly. The Lakers are a TERRIBLE perimeter defending team. We made them pay. We took very few contested shots. We took advantage of their weaknesses.

Hell, We took advantage of everything. 55% from 2pt and 50% from 3pt.

This game really wasnt a test for our offense, so personally i cant make ANY sort of judgments as to the type of offense we ran. What i will say though is that we have quite a few guys that arent afraid to take the 3, which is a good thing. SA will be test.

If against SA we jack up a ton of 3's and we shoot 25%, i might be a little worried...especially if we end up losing because we shoot ourselves out of the game.

I think we have a ton of weapons of every type though. Dragic/Bledsoe/Thomas are not afraid to drive the lane and either draw contact or kick it out. The way we adapt to the Spurs D will tell a lot about our offensive strategy and what to expect from this season.

 

[JCSunsfan]

exactly. The Lakers are a TERRIBLE perimeter defending team. We made them pay. We took very few contested shots. We took advantage of their weaknesses.

Hell, We took advantage of everything. 55% from 2pt and 50% from 3pt.

This game really wasnt a test for our offense, so personally i cant make ANY sort of judgments as to the type of offense we ran. What i will say though is that we have quite a few guys that arent afraid to take the 3, which is a good thing. SA will be test.

.

Normally, you would defend the three on a team like this. Force the ball to go inside to less-than-offensively-competent bigs. But the problem doing that with the Suns is that all three playmakers are excellent slashers. If Warren is on the floor, the midrange will be open too.

The only thing missing from this team is consistent D and rebounding in the middle. They seem to be convinced that they can rebound effectively as a team even if they don't have one dominant rebounder. If Len can build on the clogging the middle like he did the other night, that is a huge step for the team.

 

[slinslin]

Coaching is 70% Psychology and Motivation

Tactics in most sports are really basic and fundamental. Motivational skills and team management skills are definitely the far most important skill to have to get a team successfully through 82 games in 6 months.

 

[Superbone]

Anybody else here watching the Spurs game tonight on DTV NBA League Pass? I'm concerned because they show a start time of 8 pm on channel 754 but the game starts at 7 pm.