When will we stop losing to inferior opponents?

[JS22]

Diaw is driving me insane.

What a waste of talent. If I see him pass into coverage when he has a wide open layup one more time I'm going to break my TV. Here's to hoping they unload him in the off season, or he finally figures out that he could average 16/7/5 if he really wanted too.

 

[Mainstreet]

This is ridiculous, and really, isn't it a little old? You've been pushing this for 5 years.

I think he was feeding the troll with the food that he likes (so the troll can sleep well tonight). Only later will the fans know who dined on what.

 

[Scot1]

Personally, I think the Suns should be perfect. Everyone can see that average individual talent is highest, they play together best, they have the best coach, and they have 3 or 4 players who, depending on the yardstick, are the very best in the league at their position. Thus, when they either lose or fail to beat their opponents decisively, even once, I am torn between righteous indignation and despair. Some misbegotten sinner, be it Diaw, D'Antoni, Jones, Marion, or a combination, has underplayed their talent so badly that we didn't stomp teams the way we should. Or the refs have not just been biased against us, they have sinned against The Right so badly that they have stolen about 30 points from us, bottom line. I'm exaggerating a little [?], but this is pretty much how I feel. If we'd stop losing to the indubitably inferior opponents, it would just become clearer that all opponents are inferior, so any loss is an injustice. I'm definitely not alone. It's like this is a board of mathematicians--perfection is average, what we want is perfection totally plus beauty.

What this does is make us sound like trolls. We take the normal travails of a darn good team and make them sound like tragic flaws, which come out sounding just like a troll, saying "You'll/we'll never win in the playoffs--Diaw is fat/passive/bad with Amare," ignoring how many games that we've won with this Diaw, who might pick it up like he did in the playoffs last year. There really are several posters who have been labeled trolls who sound just like some of us. I sometimes cannot tell the difference, and I'm not alone.

Despite some exaggeration for effect, I honestly don't think this is such a bad attitude to have. We really are the best, we have more deserved wins than anybody but also the most entertaining and "Wow!" team, they could have easily ended up 98-0...there I go again. We expect a lot, and it's hard to balance that with realism--98-0 is not all that unrealistic....

 

[sunsfn]

I missed my first game of the year yesterday on my way to Window Rock AZ.

It sounds like this was one of the problems other than the whole team taking a passive outlook............

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Jeers
Suns reserves James Jones, Jalen Rose and Kurt Thomas shot 0-for-8. Jones and Thomas combined for seven fouls in 25 minutes.
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What has happened to James Jones? Maybe he needs to get his eyes checked? There is something wrong with him!

There is a good chance that the Suns take the best shooter (SG or SF) in the draft when they draft their first pick, especially if they draft around #6 and the big guy they want is gone.

If not, they need to trade for a shooter before next year!

 

[Hugh D'Man]

Phnx went to the FT line 13 times....9 by Amare and 4 by Nash.


When was the last time a team's starting forwards DID NOT GET FOULED WHILE SHOOTING? If there is one thing that came out in this game that smells of trouble...its the softness of those two.

One can't drive and the other is afraid to. And Diaw is afraid to pull the trigger from anyfreekinwhere.

Its not like Sactown had some big shot blocking deterrent in the middle...and the refs are not to blame. These two are the two most panziest passive starting forwards in this league. Happy go F-n lucky. Man , I just wish someone would get a fire and clench a fist occassionally. Nash and Amare are absolutely the only players who play with visable passion.

 

[Covert Rain]

The Defense has been horrid. John Salmons - 17 points?? Also, so much for James Jones being a consistant player. He has been horrible for 4 games and counting. It was around this time last year that James Jones started to go into the tank and it lasted well into the playoffs. It's happening AGAIN. If he doesn't pull out of this funk (a la last year) then it's time to sit him and give his minutes to someone else off the bench.

This bench is going to make or break us over the long hual of the playoffs IMO.

 

[msdundee]

Phnx went to the FT line 13 times....9 by Amare and 4 by Nash.


When was the last time a team's starting forwards DID NOT GET FOULED WHILE SHOOTING? If there is one thing that came out in this game that smells of trouble...its the softness of those two.

One can't drive and the other is afraid to. And Diaw is afraid to pull the trigger from anyfreekinwhere.

Its not like Sactown had some big shot blocking deterrent in the middle...and the refs are not to blame. These two are the two most panziest passive starting forwards in this league. Happy go F-n lucky. Man , I just wish someone would get a fire and clench a fist occassionally. Nash and Amare are absolutely the only players who play with visable passion.

No 'visable' passion from Amare with his 4-2 game against Minny, but wait -- we took that one. Wonder who put up the other 104 points.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

The sky is not falling at all.

But this has to be taken into account. While i feel we are a better more talented team than Dallas they have something we don't. Johnson has not let the mavs lose focus - even a bit. They come out and for the most part just destroy teams that are of lesser quality.

Its disheartning because while we seem to have the outlook " Hey - look how good were last year with all the injuries!" Dallas seems to be saying " We won't let what happened in the Finals happen EVER again!"

