Suns beat down depleted Clippers...again

To whip the same team two games in a row. Yeah, I know this team could turn around and lay an egg on Friday, but can’t we enjoy the wins without all the doom and gloom on a daily basis?

…when you said you tended to be pessimistic and sarcastic, you weren’t kidding. But I understand where you’re coming from…let’s wait until after the Suns play the C’s to see how legit they are…

but the attitude they played with over the last two days. They look more relaxed, confident, and just like they are having fun. Sure they haven’t faced a real test yet but just taking the reigns off this team has completely changed the mental makeup of the players.

… is you just have to enjoy the ride. Just think of it as Six Flags – US Airways Center Edition.

I bet the beat Oklahoma City too!

Boston? We’ll see about that one.

let’s see how the next 10 games go and then talk about the Suns being back…
Lakers twice. SA. Boston. Magic. Rockets. Even the Bobcats.

Or win by five or something. I’d hate to see the tone of these posts then.

I get some of your points, Stan, but the schedule is out of the team’s control. I’m much more pleased to see them stomp the hell out of a terrible team (twice) than what happened earlier in the year with almost losing to the Thunder (twice). Sure, there’s all kinds of potential for this momentary glimmer of hope to come crashing down horribly, but after the past few weeks with this damn franchise, I don’t begrudge anyone enjoying these past two games.

Does it seem like the players quit on Porter? Absolutely. Is that the most professional thing in the world? Absolutely not, and some of the blame should rightly be pointed in their direction. But when the FO can’t decide what the direction of the team is (going to a defensive focus but trading away the best individual defenders we had), it’s awfully hard for players to buy into the concept.

Grant hill shouldn’t be starting in back to back games. His age really shows when he loses his legs.

Watch – I can pull of a BSOTS post
Okay, okay, our team looked like it had fun, and played exactly how you would want it to against a bad team – but it’s really just the worst thing ever.
Amare went for 42 and 11 – doesn’t he realize that those two numbers don’t divide evenly? He should have gotten 42 and 14. What a slacker. I can’t stand his lack of effort.
What was with Goran Dragic’s hair? Who the hell does he think he is? He may have limited the turnovers and played well offensively, but that means NOTHING. Face it, suns fans, with this guy’s haircut, we are doomed!
You all realize that this team actually sucks, right? We are not going to win another game. Ever. I bet the Phoenix Mercury could beat this team.
For the next contest we’ll be handing out Steve Kerr vodoo dolls.

I KNOW it was the Clippers (even more, the Clippers 16th and 17th men) but why not, just for a few minutes tell us that the team actually played well? Look: NBA teams are good. really good. it’s no wonder that they keep quarters close, and they even win ore or two. they are professional players, and probably every one of them is better at basketball than all the fans on this site combined. nevertheless: the fact that the Suns are better clearly showed in both this game, and the last one. and yes, no defense once again but we outscored them like hell. I know I know. we can’t do that against the Sterns or the Fakers. But why worry about that now??? Why don’t we enjoy the win? and why no mention of Amar’e getting 11 rebounds? I’m assuming if he has a bad game, that is worth writing, but if he has a good game, that’s, well, natural? This is not how you used to do it, come on, show some love. Fans love SSOL and scoring and stuff. We were all pissed off with Phil Jaxon for the zone defense in the ASG. because we want scoring and fun as well as winning. So: chill a bit, enjoy the win, and worry about defense when we have a really tough opponent in a game, and we cannot outscore them. GO SUNS! (this was not, by any means been intended as a personal attack on you)

but it’s been bugging me for a while. Why didn’t anybody stand up for Amundson after he got decked by Randolph? I can understand wanting to avoid suspensions and such, but I remember a few months back when Alston and Barnes got into it and Shaq shoved T-mac on his ass when he knocked Nash down. You shouldn’t be selective about which teammate you stand up for. Amundson may not be the next coming of Michael Jordan, but he plays his ass off and deserves a bit more than that.

