This will happen all season long...

[High Stakes]

We had a hard enough time getting easy buckets at the end of games with Amare...without him, expect the suns to stay somewhat close throughout the game, then when teams buckle down on D, in the last 7 minutes of the game, we will not get any easy layups, will miss jumpers and will continue to give up easy buckets...Our only hope is that we lose all the games and are one of the worst team recordwise and trade nash by the deadline....i pray we will not battle for the 9th best record, miss the playoffs, and get another irrelevant draft pick...welcome to our season in a nutshell and frustrating loss after loss in the 4th bc we have NO D and cannot score when teams try and play D

 

[jandaman]

I somehow agree.

In the past, teams made Nash a scorer and although the Suns showed some success, it affected the efficiency and tempo a lot.

These season, without a BIG man to attack and get attention inside, teams will simply make Nash a scorer by playing tight perimeter defense.

Nash of course can score 25+ a night..... but it will take its toll. And the sad thing is, 25+ points from him and the Suns will most likely still come short by the end of the game, due to the defense cranking up the last 5 mins of games.


Nash is 37 and as fit as he is, WILL indeed wear out quicker when he has to carry the scoring by penetration and aggressiveness attacking the open lanes.

The only way Suns can pull games out is if Richardson, Frye and Turk are hitting 3pters at a high clip.

I believe the Suns will improved, but GOOD teams will exploit Nash as a scorer and it may be Suns achilles heel this season.

 

[Divide Et Impera]

Good Lord! I didn't see the game, but I just got back from checking out the box score and we got drummed by 20 in the 4th? Not only that, but our starting 3-5 provided a whopping 15 points. Nice. Please tell me we own our own pick this coming draft....

 

[splitsecond]

the Heat lost tonight too. maybe they should give up on the season as well.

 

[Dr. Dumas]

the Heat lost tonight too. maybe they should give up on the season as well.

There's a big difference with one team needing time to gel (Miami) and another team (Suns) that has holes like swiss cheese.

 

[AfroSuns]

the Heat lost tonight too. maybe they should give up on the season as well.

What kinda comparison is that. Did you watch the game? Although they suffer from not having a legit low-post player too, You know the Heat with 3 big scorers will eventually be good, not to mention they came back and nearly won after being down by almost twenty.
The Suns use to score in bunches, yea they blow leads a lot too but one of the staples of this team is you cannot count them out as they can come back and win the game even when they trail big.
Do you get that impression with this team, yes they need time to work the kinks out but i just don't see it down the stretch when defense clamps down. They are barely putting up 100pts and giving up more, we have all being saying it during the off-season, that they will get killed on the board and the lack of low post threat means players can stay with the shooters, which they will when the clock starts winding down in the fourth.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Suns use to score in bunches, yea they blow leads a lot too but one of the staples of this team is you cannot count them out as they can come back and win the game even when they trail big.
Do you get that impression with this team, yes they need time to work the kinks out but i just don't see it down the stretch when defense clamps down. They are barely putting up 100pts and giving up more, we have all being saying it during the off-season, that they will get killed on the board and the lack of low post threat means players can stay with the shooters, which they will when the clock starts winding down in the fourth.

Yes, I'm getting that impression although I hope it is only temporary.

Last season the Suns could count on the second unit for defense and a good transition offense which made the starters just that much more explosive when they back in the game as teams wore down. I see Nash wilting under the burden of trying to carry the Suns without another legitimate big man to help. Nash is getting older and the Suns should be seeking players to help him rather than wear him out. Nash is still a good player but he cannot carry this team alone.

 

[Chaplin]

But there really is no reason to be completely negative about the team either. We were killed in offensive rebounding and we had a lot of turnovers, but we were still leading by 6 at the start of the 4th and actually held the lead until about 5 minutes left. That to me is very encouraging.

