The Suns' spring break begins...

[Mainstreet]

By what do you mean anywhere? I think we have a real chance to beat anyone outside of LA in the West, especially with the way we've been playing post all star game.

Perhaps to clarify, I don't see the Suns as a contender to win the Western Conference let alone reach the WCFs. So if the Suns are not a legit contender, they are just shooting for the playoffs and if lucky get out of the first round. I think Kerr's fear of giving The Thunder a potential first pick in the draft or any lottery pick on his watch is the reason Kerr dragged his feet on rebuilding this season.

And yes Mojorizen7, I would have kept Nash.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Perhaps to clarify, I don't see the Suns as a contender to win the Western Conference let alone reach the WCFs. So if the Suns are not a legit contender, they are just shooting for the playoffs and if lucky get out of the first round. I think Kerr's fear of giving The Thunder a potential first pick in the draft or any lottery pick on his watch is the reason Kerr dragged his feet on rebuilding this season.

And yes Mojorizen7, I would have kept Nash.

I don't think we're a conference contender either but I'd still like to see us go as far as possible. There are several teams that we'd be hard pressed to beat but AFAIC only the Cavs and Lakers are completely out of our reach. We clearly are not good enough really to win it all but neither were the Heat several years ago and they ended up with a championship.

Steve

 

[AfroSuns]

Anything can happen in the playoffs, not a whole lot of people thought Miami could win it when they did, I know i didn't.
The Suns have one of the best record since the all-stars, if they can get back to how they played starting the season, they can match up to any team especially if Barbosa comes back and become a major contributor. Nash also needs to be well rested and i think the X factor is Frye. If Frye can hit those shots more consistently in the post-season, then the team will do very well.

 

[Griffin]

Sure enough, since we've last played, teams 2 through 7 in the West had gone 9-1 with the only loss suffered by the Spurs at the hands of the Cavs. The Thunder had just passed us in the standings by virtue of having fewer losses. The Suns are now in the sixth, a game and a half ahead of 7th place SA and two and a half games behind 4th place Utah.

 

[Lorenzo]

you can't afford to rest nash at this point. you have to push with everything you got to avoid playing the lakers/mavs/nuggets/jazz in the first round. then hope you win a series and get a favorable matchup. because of this nash has to play unless he can't stand up. the WC 4-9 is still essentially a playoff race every game. and like a couple of people said one or two losses could really hurt the suns down the line. I agree with nash being weary at times down the stretch, but i think his meltdowns have more to do with the way his teams have been built. they are run and gun offense with lack of defense and rebounding. the latter two entities are needed to win it all in the playoffs and nash's teams typically have lacked in that regard. hence people look to blame nash's health when in reality i don't think that is the major problem.

if you are cleveland/LA/Dallas they can afford to rest their star players for a game here and there. certainly if the suns were in that position i would be calling for nash to get a game off here and there. I don't know why the suns didn't do that more often when they were rolling a couple of years ago....and then the mavs back when he was in dallas. my guess is steve won't have it.

 

[Lorenzo]

I don't think we're a conference contender either but I'd still like to see us go as far as possible. There are several teams that we'd be hard pressed to beat but AFAIC only the Cavs and Lakers are completely out of our reach. We clearly are not good enough really to win it all but neither were the Heat several years ago and they ended up with a championship.

Steve

miami was a great rebounding team and played solid defense. along with excellent scoring at the offensive end with DWADE averaging 30 in the playoffs it seemed. aren't the suns one of the worst rebounding teams in the league? they need to step that part of their game up if they want to follow in miami's footsteps. many people forget that miami had a fighting shot at back to back titles. the year prior d wade took a bad injury in the playoffs and missed game 7 in the ECF against detroit. that was a great team that gets knocked for some reason. they had a lot of veteran players that peaked at the right time with DWADE playing great.

 

[AzStevenCal]

you can't afford to rest nash at this point. you have to push with everything you got to avoid playing the lakers/mavs/nuggets/jazz in the first round. then hope you win a series and get a favorable matchup. because of this nash has to play unless he can't stand up. the WC 4-9 is still essentially a playoff race every game. and like a couple of people said one or two losses could really hurt the suns down the line. I agree with nash being weary at times down the stretch, but i think his meltdowns have more to do with the way his teams have been built. they are run and gun offense with lack of defense and rebounding. the latter two entities are needed to win it all in the playoffs and nash's teams typically have lacked in that regard. hence people look to blame nash's health when in reality i don't think that is the major problem.

We're not talking so much about letting Nash rest as we are about letting his stomach tear heal. Even a weary Nash can spark this Suns team but not the Nash who has to press his hand against his stomach so he can tolerate the pain while dribbling. That Nash is almost a liability. I'd rather play on the road with a healthy Nash against ANY team than to play at home vs the weakest playoff team with this version of Nash.

Steve

 

[Lorenzo]

We're not talking so much about letting Nash rest as we are about letting his stomach tear heal. Even a weary Nash can spark this Suns team but not the Nash who has to press his hand against his stomach so he can tolerate the pain while dribbling. That Nash is almost a liability. I'd rather play on the road with a healthy Nash against ANY team than to play at home vs the weakest playoff team with this version of Nash.

Steve

that is true...the problem is nash can still take the court and he's not going to sit out because of the playoff race. he's sat out with injuries before so my guess is he thinks he can play with this one. maybe the coach should make the decision if it's that bad.

 

[PetryJr]

aren't the suns one of the worst rebounding teams in the league?

Actually, they're 16th in the league in rebounding differential (+0.2), ahead of Dallas, for example (-1.0). And since Robin Lopez became a starter, they're among the best in the league in rebounding differential.

 

[Proteus]

Actually, they're 16th in the league in rebounding differential (+0.2), ahead of Dallas, for example (-1.0). And since Robin Lopez became a starter, they're among the best in the league in rebounding differential.

For the season, the Suns are 29th in defensive rebounding rate according to Hollinger. The Suns are tied for 7th in offensive rebounding rate. I'd much prefer the two to be reversed though.

 

[Proteus]

you can't afford to rest nash at this point. you have to push with everything you got to avoid playing the lakers/mavs/nuggets/jazz in the first round. then hope you win a series and get a favorable matchup. because of this nash has to play unless he can't stand up. the WC 4-9 is still essentially a playoff race every game. and like a couple of people said one or two losses could really hurt the suns down the line. I agree with nash being weary at times down the stretch, but i think his meltdowns have more to do with the way his teams have been built. they are run and gun offense with lack of defense and rebounding. the latter two entities are needed to win it all in the playoffs and nash's teams typically have lacked in that regard. hence people look to blame nash's health when in reality i don't think that is the major problem.

if you are cleveland/LA/Dallas they can afford to rest their star players for a game here and there. certainly if the suns were in that position i would be calling for nash to get a game off here and there. I don't know why the suns didn't do that more often when they were rolling a couple of years ago....and then the mavs back when he was in dallas. my guess is steve won't have it.

The only way the Suns avoid the Lakers/Mavs/Nuggets/Jazz is to jump ahead of them in the standings and given the schedules involved I think that's pretty unlikely.

 

[Lorenzo]

For the season, the Suns are 29th in defensive rebounding rate according to Hollinger. The Suns are tied for 7th in offensive rebounding rate. I'd much prefer the two to be reversed though.

That must be what I heard. last time I watched a suns game they said the suns were one of the worst rebounding teams in the league so they must have been referring to that i guess?