Thunder Struck Suns "Not Tough Enough"

The way our team is made up we know we have to shoot to win because were not a good/ decent defensive team and the other teams in the league has figured us out after our hot start. It will be great to have LB back because it will maybe take the pressure off our second team when he is in.

I personally think we need a starting line-up change and the player I vote to move is C FRYE, (I don’t hate the guy I would like him to finish his career with us) because even if he spaces the floor and knock down 3’s we need some kind of defensive presence in the middle to set some kind of defensive presence because we all know we have some kind of offensive presence. Maybe we can work Frye into rotation end of the first quarter or start of second quarter
SAS are starting D Blair last couple of games I think we should give Collins or Lopez the start at Centre. Collins is a 10year + plus pro it wont hurt if he starts the first 4 mins of the game or we can start Lopez and see his development or see him rack up the fouls.

We all knew Durant was going to score 25+points I am sure if we kept him under 20 coach would have gone we did a good job on him defensively, he probably would have had a bad shooting night if we kept him under 20, but I think this kid can ball maybe we could have thrown Clark on him I personally don’t know Clarks game but you guys keep going he is a better defensive player than he is a offensive player so lets tell him to just play defence and not worry about his offence and see what he can do.

Lastly coach G (who I love) needs to adapt a lot his line up, half court sets, defensive assignments if we are going to go far in the next couple of years.
 I think our team will be 4th to 8th seed sneak into second round of playoffs and get knocked out.

missing the scouring punches of LB and Richardson. I hope LB comes back with some fire. As for Richardson… he did this same thing last season. I wasn’t a fan then and I’m still not.

Anyone noticed what’s been happening to our small forward position the last couple weeks? Grant and JD (2 players I like and respect) are KILLING US..Last night they were outscored 38-5(combined 5pts between the 2 of them.) You can throw JRich in and make it all the wing players, but I don’t want to kill the guy because its obvious he’s playing through some serious wrist issues (although that foul he made on Durant was THE TURNING POINT in the last 2 minutes.) Of course, some people still want to blame Amare, who along with Nash, CARRIED those other 3 guys all night…

I actually think the crowds this year have been responsive, supportive, and in close games, loud. Not Boston loud, but pretty good for early-season-Phoenix. As an earlier post pointed out, the home team can sometimes take it’s own crowd out of the game. Down the stretch the crowd was into it, because the team was playing better…

As much as I like Steve Nash’s ability, his whining is insufferable. I go to every game and scream my lungs out for these players. I give all that I got—my $$ to go to the game, $$ to buy jerseys/shirts, my efforts and to read that one of the many excuses that he is offering for the loss to the Thunder is that he could not tell if there were 3 people in the crowd or 20,000 PISSES me off. Truth be told is that the crowd could not tell if our players give a damn or not.
Stupid shots, stupid passes, weak rebounding, and weak on-ball defense. These actions are not crowd induced, 100% is controlled by the players.

At the Cleveland game, Ced Ceballos gets us going mid way in the 4th quarter to “get up on your feet and make some noise”. The crowd responded only to see the Suns go on a 17-2 meltdown. The lack of energy/caring/toughness is not the crowd’s fault and for Nash to even blame us in a small way is an insult to us all. When will the Suns grow some balls??

Of course, I care if the Suns win or lose, but, at a minimum, win or lose I expect to see effort; not a bunch of lackadaisical players playing the blame game. They blame travel to the East Coast and back-to-backs as a reason that they lose. Yet, they lose at home to 2 teams that had to travel and also were playing back-to-backs.

Nash can say what he wants, but the loss to the Thunder was 100% fault of the players. If he wants the crowd to rally around the team, then let’s see some effort by the players. Win or lose, we deserve to see effort.

To “Wil Cantrell”: I agree 100% with your assessment about the Suns’ mix of fans and the corporate suites; however, our population base is what it is and has been that way for years. It is similar with the AZ Cardinals. Go to the Super Bowl and they have a hard time selling out their home games. Go figure.

I also think that the fans’ lackadaisical approach to the games is, in part, due to the lack of performance by the team. For the past 5-6 years, the Suns have been one of the best and most exciting teams to watch in the NBA, but come “crunch time”, they normally don’t deliver and everyone leaves disappointed, and think, “what if only they did this or that” or “what the hell was that”. We want to believe, but have been disappointed time and again, and, for most fans, it is hard to keep the faith They have a hard time closing out quarters and halves, so it is not totally unexpected that they have a hard time closing out games.

IMO, this is due to lack of attention to detail and fundamentals. They are so used to running and gunning that they have a hard time making the transition to hard nose basketball. To me this is difficult to accept since there is so much experience on the team. Nash and Hill are sages of basketball and Amare and J-Rich have been around long enough to do the things they should do and quit doing the things that they shouldn’t do. But, they make the same mistakes over and over. Great teams execute when they have to and want-to-be teams don’t. As much as it hurts to say it, the Suns are not a great team. Nevertheless, I am sure that if they play hard for 48" and give 100% all of the time, the crowd would respect that. Look at Lou. Not exactly the smoothest player and makes his share of mistakes, but the crowd is solidly behind him because his failings are not from lack of effort.

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

The Suns and the Golden State Warriors are the two worst defensive rebounding teams in the NBA. This has been true pretty much all season long.

At this point, it’ s not about toughness, it’s about lack of talent. The Suns are a horrid defensive rebounding team, and that will not change as long as the roster stays the same.

A chihuahua can be a tough little dog. But in a fight with a pit bull, the chihuahua doesn’t have a chance. The Suns need some big dogs on the roster if they hope to be a better rebounding team. Until then, what you see is what you will get, game after game ater game.

I agree with Pliny the elder. Gentry seems to have backtracked from giving the young guys more time since they make mistakes; however, Amare gets his time even though his turnover ratio is atrocious. Whether he has bad hands, goggles are hindering him, or timing is off, Amare’s turnovers are killing us. It is not about how many points or rebounds you get; it is about that and preventing offensive rebounds/holding onto the balls/and playing solid D.

Gentry acts like he is just realizing that our lack of rebounding and inside play is hurting us. Teams are licking their chops going up against Amare/Frye/Hill (Dudley). All are good players, but are not tough rebounders. Rarely do you see an opposing player on the floor unless they are tying up an Amare ill advised dribble.

The Suns play soft and the team leadership is soft. Like I posted before, win or lose I would love to see some more effort, that extra ounce of heart.