Suns Start Fast, Sneak by Kings, 113-109

scored in the first quarter.

is the reason why he should not be worth the max contract. A star player from any team should always show consistency in effort. The consistency that Nash and Lou has.

But who really cares anyway?

i think this is a question that deserves close attention

He made a handful of really terrible decisions and shots that sort of us in a situation where we needed him to be clutch. Also, our defense in the late third/first half of the fourth was really pissing me off. I couldn’t believe how many times I’d see four Suns players gathered in the paint and then a Kings player would just take a midrange jump shot without anyone bothering to come out and attempt defense. Also, I saw a couple of rebounds where there were 3 or 4 Suns players in the paint and not a single one went for it. They all just sat there and waited for the ball to bounce to them, and of course it didn’t. The effort disgusted me at times, but at least they won.

but the problem with this game was turnovers. 18 of them.

I was actually very impressed with the late game play. They outworked the Kings on many occasions to come up with loose balls. Amare and JRich especially.

I am going to re-watch the 2nd half today, but I think that Brockman used his bulk to push Amare around in the paint (he’s much bigger and stronger).

Amare said post game that he needed to take advantage of Brockman on the other end and late in the quarter he did. Amare had 24/8 with 3 steals and 2 blocks. I don’t think you can put this game on him.

LB’s turnovers were huge along w/ his missed shots and Hill was 3/10 and continues to slide offensively. Someone else needed to step up at some point besides Nash and Amare. JRich and Frye played well but besides that…not much.

I agree with playing Hill less and LB more. Try this starting lineup:
Nash, LB, Richardson, Stat, and Frye

You would think we would lose alot in the rebounding department with J-Rich at the 3 instead of Hill but his rebound rate is only about 1% less and that is when he plays further from the basket than Hill most of the time.

You have to get your best guys on the court. The only problem here is that you don’t have that bench scorer that every team would like.

is that he will be useless when his shots doesn’t go in. He’ll even take ill-advised shot. While J-Rich, in his off night, will try to produce on the other end. What we need is someone who has that same mentality.

It is interesting that Amare supposedly “disappears.” Now, I didnt see the game, I only heard it, but my take was that the ball wasn’t getting to him and thats why he cooled down. Perhaps I am wrong. But it doesn’t seem to be an issue that stems primarily from him so much as other factors in the game. He did come back a bit but really it was only because they started giving him the ball. As for his rebouding disappearing, that is a different matter and definitely needs to get better.

I like the idea of having LB play more but not starting him. I think you bring him in to spell Hill and play him with Nash and the starters. That gets him warmed up and builds his confidence. Then you bring in the bench players and have LB already warm and ready to go for the rest of the period.

that Emir Preldzic is still listed in BSOTS’s roster page. Wasn’t his rights traded to the Cavs?

The problem with continuing to go to one player is that it doesn’t get others involved. Perhaps Amare didn’t get the ball as much as he should have. My point wasn’t so much to fault him, (I did question why as opposed to simply blaming him), but I also remarked that he reappeared to hit some key buckets and free throws down the stretch. He reappeared when the Suns truly needed him, and the Suns won, which is all that really mattered.

Another thing, which I failed to mention in the recap, was that the Kings were getting their hands on a lot of passes. Sometimes it resulted in turnovers, other times they tipped a pass out of bounds. I think it was a combination of the Kings speed and anticipation as well as the Suns telegraphing passes and or their offense possibly being predictable.

Yes Nash had 7 turnovers, but going up against Tyreke is no easy task. He’s got about 20 pounds on Nash and is a beast of a PG-he’s quick, has a great wingspan, overall a quality defender.

they start a SG who’s 6’11".

That had to be the biggest line up we’ve seen all year. Wow.

We could use that guy. Obviously Sacramento is watching the UW basketball program closely.

Please people, let’s not start the LB talk again. especially now when this poor kid is fighting injuries and poor play.

again i stress, who cares who starts (with the exception of Nash and Amare?) if Hill starts, plays 2-4 minutes then gives way to Dudley, does it really matter that he was there for the opening tip? What matters is who is playing at the right time-matchups dictate, the flow of the game dictates, players performance dictates.

As an example, the Suns were fading in the 4th with Dragic and the bench out there. LB was killing us as well. With 9 minutes left Gentry put Nash and Amare back in. The situation necessitated Nash’s offense and playmaking. At that point, forget the rotation, forget the game plan, the game is on the line.

We have links, fan shots, stories etc. on this site that we can all visit if we want to where the LB starting things has been beaten to death. i urge one and all interested to use the search feature and check out everyone’s thoughts…