Warriors @ Suns Game Thread

[Amare32]

Golden State Warriors (4-2) @ Phoenix Suns (2-3)​

When saturday 12th November
Time: 6.00 PT
Location: AWA, Phoenix
TV: UPN 45

Probable Starting Lineups:

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PG-Baron Davis
SG-Jason Richardson
SF-Mike Dunleavy
PF-Troy Murphy
C-Adonal Foyle

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PG-Steve Nash
SG-Raja Bell
SF-Boris Diaw
PF-Shawn Marion
C-Kurt Thomas

America West Arena has been nothing but trouble for the Phoenix Suns this season.


Off to their worst start at home in nine years, the Suns will try to reverse that trend Saturday when they host the surging Golden State Warriors.

Phoenix has dropped the first two games of a five-game homestand and three in a row here overall. It has not lost four straight home games to start a season since the 1996-97 campaign when it began 0-6.

Leandro Barbosa led seven players in double figures with 21 points in 21 minutes in the Suns' 111-104 loss to Detroit on Thursday. Phoenix was on the verge of getting into the win column here before getting outscored, 37-22, in the fourth quarter.


The Suns did not drop their third game at home last season until January 19 when they fell to 31-9 overall.

The Warriors are coming off Friday's exciting 86-84 victory over New York and are off to their best six-game start since 1994. Jason Richardson scored eight of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and Adonal Foyle made a go-ahead hook shot in the final minute.


Baron Davis had 12 points and 12 assists and made a steal on the Knicks' final possession to secure the win for Golden State, which is 5-36 in Phoenix.

The Warriors have lost 17 of their last 20 here

PlayerGPPGRPGAPG[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/pau_gasol/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Gasol, P[/color][/url]820.37.53.4[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/eddie_jones/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Jones, E[/color][/url]816.84.11.8[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/shane_battier/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Battier, S[/color][/url]812.34.91.6[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/bobby_jackson/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Jackson, B[/color][/url]89.53.52.8[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/mike_miller/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Miller, M[/color][/url]88.14.92.9[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/damon_stoudamire/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Stoudamire, D[/color][/url]77.63.04.3[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/lorenzen_wright/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Wright, L[/color][/url]85.66.61.9[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/dahntay_jones/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Jones, D[/color][/url]84.61.40.8[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/lawrence_roberts/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Roberts, L[/color][/url]63.32.50.3[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/hakim_warrick/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Warrick, H[/color][/url]72.40.60.0[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/john_thomas/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Thomas, J[/color][/url]31.30.00.3[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jake_tsakalidis/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Tsakalidis, J[/color][/url]50.81.00.2[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/antonio_burks/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Burks, A[/color][/url]50.40.60.6Head Coach: [url="http://www.nba.com/coachfile/mike_fratello/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Mike Fratello[/color][/url] PlayerGPPGRPGAPG[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/shawn_marion/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Marion, S[/color][/url]618.813.32.7[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/steve_nash/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Nash, S[/color][/url]618.33.011.3[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/leandro_barbosa/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Barbosa, L[/color][/url]615.33.22.3[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/raja_bell/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Bell, R[/color][/url]613.33.51.8[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/james_jones/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Jones, J[/color][/url]611.82.80.7[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/kurt_thomas/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Thomas, K[/color][/url]69.55.70.7[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/boris_diaw/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Diaw, B[/color][/url]68.75.86.0[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/eddie_house/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]House, E[/color][/url]66.00.70.8[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/brian_grant/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Grant, B[/color][/url]55.01.60.2[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/jim_jackson/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Jackson, J[/color][/url]43.32.01.3[url="http://www.nba.com/playerfile/pat_burke/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Burke, P[/color][/url]10.00.00.0Head Coach: [url="http://www.nba.com/coachfile/mike_dantoni/index.html?nav=page"][color=#0000ff]Mike D'Antoni[/color][/url]

 

[Amare32]

No time for my normal preview so you will have to settle for this

 

[F-Dog]

Rumor has it that Barbosa is starting over Raja tonight. Mike D moves pretty quickly when he has to, I guess. I still think they need to bring James Jones back with the starting group, both to get some shooting back with the starting group and to add some playmaking to a bench that's starting to look pretty sterile. (Also, starting Marion or Diaw at SF knocks Jim Jax out of the rotation, which makes a lot of sense right now but is probably a bad idea for the long term.)