Sure, there is still a lot of stuff we need to work on--chemistry, getting JRich more shots, integrating and figuring out how to use Hedo differently--but hidden in the loss last night were a lot of encouraging things. Childress seemed pretty effective out there, especially defensively, I can only imagine that his offense will re-emerge as soon as his finger heals. I also was encouraged by Warrick's work with Nash and the other starters. Once that chemistry develops some more, it will be pretty exciting. Warrick showed that he has great length and is able to get to the free throw line. Once Channing's shot returns, he'll be an asset again.

A lot of things need to happen, but they CAN happen. The big question now is will it happen in this brutal opening stretch to the season.

 

[Covert Rain]

Some things about the game. Lopez sucks on the pick and roll. He either waits for the ball to come to him or he is too slow on the roll giving the defender time to recover. I don't remember the last time I have seen such a poor pick and roll big man. The Suns said they were going to look to do that more with Lopez this season. I am OK if they don't.

I think the entire season will be this way in crunch time. When it comes to crunch time, the thing Amare gave us was easy points. Without Amare, we have to rely on jump shots falling in the 4th. There is no more easy buckets in crunch time for the Suns. What does this mean? The Suns have little to no margin for error this season. If they stay hot they win and if they go cold or the other team picks up on defense they are going to sink.

It wasn't all bad. Some things were things I expected. I thought Nash would be Nash. I though JRich would step up (he did). Childress was impressive on the defensive end at times and AW is a dirt worker. All good things if you need a deep bench to push your team over the top. The problem I see is this team has too many role players and not enough star power. HT can't decide what he is.....I am not sure either.

So, When I heard Gentry say during the Suns pre-game that they still have the deepest bench in the NBA....my response to that is this......it's because most of our team including our starters are bench players.

 

[BC867]

I know Alvin Gentry wanted to have Grant Long guarding a Guard, but putting Steve Nash (who can't guard a Guard) on Batum all game long?

The 3rd year 6'8" Forward who averaged 2.8 and 3.8 rebounds in his first two seasons went off on poor Steve for 19 points and 11 rebounds (of which 5 were offensive).

Steve was pooped, in his first game, and the more pooped he was, the more turnovers he committed.

Then Portland stopped toying with us and went on a, what, 19-1 run to win the game.

The Suns should have just forfeited after 3 quarters so our Point Guard would be ready to be our leading scorer for another 3 quarters next game.

I'm making light of it, but the Suns are a very dysfunctional team.

 

[Catlover]

I know Alvin Gentry wanted to have Grant Long guarding a Guard, but putting Steve Nash (who can't guard a Guard) on Batum all game long?

The 3rd year 6'8" Forward who averaged 2.8 and 3.8 rebounds in his first two seasons went off on poor Steve for 19 points and 11 rebounds (of which 5 were offensive).

Steve was pooped, in his first game, and the more pooped he was, the more turnovers he committed.

Then Portland stopped toying with us and went on a, what, 19-1 run to win the game.

The Suns should have just forfeited after 3 quarters so our Point Guard would be ready to be our leading scorer for another 3 quarters next game.

I'm making light of it, but the Suns are a very dysfunctional team.

The Phoenix Suns are one of the few teams Grant Long never played for.

We could use a good defender but I'm not sure he has that much left and we'd still be dysfunctional even if he were here.

 

[cly2tw]

That's what happened last season. Before Amare broke out after the ASB, and after the initial 20+ game of success with Nash and Frye, we started to regularly lose games in the 4th quarter in the pattern described in the opening post. Teams would tighten up defense and Nash would be exhausted by then, until Amare came to rescue.

OT or may be not: Both Nash and Amare had 9 TOs in their first game without each other!

 

[BC867]

The Phoenix Suns are one of the few teams Grant Long never played for.

We could use a good defender but I'm not sure he has that much left and we'd still be dysfunctional even if he were here.

Thanks, Catlover. It was a long day at work.

We still have a long hill to climb.

 

[Catlover]

Thanks, Catlover. It was a long day at work.

We still have a long hill to climb.

Quite. I'll Grant you that.