That outlook could make up for whatever talent margin we currently have over the Mavs - even though i fell it is razor thin to begin with.

Lets just say I don't like it when we play with laizzere faire attitude with NO rings on our fingers.......At least Dallas has been to the Finals with this group. The Suns need to stop acting like anyone is going to hand them anything and get on a roll going into the playoffs. Otherwise we might not even get the chance at Dallas with Kobe's recent hot hand.....

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

The reason the Suns could beat the Mavs is because they are mentally tougher in tight situations. It has nothing to do with talent or coaching as I believe the Mavs are superior in both areas.

 

[ma_falaa_50]

No 'visable' passion from Amare with his 4-2 game against Minny, but wait -- we took that one. Wonder who put up the other 104 points.

actually he got into foul trouble. He got into foul trouble because he was frustrated. Frustration usually isnt a lack of passion.

its true diaw is a panzy period. the good thing is if he went to the free throw line he would miss it anyway so it may work out better than he doesnt attack the rim.


I think barbosa has fallen in love with the 3 point shot (3-9 from 3's). he needs to attack the rim more. his speed is to his advantage sometimes he doesnt take full advantage of it.

 

[CaptainInsano]

We are in trouble because with Thomas shot gone and Diaws shot weightened off by the croisants we have no midrange shooting besides nash right now (amare goes inside most of the time).

When the kings beat us we constantly went inside to be denied or miss the layup, we missed 3's.

The kings got easy layups and bibby was on fire of course, but that wasn't the only thing. I think it was salmons who hit 15-ft jumper after jumper from around the FT line which put too much pressure on our defense.

Well I guess salmons can like playing for a team that isn't even sniffing the playoffs when he could have came here and contributed with that jumper, possibly coming in for diaw. What if we will/would have won a championship and he was on board?

Salmons is a ******* like Tim Thomas.

 

[Ballamania]

i dont know how in the hell someone can think noone should be worried about the suns half assed play. they think they can just turn it on whenever they feel like it and that is dangerous. with the way the west has been improving, how can we accept the no sense of urgency play. oh yeah, its cool, when they lose a game or two in the first round that they should have won, an excuse will probably be made again. WHATEVER! yeah , they will lose a game but the way that they lose some of these games are ridiculous. i just cant be like oh well, they will FLIP THAT SWITCH right at playoff time. come on its not that easy. i for one want to see a team with that championship look in their eye not the team that keeps sayin, we werent focused, off night,just one of those games, we didnt run fast enough AGAIN, we're tired, leg hurt, hangover, toothache, hair ache, whatever. get it together suns.(my 5 cents)

 

[Mainstreet]

My current opinion is that the Suns need someone to energize the team. I would like to try Banks coming off the bench to relieve Raja for some minutes at the SG. Asking Banks to play PG in the Suns system is unlikely to work so let's give him a shot at the SG position and hope his speed and quickness helps defensively. I haven't seen anyone better coming off the bench to relieve Raja except LB and I think LB should primarily come off the bench to rest Nash.

In regard to Diaw he should come off the bench to relieve Amare. I think Diaw has yet to firmly grasp the concept of when to be aggressive and I think Amare makes him tentative. I almost look at LB's progress at PG and want to compare Diaw's progress at FC as a work in progress. Diaw was the man in the middle last year so he has had to adjust to a more complimentary role this year with Amare's return... and he has had trouble adjusting. I think Diaw will be good playing with Amare sooner or later. He's just not there yet so let's bring him off the bench in a defined role. I think the Diaw from last year still lurks. Actually I think he will be a better player in the playoffs.

Of course this leaves the question of who plays the forward position beside Marion? This is the position I had mentally penciled in for Jumaine Jones. I guess that is not going to happen so I guess James Jones is my choice for that position today. At least JR plays plays decent defense and can play well offensively in streaks.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Alright, if the Suns are having trouble getting motivated a mere three weeks away from the playoffs then we're in more trouble than we thought. History has repeatedly told us the teams playing the best basketball going into the playoffs continue to play well. Locking up that #2 seed is a must (it would take a miracle to beat both the Spurs and Mavs w/out homecourt) and get everyone who is going to contribute on the same page as soon as possible. Ask the 2006 Pistons how coasting to the finish line worked for them.

 

[ma_falaa_50]

i dont know how in the hell someone can think noone should be worried about the suns half assed play. they think they can just turn it on whenever they feel like it and that is dangerous. with the way the west has been improving, how can we accept the no sense of urgency play. oh yeah, its cool, when they lose a game or two in the first round that they should have won, an excuse will probably be made again. WHATEVER! yeah , they will lose a game but the way that they lose some of these games are ridiculous. i just cant be like oh well, they will FLIP THAT SWITCH right at playoff time. come on its not that easy. i for one want to see a team with that championship look in their eye not the team that keeps sayin, we werent focused, off night,just one of those games, we didnt run fast enough AGAIN, we're tired, leg hurt, hangover, toothache, hair ache, whatever. get it together suns.(my 5 cents)

I totally agree with you, finally someone sees what im seeing.