If this group works as a starting unit, I guess they can 'fix the bench' by limiting their minutes...I just hope it doesn't come at the expense of extending Steve Nash's PT. I have no clue whether Diaw or Barbs can handle 40 mpg themselves, for that matter.


Phoenix is favored by 7, as Golden State looked pretty bad last night--Baron Davis is fighting through an injury, among other issues. When Baron is playing well, the Warriors are able to grind Steve Nash into powder by running back at him and attacking his defense, and IIRC Nash has struggled mightily in the fourth quarter in every Suns/Warriors game since the Baron trade.

The Suns are set up to win tonight, though, because they're the ones who are rested and at home. It will be interesting to see what kinds of adjustments they've made in the last couple of days, and specifically what they do to try and get ball movement during the stretch run. Right now they really don't have a base strategy to return to when they start struggling; against Detroit, they went to a 'defense' group to try to get stops at the end, but it didn't work any better than the lineups in the previous two collapses.

The problem is that the Suns really need six guys on the floor to be optimally effective: Nash and Marion, Barbosa and Diaw for playmaking, KT or B Grant for rebounding and boxing out, and a shooter to spread the floor. Since they only play five at a time in the NBA, the Suns always have a hole somewhere.

It would be nice if that manage to keep that hole plugged up for an extra couple of minutes tonight.

 

[elindholm]

The problem is that the Suns really need six guys on the floor to be optimally effective: Nash and Marion, Barbosa and Diaw for playmaking, KT or B Grant for rebounding and boxing out, and a shooter to spread the floor. Since they only play five at a time in the NBA, the Suns always have a hole somewhere.

What's worse, even if they could have six on the floor, they'd still be leaving shooters wide open on defense.

 

[sunsfn]

I expect Steve Nash to have a good night.

Davis is fighting an injury and played last night. He should play less minutes tonight.

It is obvious that D'Antoni is looking for a starting team. Barbosa never stays in the same place long with or without the ball, so hopefully he will give them a boost offensively.

Marion and Thomas will have to rebound, and Bell will have to guard Richardson who is having a good start this year.

That is to say if Barbosa starts instead of Diaw. If Barbosa starts instead of Bell, he will have to guard Richardson..........not going to be and easy thing for him to do.

 

[nathan]

Should be a fun game to watch/listen to.

 

[elindholm]

Davis is fighting an injury

In other news, the sun rose this morning.

 

[mribnik]

Come and join the chat! I'm already in.

http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/chat.php

 

[Yuma]

Freakin Suns! GREAT 1st QTR! Sucks like the wind 2cnd QTR.

Diaw missed a few layups, but his passes to wide open shooters has looked sweet. Quite Steve Nash-ish. If D'Antoni would develop this guy into a PG with his instincts, that would be sweet!

Bell was as hot as the sun in the first quarter. Then looked as cold as Pluto in the second. He had 10 points in the first couple minutes of the game.

 

[fordronken]

I can't help thinking that if the Warriors weren't dead tired, we would have lost this game. However, this win should give the Suns some confidence and help them out in the long run.

 

[The Matrix Effect]

Great win for the Suns. We had control of the game from the opening tip. And The Matrix had a typical Matrix game 24 and 14.

 

[playstation]

so a great win tonight. the play of barbosa and diaw to date has been something to behold. KT didn't play much tonight, and i'm starting to think he's most suited to play only for short stretches, maybe around 15 minutes per game for him and 10 for Grant, and the rest of the time we put our shooters out there.

obviously that's a big disadvantage on the boards, but it just seems that our 5 best right now are nash, barbosa, bell, marion, and diaw. 4 of the 5 names on that list are good to great defenders too. this is basically what we did tonight, and will probably continue against memphis.

as a sidenote, i want to see how good we are at defense and boarding with this 5 on the floor:
bell (guards PG)
diaw (guards SG)
matrix (guards SF)
amare (guards PF)
KT (guards C)

that's A LOT of defense and rebounding, while still being a bunch of scoring, and to think, with that lineup, we'd still have barbosa, jones, grant, jackson, and oh yeah, nash, on the bench!

this brings me to my next question: is this team TOO deep? that's pretty blasphemous considering what happened last year, but this level of depth creates a situation where people are not confident in their roles and are not getting consistent minutes. just a thought...

 

[jibikao]

We finally got a W at home!!!

