Suns vs. Mavs game thread...

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

They clogged the paint in the 4th quarter and we kept trying to drive through it. We should have punished them with 3s, but barbs/bell were not doing a very good job of getting open.

that + nash's shot off = stagnant offense.

Stagnant offense and turnovers are going to kill us in the playoffs. That must be our focus for the next month.

 

[arwillan]

I never said choking makes us better, I just think we are still better than the Mavs, that was the point of my post. Who is to say that is whats to come in the playoffs? Amare won't miss fts that often down the stretch, Nash won't hoist up shuts when something better was on the floor. I believe they can do damage in the playoffs and I always have, but if you say by the loss today that this team will fail in the postseason, then something is wrong. They had an off game, it does happen you know. You can't expect a team to win out. No lead in the NBA is safe and everyone should know that. But take it as it is, a loss. Nothing more, nothing less. Quite frankly, the Lakers don't scare me if we play them in the playoffs. Yeah they have the better record and blah blah, but I will still pick the Suns over the Lakers any day.

1) amare has missed clutch free throws multiple times this season. why should i think that this will magically change come playoff time?

2) nash has done this before. he has a poor shooting night and still takes ill-advised shots at the end of the game and/or turns it over like nobody's business.

3) i do not believe they had an "off game". i think they were beaten by a playoff team, plain and simple.

4) as you said, no lead in the nba is safe. the suns should have known that, but in true suns fashion they choked a game away to the mavericks. The mavericks who have not beaten any team currently in the western conference playoffs since the kidd trade (until today, of course). The mavericks who have their best player coming off of an injury. The mavericks who were missing their best bench player. yes, those mavericks.

5) you can not possibly legitimately prove to me, or anyone else, that the suns can beat the lakers in a 7-game series. let go of your love for shaq for a minute and look at the facts. i won't say we don't have a chance or anything like that, but just about every odd is stacked in their favor.

 

[arwillan]

They clogged the paint in the 4th quarter and we kept trying to drive through it. We should have punished them with 3s, but barbs/bell were not doing a very good job of getting open.

that + nash's shot off = stagnant offense.

Stagnant offense and turnovers are going to kill us in the playoffs. That must be our focus for the next month.

we don't have a month. the playoffs start in less than 2 weeks.

 

[az1965]

Did Steve Nash throw the game? It's a crazy idea, but Dirk is his best friend and Dallas is struggling to make the playoffs and that was the worst I have ever seen Nash play in crunch time. He missed 7-8 shots in the 4th, took horrible shots, had multiple turnovers on bad passes........it looked like he wanted to lose.

I vote for this to be the most ridiculous post of the day.

 

[az1965]

Lets just hope Spurs, Rockets, and Lakers somehow also lose tonight... we can always hope.

 

[phxrising]

Ok, I didn't read all 16 pages at this point so sorry if this has been said.

What to you think about the Suns performance with the Refs today?

It seemed to me DA and the team did not whine as much as they sometimes do and I am not just talking about the 4th quarter where they had no reason to complain at all.

This is not a jab at the refs, we lost this one all on are own. I just think the team was more poised about the calls today in general.

 

[Andrew]

1) amare has missed clutch free throws multiple times this season. why should i think that this will magically change come playoff time?
I didn't say it would magically change, it is just rare. Sure it happens, but not that often. A guy can go cold from the line, it happens in games...

2) nash has done this before. he has a poor shooting night and still takes ill-advised shots at the end of the game and/or turns it over like nobody's business.
Sure he has done this before, but more than anything he usually finds the open man or knocks down the shot. Like I said before, players have off games, it happens.

3) i do not believe they had an "off game". i think they were beaten by a playoff team, plain and simple.
Sure if you call the massive turnovers and poor shot selection getting beat by the better team. Sure, it comes with the Mavs D, but not all of that was from the D, it was just a poorly executed 4th quarter.

4) as you said, no lead in the nba is safe. the suns should have known that, but in true suns fashion they choked a game away to the mavericks. The mavericks who have not beaten any team currently in the western conference playoffs since the kidd trade (until today, of course). The mavericks who have their best player coming off of an injury. The mavericks who were missing their best bench player. yes, those mavericks.
Yeah the Suns should have known no lead is safe, but like the other 29 teams in the league, complacanty sets in. It always happens, to any team especially in an 82 game season, a few times. The Mavs played good and we played bad, simple as that, nothing can change that. But, please....go back and watch the 4th...see when they miss point blank shots or try to penetrate when no human could possibly penetrate. It was stupid decision making, simple as that may be. If they had made smart decision making we would be celebrating a win right now. I believe they lost it because of their mentality that lead to them poorly executing...

5) you can not possibly legitimately prove to me, or anyone else, that the suns can beat the lakers in a 7-game series. let go of your love for shaq for a minute and look at the facts. i won't say we don't have a chance or anything like that, but just about every odd is stacked in their favor.
I wasn't trying to prove that to anyone, it is my opinion. I am entitled to my own, you know... Here you go with the snide quips about my love for Shaq, that isn't clouding any of my judgement. Is it proven the Lakers can beat the Suns in a 7 game series? Odds are as useless as a hairy chick at a beauty pageant, especially in sports and you should know that.

 

[az1965]

They became kind of complacent in the 4th. Also one directional throwing the ball in to Shaq and Amare all the time. I don't remember too many perimeter shots except by some bad ones by Nash.

Giricek had a good shooting first half but don't believe he even attempted a shot in the 2nd half. Barbosa took only 3 shots entire game. Bell took only 8 shots entire game.

We need to have a balance inside outside game.

