Official game thread: Phoenix Suns @ Orlando Magic (12/11/06)

<u>WHO: </u> <font size=""7"">@</font>
<u>WHEN:</u> Monday, December 11, 2006; 7:00 P.M. EST
<u>WHERE:</u> Amway Arena; Orlando, FL
<u>TV: </u>
<u>RADIO: </u>
<u>LAST MEETING:</u> Suns won 123-118
<u>WHY?</u> is JJ not playing yet?

<u>STARTING LINEUPS:</u>
<u>PG:</u>
<u>SG:</u>
<u>SF:</u>
<u>PF:</u>
<u>C:</u>

<u>COACHES:</u>


<u>RECORDS:</u> Magic (15-7), Pistons (13-6)

<u>PREDICTION:</u> Magic: 121, Suns: 115

<u>MY TAKE:</u> This game will be the highest scoring contest the Magic have been a part of all year, due to the fact that everybody plays the Suns the way that they want to play, fast. Look for Howard and Stoudemire to be the leading scorers for their respective teams. The play of the guards will be key in this game as they have to keep Nash under control, meaning don't let him get 12+ assists on us, and keep him under 20 points. We need to keep Raja Bell to under 20 as well. We can let Marion have his, although in my opinion, Ariza will see a lot of court time tonight as he is our best defender at the position and will be challenged big time against Marion. We can't let a "Pat Burke" kill us in this game either. No name players, or players that are struggling, tend to kill us (e.g. Kyle Lowry). Good luck and GO MAGIC!

 

I am really looking forward to this game. I predicted that the magic would be a top three team in the east at the end of last season. And you guys don't want to see Pat Burke in period, because that means we are up by at least 25 lol. Should be fun gl.

Suns vs. Eastern Conference 6-0

 

Suns are playing really good and Magic have struggled as of late. We did get a couple days of rest and getting back used to the East timezone. It should be a fun game and should be interesting if the Magic's very good defense can slow down the amazing Suns offense.

 

This should be a great game. It'll be cool to see Redick and Ariza get some playing time. I think the Suns have this game, they're on fire right now, should be pretty close.

I predict a good game from Jameer tonight.

 

The key is to not get into a running match with them. Just continue to pound it inside and slow the game down. If Dwight doesn't get 15 shots, then something is wrong.

 

Good game thread, d-money. You've done a great job with those this season.

I think tonight's game is going to be a very good test for our team. Brian Schmitz made a good point in one of his recent blog posts saying that this team has only beat two real contenders so far this season (Chicago and Utah). While it's mainly because of our schedule, a win tonight against the red hot Suns would be great for this team. We would get some confidence back and would prove to ourself that we can despite recent injuries to Hedo and KeBo.

I'm really looking forward to watching Trevor Ariza and J.J. Redick tonight, as Orlandoman said. Both of these guys have tons of potential and will finally get a chance to show what they are made of tonight. Hopefully Redick racks up some minutes and Ariza makes the most of this start. I'm sporting a new Trevor avatar so he better make me look good tonight.

Dwight versus Amare looks to be a great matchup as well. Tonight's game is definitely going to be exciting and I hope Dwight performs at the level he usually does against other talented big men. I'm predicting a 20/20 game from Dwight tonight and I think we will win 109-107. Go Magic!

 

Why isn't Ariza starting? We went with Dooling instead.

EDIT: I'd just like to say, I love Grant Hill when he is healthy.

 

its halftime right now and our bench has stepped up big time. Darko, Dooling, Arroyo, and def Ariza have all stepped it up. Ariza is having a monster game and is giving a hard matchup with the suns. Darko has done some things very well on the offensive side. We got to see a rare appearence from Deiner who touched it all but once. If we are going to win this game Dwight needs to keep his compsure and just focus on what he does best. Steve nash is picking us apart on defense which we need limit, and I wouldnt mind seeing JJ in the game. Not just to see him play but I think he could give us a chance to win with more of a run in gun offense we are playing with the suns he gives us a outside shot to rely on

 

We were playing great up until the third quarter when we let Phoenix pull away. Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire are killing us tonight. Dwight Howard has been in foul trouble all night and now has five fouls in the game. That has been a big reason we are trailing right now. Ariza has been great off the bench tonight with 15 points. Our guys seem fired up right now but I think we've dug ourselves into too deep of a hole to comeback in this one.

Also, something I noticed tonight is that this team plays better when Carlos Arroyo is in the game. Everytime Arroyo is out there, we are running and making plays offensively. He is leading us back into the game right now and has been a big reason that we cut the lead from 21 points to 14. Jameer on the other hand, was getting beat by Steve Nash over and over again.

EDIT: Ariza with another two jumpshots! He's doing great right now!

 

<div class="quote_poster">Swish15 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">
Also, something I noticed tonight is that this team plays better when Carlos Arroyo is in the game. Everytime Arroyo is out there, we are running and making plays offensively. He is leading us back into the game right now and has been a big reason that we cut the lead from 21 points to 14. Jameer on the other hand, was getting beat by Steve Nash over and over again.

EDIT: Ariza with another two jumpshots! He's doing great right now!</div>

I wouldn't say that. Arroyo either looks really good(tonight) or really bad(turnover machine). Brian Hill just has to realize that when Arroyo has the hot hand and Jameer struggles, you have to keep Arroyo in the game. Every game it's different with Arroyo.

