Suns unhinged by Jazz loss, can't beat worst team in the league
by Seth Pollack on Mar 29, 2009 8:34 PM MST
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it's just "fan appreciation" time for the remaining games...
also, is this the first time since shaq and steve nash miss the playoff since their rookie years?
Yup bye playoffs...
only scenario that we can get in is if Dallas goes 4-5 Win- lose rest of the way. Might be possible as they have i think 5 games vs Houston/ New Orleans/ Jazz and Suns. But we also have to go 7-1 (is my math right??) which is looking farfetched since we cant even beat Sacramento. Suns had a chance vs Jazz in the last seconds and should have won this one – we should only be 1.5 games behind with the Dallas game coming up!!!
Damn this is the most frustrating season as far as i can recall!
This is the most frustrating season I can remember. Even during the dark days (aka the Starbury, Hardaway, Kidd years), I just didn’t give a crap, so it wasn’t that frustrating.
Eh those days weren't even that dark to be honest
We had some nice playoff battles. Only year that was truly depressing was 03/04’s 29-53 campaign, but even that became fun after we unloaded Starbury/Penny. Rookie Barbosa had some great games, Amare was beasting, Joe Johnson was coming into his own….that was a fun team.
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."
Even the Kidd years were kinda fun
As lethargic as the Suns (the league overall) were in the mid/late 90s, I thought the team had some lovable players: Rex Chapman!! (streaky-as-hell but had no shame launching 3s), pre-injury Antonio McDyess (for one season, before he bolted back to Denver), hell Michael Finley (a sleeper-ish draft pick, and we got Kidd for him and started the “dark days”).
Even post-KJ, Thunder Dan, Nash 0.5, and pre-JJ, Amare, Barbosa, Nash 2.0 etc. we had a lovable team (bridging the two, we, of course, had the always multitasking and dependable Shawn Marion).
Back to the present, I do hope Gentry stays on for at least a full season. As thankless as it is, he seems willing to be “the transitional coach” and he’s doing a great job.
the talent on this team makes their sub-par performance infuriating. just no collective focus or chemistry. and i really thought they would be better without Stat. of course, I think that it just shows how much we miss Barbosa.
We're officially tanking
I refuse to believe that we were massacred by the Sactown Queens., which had already lost Brad Miller and John Salmons in exchange for a way overrated Andre Noicioni. It wasn’t even that close a game, with the Suns hardly ever leading and hardly ever fighting. Getting thrashed by Sacramento is evidence of tanking.
Leading by 7 with 2 minutes to go, leading by 4 with about half a minute. It’s a one possession game and Barnes makes the most insane turnover ever. For someone who likes the ball so much he really cemented his place as My-least-favourite-Sun. It’s a love-hate relationship with Amare, and even Nash, but Barnes is really making the all-suck team.
Cavaliers thrashed Mavericks by like 60 points and this is how we capitalise. Really shows the heart, passion, and determination of some players.
Saw the box score on Yahoo!
Yikes, sorry peeps. Seems like the Suns are in EPIC FAIL mode right now. Turrrible.
I'm the other guy at Third Quarter Collapse, with a Twitter account.
Mannerisms of a young Bobby DeNiro, spent spanish wisdoms/in a whip with dinero, crime organized like the pharoah/I cream, I diamond gleam/High post like Hakeem, got a lot of things to drop/Brooklyn to Queens, I gotta keep my steam - Jay-Z
Kept on holding out some hope, but....
I guess I was just too naive. Time to blow things up and build a new version of the Suns.
God how i hate this friggen season.
"Yeah I could have been king, but maybe I already am king. Hail to the king baby." Ash from Army of Darkness
This team has no heart...
Maybe Kerr and Sarver sold it and a draft pick for 3 mill cash.
by Gorilla Game on Mar 29, 2009 10:29 PM MST reply actions 1 recs
Your situation is somewhat similar to the Spurs
a few years back. Injuries derail your chance of making the playoffs (David Robinson), get a good draft pick, and you’re right back in the playoff mix.
As a Blazer fan, part of me hopes not, but as a fan of basketball in general, I would love to see the Suns back in the playoffs next year. Your team is too dang fun to watch.
Tweet me!
A "good" draft pick ?
Yeah… because Tim Duncans are easy to come by. . .
Superman wears Manu Ginobili pajamas to bed.
you don't need a duncan
you need a replacement for nash whom Steve can tutor for the next year or so and then hand the reigns of the team over. A solid point guard + Amare and the rest of your guys and you are a playoff team again.
