Preview: Suns vs Timberwolves
by Seth Pollack on Nov 27, 2009 11:33 AM MST
in Game Coverage
18 comments
A minor milestone in the NBA season today as the Suns play the Timberwolves for the second time. This is the first time the Suns will be facing the same team twice.
Does that matter? No, not really but it is the day after Thanksgiving and my brain is somewhat addled by Turkcoma with a side of pie-eye glazing.
Ignore all that mess and move along to the rest of the preview....
When these teams first met in Phoenix for the third game of the season it was a case of the Suns still finding themselves and the Wolves being a crappy team. In the 12 games since the Suns have done pretty OK while Minnesota has only the 0-15 Nets to thank for deflecting attention away from their miserable and pitiful start to the season.
There are many things to be thankful for this holiday season and one of them is that you don't live in Minnesota where it is ungodly cold and root for a team that has only 1 win which came against the only other team in the league with a more pitiful record. The Nets.
But don't let those records fool you. The Suns have struggled in Minneapolis where they must suffer from understandable weather induced shock going from 80 degrees and sunny one day to cold as ice and cloudy the next. If you think little things like the outside temperature don't effect our indoor warriors just look at this tweet from Jason Richardson...
On my way to shootaround, man it's freezing in Minny.
And this from a guy who went to school in Michigan!
Actually, I lied. The Suns are a lifetime 22-16 in Minnesota so really even the cold weather isn't an excuse but sometimes you have to dig deep to find a reason to stay on your toes and not get cocky and overlook your opponent.
Statistically speaking the Timberwolves are...well they are bad on a lot of areas as this chart from the Suns Game Notes indicate:
Bottom line here is that the Suns biggest enemy is complacency.
This is a game that should be won.
There's no real excuse for not winning.
Yes, Al Jefferson is a great player but even he has been sub-his-own-par this season. His 15ppg are the lowest in the past 4 years and his rebounding numbers are down as well.
I will admit that I haven't actually watched the Timberwolves play this season (can you forgive me?) so I am not sure how much of that decline is due to his personal ability to play the game of basketball at a high level; or how much is due to his mental apathy; and how much is due to teams being able to focus so much attention on him since he's playing with some pretty ineffective teammates.
Whatever the reason, Al Jeff isn't dominating like he has in the past so Channing should be able to contain him without too much help. I would probably not be inclined to double him early in the game unless he just goes into Berserker Mode and puts up 15 points in the first quarter. Make him work for his points and don't let guys like Sessions or Brewer get open looks.
Offensively, I am going to blow your mind with this ingenious game plan:
Give the ball to Steve Nash. Watch him do his thing. Score. Repeat.
Basically, as long as the Suns wear their long underwear on the bus ride over and remember that despite their horrible record, pathetic statical output, underwhelming roster, and crazy assortment of 80's players turned coaches...
...the Timberwolves are in fact still an NBA team and their worst guys are still very capable of beating the crap out of us if we don't show up and play then
...we should be fine and get the W.
Game and other links:
- Canis Hoopus
- Suns vs Timberwolves preview
- NBA.com - Suns vs Timberwolves Preview
- Suns get big assists from coaches
Suns get big assists from coaches, Head coach Alvin Gentry is empowering his assistant coaches more this season. - About the 3-ball " Channing Frye's Blog
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" This is the first time the Suns will be facing the same team twice."
er, new orleans?
it’s ok, I understand why you would block out that 2nd game…
by Fritzy on Nov 27, 2009 11:39 AM MST reply actions 0 recs
uh....
ok…so…uh…Turkey….uh…
Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @phoenixstan
by Seth Pollack on Nov 27, 2009 11:42 AM MST reply actions 0 recs
when you wrote "turkcoma", i thought of turkoglu.
just me?
Bright Side of the Sun, where Suns basketball never looked so good.
by iamtrevorpaxton on Nov 27, 2009 5:38 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs
The mean machine (pt 1.)
I have a theory about championship teams. No matter how they are constructed, from the superhero-centric Jordan Bulls, to the Bad Boy Pistons and the Ubuntu Celtics, they all have one thing in common.