I'll take any Win. And it's even better that we beat Golden State since' they are in the same division.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Barbs is averaging nearly 15 ppg, and shooting nearly 54% from the pg position in 24 minutes. That's very efficient production.

So far KT, Grant, and JimJack have been BIG disappointments, hence these questions?

1. Is KT injured? Something is just not right.
2. What kind of minutes will Grant be able to play? Can he get 10?
3. Is JimJ upset about pt? We'll see how he responds.

 

[elindholm]

So far KT, Grant, and JimJack have been BIG disappointments, hence these questions?

I wouldn't say that Grant has been a disappointment. We knew that he was on his last legs and wouldn't be able to play much. He has really done quite well during his time on the floor.

I think Jackson will come around, but his slow start is puzzling. He's now lost his spot in the rotation to Eddie House, of all people, which is just beyond bizarre as far as I'm concerned.

I don't know what's going on with Thomas, and I agree that his struggles are starting to become a concern.

 

[ShuHanGuanYu]

Jim Jackson looked pretty upset sitting on the bench tonight. I can't imagine he is taking this very well. Best case scenario would be he is inspired by this and raises his game to the level it was at last year.

Oh, hey The Matrix Effect, didn't know you were posting here too.

 

[Folster]

D'Antoni seems to be shortening up his bench, which I don't think is wise. If I recall, he played his bench in the first couple of weeks of last season before he found his favorite 7 or 8. I will not be pleased if he fails to utilize the bench that he has. Playing only eight players this early in the season is shortsighted.

 

[ShuHanGuanYu]

Nash's minutes have been creeping up into the high 30's, when they wanted to keep him in the lower end. We'll see what happens there. I don't see the point in not at least giving Jackson a couple looks during the game to keep him involved. The ol' guys usually take time to warm up, but if he came in and hit a few shots he might earn himself some playing time. House has been off the last couple games.

 

[Billythekid]

I see SOME (settle down everyone who might jump on me for having this opnion) similarities between the Kurt Thomas deal and the Luc Longley deal.

Both big slow jump shooting centers trying to fit into a running team. Thomas is a better rebounder than Longley ever was but both excelled in a deliberate half court offense which we don't have.

Just my 2 cents. I think they're VERY similar.

 

[Errntknght]

James Jones seems to have taken his demotion pretty well - in fact, he has started moving toward the basket when shots go up. He doesn't look like he'll ever be a good rebounder but he'll do a lot better if he tries than he would loitering in the corner like he was. He was even moving some without the ball... next thing you know he'll set a screen!

Except for stagnating at the end of the game the team as a whole was moving pretty well without the ball. Shawn was the most active on offense I've ever seen him... I hope he doesn't make a '3' all year. I don't think the movement is due to D'Antoni... it seems to be just more of Barbosa and Diaw along with Marion. House adds to it when he's on the floor, too. Hopefully, it'll be contagious and even the coaches catch it - imagine if they started having the team practice that way.

I do think KT's jump shot will come around - he's consistently hitting the front rim so he probably just hasn't gotten his legs under him yet. I'd like to see them try to get him shooting closer in - nearly all of his jumpers have been coming at 18-19 feet which is the extreme end of his range. Diaw could get him the ball on the pick and pop or from a two man game a bit closer in. The best thing would be to have him setting baseline screens off the ball then popping out - it's 'accidentally' happened a few times and he's gotten jumpers at 14-15 feet and made a couple of them. Whole quarters go by with zero action on the baseline so you know it's not something in D'Antoni's not so grand scheme.

 

[tobiazz]

1. Is KT injured? Something is just not right.

Perhaps all the running is just too much for him? He's got no hops to begin with and it is very difficult to shoot and rebound when your legs are tired.

 

[redsox]

Kurt Thomas had a career high 21 rebounds against Phoenix last year 02/05/05 in what was probably a fast paced game. I say give him some time.

 

[haverford]

James Jones seems to have taken his demotion pretty well - in fact, he has started moving toward the basket when shots go up. He doesn't look like he'll ever be a good rebounder but he'll do a lot better if he tries than he would loitering in the corner like he was. He was even moving some without the ball... next thing you know he'll set a screen!

I noticed that too, he's been told to at least get near the basket when a shot goes up. I like that responsiveness. He's learning....

 

[ShuHanGuanYu]

Best thing is we have James for three years. That's plenty of time for him to blossom, even if he only plays around 20 minutes this year off the bench.