When will we stop losing to inferior opponents?

[arwillan]

seriously, we lost to a team we just blew out by 18 on thursday. we beat dallas, and then drop two in a row to potential playoff opponents. when will we start winning the gimme games, like those against sacramento without their leading scorer? we simply can not contend for a title this way, we need this rollercoaster style of play to stop. consistency is what we really lack.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

seriously, we lost to a team we just blew out by 18 on thursday. we beat dallas, and then drop two in a row to potential playoff opponents. when will we start winning the gimme games, like those against sacramento without their leading scorer? we simply can not contend for a title this way, we need this rollercoaster style of play to stop. consistency is what we really lack.

Every team loses against inferior opponents. The players care less about these games than you do. You may not understand it, but it is a fact.

 

[devilalum]

Regular season back to backs are murder no matter who you play its hard to sweep.

 

[phxrising]

Sometimes you play to the opponents level and it bites you in the ass.

This would be one of theose games, we just took it for granted after beating them on Thursday.

 

[Chaplin]

Come on. Give credit where credit is due. Sacramento played very, very well against us. Very few "inferior" opponents have played this well against us.

 

[msdundee]

seriously, we lost to a team we just blew out by 18 on thursday. we beat dallas, and then drop two in a row to potential playoff opponents. when will we start winning the gimme games, like those against sacramento without their leading scorer? we simply can not contend for a title this way, we need this rollercoaster style of play to stop. consistency is what we really lack.

Not very long ago the Suns were consistently racking up Ws over "inferior" opponents and everyone here was saying that taking those games didn't prove a thing, they needed to beat the top teams. They did prove they can beat Dallas, in Dallas.

Suns have lost very few gimme games. They probably tanked this one on purpose just so you all wouldn't run out of disaster material.

 

[DeAnna]

This is becoming a very, very bad habit from the Suns.

If they continue losing to inferior opponents (which they've done 3 times since the Dallas game) they're going to find it hard to get out of the second round of the playoffs. They can't seem to just "turn it on" like they used to.

 

[jbeecham]

This is becoming a very, very bad habit from the Suns.

If they continue losing to inferior opponents (which they've done 3 times since the Dallas game) they're going to find it hard to get out of the second round of the playoffs. They can't seem to just "turn it on" like they used to.

Who were these 3 inferior opponents? Detroit (best record in the east) & Denver (playing well with Iverson & Anthony together) may have a worse record then us, but they're not even close to being bottom of the NBA teams. If by inferior you mean worse record then the Suns, then the Suns can't lose to anyone but Dallas or else the sky is falling. In the last 2 months, we have lost to the Hawks, Sonics & Sixers and that has been bad, but lots of the top teams have lost to poor teams.....like SA's inability to beat the Bobcats, Milwaukee or Boston recently.

 

[Mike Olbinski]

This is becoming a very, very bad habit from the Suns.

If they continue losing to inferior opponents (which they've done 3 times since the Dallas game) they're going to find it hard to get out of the second round of the playoffs. They can't seem to just "turn it on" like they used to.

All year they've beaten them...and now they lose a couple and we're freaking out...I think you need to see the big picture...

Playoffs in a month

 

[Griffin]

The outcome of these games doesn't matter much and so it shows in how well we play. The Suns were sleepwalking through the first half, never got a lead until the 3rd quarter, allowed the Kings to stay in the game and dictate the tempo, and in the end Bibby buried us.

The Suns are playing like these games don't count and they cannot wait for the playoffs to begin. And while I do believe that we will turn it up come playoff time, the problem is these games do count. Right now we have only a 3.5 game lead over the Spurs, our likely second-round opponent. If we keep playing like this, game seven might just be in San Antonio.

 

[Nasser22]

When God joins the team is when it'll happen. Teams ALWAYS lose to inferior opponents at some point in the season. The Suns have actually done a good job.

 

[Chaplin]

This is becoming a very, very bad habit from the Suns.

How can this be a very, very bad habit?

Losses:

1st 3 weeks of the season:
Utah
LA Clippers
San Antonio
Dallas
Utah

Those were in our hard stretch to start off the season...

Washington
Dallas
Minnesota
Utah
Atlanta
Chicago
Seattle
Philadelphia
Detroit
Denver
Sacramento

There was a slight bump when we lost to Atlanta, Seattle and Philly around the All-Star break. Other than that, how is losing to inferior teams a "habit"?

 

[Renz]

How can this be a very, very bad habit?

Losses:

1st 3 weeks of the season:
LA Lakers
Utah
LA Clippers
San Antonio
Dallas
Utah

Those were in our hard stretch to start off the season...

Washington
Dallas
Minnesota
Utah
Atlanta
Chicago
Seattle
Philadelphia
Detroit
Denver
Sacramento

There was a slight bump when we lost to Atlanta, Seattle and Philly around the All-Star break. Other than that, how is losing to inferior teams a "habit"?

Fixed.

 

[ma_falaa_50]

The thing is the suns needs to win this game and put more pressure on san antonio to win more games. We are only 3 games ahead after today.