 

well we lost and that sucks, but Ariza showed us he now has a jumper and play with intensity. We also got to see deiner who was doing a decent job by spreading the floor by having nash guard him although he seemed like he was out of energy with about 2 mins to go. I still dont understand why we didnt play JJ.. I really wanted to see him play tonight. Oh well we have the raptors next without cb4 so hopefully we can get d12 back on track in the paint and get an ez win

 

ok...wow i was at the game and i must say, it was the most atrociously reffereed game i have ever seen in my life...dwight was hurting the team (the refs screwed him over just about everytime they called a bad one on him)...4 pints and 3 boards, you kno he got analy done this time...he had every right to get the tech he got...as well as brian hill...its interesting that hill went after a ref and only got 1 tech (cause they knew he was right)...trevor ariza was amazing, and this game should make b-hill start him man, i saw a little bit of t-mac in ariza tonight, slashing to the basket on fast breaks, shooting the j with consistancy...i must say i was impressed with t-riza, i hope the AI rumor isnt true because ariza is sick and will be a future all star, mark my words...the guy has high bball IQ and knows when to take a shot and when to pass...also, back to the game, there was a number of suns fans who pissed me off, for instance this dude (fat white boy, who has about a 1 1/2" vertical leap) and his girl were there...the guy was wearing a purple marion jersey, and the chick was wearing an orange STAT jersey, both of them were wearing suns headbands...i was yelling so much profanity, and it wasnt their business to tell me to go home, so i told the guy to eff off and go back to PHX...i was about to spit a lugie in his eye but i didnt wanna get kicked out...also if the games had no cops, the two of them would have been laid out, along with those bitch ass refs...can you tell i effin hated every part of tonights game except for t-riza's game?

 

<div class="quote_poster">d-money12 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">ok...wow i was at the game and i must say, it was the most atrociously reffereed game i have ever seen in my life...dwight was hurting the team (the refs screwed him over just about everytime they called a bad one on him)...4 pints and 3 boards, you kno he got analy done this time...he had every right to get the tech he got...as well as brian hill...its interesting that hill went after a ref and only got 1 tech (cause they knew he was right)...trevor ariza was amazing, and this game should make b-hill start him man, i saw a little bit of t-mac in ariza tonight, slashing to the basket on fast breaks, shooting the j with consistancy...i must say i was impressed with t-riza, i hope the AI rumor isnt true because ariza is sick and will be a future all star, mark my words...the guy has high bball IQ and knows when to take a shot and when to pass...also, back to the game, there was a number of suns fans who pissed me off, for instance this dude (fat white boy, who has about a 1 1/2" vertical leap) and his girl were there...the guy was wearing a purple marion jersey, and the chick was wearing an orange STAT jersey, both of them were wearing suns headbands...i was yelling so much profanity, and it wasnt their business to tell me to go home, so i told the guy to eff off and go back to PHX...i was about to spit a lugie in his eye but i didnt wanna get kicked out...also if the games had no cops, the two of them would have been laid out, along with those bitch ass refs...can you tell i effin hated every part of tonights game except for t-riza's game?</div>

Post of the year. Your post just described everything I felt tonight.

 

seriously swish man...i dont think there is anyone on this forum that disagrees...by the way if you were at the game, did you see the kangaroo beat stuffs ass??? that was hilarious!!! then he went crazy on the trainer too...i lost my voice at tonights gam yelling lol...im going to the NOK game

 

Some positives from tonight's game:

Trevor Ariza played outstanding. He was consistent and was hitting jumpshots that he wouldn't have hit last season. He was very explosive and was amazing off of the bench. Not only was his offense outstanding, he did a great job defending Shawn Marion when he was in the game. Like I was saying in the Ariza thread, I'm in love with his game and I hope he continues to get a good amount of minutes like he did tonight. If he starts against the Raptors on Wednesday I would be even happier. I felt his play proved he can start and make an impact for us more than Keyon Dooling can.

Darko Milicic looked great in the first half. He scored all of his ten points in the first two quarters and showed that he can step in and play decent when Howard isn't available. Darko also had a block and 6 rebounds in his 27 minutes of play. While his game is still raw and he struggled a little defensively, I liked what I saw from Darko tonight for the most part. Also, it's good to see that Bo Outlaw can still go out and play 20+ minutes for this team. He played well and scored 6 points and grabbed 6 rebounds.

I'd say we need to learn from this loss and correct our mistakes but we couldn't have done anything else tonight. I blame this loss almost entirely on the refs.

 

<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Thanks for nothing refs. Giving the game to the Suns does not help the Lakers.</div>

I fixed up your post for you shape.

 

I don't think Dwight is going to have another game this season where he has more turnovers than either points or rebounds. (4 pt 3 rb 5 TO)

 

<div class="quote_poster">SkiptoMyLue11 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I don't think Dwight is going to have another game this season where he has more turnovers than either points or rebounds. (4 pt 3 rb 5 TO)</div>

Yeah, let's hope not. This was easily one of the most frustrating games of Dwight's career. You can't really blame the kid though because the refs were horrible all night long, as some of us have already mentioned. It seems like my avatar was good luck for Trevor though. Maybe if I keep it up, we won't trade him to the Sixers.

 

or fouls more than board and points