Jazz Come Back In the Fourth on Suns: 116-108
by Seth Pollack on Mar 4, 2010 11:36 PM MST
in Phoenix Suns: Game Coverage
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Suns came out of the huddle on fire, quickly building an 11-2 lead with 6 of those coming from Robin. He and Amare dominated the boards early.
They got themselves a nice 10 point lead after 1 and then managed to keep it pretty even through the 2nd. The Jazz certainly stepped it up but I guess they forgot that Grant Hill is FREAKIN AWESOME! He had 9 points and 3 rebounds and another great block and a YouTube worthy dunk. Took a couple of charges, too.
Nash was bloody brilliant through the first half, with 14 points and 8 assist in 18 minutes. "We have Steve Nash and you don't." (prize to anyone that knows the origin of that quote).
Overall a darn good half of basketball. Great energy. Great effort. Solid play from both sides. The Suns did have 9 turnovers (4 for Nash, 3 for Hill) and gave up 11 OReb but with the Jazz only shot 40%, there were a lot of missed shots to grab.
Amare played well with 10 points and 3 rebounds in the first half before going nuts in the second. He finished with 30 points on 17 shots but he did miss 5 free throws and only had 7 rebounds.
The Sun managed to keep the lead around ten during the third despite Nash sitting with four fouls half-way through but the Jazz came back in the fourth hitting a number of three's and playing solid D forcing 4 Suns turnovers. They outscored the Suns 41 to 22 in the fourth. That's painful. That's really, really sucky.
The Jazz were able to close it out the same way they got back in the game - by forcing turnovers and hitting threes.
It was a great game for most of the night but the Suns just couldn't keep up the energy at the end. It was a tightly called contest which made for an ugly one but it was a good taste of the playoffs to come. Painful loss. Very painful.
Some numbers to chew on:
- Jazz were +9 on the offensive glass and 43-38 overall. So much for glass domination
- Suns had 19 turnovers to 13 for the Jazz
- Jazz shot 12 of 24 from three. Suns finished 5 of 19
- Jazz had 38 FTA's to 28 for Suns. Suns missed 8 of them
- Deron Williams was awesome. 27 points, 9 assists, and 5 for 9 from three. He made up for missing those free throws in their loss to the Clippers
Additional Thoughts
I know this is a painful loss for everyone. Players. Fans. Max Simbon who got run over by Kriilenko after Lopez took him out with a flagrant foul. But I agree with Gentry in his post gamer when he said, "It's not so much what we didn't do, it's more so what they did do. They made the necessary shots and came up with good defensive play, and I really though we kind of ran out of gas at the end. That's asking a lot of Grant and Steve."
The Suns gave it their all for about 45 minutes. The game was tied at the 1:50 mark. The Jazz had scored 31 points up to that time which is a lot but not an absurd amount considering they were 7 for 11 from three in the quarter. They dropped 10 more points in the final 80 seconds with two dagger threes by Williams and Okur and a handful of meaningless free throws.
I will have to go back and look at the fourth quarter again, but my sense is that they were just hitting shots. They are a good team and Williams is going to force you to collapse in the paint and then he's going to find the open man. Exactly like Nash. The difference was they hit their shots and the Suns went ice cold going 1 for 9 from downtown in the 4th.
It sucks losing to the team we are chasing but I don't think this game has any greater meaning beyond a tired team getting beat by a well rested Jazz squad that was pissed about losing to the Clippers.
Don't go jumping off any bridges tonight. There's still plenty of games left. And shame on you anyway if you let yourself start believing this Suns team is somehow in the top tier of the Western Conference. Or even in the 2nd tier for that matter. Not yet, anyway and tonight showed that.
Oh, and how awesome is Grant Hill? I almost asked him if he drank Sprite but he didn't seem to be in the right mood for that. He did talk about eating well and getting plenty of sleep as part of his "secret".
Post game Audio
Links
In game Notes
1st Qtr
- Wow Grant. Block much? Holy ancient legs
- Suns missing some early shots but dominatrixing on the boards. Robin is active as is Amare
- This team looks really good right now. Super active. Energy is great.
- Suns killing in the paint! ROBIN!!!! Sloan w/ the early TO
- 8 to 3 rebounding edge. Robin already has 3 himself...and 6 points too. Suns up 11-2
- Jazz coming back after two Nash turnovers, some nice Jazz passing and a D Will three. 16-10
- Nash responds w/ five quick points. Of course
- Lot of Jazz fans here
- Nash going under a lot of screens daring Deron to shoot. He is and he's making them
- They're calling a pretty tight game. I think that helps us
- Jazz fan in the front row (but behind me) yelled at JRich, "You need to accept my Facebook invitation buddy!". Jason just smiled
- If the Suns are going to hit their three's like this it's over
- Clark in the game Earl(y)...with the big boys. See how this goes. Hope someone told him that he's not the best shooter on the floor
- Great D by Amare to help and then recover quickly to block Boozers shot
- and Clark shoots and misses
- Hill with the buzzer beater!!
- Or is it? The refs by the way are about 10 ft directly in front of me reviewing the play. The one white dude looks like he's 16
- No good on that shot but still...great start for the home team 34-24. Suns 73% shooting to 35% for Jazz
2nd Qtr
- Huge cheer in the crowd for old people kissing on Kiss Cam. GROSS!!!!
- Grant Hill running the point...so far, not good
- Nice baseline cut from Dudley and high to low pass from Frye. That was Jazz-like
- Grant posting up Miles = win
- Jazz switching all the Suns screens leaving Hill on a small. Nice basic offense
- Now that was nice. Earl cuts to the ball and finishes in the paint. IN THE PAINT, EARL. NO J's
- Nash and Robin checking back in
- GRANT HILL OWNING THE YOUTUBE!!!
