Who else is hot?

by emirem on Jan 8, 2008 11:38 AM MST

With Golden State's overtime win over SA last night (GS 2 - SA 0 for the season), the Warriors have well overcome the poor start in the season.

The western conference looks as follows:

Phoenix
SA Sterns
Dallas
Portland
NO Hornets
LA Fakers
Denver Nuggets
Golden State

Suns vs Golden State would be a great game to watch. Imagine a 260 points per game awesomeness!

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My vote is

Jessica Alba or Crush from American Gladiators. Oh wait...wrong hot. Sorry.

by AZSEAfan @ Bright Side Of The Sun on Jan 8, 2008 4:24 PM MST reply actions

alba = hot!

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 8, 2008 7:21 PM MST up reply actions

Hot teams

The Lakers are hot. And they need to get whipped. any volunteers?

'06-'07 Suns: It's clobberin' time!

by Hawk42 on Jan 9, 2008 9:02 AM MST reply actions

I wouldn't mid that either

Seeing Raja handle Kobe once again ... now thats playoff basketball!

by emirem on Jan 9, 2008 9:46 AM MST up reply actions

i'm more anxious for a suns - lakers

rematch and suns victory than any other game coming up, want revenge pretty badly.

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 9, 2008 2:06 PM MST up reply actions

i am too,

but i'm not too sure I'd like to see the Lakers in the playoffs, with the emergence of Bynum and the rest of Colonel Sanders' boys.

by Aluminum Foyle on Jan 11, 2008 8:04 PM MST up reply actions

PJ

I am not the least bit afraid of the Laker players. But PJ can outcoach DA with two artificial hips, a glass eye, and a clipboard clipped to his nose!!

'06-'07 Suns: It's clobberin' time!

by Hawk42 on Jan 14, 2008 7:56 AM MST up reply actions

Having seen the last two Suns efforts against the Warriors in person, I would be loathe to see a series against the Warriors from the perspective as a Suns fan. It's probably one of the worst matchup's in the league for the Suns, and Nellie seems to have the Dirk touch of late with Nash. Ideally, Houston will slip in, or the Nuggets or Portland will be the first round foe. But regardless, the playoffs this year, much like the regular season, will be a challenge in the West.

by SilverSprings on Jan 9, 2008 10:02 AM MST reply actions

strategy agains the Nellies of the world

The key word in your post was EFFORT. I still think we beat them fine when we are playing our game. I think you have to rethink your double teaming scheme with GS, since they have interchangeable parts (Ellis, Jax, Barnes). also, we should think of a three guard lineup with Nash, Banks, and raja, along with STAT and Marion. That way, Banks can concentrate on locking down Davis. Raja can check Ellis, and Nash can roam a little.

As far as Nellie messing with Steve, I think we should develop a strategy in certain situations where Hill or Boris bring the ball up, and Nash is kind of a secondary ballhandler. He can come off a screen, and be open for a second or two to make his decisions. Then Hill passes it to him so he can initiate from a different spot. I guarantee this can help us in the playoffs. Of course we still have our primary attack, but we should have some schemes where Hill or Boris initiate the primary offensive move WITH Steve in the game, so he can have that extra second or two to free up his play. If Davis follows him without the ball (I expect that Davis stays on the ball, but they may adjust), then Hill or Boris go straight to the basket. No forward on GS is faster to the bucket than Hill.

The suns' offense in the Nash v2 era has been predicated on finding an unstoppable play (P&R , Nash to STAT, or alley-oop to Marion, or the clear out and three in the corner, such as we did with Raja in the playoff game against the Clippers). But teams are shutting off those plays. So why not develop new ones. We still have the best point guard, the best wing players (Marion, Hill) and the best power forward mismatch (STAT - he is NOT a center) in the league. See, that is the way people are beating us - they scheme against our signature plays. That is why we look lethargic sometimes. the players look confused and start bickering, because that play that they onced owned now has a big blocking the way to the basket! How dare they!

'06-'07 Suns: It's clobberin' time!

by Hawk42 on Jan 9, 2008 11:49 AM MST up reply actions

Already doing this

I have been seeing this all season already. You will see Nash playing off the ball much more frequently and in fact in many Suns wins Nash will have a "quiet" game.

In the final few minutes of the Hornets game they closed off the middle and covered over on Amare rolling of the screen and the Suns moved the ball very well and found the open guy for easy buckets.

Its not so much about other plays when Nash is in the game b/c he's so good and seen it all that he can react to whatever the D gives him. The issue is how the team runs when he's off the floor.

There's great insight on this talking about the Suns needing a backup PG like Dickau to run the Suns offense:
http://wisinsider.blogspot.com/2008/01/matchmaker-dickau-to-suns.html

by Seth Pollack on Jan 9, 2008 3:05 PM MST up reply actions

g.s!!

is definitely the team to avoid in the first round, the way they were playing last year in the playoffs, specifically against the mavs, hitting shots all over the plus, hustling like maniacs, I fear for any team having to play them. They have a nice advantage
in their home court, what an atmosphere!

Hawk, on Diaw/Hill etc bringing up the ball, I couldn't agree more. There are a few teams this would be good for us to do, makes me think of Kobe stealing the ball from nash at the end of a playoff game. Yes, Nash made a mistake picking up his dribble, and going to a side, but a stronger, taller player would've been more likely to see over the trap. Nash can still be the decision maker,

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 9, 2008 2:12 PM MST reply actions

Strategies

Thanks for the input. See SRP's comment. Since I live in the Dallas area, I don't get to see actual games very often, but rely on game logs and CBS sportsline gametracker. So I haven't seen enough to know if they have tried to do this in the past.

A benefit of a strategy like this is that when Steve does go out, players like Diaw and Barbosa have real experience making decisions in games, something D'A has not given them in past years.

'06-'07 Suns: It's clobberin' time!

by Hawk42 on Jan 10, 2008 5:38 AM MST reply actions