Phoenix Suns Limp to Finish Line Against Minnesota Timberwolves, 111-105
by Wil Cantrell on Mar 28, 2010 9:21 PM MDT
in Phoenix Suns: Game Coverage
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"When you play down to a weak team, bad things happen."
-The Wise and Infamous, Eddie Johnson
Tonight your Phoenix Suns got a huge dose of life without Robin Lopez, as they barely hung on to defeat the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves, 111-105.
And life without Lopez tonight wasn't pretty. At all. To illustrate, Kevin Love and Al Jefferson teamed for 38 rebounds, which was only 3 less than the whole Suns team total of 41. Ugly. Even uglier was the Wolves pulling down 20 offensive rebounds, converting them into 30 second chance points. Ugly.
The Suns began the first quarter looking a bit disinterested, missing shots, committing unnecessary turnovers and fouls and otherwise looking like their December/January selves. After starting off 1-10 from the field, the Suns recovered to decency closing out the quarter clinging to a 26-25 lead.
In the second, the Suns woke up and gained some separation, outscoring the T-Wolves 40-19. Leandro Barbosa led a 12-2 run, scoring 10 straight points. Amare Stoudemire's dunk with 3 minutes left in the half put the Suns up 25 points, 60-35. That would be the largest lead the Suns would enjoy tonight.
The Suns began the third perhaps thinking of the comfy charter flight to Chicago, scoring 17, while allowing the Wolves 31. Al Jefferson, he of the 1 first half point, scored 8 and Kevin Love discovered he was a large man. Love, picked up 8 boards in the quarter en route to 22 for the game. The Wolves scored 5 straight points as the Suns went scoreless for the last 2 minutes of the third until Barbosa made a layup with .9 left, 83-75 Suns.
In the 4th, it was more of the same, as the Wolves couldn't miss, and the Suns couldn't defend. A Wayne Ellington basket cut the Suns lead to 89-88.
The Suns second unit held off the Wolves, bringing the lead back up to 5 as Goran Dragic hit a layup and the starters returned with 7 and change remaining. Amare Stoudemire scored 10 in the quarter, including a huge follow off of a Nash miss, to put the Wolves away with 43 seconds left.
Quotable:
Alvin Gentry:
"It bothered me because we've done a good job of starting games, taking care of rebounding and turnovers...I didn't think we had the energy at the start of the game that we used to have...we had to have Amar'e have another one of his great games to rescue us. We were fortunate to win."
Steve Nash (who was suffering from back spasms before the game and almost didn't play):
"I didn't know what I'd be able to provide...I thought I'd give it the best I could and try to see how it goes. This is an important game. If we lose this game, it could be disastrous."
Thoughts/Subtle Panic:
Yes a win is a win and all that, but we've seen this before. That is, B.L. (Before Lopez). Get out to a huge lead, go cold from the field, let the opposing bigs hit the boards, forget to play defense, and well...You know how it ends. Perhaps I'm being dramatic. Perhaps the Suns need to adjust to life for two weeks without Lopez, and perhaps they can adjust, hold on through this road trip and waltz into the postseason, no big deal.
But a disc bulge is a tricky thing. I have one, many of you have one or more, but none of us are 7 -foot centers playing in the NBA trying to play with one. Even if Lopez is able to make it back to his mobile, aggressive, and oftentimes dominating self, this is the type of injury that will linger and or return for...let's just say a long time.
No, I'm not hitting the panic button yet, but I'm concerned. The Suns are not the same without Robin Lopez. Their postseason fate is tied to his speedy recovery and return to normal Fropez play. Get well soon Robin, let's pass around the card and send out some flowers or something.
Props:
- Max-30 and 17 on 11-19 shooting
- Nash-14/11/5
- Frye-17/6, 5-10 from beyond the arc
- LB-16 points in 18 minutes. That's the LB we know, love, and will need down the stretch and into the postseason.
- Lou-7 points, 3 steals, and a +20
- Dragon-7 points, 6 assists, and 0 TO's in 15 minutes. His poise and confidence are solid right now. I think he could have finished the game with Nash on the bench.
- The Suns have won seven in a row for the first time since 2008
- The Nuggets lost to Orlando tonight, and as of this moment the Suns are a half game behind both Denver and Utah, who are tied for third in the WC.