Tweet me!
by prezofdeath on Mar 30, 2009 10:13 PM MST up reply actions
I get the feeling
we won’t be fun for too much longer.
"I can shoot with my left hand, I can shoot with my right hand, I'm amphibious"
a long time ago in a galaxy far far away...
It is a period of pre-playoffs race.
Tanking teams, striking
from California, have won
their first victory against
the formerly great and loveable Phoenix Suns.
During the battle, Sacramento
players managed to steal all hope
of Suns fans to get into the NBAs
ultimate competition, the 08/09 NBA
PLAYOFFS, a fantastic basketball
event with enough power
to destroy an entire planet.
Trainling the Empire’s
sinister agents, the DALLAS MAVERICKS
The Suns race home aboard their
starship, custodians of the
little hope that could have save their
fans and restored
freedom to the galaxy….
:((((((((((((((
Once upon a time the Suns got out on the break... and along came Steve sucKerr
bye
Bye playoffs, maybe I’ll see you next year.
Oh hi, Lottery, how kind of you to show up.
with the suns luck
remember the hawks pick last season…
we’d end up getting the lowest pick possible,,,,the toughest part about this year is not knowing what we have…with amare out…and with “amare”….honestly…I don’t know what we would’ve been like with him, yeah, amare can score, but he’s a weakness on defense just like nash and some others…i personally think hill has been the star of this team the last 20+ games, with shaq being right there also….If our 2-3 best players are 35-40 yrs old, we’re a dying team…I’m not sure how next yr will be much better…I hope it is…but honestly, I’d blow this team up…I’d keep amare (just because we likely wouldn’t get much for him), barbosa, dudley, amundson, hill and shaq and trade the rest…especially barnes…on nash, yes, he’s a nice guy and a good player, but he isn’t around the same run n gun team that helped make him look so good
I was against
blowing up the team initially, because I thought they could make a strong push for the playoffs this year, which I thought was a worthwhile, if ultimately futile, goal. Instead they have given us just enough flashes of brilliance to keep us hoping. I’m starting to feel like Charlie Brown with the damn football. For now, I’m willing to stick around for some losing seasons for the sake of rebuilding, but only if I see some vision and thoughtful planning from management. Right now it’s the blind leading the blind, and with that in mind, it’s hard to even have hope for the future. I really, really hope they do something to change my mind.
"I can shoot with my left hand, I can shoot with my right hand, I'm amphibious"
It will be interesting to see what the Sun's could
do with this team coming back fully intact. Humbled by what has happened and HUNGRY with the additin of a lottery pick.
Also, with the same coach for the entire season. They are most certainly a playoff team and one that could still do damage in the playoffs.
Perhaps it is time to blow it all up and start fresh. That is always a tough call.
In all reality.
This thing never got started. We played 3 different starts to a season this year.
2 things can happen now.
1. We keep Gentry and get some defensive minded coaches behind him. We make no more than 1 major move over the summer in an attempt to the stay the same but improve.
2. We blow up the entire thing. We will need to do something NASH AND SHAQ in order to make a difference if we are going to change directions and commit to another style. Other wise next year will be a flop as well.
The Sun will rise as long as the Earth keeps spinning… And last time I checked it is still spinning.
" I'm going to root for the Suns when they are winning or losing, but when losing I will point and blame the failing economy on the Referees."- Me.
I definitely agree with the “Charlie Brown and the damn football” comment. There are too many what ifs … “What if they had Gentry for a full season?” “What is Stoudemire weren’t out?” “What if Barbosa weren’t out?” You know, I’m tired of the tease. So what if they had those guys? Do we REALLY think we’d beat the Lakers, the Cavaliers, the Spurs, the Celtics, or even the Magic over a seven game series? I don’t think so, anyway.
This summer, the Suns need to decide what the next phase of the Suns will be. What will be their identity? Either way, I think they need to unload Shaq and Nash no matter what. Neither fits into the future of this team, regardless of their style of play.
There appear to still be at least a handful of masochistic fans who want to torture themselves with keeping a terminal patient on life support, but I’m officially putting in the DNR order.
Yep.
That about sums it up for me.
"I can shoot with my left hand, I can shoot with my right hand, I'm amphibious"
Here's a personal favorite of mine that works as well.
"I can shoot with my left hand, I can shoot with my right hand, I'm amphibious"
And this makes me feel even worse for Porter.
"I can shoot with my left hand, I can shoot with my right hand, I'm amphibious"
Just replace
“Ginger” with anyone on the team(except Grant Hill) and “stay out of the garbage” with "play defense.