They all want to crush the opposition.
Not just beat them, but annihilate, destroy, marmalize and otherwise beat the snot out of their adversaries. And the weaker the team they’re facing, the more they want to just humiliate them.
Enter Minnesota. This is a game where we should learn how to do exactly that. Show no mercy or compassion. Because they’d do it to us if they had the chance.
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Nov 27, 2009 12:09 PM MST reply actions 0 recs
+1000
Hello. I very much agree. The only thing I really like about Michael Jordan is that as far as I can tell, he wanted to humiliate every other team. (Although his competitive rage could go too far, as shown by his nasty HOF speech.) Crush! kill! destroy! Resistance is useless!
by species8473 on Nov 27, 2009 12:22 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs
Steve Nash, the league's MVP, is a longhaired Canadian who spoke out against the war in Iraq and reads The Communist Manifesto. Quentin Richardson declared after a game-winning shot that it "was like Hamlet. It was a suspense thriller, and I killed them at the end." Amare Stoudemire, when asked to comment on a 22-point third quarter against the Kings, said, "I've got a tendency to jump over some guys' heads and throw it down."
by rsavaj on Nov 27, 2009 4:32 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs
Minnesota
I remember a couple of those losss in Minneapolis, and I seem to remember that they were the last game on a long East coast road trip, When you’ve been beat up by Boston and Detroit and had to run up and down with the Raptors and Knicks, and you are missing the 80 degrees and home cooking, Minnesota is the last place you want to be. But this time, it is the first game, and the team is in a great frame of mind. I think the Suns come out focused here, and win comfortably by 12-15 points. This is a team Amare should have his way with, and Nash should pull out all of his veteran tricks on the rookie Flynn.
April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?
by Hawk42 on Nov 27, 2009 1:28 PM MST reply actions 0 recs
Yeah, but this could be one of those games that demonstrate Stoudemire’s limitations. He has his way with the Timberwolves, but Al Jefferson seems to have his way with Stoudemire. How helpful is it to kick your opponent’s butt if he kicks yours right back?
by species8473 on Nov 27, 2009 1:45 PM MST reply actions 0 recs
very helpful
If they cancel each other out, then we are playing Richardson, Nash, Hill, and Frye against Gomes, Brewer, Flynn, and Pecherov. Wouldn’t you take that matchup?
April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?
by Hawk42 on Nov 27, 2009 2:01 PM MST reply actions 0 recs
Only against a bad team like this. Not against the Lakers, Spurs, Celtics or Cavaliers.
by species8473 on Nov 27, 2009 2:56 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs
What are we talkin about?
I’m talkin about practice. We should be running all over these dudes. Wolves dont exactly have the best D in the league. On avg, they allow 104.1 pts while we avg scoring 111.4. We should eat this team alive. But I’m talkin about practice. This is where we do the fine tuning and get that swagger for the rest of the road trip. Practice.
by KnowGood on Nov 27, 2009 2:34 PM MST reply actions 0 recs
I’m talking about other games, where Stoudemire’s history of bad defense might actually hurt the Suns. (I am trying not to bash Stoudemire’s defense, because I’ve heard that he’s actually playing some recently, but Al Jefferson has a history of making him look ridiculous.)
by species8473 on Nov 27, 2009 7:37 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs
P.S. That does not mean I consider Jefferson is better. I understand Jefferson is as bad as Stoudemire on defense.
by species8473 on Nov 27, 2009 7:38 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs
Lopez
Is there any new information on how Robin Lopez is doing? Could he be ready for the string of games against good teams? (EVen if he were ready to contribute, the team would not need his help against these bad teams.)
by species8473 on Nov 27, 2009 3:10 PM MST reply actions 0 recs
supposed to be playing tonite
April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?
by Hawk42 on Nov 27, 2009 5:08 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs
I hope to be home in time for tip off. I hope Lopez can go. I hope we win by 34.
Fanaticism is not logical
by SunDolphin on Nov 27, 2009 5:11 PM MST reply actions 0 recs
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