Utah @ Phoenix - Game Thread - Sat. 2/3/2007 - 7:00 pm

[jbeecham]

Shut up about the refs, we had plenty of chances.

They came into our building w/o their best player, and beat us for the second time. And we're now 1-7 against the other top 3 teams in the west.

and we're without KT & Bell so shut up about them missing players

 

[mribnik]

I think the argument that the Suns can't beat the best of the west deserves some merit. Obviously, injuries are hurting us right now, but I'd still thought we'd beat the Jazz.

Edit: I'm glad to see Banks get some minutes tonight. Hopefully he'll improve with more time.

 

[az1965]

I guess it is true that we built this record against the weak east. I will believe otherwise when Suns prove it on the court. Right now the best team IS Dallas, there is no question about it.

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

The Suns are too soft. When Harpring and Giricek are getting offensive boards on you, you need to give back your paycheck. If the Suns played as hard as the Jazz, they would be undefeated. Apparently they want stuff handed to them. Pathetic.

 

[Sundance]

Diaw reportedly left his balls in Tony Parker's mouth.

 

[az1965]

It is a very weak excuse that we are without Bell and KT. Sorry won't fly. Keep believing it.

 

[Griffin]

Sucks to lose a game on the free-throw line, but we could have played better. Boris has never been a good FT shooter, I knew he probably wouldn't tie the game. We really lost the game on Okur's game winner. He got too good of a look, and he was hitting everything all night.

 

[az1965]

That was a very poor play designed. Why Diaw to attempt shot, the worst free throw shooter on the team?????

 

[sunsfn]

Diaw reportedly left his balls in Tony Parker's mouth.

Sundance,
That is a terrible thing to say!!

 

[jbeecham]

It is a very weak excuse that we are without Bell and KT. Sorry won't fly. Keep believing it.

I wasn't using that as an excuse why we lost, I was countering the point that they were missing Boozer. Still, missing 2 of your top 8 is tough to overcome.

 

[HooverDam]

That was a very poor play designed. Why Diaw to attempt shot, the worst free throw shooter on the team?????

Agreed, I would've rather had the exact same play, but w/ Amare in Diaws place. Amare is stronger so perhaps could've made a shot, and he's better at the line.

Diaw needs to shoot about 500 free throws a day, he really needs to improve that area.

 

[Evil Ash]

I think the argument that the Suns can't beat the best of the west deserves some merit. Obviously, injuries are hurting us right now, but I'd still thought we'd beat the Jazz.

Some merit maybe but its hard to win when a team has almost every single bounce go there way. For example the ball that Brewer made a layup on in the 4th qtr hit the very bottom of the backboard, went straight down, and went right to him for an contested shot. Sometimes teams get lucky

However some of the blame goes on the players ... Marion, LB, and Diaw all had off nights. Some of the blame also goes to the coaching (On consecutive possessions late in the game we have LB on OKUR of all people?! WTF?!)

Edit: I'm glad to see Banks get some minutes tonight. Hopefully he'll improve with more time.

Like I said in another thread both he and James Jones were the key reasons why we were in the game in the 2nd half.

 

[SO91]

What dissapointing loss. They didn't lose because of the FT's and the refs certainly didn't help, but this team just didn't show up. Very frustrating after watching the way they played against San Antonio

 

[Evil Ash]

What dissapointing loss. They didn't lose because of the FT's and the refs certainly didn't help, but this team just didn't show up. Very frustrating after watching the way they played against San Antonio

They showed up for the 1st, 3rd, and 4th qtrs but the 2nd qtr on the other hand was one of the worst qtrs I have seen this team play in a long while.

Can't half-ass it and expect to win against good teams or even mediocre teams for that matter

 

[mribnik]

You have to worry about this teams ability to win a close game. They haven't been very good at this for 3 years now.

 

[justAndy]

i gotta give credit to Utah.
Suns were a bit casual about this game, but the beekeepers (the name their team should have) took advantage.

 

[Evil Ash]

You have to worry about this teams ability to win a close game. They haven't been very good at this for 3 years now.