"I can shoot with my left hand, I can shoot with my right hand, I'm amphibious"
I have a large problem with the concept that Gentry should be allowed to coach basketball. Yesterday, we were playing 4 in 5 after overtime. The only good development this year was the young players like Dudley and Amundson. Amundson played 8.46 minutes. Dudley played 26.35. Richardson who has no more idea how to defend than he undersons relativity theory played over 40 minutes. Richardson should have played 20 minutes tops mostly in the second half after the players with functional brains were allowed to destroy the Kings. That would involved not giving them unlimited layups and open shots. The responsibility here is not on Richardson who simply is what he is but on Kerr and Gentry.
Gentry wants to be a players coach. To him that means catering to over the hill clowns who never play defense. if the Suns are ever going to amount to anything he has to go. Give him a job shaking hands with guests where he can do limited harm. Do not defend policies that are simply absurd. Do not talk about trades that are silly and one sided. Nash probably will be gone. Kerr being what he is never bothered to get a reasonable backup point guard which of course Boris would have been perfect for.
i am not sure how long we are stuck with Kerr but not buying tickets until they improve the product might help
I don’t blame Gentry for playing Richardson. The guy’s been known to score 17 points in a quarter and make some excellent, athletic hustle plays (at times). He had a few chances to pull the game closer with a few wide open threes, but he simply missed them. I’ll agree his basketball IQ isn’t that hot. If he had Hill’s brain we’d really be onto something.
But with Barbosa injured, what are the other “better” options to play alongside Nash?
At this point I think our starters other than Hill and at times Nash and Shaq are is big of a problem as anything. Gentry’s doing the best he can with what he has.
I think the real question is where would we be with Amare right now? Dudley and Amundson have played as good as they can in his place. But would Amare have turned into the beast or would he have continued his disinterested play combined with his “say all the right things to the media” BS?
The Starters Are the Problem
Really. They are. The bench has played about as well as we could’ve hoped. I think most teams in the league would be thrilled with the Suns’ rotations players (not to mention Barbosa).
Mmmmm ... Guinness
+1
At this point I am just enjoying some baileys for the remainder of the season and I cannot wait for football to start.
by Gorilla Game on Mar 30, 2009 10:28 PM MST up reply actions
Amare
Don’t think he would’ve helped much even if he had his gorilla game on for the rest of the season. The Suns didn’t really need more offense and I don’t think he really helps with the many fundamental weaknesses they have on defense (aka Nash and Shaq vs. pick and roll).
If it gets blown up
Say for instance we decide to dump the century players (Hill, Nash, Shaq) IMO we should at least put Nash and Hill in situations where they can contend if they are traded. I mean if Nash is a free agent, someone will most likely offer him a midlevel exception, even though he lacks certain defensive abilities. If Hill stays that will rule, but Shaq and Nash should go. It pains me to give up on Steve being in Phoenix, but as everyone says he’s not a part of the future of this team. So I guess my biggest beef is if it gets blown up, the century guys should be put on a team where they have a chance. Once again this is just all my Canadian opinion.
damn, and I was really hoping..
…that the Dallas game that I’m going to would actually mean something. Oh well!
for us young fans, we have time to stay loyal and follow the team, and watch it (hopefully) rise again.
Go Suns!
Sorry guys
From a long time Blazers fan.
Guess Shaq should have changed his mind about wanting to be Oden’s mentor at the trade deadline.
You pulled the trigger Kevin. Now you & Mr. Allen must do everything possible to help him succeed. A mentor like Ewing or Olajuwon would be a good start. A franchise PG ? Mike Conley? Lets get it done !
Positive Vibes For Oden
Thanks,
But we have been dealing with heartbreak since the 1970s….
TO THE NBA - " Yeah, you have created a rift within me ; Now there have been ; several complications ; that have left me feeling nothing ; I might say, you were ; wrong to take it from me ; Left me feeling nothing " - Disturbed, "Numb"
"Game Over" sums it up brilliantly.
Tough finish; that 6-0 run had a whole bunch of teams sweating…
The Portland blowout followed by the Utah heartbreaker is what ended it — the Sacramento loss just the byproduct.
I think a major rebuild is coming. It will be interesting.
Pontiff of the Pryz for Prez Posse...
I'm so down
All I can think of is that we are going to miss the playoffs. The most exciting time of the year for me. Not anymore..
"Basketball doesn't build character. It reveals it"
And the Suns
got rid of Terry Porter, why again? Talk about throwing a good guy under the bus …
Open invitation: all you who are self-proclaimed ping pong experts. If you think you can beat me - or if you just want to see how it's really played: cdd37@yahoo.com. This means you, too, Jerryd.
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