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Lets hope Robin feels great and can get back in time for the playoffs and feel great through the whole deal.
Without Robin, Love owned us tonight. 23 points and 22 boards. Gosh, take him out and we win by 40. On the other hand, good to see that Amar’e played great when we really needed him.
We haven’t given up a big lead like this since January. The Utah game was excusable. This wasn’t. However, I will admit that its better it happened now at the beginning of the road trip than later because now I expect our guys to realize that they can’t fall asleep on sucky teams.
We have the Bulls next. Noah just came off of injury and is still coming off the bench. He’s not a 100%, so we shouldn’t get killed on the glass again or at least not as bad as tonight.
Yes but realizing something is not always a solution
The Suns need a replacement for Lopez and there really isn’t one. This team is much more unpredictable without him. Remember how every game was an adventure in Dec/Jan? The Indiana game? The Atlanta game? Virtually every game back then? That was when he was just getting back from his injury and not playing much.
One of the real problems the Suns need to address in the offseason is the lack of quality depth. Two big examples are the 2 and 5. After J-Rich there is no prototypical 2. Dragic and LB are going to have tough times guarding and scoring against the quality sizable 2’s of the league. They can’;t post up like JRICH, and they can’t replicate his physical presence on both ends.
At the 5 there is no one to replace what Lopez brings: energy combined with rebounding, an agile defensive presence, and an option from 10 feet in. The replacement is Amundson and Frye and Collins (who played what 11 minutes?) who didn’t cut it tonight. Love and Jefferson went wild. The Suns top rebounders tonight were STAT-17, Frye-6, and NASH with 5. That type of play won’t work against good teams.
Im trying hard to chill about this, but I’m having trouble.
Blogging Suns Basketball. Twitter: @willcantrellphx
by Wil Cantrell on Mar 28, 2010 9:59 PM MDT up reply actions
+1
I noticed this too, good sir. The Suns have more depth, but not as much as we’d like to think.
by 8472species on Mar 29, 2010 12:19 AM MDT up reply actions
Will, times like these drive me to get a 60 day supply of blood pressure meds...
I am praying that Robin’s season won’t end…We need him to survive any playoff series. Even a team that we matchup well against (Portland, Denver) will be tough sells. Against teams like Utah, Dallas & San Antonio, it will be futile…
"I especially liked the part where I dunked on the McDonalds All-American dude..."
Anonymous high-school player after a Virginia basketball state championship game...
I'd love
to disagree with you but…I’m supposed to be the voice of reason you see.
notice I said I wasn’t panicking. Just concerned. (sigh)
anyone got a spare live chicken we can sacrifice to the basketball gods?
Blogging Suns Basketball. Twitter: @willcantrellphx
by Wil Cantrell on Mar 29, 2010 10:40 AM MDT up reply actions
Yeah, the rebounding last night bothered me as well.
Back at the start of the season, before Lopez was even playing, there were nights when J-Rich or Hill were flirting with double-digit rebounds. As long as Lopez is out, one of the two of them is going to have to step up and give Amare some help on the glass. Nash cannot be our second-leading rebounder (yes, Frye snagged a couple to surpass him last night) if we expect to win anything.
this is Catseyes Twice. Expect the Suns to be fine vs Bulls. They played this game vs Minn with triple revenge going next game vs Bulls and after 2 games with over 13o points. Agree Lopez out is bad news but we have had a lot of good luck and i think we can go past this. By the way if anyone can e-mail me by correct password I can drop my Tuck321 persona which I use at other sites and go back to Catseyes Twice.
No Lopez, No Paint Defense
Sorry, but one cannot play defense when there is none in the paint. That weakness is how teams beat us pre-RL, and beating a team in the paint is every basketball objective.
Hopefully, Kerr can get Frye to defend the paint.
Get well soon Robin.
I like the fact you ended with positives/props
We need to stay positive in the face of this.
That being said, I do agree with this:
The Suns are not the same without Robin Lopez. Their postseason fate is tied to his speedy recovery (. )…
So, let’s keep our collective fingers crossed.
i've learned to temper my panic with positivespeak.
sometimes it works.
Blogging Suns Basketball. Twitter: @willcantrellphx
by Wil Cantrell on Mar 28, 2010 10:01 PM MDT up reply actions
Geez
I never thought I would say that the Suns miss Lopez, but they do. He has developed into a solid center, and they truly need him to move on in the playoffs. With Nash banged up and Lopez out this road trip should be interesting.
amazing huh?
