Starting Lineups<span style="color:#CC6600">Phoenix (1-1)</span>PG: Steve Nash SG: Raja Bell SF: Shawn Marion PF: Boris Diaw C: Kurt Thomas<span style="color:#CC6600">Possible Game Time Starter:</span> Leandro BarbosaThe Arizona Republic reported that Barbosa may take Boris Diaw?s place on the starting line-up for today?s game. Boris Diaw, who has struggled in his last two starts, may be replaced by the speedy Barbosa who will better allow the Suns to start off the game at the fast pace that they want.<span style="color:#3333FF">Utah (1-0)</span>PG: Deron Williams SG: C.J. Miles SF: Andrei Kirilenko PF: Carlos Boozer C: Mehmet Okur<span style="color:#660000">Key Matchup</span>There?s no doubt about it; the key matchup is Marion vs. Kirilenko. A battle between two of the better small forwards in the game... Kirilenko is a great defensive player, but he?ll have his hands full with Marion. If he can stop him from scoring and also help keep the Suns? quick guards from getting easy lay-ups then the Jazz have a great chance of winning. For the Suns, Marion is what keeps them going. He can do everything; score, rebound, steal the ball, block shots?he always gives 110% and when he?s on then the Suns are almost impossible to beat.<span style="color:#660000">Thoughts on the Game</span>This should be a tough one for both teams. When healthy, the Jazz have a very good team. Their front court of Kirilenko, Boozer and Okur is one of the best and they will really test the Suns D. Kurt Thomas will have some trouble with Okur since he is better at guarding the big post-up centers and not the quicker shooters so that could be a problem. Also, Utah?s big men are very good rebounders and that may also be a problem for the Suns who like to play very small at times. Deron Williams had a great opener. You can?t forget about him. Expect a big game from Williams if they put Nash on him.The Suns are coming off a great win in LA, were, for most of the time, everyone was doing their thing and they looked in midseason form. Amare also looked close to the one we all loved to watch two years ago. And don?t forget, the game is at US Airways Center and it?s always tough to play against the Suns on the road.<span style="color:#660000">Prediction:</span>The Suns need to speed the game up early and tire out Utah who doesn?t have a very strong bench or the players needed to run all game and Utah needs to keep the game fairly slow and let their big men beat the Suns. With that said, I think the Suns will have their way in this game. Final Score: 111-105
Don't count out the Jazz, guys. They definitely are in the running for winning the Northwest Division. Hopefully by guys Deron Williams and Ronnie Brewer have good games. Also another note, I am very surprised that CJ Miles has stepped up enough to be starting for this team now. Congrats to CJ.
With Barbosa starting the Suns started off strong but then they ended up with a pretty crappy first quarter and Utah led by 12. Then in the 2nd quarter they really played great defense, forced turnovers and with the aid of some wonderful passing scored plenty of points. In the 3rd quarter the Suns outscored the Jazz 36-18 and now lead 54-47 at halftime. Amare didn't do much in his 7 minutes but he was doing a good job rebounding. Diaw was being more agressive on offense and has 8 points in 12 minutes.
83-77 Suns after 3. Utah made a nice run in the 3rd quarter and momentarily took the lead but Marion has been having a great game and has been the reason why we are still winning.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ASUFan22 @ Nov 3 2006, 08:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>83-77 Suns after 3. Utah made a nice run in the 3rd quarter and momentarily took the lead but Marion has been having a great game and has been the reason why we are still winning.</div>Hence why I want a white Shawn Marion swingman jersey REALLY BAD. BUT NOBODY HAS IT!!!!
Ahhh, 108-104, they just let it slip away in the end. And they played a pretty good game too. Marion and Barbosa were good but I can't believe Barbosa missed that lay-up! Oh well. Tommorow @ Clippers.
OMG....my message to the Suns:IF YOU WANT TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP, YOU NEED AMARE PLAYING WELL, AND ONLY WAY TO DO THAT IS... GET HIM MORE INVOLVED IN THE OFFENSE!!!
It takes time. They are playing so bad because he's on the floor and they haven't played with him for a long time. The chemistry and his past skills will come back eventually. They have 5 -6 months. Good rebounding and D by him though. BTW, they would have won without him last year had Raja not been injured.
