Half-time: Supes 66 - Suns 52 A 37 point second quarter, and shooting 66% from the field. Ray has 15, Lewis 10 and Scales, Ridnour, Flip and Damien all have seven. Nice way to start the Key Arena season so far.
Suns win 114-113 Very disappointing to give up 62 second half points, given they didn't have Nash or Amare and Ray, Reggie, Rashard and Luke all played 30+ minutes. We had them on the ropes at the half, and let our guard down. I know it's only preseason, but when you have all your starters playing big minutes, any loss is going to be disappointing, especially against a weakened team. Nice game from Luke though - 18 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds and four steals.
Million dollar start, 10 cent finish. Give up the lead and the game late in the 4th quarter to a Suns team playing without Nash or Amare - playing our starters all over 30 minutes. Tough to take anything positive out of this one except for Lukes line. Would have been nice for Luke's game winner to fall just for the sake of confidence. Only preseason, but these kinds of losses don't help a team in transistion. Getting outrebounded considerably, and giving up a high %.
I guess at the end of the day, Fortson and Pot are going to really be important this season. Swift and Petro have given us no physicality at all in the middle, and no rebounding, and Danny especially makes a massive difference in both areas.
Just got back from the game. Thought I share a few tidbits... "New" Guys Swifty is not your average 7' center. During warm-ups he did a nice athletic dunk a la Dez Mason. He had his heels up against his lower back...looked like a really, really big guard. Wish he had that kind of offensive confidence in the game, though...he seemed shy around the hoop most of the time going for lay-ups rather than tossing it down. Defensively he was much more impressive than his box shows. He altered almost every shot near him, whether it was his man, off a switch or from the weak side. I'm not sure if he even got credited for a block, but he was a big reason the Sun's shot under 40% in the first quarter. Petro. Had a nice block and gets around on defense. He is also very athletic for a 7' guy. More physically bulky and aggressive than Swift. Alex Scales and Noel Felix also looked good offensively. Scales hit consistently from a variety of spots. He even ran the point for a while in the second quarter. Felix is a keeper. He hits the midrange jumper off the pick and pop, fights inside for the rebounds at both ends, and moves around quick on defense. He switched out and guarded the little guys and got a couple weak side blocks. I like him. Scales can shoot, but this guy does a little bit of everything...he could be like a bigger more offensive capable version of Reggie Evans. He was featured in the ArenaVision spots more than once, and Weiss subbed him in for Reggie in crunch time. I think he will take the open spot and get some PT this year. Vets Wilkens looked good. He was hitting the midrange shot, taking it to the hole and playing D. Flip wants that AD spot. He took it to the rack repeatedly, but was mixing up looking for his own shot and finding the open man. He had some nice assists. Ray and Lew were Ray and Lew. Nothing new tonight, though Rashard was posting up more than he did last year. Vlade looked bad, and I don't just mean his hair (someone needs to explain to him that manscaping doesn't refer to using lawn eqpt. to cut your own hair). He was sloppy on defense and his shot was way off. Nick was in early foul trouble but stayed in the game and finished it off. His play got better as the night went on. I know why AI loves his game. It isn't because he is fantastic offensively. It is because he can finish, he knows where to be ALL the time, and if you get open he finds you right away. He has huge basketball intelligence. If he was 7' he could challenge Duncan, but alas, he is not 7'. Reggie is so good. Why can't he be 6'10" and have a jumper? He recieved some perfect passes under the hoop and waited too long, getting his shot blocked or stolen. He was great defensively, and handled his switches nicely. He, Collison and Felix all switched on the guards and held their own...what a defensive luxury to have your bigs athletic enough to keep in front of a guard on a switch. Luke Ridnour was the story of the night. Talk about future of the franchise. He has bulked up even more this offseason, which we know he needs despite playing all 82 games last season. His midrange jumper was perfect all night, and he ran the break beautifully. He had some amazing passes, and his ballhandling was solid all night. That isn't what mattered though. What mattered was that when the Sonics double digit lead sunk to a tie in the end of the third quarter and Ray was on the bench, Luke just plain took over the game. He had three steals, a couple of KEY rebounds at both ends, and was hitting jumpers, taking it to the hoop, finishing and getting fouled, hitting his free throws. He was fired up. He was so fired up that he got furious at himself for missing a free throw. This is a preseason game folks. He was acting like this was the playoffs. That fire is something new, he had the Suns on their heels. If it had been the regular season Weiss would never have subbed him out while he was on fire like that. Last year when the Sonics would choke and no one stepped up, it was frustrating, but here, tonight Luke acts for three game minutes like this is his team and he is the $90M superstar. That bodes VERY well. Defense: They were VERY solid in the first half. The bigs were VERY good. They got lazy and sloppy in the second. Ray was the #1 culprit. He would sort of step towards Raja Bell and wave a finger at the three point shot before it arced over him to swish through the hoop. Lewis seemed a step slow on rotations and Vlade was defending his man from Serbia. Coaching: Who knows, this is preseason, but the starters played big minutes and crunch time...seemed like Weiss wanted a win. The bad and the ugly...? No Nash, No Stoudemire and they let James Jones and Raja Bell shoot the Suns back into the game.
Nice impressions, thanks. I hear this Felix kid is coming on, on FSN Craig Ehlo said he had a leg up on the 1 remaining spot.
