Starting Lineups<span style="color:#CC6600">Phoenix (1-4)</span>PG: Steve Nash SG: Leandro Barbosa SF: Shawn Marion PF: Amare Stoudemire C: Kurt ThomasWith the injury to Raja Bell it is tough to guess who will start but I?m predicting it will be Kurt Thomas. Boris Diaw is also a possibility.<span style="color:#3333FF">Dallas (0-4)</span>PG: Jason Terry SG: Devin Harris SF: Jerry Stackhouse PF: Dirk Nowitzki C: Eric Dampier<span style="color:#660000">Key Matchup</span>Amare Stoudemire vs. Dirk Nowitzki With Raja Bell out and Nash playing injured, Amare Stoudemire needs to have a big game on offense. He will have to give the Suns some easy points in the paint and will need to draw some fouls. The Suns went to the free throw line just six times in a 53 min. game. That is terrible. Amare will also need to help out Kurt Thomas on D but try not to foul out so quickly like he did last night in 15 minutes. They will need him throughout the game.Dirk Nowitzki also needs a big game for his team to win. The Mavericks don?t have their 2nd option on offense and have started out 0-4 while being outscored by 58 in those four games. Dirk needs to score more than 35 points for the Mavericks to win tonight. And if he shows off that good defense people are talking about then it will be really important to be able to contain Amare who is shooting at over 55%.<span style="color:#660000">Prediction:</span>Both teams have injury problems. Both teams have underachieved greatly and are hungry for wins. Both teams have played back to back games and had a very busy schedule to start out the season. They are both in bad shape right now but I believe that the Suns will get the win since they are playing at home. That is, if they can stop giving up 10+ point leads?Suns 110 Mavs 104
Im going to have to go with the Mavs. I think that they are really hungry for a win. For a team to go 0-5 that made it to the finals the year before would just be plain awful. I honestly have no idea how both of these teams are playing so bad. I know that both of them have played the Spurs but has their schedule been that difficult or have they just been playing that bad?
Just bad. It could be partly because of the ball since I think these are the two teams who shoot the most and they haven't done very well there at all.
You could blame it on the ball but all teams have to deal with it. You really can't say that its because they shoot the most, because that is just how they play. If other teams that shoot less shoot worse because of the new ball, their scoring is going to go down as well....Maybe it is partially to do with their hunger and eagerness. They need to find a new mindset, because these 2 teams have the most talent out of any team in the league.
I'm not blaming it all on the ball but when a great portion of your offense comes from outside shooting then you will struggle much more than other teams. I'm sure they will get used to it soon and once Amare gets better it won't be much of an issue but right now it is a bit of a problem. I blame it mostly on Bell, Diaw, Banks and others not performing well right now. And there has been no time to build chemistry and get Amare back in the mix. Starting Saturday the Suns will begin their winning streak.
The Mavs being 0 and 4 makes them hungry, but the Suns being 1 and 5 puts them in the same boat!Both want a win. The game has been great so far (1st quarter) and Jalen Rose is adjusting well to being a Sun.
I'm liking Jalen Rose so far. He made his 2 shot attempts and that was a nice pass to Marion. I think he'll fit in just fine with the team.
Amare is playing well. Moving MUCH better than in preseason, getting more involved, and had a beautiful block on Dirk that was called a foul. Missed a fairly easy dunk, though...Very entertaining first half!
OMG! Shawn Marion Owns Dirk Nowitzki!Leandro Barbosa is the only player keeping the suns in the game right now, he is playing awesome.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JRICH23 @ Nov 10 2006, 05:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>OMG! Shawn Marion Owns Dirk Nowitzki!Leandro Barbosa is the only player keeping the suns in the game right now, he is playing awesome.</div>Omg Dirk has his season high in this game.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (mavsfan1000 @ Nov 9 2006, 11:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Omg Dirk has his season high in this game. </div>But Marion still owned Dirk. He's having a good offensive game but he's really showing that good defense huh?
That was some terrible officiating right there.OMG A MAVS FAN SAID THERE WAS TERRIBLE OFFICIATING IN A GAME THEY WON IT'S ALMOST LIKE THERE'S NOT COMPLETE BIAS IN SOME OF THEMI'm proud of Dirk and Stack, they stepped up big. The centers looked pretty slow, but I guess it is the Suns, y'know.
Calls went both ways. I did enjoy the obvious ones that went our way though. Too bad the Suns could not capitalize.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ASUFan22 @ Nov 10 2006, 12:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Calls went both ways. I did enjoy the obvious ones that went our way though. Too bad the Suns could not capitalize.</div>Oh no, I agree. I don't think we really capitalized much on ours, either.I'm sick of seeing Jason Terry laid out on the floor with no call, though. Avery held himself back there.
It was a good game, very entertaining to watch and it was back and forth. Marion was flying all over the place, Amare looked pretty solid out there (moving a lot better), Nash turned the ball over WAY too much, Barbosa went off again, Jalen Rose played well, The Jet lit it up, Dirk lit it up. But in the end, Phoenix made too many mistakes and they didn't defend well at all.I'm happy Dallas finally got a win though.
Yeah I am definitely relieved Dallas finally got a win. I think they are on their way on getting it together. Harris needs to do more though.