I understand where you are coming from. You can nitpick all you want. But what do you wxpect? 142-75? Give them a break. So Thornton got hot. Which would you rather have, Amare score his pedestriam 18 and 7, and the Suns win an uninspired game against a depleted team, or the Suns blow out a team by 23 and Amare outscores his man 42-33 and outrebounds him 11-3?

This was the kind of game the Porter Suns lose. Remember the second Golden State game? I say it is progress. I believe the team can beat Boston, and it can beat LA. What we’re waiting to see, is if they can mentally pull it off. Sure, there were lapses of concentration in these two games. I have never seen a team put the hammer sown allseason except the 1996 Bulls, but I’d settle for 75%. Porter was getting effort about one game in four.

I honestly don’t fault any Suns players for rebelling against a system they didn’t think would work. Is it somewhat childish, absolutely. It’s incredibly stubborn. BUT, their livelihood depends on playing for a team where they will thrive. It’s the same for any professional athlete.

As fans, we should just want the team to win. We don’t have an obligation to be patient about it. Same for the players. We don’t know exactly how Porter handled himself in practice, but from what we’ve seen at games, he certainly seems much less vocal than either Gentry or obviously D’Antoni. Maybe that is what got to the players, not enough energy. Who knows.

 But, at the end of the day, if nearly universally respected NBA professionals like Steve Nash rebelled against Porter’s system, then come on, there probably needed to be some change.

I don’t get that comment. Nobody is talking down the Clippers, were are happy that the team won. That’s all.

Yeah, it’s the Clippers. We know that already. But they could have laid an egg tonight and instead they kept pushing. To me, that’s a huge upgrade. I’m not jumping on the bandwagon here and I’m well aware that this team needs some serious work if they want to be contenders.

I don’t know that I understand this “rolling over” bit.

We know:

1) The Suns are not, under any coach, one of the top teams in the league because they simply do not have the personnel to be an effective defensive squad.
2) The Suns were playing in a style of offense that clearly did not suit their personnel.
3) The Suns front office was openly shopping at least two of its stars, which never adds much to team chemistry
4) The Suns clearly did not take to Terry Porter.

If you put all this together, you have an above average team playing in pretty lousy circumstances. So going 15-13 over a twenty-eight game stretch doesn’t seem like rolling over. It seems pretty much on par.

The Suns have now fixed problems 2-4. They’re happier that they’re not being shopped, under a coach they prefer, and playing in a style of offense that suits them. Add to that all of their very old players just got an extended break. Add to that they were playing a lousy team. And they play better.

You seem to be saying that shopping team leaders, playing in a mismatched offense and for a coach that cannot command the respect and attention of the team (which is the head coach’s only job; if the players are just supposed to give it, I could coach an NBA team), shouldn’t effect team performance. And that’s seems off. These things matter. That’s why teams change head coaches.

I agree, in essence, with this blog (i.e. “the real test has not come yet”), but we were complaining before that Porter was stuck with a team that was meant for offense, not defense, and now we’re complaining that we’re switching to an offense that utilizes this team’s talents? I think this was the best move the Suns could make to save THIS season. In a way, this blog sums up why the Suns are in such a tough position: they aren’t a “success” unless they’re winning a championship. The fans aren’t allowed to just have fun watching basketball in Arizona anymore. These past two games were fun to watch, and the players were obviously having fun, so let’s just enjoy that.

Now, I sincerely doubt anyone on this team, the players or management, thinks this is how the team will go forward after the off-season. It would be pretty difficult to pull off a roster switch at the trade deadline. Rebuilding your roster happens in the offseason when there’s no deadline you’re up against. The Suns would have still traded Stoudemire (and may still do it) if the right offer comes around, but we all admitted that none of the offers were really worth trading him for. So, what to do instead? Make the most of the remainder of the season, playing a way these guys were built to play.