Wow. I thought Swift was going to be a stiff. Good to know. Why wasn't Fortson playing? As someone who saw the game could you mention how the Suns looked?
Great to hear that about Luke. I've been a fan of his since the day we drafted him and it's great to hear that he's done some work in the offseason concerning both conditioning and shooting. His shot was very inconsistent last year, which was very frustrating. I hope he can keep this up for the whole season. Sounds like Ray and Rashard felt like a preseason game wasn't worth their time or effort. My question is what did Weiss do about that? Did he try to discipline them at all or what? My main concern about him is that he could be a pushover so I just want to know whether or not he had the guts to stand up to Ray.
Swift is weak. I have no faith in him. We might as well put out a red carpet leading to the paint when he's in the game because the opposition will get easy buckets inside. Preaseason fellas. Means about as much as a promise from Carlos Boozer.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Jurassic:</div><div class="quote_post"> Preaseason fellas. Means about as much as a promise from Carlos Boozer.</div> I don't buy this. Obviously players aren't playing as hard as they would in the season proper and the rotations are a bit more extensive, but do you expect these guys to just flick a switch once opening night comes around? Fact is, Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Luke Ridnour and Reggie Evans all logged over 30 minutes. Phoenix were without their two most important guys, and still managed to overcome a 14 point deficit to take the win. Yes it's only preseason and there's no point getting worked up about it, but it's still somewhat concerning. Preseason is obviously a time to experiment, but it's still the only proper lead-up to the regular season that players get.
Very bad loss for a players confidence but they are professionals and after the next practice when Weiss & team takes this game and analyses through, it will be forgotten. Very good to see that Luke looks to have improved.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting psheehy:</div><div class="quote_post">Just got back from the game. Thought I share a few tidbits...</div> Thanks for that recap. Very well done, I feel almost as if I had watched the game.
Good recap psheehy. I gotta think that playing our starters extended minutes and still losing at home does mean something. Of course we were without 3 centers and what will probably end up being our first 3 string centers to because I dont think Weiss is going to be able to continue to play Swift if he is scared to play just in the preseason. I think it will be a bad idea to just hand him undeserving minutes during the season...but im afraid we may do it anyways.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Seattle.:</div><div class="quote_post">Great to hear that about Luke. I've been a fan of his since the day we drafted him and it's great to hear that he's done some work in the offseason concerning both conditioning and shooting. His shot was very inconsistent last year, which was very frustrating. I hope he can keep this up for the whole season. Sounds like Ray and Rashard felt like a preseason game wasn't worth their time or effort. My question is what did Weiss do about that? Did he try to discipline them at all or what? My main concern about him is that he could be a pushover so I just want to know whether or not he had the guts to stand up to Ray.</div> No, Ray and Shard were into the game...Ray was taking the ball and hitting clutch shots or driving to the hole. They certainly weren't phoning it in, they just weren't out to dominate the game. They stuck to the offense and didn't try to do anything special. My point was that they didn't show anything new in the game. I just remember how GP came into camp experimenting...he would have a new post move, or would be testing his 3 point range or something...this was just standard fare from the captains...as good as they always are. The centers were fine, though Nick logged almost every one of his minutes at the 5 spot. They lost the game because no one bothered to guard Bell and Jones in the fourth quarter. Even Reggie looked sloppy in the fourth. Nick and Luke were the only two playing hard on defense until they put Felix in the game. Ray was playing well offensively, but didn't seem interested in playing D.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting psheehy:</div><div class="quote_post">Ray was playing well offensively, but didn't seem interested in playing D.</div> Haha, and then he comes out in the media after the game and goes, "I gotta give it to (Bell), he was hitting with a hand in his face all game." Typical Ray.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Sir Desmond:</div><div class="quote_post">Haha, and then he comes out in the media after the game and goes, "I gotta give it to (Bell), he was hitting with a hand in his face all game." Typical Ray.</div> Ray did get a hand in Bell's face. I think it was in the third quarter out of bounds right before Bell got a technical. That was as close as he got to Bell the rest of the game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting panfolk:</div><div class="quote_post">Wow. I thought Swift was going to be a stiff. Good to know. Why wasn't Fortson playing? As someone who saw the game could you mention how the Suns looked?</div> He was a stiff on offense. The Suns looked lost without Nash running the point or Amare in the middle for the first half. Raja Bell and James Jones are nice pick-ups though. There are still shooters on this team, and D'Antoni got them fired up at the half. The offense still looks scary, if not for the loss of Amare I could see them having the similar kind of season they had last year even with the loss of Q and Johnson. Bell should bring a little defense to the perimeter and Barbosa was finally using his length to get his shot off. What was up with Boris Diaw running the point from the PF spot??? He had Felix scampering, but a big isn't going to be able to guard someone full court, and Diaw is way too big for the guards to handle. Looks like D'Antoni is experimenting a little.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting psheehy:</div><div class="quote_post"> The centers were fine.</div> I know you attended the game and I didnt even see highlights but Swift going scoreless and reboundless seems like bad news to a guy thats supposed to be in our rotation this season.
Swift needs to step it up big time..Man we should of just let him go to college or something lol. I can almost just picture this big white kid with orange hair acting scared in the post. lolollol. But man, we need to get some Ws, even if its preseason. Preseason means alot because it gives all these guys the confidence ect going into the regular season.