Twitter: @dahking
Too late to change the stupid twitter name. Did it as a joke to my teenager, but now I'm hooked on the news-feed aspect of twitter.
I missed the game...
took a power nap and overslept. Anyways, I knew it and it is time that everyone admits that Lopez plays a major role in this teams’ success come playoffs. Suns need Lopez period.
The Suns - Never fails to disappoint 53% of the time, all the time.
I'm shocked.
Why didn’t the Suns play speed ball tonight? Kurt Rambis clearly didn’t want to play an uptempo game but the Suns slowed down and ran a lot of plays. I thought they should’ve just ran them out of the building especially considering Robin is absent. Robin is key to our team and we need him for post defense. However, I think that against teams like the T-Wolves, all the Suns needed to do was speed things up and just run up and down the court. Their players are young but they can’t catch up with our team.
Also, I don’t think today’s game is a good measure of how well Jarron Collins can help us out. I still think he’s able to provide us post defense. He lacks height but he still plays smart. Sure he picked up a few quick fouls but even Robin had to go through a few games before realizing that being a starter means the team needs you to stay out of foul trouble and not pick up silly fouls. Give it a few more games. Jarron Collins will turn around. They signed him for a reason and I think he’ll end up being that Kurt Thomas player we’ll need when it comes to the playoffs.
That’s just me though….
Collins
has only helped in short doses. His conditioning has to be non existent right now. And trust me, I’ve seen him topless, and it aint that pretty.
as for the singing of collins, part of it was his ties to stanford-Lopez cites him as a huge positive influence in his improved play (along with being healthy).
this is going to be replacement of lopez by committee because no one player has all the Lopez attributes. Tust me, Collins isn’t the answer here. there really isn’t one.
i agree collins has had some nice moments this season, but don’t expect him to play 20-30 minutes. i really dont think he can do it…especially now.
Blogging Suns Basketball. Twitter: @willcantrellphx
by Wil Cantrell on Mar 28, 2010 11:29 PM MDT up reply actions
Personally, I think Collins is on the team really only for his lockerroom presense,.,
He doesn’t offer much anything else…He is slow, unathletic and a merdiocre defender. I wonder what happende to the offensive game that he showed in college…He seemed like he had a nice touch when he was at Stanford…
"I especially liked the part where I dunked on the McDonalds All-American dude..."
Anonymous high-school player after a Virginia basketball state championship game...
he's old. age'll ruing just about everything
Blogging Suns Basketball. Twitter: @willcantrellphx
by Wil Cantrell on Mar 29, 2010 10:42 AM MDT up reply actions
Are there any good D- League centres that are worth having on a 10-day contract?
I don’t follow the D-League, so do let me know.
There are, but the Suns aren't the team to call up people from the D-League..
I don’t know why as there is some talent there…
"I especially liked the part where I dunked on the McDonalds All-American dude..."
Anonymous high-school player after a Virginia basketball state championship game...
great question...
and frankly at this point I wouldn’t put it past the Suns knowing that Robin is out two full weeks at least
Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @sethpo
by Seth Pollack on Mar 29, 2010 11:57 AM MDT up reply actions
Here's the deal on Sims...not good
http://www.ridiculousupside.com/2010/3/27/1392474/courtney-sims-career-takes-another
I do have Scott poking around to see if the Suns are interested in any D-leaguers and to put together a list of possibles
I don’t think it makes sense unless there’s a really big body. We don’t need another smallish big like Rob Benson
Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @sethpo
by Seth Pollack on Mar 29, 2010 2:19 PM MDT up reply actions
Any defensive centre who can protect the paint, block and alter shots and rebound his way out of a wet paper bag?
Oops did I just describe Robin?
c'mon guys.. chill...
please please.. let’s not panic!! cuz if you all do, then i start to as well! :)
Robin will be fine, it’s Steve i’m worried about! but then again, we hope LB gets going and keeps up the scoring output. J-rich is still in a zone and of course, Stat. Ghill should be resting a few more minutes. Collins will just have to get back into shape and do it quick! a few extra minutes on the treadmill, let’s hope he’ll be able to run with it for at least 20-22 minutes. LOU!!!!!!