 

[mojorizen7]

Pathetic meltdown today. SUNS lost focus and sense of purpose.
D'Antoni spoke on ABC15 afterwards and as usual said nothing nor identified anything as being a problem.
"We just need to play better." Thats brilliant Mike. Why don't you just hold up a sign with those words on it everytime you meet the press & save your vocal chords.
Arwillan mentioned STAT's poor FT shooting in clutch situations, that concerns me as well.

 

[Andrew]

Technically, Mike is right.

They need to play better. That was the reason they lost today, didn't play the normal game plan.

 

[dodie53]

http://www.nba.com/games/20080406/DALPHX/boxscore.html

avery played 11 guy

DA played 8

 

[mojorizen7]

The only time that DAntoni is willing to tell it like it is and offer up any constructive criticism is once a year after losing our last playoff game and the SUNS go home.
Why bother giving interviews?

 

[Andrew]

The only time that DAntoni is willing to tell it like it is and offer up any constructive criticism is once a year after losing our last playoff game and the SUNS go home.
Why bother giving interviews?

The guy doesn't like to publically talk, nothing wrong with that. For all we know he could have lit their asses up after this game and we would never know...

 

[jbeecham]

Just saw a post-game interview, Amare was broken up over the loss and looked ready to cry. Nash was calm and just said the Mavs needed it more, wanted it more and played like it.

 

[Andrew]

What channel usually shows the post-game interviews? I want to start watching them and I need to know their website.

 

[TJ]

Just saw a post-game interview, Amare was broken up over the loss and looked ready to cry.

Good, he better take some heat for this loss

 

[Phade]

i didn't say lose because we are the worse team. i just said it's better to lose when the other team beats you. Another team beating you is corrected in a 7 game series by making adjustments between games. Beating yourself is harder to fix in the short amount of time we have left to go.

By the way, in terms of talent, we are certainly not the 2nd best in the league. Denver is full of talent, as are detroit (4 all-stars ), new orleans, and the lakers. i would rank us 4th on a good day.

no and denver are more talented than us? no way my friend..

honestly i dont even think boston is more talented than us.. i just said that so i wouldn't get crapped on..

maybe i just live in a dream world.. but thats just how i am..

talent wise the teams that are near us would be detroit(forgot them cause i hate them so much) and boston..

i'm also a suns fan know the suns well and dont follow the other teams like i do the suns.. so i may not know that tyson chandler might be considered a very talented player?

 

[jbeecham]

What channel usually shows the post-game interviews? I want to start watching them and I need to know their website.

This one was just on ABC's local Phx news post-game coverage.

 

[green machine]

http://www.nba.com/games/20080406/DALPHX/boxscore.html

avery played 11 guy

DA played 8

I think the Suns bench played more total minutes, and the high minute guys were all on the Dallas side of the court.

 

[green machine]

Pathetic meltdown today. SUNS lost focus and sense of purpose.
D'Antoni spoke on ABC15 afterwards and as usual said nothing nor identified anything as being a problem.
"We just need to play better." Thats brilliant Mike. Why don't you just hold up a sign with those words on it everytime you meet the press & save your vocal chords.
Arwillan mentioned STAT's poor FT shooting in clutch situations, that concerns me as well.

The only time that DAntoni is willing to tell it like it is and offer up any constructive criticism is once a year after losing our last playoff game and the SUNS go home.
Why bother giving interviews?

The guy doesn't like to publically talk, nothing wrong with that. For all we know he could have lit their asses up after this game and we would never know...

Andrew is right. Just because D'Antoni doesn't go to the media and give away every detail and lash out at his team through a reporter doesn't mean he doesn't do it to his team.

 

[Andrew]

This one was just on ABC's local Phx news post-game coverage.

Thanks, anyways...

 

[Greg Popovich]

Suns will be fine.

I didn't see the game.

But your fourth can't be worse than the fourth quarter the Spurs had against Utah the other night, when Pop basically gave up at the beginning of the fourth and put the scrubs in while Utah was making layup after layup against the first team.

This stuff happens--no need to panic.

 

[devilalum]

Just saw the replay.

That was the biggest choke I've seen from the Suns in a long time.

Truly pathetic.

 

[mojorizen7]

Andrew is right. Just because D'Antoni doesn't go to the media and give away every detail and lash out at his team through a reporter doesn't mean he doesn't do it to his team.

You missed my point i think.
I dont believe a coach needs to call out players. It would just be refreshing to hear less rhetoric and a little more honesty & candidness from the HC. The politician routine is just tiring.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I think people are underestimating this loss. We're done.

How do we recover? Just from a seeding standpoint we're screwed and now will lose home court to utah. More maybe even slip to 6 and have to play l.a., then if we somehow survive s.a.

I mean someone tell me how we aren't finished? The 4th qtr from hell as finished us.

i gotta say, I'm more inclined to agree with you than disagree with you here. I was kind of on the fence as far as how mentally tough this team was (all the techs, choking away the Pistons game (yes, missing FTs and giving up OR when up 5 with two minutes is a choke job regardless of what happened in OT), but today's game was a big red flag. If they sweep out the rest of the season, they can probably put this game behind them, otherwise, they're likely looking at starting on the road against Utah/Lakers/SA and that means instant death.

man, what a choke job today and what a kick in the balls weekend overall for me. My Flag football team lost 77-7 (couldn't play because of my back), then at the bar after, one of the little Asian girls on our team got her nose bloodied by a dude and another chick after a scuffle, I lost 1300 bones on those choking dogs from Tobacco Road and then the Suns became the Mavericks. Yikes.

Oh well, it could be worse. I could be someone blames this game on a) the refs and b) Steve Nash intentionally tanking to help Dirk. At least I can take solace in not being bat-stuff crazy. Just beaten to pulp.