They're not playing bad because he is on the floor. In their first 2 games they played better with him on the floor. They are just not knocking down shots.Playing badly at beginning of season and not winning 55+ games means NOTHING!!! What matters is getting a player who could potentially be the best big man in the NBA intergrate dinto the offense, getting him touches, letting him work himself back into shape, and it will all work out from there. Without that they are going nowhere near the Finals.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Nitro1118 @ Nov 3 2006, 09:46 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>They're not playing bad because he is on the floor. In their first 2 games they played better with him on the floor. They are just not knocking down shots.Playing badly at beginning of season and not winning 55+ games means NOTHING!!! What matters is getting a player who could potentially be the best big man in the NBA intergrate dinto the offense, getting him touches, letting him work himself back into shape, and it will all work out from there. Without that they are going nowhere near the Finals.</div>They are getting no where near the Finals when they've been to the WCF twice and had injuries to important players both times? They'll be right there with or without him. It's stupid to say they won't. Yes they have struggled with him on the floor. Sometimes he's just an extra body out there and can't get open. When he's open he usually gets the ball. He is getting back into shape by running and fighting for rebounds and playing D. They have done a good job getting him the ball when he gets open. Putting such a big piece of the team in there when he hasn't played for a year is screwing with the chemistry which is what I expected and why I said they will have a very average beginning month.And like I said, they have 5 months to do it and are trying to get him involved. Winning the games does matter or else they wouldn't play at all.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ASUFan22 @ Nov 4 2006, 12:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>They are getting no where near the Finals when they've been to the WCF twice and had injuries to important players both times? They'll be right there with or without him. It's stupid to say they won't. Yes they have struggled with him on the floor. Sometimes he's just an extra body out there and can't get open. When he's open he usually gets the ball. He is getting back into shape by running and fighting for rebounds and playing D. They have done a good job getting him the ball when he gets open. Putting such a big piece of the team in there when he hasn't played for a year is screwing with the chemistry which is what I expected and why I said they will have a very average beginning month.And like I said, they have 5 months to do it and are trying to get him involved. Winning the games does matter or else they wouldn't play at all.</div>They were the 3rd best team last year in the West. Year before, they would have been easily handled without Amare's 37PPG. With it, they were 1 block by Amare away from being swept.He took 2 shots tonight. Not enough for a guy who they are hoping to get the 20+ PPG he had 2 years ago. Getting him 5-10 shots would be a lot better, but making him a non-factor is stupid. Right now he doesn't have the athleticism to run the break like he used to and whatnot, and that will come hopefully, but for at least the next few months he will need to learn to score in low post without his athleticism. It will make him a bette rplayer, and add that HUGE missing piece they didn't have vs Mavs last year.Raja injury was way over hyped, but the Amare and Nash pick and roll would have tore the Mavs up like it did 2 years ago. Without Amare, the Suns offense is extremely one dimensional, and a lot easier to stop than when they have a huge big man presence and mismatch that Amare gives.I never said winning doesn't matter, but winning 55-60 games doesn't matter. They can be seeded at #1, but without Amare they won't win a championship. They can risk getting him involved early, losing some games and going all the way down to a 4th seed and still win it all. He is that important to the Suns.
Raja's injury wasn't overhyped. The Suns knew how important he was and if he didn't get injured the Suns wouldn't have struggled so much on shooting and the Mavs wouldn't have made that huge comeback in the 6th game and the Suns may have won it all last year and they are even better now. The Spurs barely won the first two games in the series 2 years ago when a big part of the team, Joe Johnson was gone and then won a 3rd. I think they are #2 at least in the West this year without Amare but he will really help their chances I agree.It's not like D'Antoni is saying, "don't give the ball to Amare!" The guy is just not getting open and sometimes when he is he isn't near where the play is happening. They are trying to get him involved but they also have to go slowly with him so he can't be put in for 30 minutes a game and wear out his knee and get a bunch of DNP's which will set him back even more. D'Antoni is getting him enough minutes. It's up to him to actually move around and call for the ball.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ASUFan22 @ Nov 4 2006, 01:12 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Raja's injury wasn't overhyped. The Suns knew how important he was and if he didn't get injured the Suns wouldn't have struggled so much on shooting and the Mavs wouldn't have made that huge comeback in the 6th game and the Suns may have won it all last year and they are even better now. The Spurs barely won the first two games in the series 2 years ago when a big part of the team, Joe Johnson was gone and then won a 3rd. I think they are #2 at least in the West this year without Amare but he will really help their chances I agree.It's not like D'Antoni is saying, "don't give the ball to Amare!" The guy is just not getting open and sometimes when he is he isn't near where the play is happening. They are trying to get him involved but they also have to go slowly with him so he can't be put in for 30 minutes a game and wear out his knee and get a bunch of DNP's which will set him back even more. D'Antoni is getting him enough minutes. It's up to him to actually move around and call for the ball.</div>The Bell loss was overhyped, and I really don't feel like getting into another Raja debate LoL. Joe Johnson was a pretty big loss, but Amare picked up a large amount of his production. The reason the Suns lost was because Spurs controlled tempo, played great D and weren't lured into outgunning the Suns. What was the one thing that kept the Suns from being completely embaressed? Amare, he totally sh*t on Duncan and kept it a fairly respectable series.I am not asking for D'Antoni to play him 30+ minutes, but to get him more touches in post. He's not gonna be able to move as freely and catch a ton of oops like in the past. He has done a good job of setting picks, but no one except Nash has given him the ball when he rolls. They have to give the ball more to Amare, whether it be to somehow intregate him more in the offensive set they have now or set up special plays where he posts up his man like a "normal" PF/C does. Either way, they need to get him more touches and shots.