If we lose Home court to San antonio then we are screwed.

 

[Gee!]

holy crap.. talk about the highs and lows of emotion lol.. we just had 2 long winning streaks this year and now we lose to a crappy team and everyone is ready to commit suicide..

chiiiiiiiill

 

[Chaplin]

it's not reason to panic and declare the season over, but surely you can't begrudge people for starting to get worried about our play of late when you take the above into consideration.

The only habit that is happening here is this board's habit to jump off a cliff whenever the Suns lose.

 

[msdundee]

The only habit that is happening here is this board's habit to jump off a cliff whenever the Suns lose.

or ......... actually .......... frequently ........... when they win.

 

[Mainstreet]

ah, yes - I forgot, objectivity and worry after looking pretty bad in 3 of their last five games (all against relatively weak opponents) and really looking pretty shaky since the break, save for two GREAT wins, can only be met by hyperbole from some people which only serves to escalate what should be a basketball discussion into personal attacks.

hopefully this team gets their stuff together for another tough stretch coming up, reminiscent of the beginning of the season... dallas, sa, lakers 2x, denver, utah, gs - all while trying to hold off the Spurs who have a relatively cake schedule coming up. it would be a huge blow to lose that 2 seed. Hopefully this is the last of the "wake-up" calls this team needs.

Right now the Suns are playing flat but particularly concerning is their lack of defense. The Suns must play like a finely tuned race car in order to win. If the Suns cannot turn it around quickly I can foresee SA overtaking them for the second spot.

However, IMO, home court advantage is not nearly as important as to how well the Suns are playing entering the playoffs. As of today things are not looking bright. The only consolation for the Suns fumbling now is that they may move up a spot in the draft with their pick because they are not going to win anywhere playing without a sense of urgency. I sure hope they find the eye of the tiger soon.

 

[Sunshooter]

It's never an easy game in Arco Arena.
The score is very close before Bibby score a pair of 3pts. But something I will concern are...

1) FT. Except Amare, other players have very few chances to have free throw. Did they play aggressively in the paint area? They just know how to play aggressively in 3 point line. We waste a good FT team, isn't it?

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2) Nash. Seems that other teams always use "switch offense" to face Nash. Did Nash fast? Not likely. Did Nash defense well? Not likely. They will know that the best solution to beat Suns is - beating Nash first. Parker will do, Terry will do and Deron also.

3) Diaw. Did he know how to dunk?

 

[M3Man]

Suns fans should always be grateful to Mike Bibby. It was the way he embarrased Nash in the playoffs when Nash was with Dallas that made Cuban unwilling to pay more to keep him on the Mavs. He knows exactly how to expose Nash. Fortunatly, he'll be retired by the time the Kings make it back to the playoffs. But if not for him torching Nash, Stevie would probably still be a Mav.

Gary from Dallas.

Not to troll, but what happened to the Suns?

 

[elindholm]

Not to troll, but what happened to the Suns?

They're awful and the Mavericks will crush them in the playoffs, if the Suns even make it that far. That may or may not be true, but if it is, we might as well admit it, and if it's not, at least you can enjoy deluding yourself for a couple of months.

 

[Chaplin]

They're awful and the Mavericks will crush them in the playoffs, if the Suns even make it that far. That may or may not be true, but if it is, we might as well admit it, and if it's not, at least you can enjoy deluding yourself for a couple of months.

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

 

[TJ]

The X-Factor of this game was Bibby's lights out performance. Watching the game, I cringed every time he shot the ball, because I knew it was going in.

As for the Suns, we played flat and paid the price. I put part of the blame on Diaw's shoulders. He could have come away with nearly 20 points, but kept kicking the ball out when he was under the basket. He has proven to be a more effective player off the bench than starting.

 

[elindholm]

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

Huh? Something tells me you completely missed the context of my post. I even used the quote function!

 

[Errntknght]

The Kings played probably their best game of the year and Bibby had a career afternoon so I don't think this game indicates the Suns are falling apart. We didn't play a first rate game by any means - even Nash was well below his best form with bad TOs and mediiocre shooting - and we still hung in there and were battling on the boards pretty well. I like to see the second rate teams rising to the occasion against us like this - keeps us knowing that we can't win by just showing up.

The bad stuff from this game was 1) Diaw regressed yet again 2) KT is not rounding into form 3)Jalen couldn't stay in front of anyone and missed all three shot attempts 4) James Jones whiffed from the field again, though he played some decent defense. If he could just rebound a bit it wouldn't be so bad when his shot goes on vacation.

I think D'Antoni needs to pick one of Rose & Jr to play and sit the other - giving one more minutes might get him going. I'd go with Jr because his D is better but I wouldn't complain if he elected to play Jalen - James went through the whole playoffs last year without finding his shot so that doesn't give one lots of hope that more PT will have a magical effect.

It may well be that KT needs more PT, too, though with him it doesn't seem so likely... Diaw can easily spare some if Kurt needs it.