I wish I had an explanation for you. I don’t have any explanation, I really don’t. Not in a million...

I wish I had an explanation for you. I don’t have any explanation, I really don’t. Not in a million years would I have thought we’d come out and play that way in a game of that significance. I’d like to have some big explanation for you. The score was 46 to 47, or whatever it was, and then that was it. I wish I had something I could say, but I never would have thought we would have performed that way in a game of this magnitude.

Comments

Every game has been a must win since the all star's break.

Didn’t Gentry get the memo ; >

by magenta on Apr 5, 2009 7:08 PM MDT reply actions

I love

Nash’s attitude towards the loss. Yeah it was disappointing, who cares, I still get paid, blah blah blah.

"I didn’t even know Elvis was from Memphis, I thought he was from Tennessee."

Drew Gooden.

by Diosnomeama on Apr 5, 2009 7:13 PM MDT reply actions

I think it would have been better if we slowed things down through Shaq

Shaq’s advantage muted when it turned into a game of jump shots and fast break points. Their shots were falling and ours weren’t. I think we could have put Dragic on Kidd or someone else.

We also shouldn’t have use the zone that much because Kidd was passing through it or finding open guys.

I think, with teams like Dallas and Portland (reliance of jump shots and open shots). It would have been better if we use Shaq as the primary weapon because of their lack of interior defenders.

Just my two cents. We should have adjusted strategy.

by Azrael on Apr 5, 2009 8:07 PM MDT reply actions

but it sure feels like we got out coached out there…it’s as though gentry didn’t read the scouting report and didn’t play to the personel..there were mismatches everywhere which they got the best of, and we never adjusted…when we finally got the bench in and they got some traction, they put the starters back in and it all fell apart..

The worst part is as the game went on I was in a position of actually having to agree with JVG and MJ, and I just don’t know if I can live with myself anymore after that…

by Fritzy on Apr 5, 2009 8:29 PM MDT up reply actions

I had the same note

The Mavs came in prepared to exploit their mismatches and the Suns were totally not ready to react to Kidd in the post. Grant and Gentry said as much in the comments.

On the other end Barnes was useless and trying to make Dirk work and Shaq didn’t see the ball nearly enough.

Mostly though all that doesn’t matter. The Mavs played much harder and wanted it far more. Go figure

Blogging Suns Basketball

by Seth Pollack on Apr 5, 2009 10:31 PM MDT up reply actions

at 48-45 Mavs

Gentry sat the bench and brought back Nash and Shaq. We dropped like a stone.

April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?

by Hawk42 on Apr 5, 2009 10:56 PM MDT up reply actions

Agree - we seem to be playing fast and loose a bit too much these days...

Shaq was playing well i.e. getting shots and people fouled left and right in the beginning until the game sped up.

Zone does not work well on teams with good passers or players with good court vision

Hate to say this but Kidd outplayed Nash today on both ends of the floor and he was the better passer by far.

by magenta on Apr 5, 2009 8:17 PM MDT reply actions

JKidd must have found the foutain of youth

Oh, well. Nash was rushing shots or forcing the issue. In the same way, our starters were also doing that. Gentry should have stayed with the bench for that pivotal second quarter.

by Azrael on Apr 5, 2009 8:56 PM MDT up reply actions

Coaching, coaching, coaching

I have been increasingly uneasy about the coaching situation, but up to this point, I have been holding my peace. I have agreed for the time being with those who wanted to give Gentry a full year, blah, blah, blah.

But I have been secretly mulling over coaching directions that we can go in. Today’s game demonstrates my anxiety. When we have had a ‘must’ game in the past month, we have lost them, especially on the road. I was very irritated with Avery Johnson when he said “the Suns said this game was ‘do or die’. Well, they’s DEAD.” I wanted to punch the santimonious piece of dung, but then I realized he was right. The Suns had just quit. Like they figured, “it’s 48-45, we’re playing with them. Let’s just cruise into halftime.” Next thing you know, it’s 100-72 and Dallas has outscored us 52-27 in the middle 12 minutes. Yeah, I know we beat Utah and Houston, and don’t forget Denver. All with hoime cooking. The coach needs to focus the players. Today we get nothing out of Barnes and Richardson. Those are notoriously difficult players to get playing the team game.

Options

Rehire Gentry
Hire a retread – Avery Johnson, Flip Saunders, etc.

or (my personal favorite) hire a college coach, who, if he wins Monday will have no more college mountains to climb. I am speaking of Tom Izzo.

I’m sure many of you will jump on me and say how this would never work, he wouldn’t come, college coaches never work, etc. But I say that while they often do not work, the Suns have a pretty good record in that regard, having plucked Cotton Fitzsimmons and John McLeod from the college ranks.

if Alvin couldn’t get them all on the same page in a game they had to win, maybe he is not the guy. Rick Carlisle is the reason the Mavs are firmly in 8th position and not in trhe lottery. Our talent is better, even without Amare.

I’m just sayin…

April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?

by Hawk42 on Apr 5, 2009 10:54 PM MDT reply actions

You may be right.

I’ve been on the Gentry bandwagon, but he may be better served as an assistant for us. If we do bring someone new in (i hope to god not Avery), I still think that we should be a run-n-gun team.

Another option could be to keep Gentry as the head coach and bring in a defensive minded (tom thibodeau type) to build our defensive schemes. I know this didn’t work in the past asking D’Antoni to do this, and I was against it then, but I think that Gentry may be more open to it. As long as we can get our defense under control, we can compete with anyone.

by brian13 on Apr 5, 2009 11:47 PM MDT up reply actions

Izzo not a good idea

In the modern era (i.e after the Bird/Magic draft), not a single college coach has successfully made the transition to the NBA. Not one. Cotton & McLeod both made the transition in a simpler era, i.e the 70’s..

Pitino, Calipari, Tim Floyd, Tim Turkasian all crashed and burned spectacularly in the NBA (although Pitino did have a good year as the Knicks coach, back in the day).

If you really want a left field head coach candidate, then go for someone like Rick Barry or Kareem Abdul Jabbar. Otherwise, you need to give Alvin a full preseason to make his stand.

"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".

by Pliny the Elder on Apr 6, 2009 1:53 AM MDT up reply actions