I think we can win close games but the close games are where we miss Raja and KT. Defense, Defense, Defense

 

[mribnik]

I think we can win close games but the close games are where we miss Raja and KT. Defense, Defense, Defense

I'm sure that's a big part of it, but it has been a trend for 3 years now. This team definitely has the ability to do it, but they have yet to prove that they can do it on a regular basis. They don't play a lot of close games, so that certainly doesn't help.

 

[az1965]

I wasn't using that as an excuse why we lost, I was countering the point that they were missing Boozer. Still, missing 2 of your top 8 is tough to overcome.

I agree that it is tough to play without your 2 key players especially since we only use 8 players anyway. Still, I think the guys did not come out with the intensity required for a top team. It was a close game, a little better defense, a little more hitting the glass, and we might have a different result.

 

[Scot1]

Not that I'm happy about Diaw, the refs, or the loss, but our bench play at the end of the third quarter was as good as I've seen it. Banks and Barbosa blasted past everybody! JJ was good, too. D'Antoni probably should've left Banks in longer, maybe even let Marion have a rest for the evening. Banks showed me more than he has all year.

But we've got to work on better defensive options when we have Tom Thumb I and II out there. Maybe get LB to tilt his head in so that when Okur comes down, he castrates himself? j/k, I guess.

 

[Covert Rain]

Utah is going to be a huge pain for the Suns come playoff time. Not from an overall talent perspective but because they create matchup nightmares for the Suns just with their size. They didn't even have one of their best scorers and rebounders in the game and we struggled against this team. Sometimes you just don't match up well with teams and I think Utah is that team.

If you go back to all the games against Utah this year, there have been too many instances where we have guards getting caught on their forwards. Again, this was a close game and we could still probably win a 7 game series against this team but I could see a series going 7 against Utah.

Also, I think this game also illustrates our bench problem. Despite Banks playing well off the bench tonight, we could of used more size off the bench. With Kurt hurt, we can't depend on James Jones to provide that size.

Now that Barbosa has emerged as a legit backup to Steve, I think we need to do what we can to make a trade for some more size. We need another big body who can come in for some minutes each game. If we lose any of our big men to foul trouble (Amare, Marion or Kurt) we can't afford to bring a guard in the game or rely on James Jones to fill that spot.

 

[elindholm]

This was a tough loss, but there were some encouraging signs. Banks had by far his best game of the season, and Jones contributed well on both ends of the court. If not for some bad bounces and inept free-throw shooting, the Suns would have won, on a day where a lot of things weren't in their favor. D'Antoni did a good job with his substitutions in the second half and found ways to keep the Suns in the game.

According to the box score, the Suns had 24 defensive rebounds and the Jazz had 16 offensive rebounds. That means that the Suns collected only 60% of the possible rebounds on their own defensive end. That's completely unacceptable and is the main reason for the loss.

The other problem is that Diaw is mentally soft. His games with four or more turnovers are far too common, given that he really doesn't handle the ball that much. If you foul him and he misses both free throws, which is a distinct possibility, that has the same effect as a turnover. So the bottom line is that he really isn't an efficient offensive option, in spite of his creativity around the basket and occasional pretty pass.

I can't remember who it was who said he hoped Marion would get snubbed for the All-Star team, so that he'd be more motivated the rest of the year -- but he was right.

Anyway, almost a great win.

 

[DeAnna]

This game wasn't lost because of missed free throws, or bad calls, or Shawn having an off night... It was Barbosa guarding Okur in those last few minutes - WTF was that all about??!!?? He had no help defense against a 7ft'er??

 

[Nasser22]

It's poopy to lose this game after that great one vs. San Antonio. Dunno what to say...I was disappointed that D'Antoni didn't go deeper into his bench with guys in foul trouble though. Rose should get some more time. That's the only thing that I don't really like about D'Antoni.

Suns just didn't get the calls or the bounces but they played a bad game and didn't deserve this. Bad loss...

 

[Covert Rain]

This game wasn't lost because of missed free throws, or bad calls, or Shawn having an off night... It was Barbosa guarding Okur in those last few minutes - WTF was that all about??!!?? He had no help defense against a 7ft'er??

Exactly. How many times do our guards have to get caught on big men down the stretch before we learn that we need to go big at the end of games? If the Suns don't think we have the personel to go big, then make a trade. Something tells me we are going to have to play Utah come playoff time.