Suns not speaking the same language - defense

It worries me a little this talk of J-Rich changing plays. It seems to me the equivalent of a wideout playing for the Colts, recently aquired from the Raiders, calling an audible instead of Peyton Manning. Or on the flipside, a saftey in the same position calling an audible instead of Ray Lewis.

Then again the Suns don’t have a Manning/Lewis on defense so everything I just said is stupid. Maybe we’ll see the Gorilla stepping in to call a few audibles next game?

(I love watching basketball but don’t know anything about the technical aspects of the game, so if this IS normal behavior, forgive me. It just doesn’t SEEM right that a new player, and not the coach, would be calling out switches.)

This is a very well drawn up play and would have been very hard to defend well.

As you said, Barbosa’s man, Graham, rolled all the way around the line and even though there was not necessarily a pick set on Barbosa, Richardson switched and took Graham. Barbosa then should have switched to Richardson’s man who was Foster.

As Graham rolls around the line, Foster and Jack turn in and set a double screen on Hill and Granger pops out to the 3pt line to catch and shoot. If we were switching on everything, then whoever was guarding Foster and/or Jack should have ran out and picked up Granger, which Nash does. It was just too late.

So because they were switching on everything, it would have been very tough for Barbosa to switch so quickly from Graham to Foster to Granger.

Top breakdown of the play as per usual Phoenix Stan. I was surprised that Nash was still in the game for this play, same with Barbosa – I thought at the time that Porter must have just opted to go with the “warm” guy, over someone like Matty Barnes – I’m sure having Barnes out there defensively is a better option, even if Barnes follows Graham the way LB did. At least Barnes mentally has more of an idea than Barbosa.

It definately does show the Suns’ poor communication on defense – the other question I ask is, was the ball ever going to anyone not named Danny Granger – it’s these times in games where coaches do often opt to go to the guy who would receive less attention, but it’s the Indiana Pacers….

Barnes should have been in instead.

on how the team is going over this collapse:

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2009/01/08/20090108spt-suns.html

nice little quote in here about “the defensive shortcomings of amare stoudemire”

Great breakdown of a breakdown, Stan. I’m upset that the Suns lost, but I think in the long run, this is actually going to be a positive. Giving up the winning shot to a veteran Spurs team when a new acquisition misses a rotation is one thing. Giving it up to the Pacers ought to hammer home the importance of knowing your role on defense.

It’s up to the head coach to use that extended practice time effectively to get everybody on the same page.

With Mike D, one at least had the feeling that he had a plan, and knew what we wanted to do. He would not have wasted the opportunity presented to him by the light schedule.

With Terry, I’m not so sure.

We are 6-3 with Richardson. It is good to note that he figured prominently in two of the losses, the last second loss to the Spurs, and this one. You might say he figured in the other one, but I am not sure how much of Roy’s 52 points were scored on Jason.

Spurs game – he clearly screwed up, leaving Mason open
Pacers – He screwed up twice, once by shooting too early off the offensive rebound, and twice by changing the defensive call.

I am going to try to be fair by saying the six games won were surely helped along by his shooting. My impression of him when he was in college was a streak shooter and dunker who occasionally made bonehead plays – he sure made some against Arizona in the NCAAs.

Bottom line, Porter needs to take him aside and calm him down, stress the team more, and try to get him to see the big picture at the end of games. Otherwise, he needs to sit. I for one feel Barnes should have been in there.