Everyone has to have a niche...
"I especially liked the part where I dunked on the McDonalds All-American dude..."
Anonymous high-school player after a Virginia basketball state championship game...
Clark
Obviously, I don’t mean I want him to do what Lopez does, but I think Earl Clark should play more while Lopez is gone. Let him apply the good defense he played on LeBron James. He can’t torment the team with his bad shooting if the coach simply tells him not to shoot.
+1
Clark is about 6’10, correct? The guy is a solid defender, which he’s proven to the coaching staff. If David Lee can play center at 6’9, why can’t Clark play some minutes as the “center”? It can just be 2 guards and 3 forwards. No matter how you call it, we should let Clark guard the middle for a bit.
Yeah, but I haven’t supposed he knows how to play center. It’s just that I was more or less amazed that a rookie who plays mostly in garbage time guarded LeBron James and didn’t exactly get taken to school. I want to exploit that.
by 8472species on Mar 29, 2010 12:40 AM MDT up reply actions
Actually we have a guy who used to play Center for us
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Mar 29, 2010 12:42 AM MDT up reply actions
exactamundo...
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Mar 29, 2010 1:18 AM MDT up reply actions
but thats not great for Amare
He gets beat up that way. he needs a sidekick.
I think Collins will be fine at 10-15 minutes a game. Last night was a poor one, but for the most part he will be fine. Its Frye that needs to step up and get some rebounds, and JRich needs to steal some too.
Gang rebounding!
Twitter: @dahking
Too late to change the stupid twitter name. Did it as a joke to my teenager, but now I'm hooked on the news-feed aspect of twitter.
In theory it works..execution time is a different manner...
The SUns as a team without Robin are capable of h olding their own on the boards…They just don’t…We need Robin if we want to get out the first round…
"I especially liked the part where I dunked on the McDonalds All-American dude..."
Anonymous high-school player after a Virginia basketball state championship game...
no question about that
Robin has had a huge impact…
Earl (and I don’t know WHAT you are talking about him playing good D on LeBron) can not play Center. The Suns actually tried it a bit in pre-season and he got torched. He’s 6’10" but also rail thin like Durant. Would you play Durant at Center?
I know we want Earl to do something here but I think patience is in order on that front.
Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @sethpo
by Seth Pollack on Mar 29, 2010 12:00 PM MDT up reply actions
I’m just repeating what I heard from people here. That in the last Cavaliers game, Clark guarded James and did a good job. Also on Corey Maggette in another game.
by 8472species on Mar 29, 2010 12:15 PM MDT up reply actions
I didn't see it
in either case he at best played a few minutes…not enough of a sample size
His issue is on decision making on both ends of the floor. The catch-22 is that he needs floor time to get better. But right now, Hill and Dudley are FAR better options. And JRich at the 3 depending on match-ups as well.
Barring injury, Clark isn’t going to contribute this season
Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @sethpo
by Seth Pollack on Mar 29, 2010 12:23 PM MDT up reply actions 1 recs
FWIW
Clark played nearly all the 4th against the Warriors in a regular season game in which we trailed entering the 4th but then won the game. maggette had been torching us. When Clark played him, Maggette stopped scoring and the Suns came back and won the game.
Didn’t see the LBJ game, so can’t comment on that. I believe we were down 20 at that time.
Twitter: @dahking
Too late to change the stupid twitter name. Did it as a joke to my teenager, but now I'm hooked on the news-feed aspect of twitter.
by Alex Laugan on Mar 29, 2010 7:20 PM MDT up reply actions 1 recs
Must mean this game on Jan 23rd
http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20100123&game=GSWPHO
As I recall, it was Lou that play Maggette in the 4th that night but Earl did play a big 8 min stretch.
Here’s the recap.
http://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2010/1/23/1266999/slovenian-sun-rises-over-defeated
Gentry said this: “I was really happy with Earl and the defense that he played on the court and I thought he had some good open shots that eventually he’ll make.”
Lou definitely covered Maggette: “We just needed to make sure they only got one shot so there was no offensive rebounds…Maggette is a 3 slash 4 so I was guarding him there for a bit. He’s a tough guard but I think size is definitely something that hurts him a little bit.”
Clark mostly guarded Cartier Martin. Earl was a +4 in his and then the starters came in and took it home. Dragic btw had 18 points in that quarter…
Not saying Earl isn’t a good player or a good defender but he’s not ready to play team defense. Putting him in now would be a big disruption.
Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @sethpo
by Seth Pollack on Mar 29, 2010 7:50 PM MDT up reply actions 1 recs
We need a banger down low like Kurt Thomas or Brandon Bass
Then maybe Amare will be fine playing centre.
Otherwise he will be double-teamed, bruised, fouled and all sorts of nonsense stuff that may give him second thoughtts about staying with a team that doesn’t bring him enough help because they want to cut costs (which does not mean cheap but still…)
Incidentally that was his gripe midseason when they tried to trade him
ah thanks!
Twitter: @dahking
Too late to change the stupid twitter name. Did it as a joke to my teenager, but now I'm hooked on the news-feed aspect of twitter.
but I still think
he is a great rotation player for the future, and potential on-the-cusp all-star that produces more than just stats for the team.
By the way, the Suns are 24th in overall defensive efficiency (or 25th). Just who on the Suns DOES play team defense really well? And how can Clark be that much worse than half those guys? Just sayin… I’m more worried about his offensive black-hole-ness than his defense.
Twitter: @dahking
Too late to change the stupid twitter name. Did it as a joke to my teenager, but now I'm hooked on the news-feed aspect of twitter.
went to bad at half-time...
thinking that giving up big leads to crappy (or any other) team is a history… 58-41 on rebounds, that is a disgrace… I mean, they played so well and pretty physical w/o lopez in 2nd quarter, what prevented them to continue like that for 3rd quarter and then rest starters in fourth?!
luckily it didn’t cost us a W, but I am afraid it can turn the momentum we had, especially with nash hurting… we can still wind up at no8 if we lose 2-3 games on this road trip…
I think the team went to bed right along with you
Seriously, 22 points at halftime, against a team we beat by 38 a week ago. I really believe the team figured it had the game in the bag, which explains the complete lack of “extra” effort.
Twitter: @dahking
Too late to change the stupid twitter name. Did it as a joke to my teenager, but now I'm hooked on the news-feed aspect of twitter.
Although I'm pissed about last night's game
I’d say we don’t have to panic yet. The Suns thought this game was going to be easy and after getting the big lead they relaxed. That’s the way I look at it. It wasn’t so much that we looked small without Lopez, they just simply overworked us on the glass. Our team looked lazy and I hope they learned they can’t relax against any team now that Robin is healing.
"Basketball doesn't build character. It reveals it"
It was nasty...!
Amare held his own last night especially on the boards…He just need some help and there wasn’t much given…
"I especially liked the part where I dunked on the McDonalds All-American dude..."
Anonymous high-school player after a Virginia basketball state championship game...
Let's get off the ledge people....
The main reason we allowed a comeback was more about what the team started doing OFFENSIVELY, mainly deciding that it would be a great idea to start jacking up 3’s instead of posting Amare and working thru him. I agree, Robin is a big part of what we do, but the last month or so hasn’t everyone been complaining about his lack of production, hitting the proverbial wall, etc.? In reality, Channing has been playing more down the stretch of games recently (Portland, GS,) The Suns will be fine as long as they don’t have meltdowns and forget to give the ball to our BEAST down low on a regular basis..I agree, we need Robin against the LA’s, SA’s, etc. in the playoffs, but we can survive this. We have the most dominant big man in the freakin league, after all!
Good point about the need to go through Stoudemire.
by 8472species on Mar 29, 2010 12:15 PM MDT up reply actions
For the same reason
we wore orange at home a couple times recently while the road team wore their home unis. Teams are required to wear alternate/throwback jerseys X amount of times a year.
At least Amare was rebounding
The games where PHX would be outrebounded by 15-20 with Amare only getting four boards were vomit-inducing. With Lopez out, the onus is on Frye to control the interior…. which means we will need to score 130 to beat any decent teams.
Not a big deal.
yes, Hill, JRich, Dudley and Lou
all need to up their rebounding in the wake of RoLo.
Twitter: @dahking
Too late to change the stupid twitter name. Did it as a joke to my teenager, but now I'm hooked on the news-feed aspect of twitter.
Give Amundson mo' minutes
As far as I know, the best-rebounding SUn other than Stoudemire is Lou Amundson. Therefore, more minutes for him = improved rebounding. Probably.
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