the playoff drive: Suns@ Pacers thread

[boisesuns]

i know it's a day early, but i wanted to get a jump on discussion about this game. can we win two in a row on national tv? the pacers scored 140 points last night!! this is a huge game again(i guess they are all fom here on out) and would go far for us confidence wise.

i think we will fight hard for this game but they key will be perimiter defense. that's what worries me. if we can bring some out, we will do well. joe johnson would be good for defense, but i think he will struggle on offense. based on the detriot game, what should the starting lineup be?

i was thinking

little jake
amare
marion
penny
marbury

bring in outlaw for energy. the lineup of o'neal and miller will be tough to hang with. i think bringing in subs a lot will help. those guys could wear out us pretty good.

keys to the game:

-control the tempo
-play defense, especially perimiter defense!!!
-limit foul trouble while defending o'neal and miller
-let scott williams and ron artest fight in the pregame warmups
-marbury need to take over and get people involved
-marion needs to score and stop harrington, bender
-someone from the bench needs to play big

suns 104
pacers 98

technical fouls:

ind:
-thomas
-artest
-o'neal
-artest

pho:
williams
amare

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I doubt

We will win this one. The Brad Miller will probably destroy us.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I don't know what the deal is with Big Jake, but this is a game where we need him.

Tsak has REALLY frustrated Brad Miller in the past.

I doubt he'll play though, it seems Frank has him out of the rotation for the duration.

 

[JS22]

Outlaw will defend Miller. Duh.

 

[arthurracoon]

At least it's on ESPN.

6-0 on national TV (I think)

 

[slinslin]

I don't think it is unlikely that we will see Amare a lot on Miller and Outlaw on O'Neal.
The bad thing, lets hope Bo Outlaw doesn't leave his man open too often and too long.

 

[PhiLLmattiC]

I have a feeling Artest is going to take Marion out the game with his defense. Hopefully someone else will take on the scoring load.

 

[JS22]

This game depends completely on Marbury. PG is the only position where the Suns have a clear advantage.

PG - Marbury VS Hardaway, (cant remember the other stiff)
Marbury should dominate

SG - Hardaway/Johnson VS Miller
Both will need to stay on Miller tonight. Pacers have an ever so slight advantage here.

SF - Marion VS Artest
Artest could very well take Marion completely out of his game

PF - Amare/Outlaw VS Oneal
Amare is either going to bring it tonight or completely fall apart.

C - Outlaw/Voskuhl/Amare Vs Miller
Miller will put up decent numbers. Another position the Pacers have an advantage at.

 

[devilalum]

If Tim Hardaway guards Marbury he'll score 50 points.

 

[JS22]

Who else would guard Marbury? You think they'd put Mercer on him? lol, Id like to see Miller or Hardaway try and guard Marion.

Basically...Marbs should score 30 today.

 

[PhiLLmattiC]

Yeah i think the backcourt has to have a terrific game if they expect to win this one. neither Ron Mercer or Reggie Miller are really good defenders so Penny and JJ are going to have to take and hit more shots. I wouldn't be surprised if Marbury tears Tim Hardaway apart but I wouldn't be suprised if he doesn't either. O'Neal, Miller and Artest are most certainly going to clog up the lanes and try to stop marbury's penetration.

 

[Joe Mama]

Isn't Artest playing this afternoon? If so, he will probably give Shawn Marion all sorts of problems on both ends of the court. He's much stronger than Marion.

Tinsley is still the Pacers' starting point guard as far as I know. Is actually a pretty decent defender. If Tim Hardaway tries to defend Marbury the Suns will be in good shape.

It's easy to take each position and say which team has the advantage, but that's not really how basketball works especially since the change in the Defense rules last season. Even though there are great individual players it is still a team game.

Unfortunately I think the deciding factor in today's game might be the Pacers' bench. They are much better than the Suns bench.

I'm not sure why, but I have a feeling Amare Stoudemire is going to go nuts today.

Joe Mama

 

[hcsilla]

I assume you meant Artest instead of Mercer.

 

[JJ Slim]

Big Jake plays = win
Big Jake doesn't = lose

 

[JS22]

I ALWAYS get Artest and Mercer mixed up for some damn reason.

 

[JS22]

Just a reminder:

Its on ESPN right now. (2:00pm)

 

[JS22]

I have a bad feeling about the way this is starting out. The Pacers are just a team that matches up against the Suns so well.

 

[Chaplin]

The Pacers do look pretty good so far, but they can't keep this pace up for very long. In the end, this up and down game is going to benefit us more than Indiana.

 

[Chaplin]

Why is Big Jake not in the game? Is it because Brad Miller is too athletic for him??

 

[elindholm]

The officials are letting a great deal of contact go on both ends. The only fouls they've called have been when someone loses a limb, or offensive fouls on Marbury. I'm not sure why they decided to single Marbury out, but it's unfortunate.

 

[Joe Mama]

Originally posted by Chaplin
The Pacers do look pretty good so far, but they can't keep this pace up for very long. In the end, this up and down game is going to benefit us more than Indiana.

Sorry Chap, but I totally disagree. The Pacers could run up and down the court ballgame long. They are young and athletic and have twice the depth of the Phoenix Suns. I'm not sure and up and down game favors either team more than the other, but it doesn't hurt the Pacers.

Did I call this one or what? Ron Artest is giving Shawn Marion a lot of trouble, especially when Marion is trying to defend him. Also, early on Amare Stoudemire is having a nice game. He just needs to establish his position on the defensive end earlier. He's allowing Jermaine O'Neal and Brad Miller to get inside of him before the shot goes up.

It's bad enough watching a team complain and complain to the referees, but it makes it 10 times worse when their complaints are ridiculous. Jermaine O'Neal is lucky he doesn't have a few more fouls.

Joe Mama

 

[boisesuns]

for far my techincal foul prediction is well under way.

one for oneal and thomas already. o'neal is whinning a lot. physical game for far

keep it up amare!

 

[Chaplin]

The Pacers are a half-court team (thanks to their coach), and especially when Hardaway is in the game. We, obviously, are not.

 

[Mike Olbinski]

My ESPN coverage just switched to ESPN2, can you believe this? WRESTLING? ACK BLECK!

lol

Get it back ESPN...

Mike

 

[JS22]

What happened to the ESPN broadcast? Its been out for 10 minutes now. Did ESPN decide to black it out locally or what? I dont get it.

Thankfully UPN has it.