The only complaint I have, and it’s a minor one, was leaving Amare in for a shot at scoring 50. If the Suns were leading their division and had their playoff slot all but assured, then I’d be fine with it, other than it showing a little bad sportsmanship. Allowing players to meet little challenges like this is part of the fun. However, when the Suns are sitting on the outside looking in the risk of injury to Amare (or a repeat of the Knicks-Nuggets fiasco from a couple of years ago) is too great. Also, it kind of sends the wrong message for what this team should be hearing right now (i.e., what matters is winning, not who scores the most, gets the most touches, etc). I understand Gentry probably didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot with Amare by yanking him when he was so close to having his 50, but IMO that could be smoothed over with something like, “Amare, everyone who saw this game knows you would have easily had 50 if we’d left you in there, but you are simply too important to this team for us to risk you getting hurt when the team is leading by 30. Play this way against the Celtics on Sunday and we’ll leave you in for as long as it takes.”

That said, this is a very minor nitpick. Clippers or not, back-to-back 140 games is something you just don’t see every day. And the fact the Clippers put up more of a fight in front of their home crowd the day after being utterly and completely embarrassed on the road is about as surprising as Shaq putting on a show at the All-Star game.

Also, who cares about what Shaq thinks? He was brought here to help the Suns have an inside-out game, in addition to the running game. Yeah, he’s not pulling 20/12 stats in the 20 minutes Gentry has been playing him a night, but he’s getting a respective 15/7 line in limited minutes. Gentry has done a good job of running when the opponent’s play falls apart or they get a stop, usually with Shaq rebounding and outletting, but then when a play is dead, they can work on getting the ball to Shaq in the post. He appears to be handling the running fine.

Gentry has used the schedule to his advantage, in right away, rotating in players that were nearly glued to the bench under Porter, and getting their confidence going. The fact that Dragic has been playing 20 minutes a night and NOT losing the lead is encouraging. He likely won’t get 20 minutes against the Lakers and Celtics, but if he does see the court, he won’t shrivel up like a little girl afraid of punishment for his mistakes. Gentry is smartly using weak competition to tweak some of the things we’ve ALL admitted were Porter problems, particularly using the bench and having poor rotations.

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/suns/articles/2009/02/18/20090218sunsclippers0219.html

“No NBA team had scored 140 in back-to-back games since 1990, when the Portland Trail Blazers did it with Terry Porter, the coach the Suns fired Sunday.”

My ultimate stance on the Suns is that they should NOT prolong this thing. The window for the run and gun Suns is closed. However, do you break things up just for the crap of it? Nope. We all basically agreed that the trades on the table for Amare were underwhelming. Maybe a great one will still pop up. If so, I do hope Kerr acts on it, because ultimately, I don’t think Amare is the right piece going forward. They’ll work on rebuilding a bit later.

I think at this juncture, the question is, for me as a fan, how do I approach the remainder of the season, knowing that the Suns’ window is closed? Would I rather watch the Suns continue to toil in a system that obviously none of the players want to play in (their attitude problems are part of why I think the team should start rebuilding), and will likely miss the playoffs trying to master? Or would I rather watch the players have fun and perhaps win a few more regular season games? Either way, I know they’re not winning the championship. No way this team gets through the Lakers, Celtics, Cavs, Spurs, Trailblazers, etc.

So, I can be miserable watching a miserable team, or I can have fun watching a fun team. I choose the latter.

I will start getting really upset if management continues the charade, though, and doesn’t start rebuilding this off-season.

Someone, maybe Tom Leander, had pointed out that what you don’t see now, is everyone on the team looking over to the sideline on offense, to find out what play they’re running. There is no leesh on this offense. And it’s clearly become more efficient because of that. Less Turnovers, more possessions.

And if you want to get annoyed by a few defensive lapses, where guys are left wide open for a 3 on a fast break, then fine. But keep in mind that that’s basketball. I see it in every game with every team. Last night for example, i watched the Lakers leave Steve Jackson wide open for a 3. It’s when you play defense that matters.

I don’t find it childish or unprofessional to be completed un-motivated by a leader that you just can’t stand. I think it’s human nature. What Porter did was not working. Our team was confused and uncoordinated. I think he was just a bad coach, at least on the offensive end. Maybe not creative enough. The point is, when your boss sucks, you’re not gonna want to work hard for him

That’s how I think the majority of us feel.