If they try to get him the ball right now they'll have about 30 turnovers a game. You can't give the ball to him when he is being defended like that. Sure he can't move like before but most of the time he stands still under the hoop with someone in front of him. He could move to the side or try to get in front but he just boxes out for the rebound. You can't pass to a guy that's covered. That's just bad basketball. He needs to work to get the ball.Don't try to take away from how much Raja helped this team. I guarentee that they would've at least went to another Game 7 with him. Ask every single Suns fan or anyone on the team and they'd tell you what a loss he was. He was very important in the playoffs and with him not being able to jump our 3's at the end weren't going in and he was too slow to do much else. He is an important part of the team. He got some extra publicity because of the Kobe incident but he would've made a big difference in that series. There's no rush to get Amare back. He just needs to focus on getting his conditioning right and working hards on the floor to get back into shape. The man knows how to shoot already but the other parts of his game are equally important and he's working on that.But really you can't pass it to him when it's like...P<--Basket l<--Kirelenko defending someone/ Amare-->l l<----Boozer ) <--3-point line l<---Banks___ l <---Open shooterHope the diagram helped.
What they do need to stop doing is playing Nash, Barbosa and Banks at the same time. The small line-up worked with Bell there last year but Banks at SF? Come one Mike! I love ya and all but seriously. Banks needs to do better. He has struggled.
[quote name='ASUFan22' post='189916' date='Nov 4 2006, 01:32 AM']If they try to get him the ball right now they'll have about 30 turnovers a game. You can't give the ball to him when he is being defended like that. Sure he can't move like before but most of the time he stands still under the hoop with someone in front of him. He could move to the side or try to get in front but he just boxes out for the rebound. You can't pass to a guy that's covered. That's just bad basketball. He needs to work to get the ball.[/quote]Everytime he has posted up, and actually gotten the ball, he has made good things happen. Despite not having near the athleticism he had, he still has a nice spin move and can get into paint no matter hwo defends him. He has added a great new turnaround jumper, among other little post up moves. With the Suns moving at a thousand miles per hour on each possesion, it leaves Amare very little time to get down court, get position down low, get the ball, and score. Not big enough to win the series against a clearly better Mavs team. My point being was that without Amare, they are a one dimensional team. As you saw vs Lakers on opening night, and as I am sure you saw many times last year, they go through hot and cold spells. When they have more cold spells than hot, they always lose. With Amare pretty healthy, they have something reliable to go to when jumpshots aren't falling, and he opens up outside shots as well. The Nash/Amare pick and roll looked unstoppable at times in 04-05. If he doesn't reach his old athletic ways, he will never be as effective with that style ever again. Letting him develop his post game cannot hurt in any aspect, full recovery or not. What is important is getting his confidence back, getting teammates used to a low post presence like Amare, and his conditioning will come along with this. I am not asking for Amare to get 20 shots per game or to play a ton of minutes, but make him more of a factor. He has done good things when he has got ball in post, feed it to him more. Nope, not at all From the first 2 games of the season, Amare has been trying to do the pick and roll, which is why he has stayed in the high post and seemingly just floating around. Until his athleticism comes back, he needs to stay in post (which he has done a lot as well).
Well he has gotten the ball when he's in front of his defender but he just needs to get in the right spot. I agree they should try to get him the ball more but he just wasn't getting to the right spot. He'll probably be more of a factor tomorrow but the roller coaster ride will continue until he gets more used to playing in the game.Well Raja would've gotten us to a Game 7 at least and judging from their 2 other game 7's they would've definetly showed up then. They might've even won in 6 if they didn't lose him earlier, but we'll never know unfortunately.
Wow, great win for Utah. I didn't get to see the game, but judging from the little highlights I saw and the box score, Boozer and AK47 were huge. I mean if you have 3 guys getting double-doubles (Boozer, AK, Okur) and good PG play (both Deron and Fisher), you are bound to have a good game. I'm happy these guys are succeeding, I am a fan of these guys. Deron Williams is one of my favorite guards in the league as well. But excellent win for the Jazz, this team is for real and if healthy I wouldn't be surprised if they edged out Denver for the Northwest crown.