- Dumb foul, Dudley. Don't bite on the up fake. You can't block the guys shot anyway
- Suns up 48-38. Treading water which is fine when you are 10 points above the tide...(huh?)
- Grant takes his second charge. He's just awesome right now
- Sundiata in the game
- D Will and AK both have 3 fouls
- Group of Jazz fans yelling "offense" every time they do the "defense" thing on the speaker dealie
- Why are there so many Jazz fans in Phoenix?
- Nash pissed about a call so he comes back on the other end and pisses all over Jazz
- Refs put the wrong guy on the line. What a cluster fuck. Lots of fun for me though listening to Gentry go off on the refs about it
- Nash says EFF YOU and gets his bucket anyway
- Steve Nash is still AMAZING!
- JRich looks off. Sick or something
- and Sundiata Gaines does his thing
3rd Qtr
- Ugly post up by Robin followed by Amare losing Okur followed by a turnover and Jazz run out. Not a great start
- That's better. Robin block. Amare gets the loose ball, Nash drives it up court and finds Jason open for a corner three. More please
- Amare smacks him a Turk
- It's really amazing to watch Amare catch and finish through contact
- Suns up 10 so that's good
- This certainly feels like a playoff game
- Nash picks up his fourth foul and gets replaced by Dudley. Suns up 74-63 with 6:41. What's going to happen now!!! Stay tuned. DO NOT CHANGE THE CHANNEL
- Amare doing well this quarter.
- Deron playing off the ball curls around screen for a shot. He missed it. Thought you might want to know. Did you?
- Remember when I said that calling it tight helped the Suns? Not with Nash in foul trouble but Suns doing a solid job holding the lead w/ Steve on the bench. That's so nice to say
- That call on Frye was a foul but man...they could call that on every play
- Grant Hill gets all Hilly with it again!
- Lou, Dudley, Amare, Clark and Hill...never seen that line up before, have you
- Nice effort by Clark fighting for that missed free throw. Shouldn't have two missed FT's though
- Lou and Amare smothered Gaines
- Grant picks up his 3rd charge of the game. Suns ran a nice play to get Clark open at the rim. He missed
- Great job holding the lead with Nash on the bench. 86-75
4th Qtr
- Dudley D's em up and forces the over and back violation. I would not want to be violated over my back. For the record
- D Will hits a couple of three's to make is a 5 point game
- Guy wins $10k Deron Williams is interested in all the details..then walks over the Amare and says, I got 10 large in my sock. What's the big deal
- Missed way too many FTs
- HUGE THREE in transition for Jason!! Suns up 96-85
- That was a dumb foul by Frye. His 5th
- Jazz hitting a bushel of three's
- That was a sweet little play at the 5:26 mark. I want to watch that again.
- Jazz cut and pass so well. They are always working to get an open look. Suns meanwhile missing shots
- Jazz tie the game at 98 on Memo's three
- Building ERUPTS on a JRich dunk to take the lead back. Great game!
- Amare looks tired. Suns going to Jason down the stretch. Robin back in w/ 3:36 to go. Suns up 102 - 100
- Bad time for a turnover and silly reach in foul on the run out.
- 102-103 with 2:50 to go
- Robin just erased AK47 but earned the flagrant in the process. He missed 1 of 2 but Jazz keep the ball. 106-104 Jazz with 2:15 to go. Offensive foul on Jazz so all in all a good foul from Robin
- JASON parachutes in from China for that follow dunk but D Will answers w/ a three. Ouch
- Did I mention this was a great game?
- Okur w/ a buzzer beater three on a great through the legs pass by Deron. Jazz up 4 with 58 seconds to go
- Boozer blocks Frye's corner three leads to a run out. Damn
- Suns down 5 with 45 seconds to go.
- Boozer missed two free throws but secure the rebound
- Suns defense disappeared in the 4th...
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Very frustrating loss
We really should be able to close out games like this
"Yeah I could have been king, but maybe I already am king. Hail to the king baby." Ash from Army of Darkness
Suns are Losers when it count!!!
I had a bad feeling at the end of the half when the Suns lets Gaynes get a 3 pointer at the buzzer and that was compounded by the way the Suns closed out the 3rd Quarter. Should have been up by at least 14 going into the 4th.
Poor execution, poor decision making, and just some plain ass stupid mistakes. I am so tired of seeing these guys collapse. there was no excuse for letting this game slip away. Could have/should have been #4 in the Western conference. This was a statement game to show the league that
the Suns can play with the big boys and erase the San Antonio fiasco. Only thing is they made the wrong statement.
Wow!
So you are saying you root for a bunch of losers. You seem to be a bit of a pessimist and maybe even a bandwagon guy. Correct me if I am wrong.
We are still way above expectations for this year. Can’t all of a sudden change our tune and be down in the mouth if we don’t get homecourt when most people expected us to miss the playoffs. I do understand some frustration, but now this seems like an exception rather than the rule right now. We have been closing well in the last 15 games or so (look at the OKC game). If this would have been december or january it would seem to be the norm as we did it so frequently, but that is not the pattern recently. We just beat Denver on the second night of a back to back, and how is a 3 point loss to the Spurs in San antonio a bad loss. It is not as if we are getting blown out. Sure I am frustrated, but I am not going to pin an entire season on one game. Let’s keep things in perspective.
by Suns Fan For Life on Mar 5, 2010 11:29 AM MST up reply actions
First time poster on this board - I live in Phoenix part time and Illinois the rest of it..
The Suns are definitely my western team… but I had homework to do and turned the game off at the end of the 3rd.. Get back on the computer and check the final score and find that the Jazz scored 41 in the 4th…
Doug Collins totally jinxed the Suns in the 3rd when he said that the Jazz came back from a double digit deficit against the Suns in the 4th quarter earlier this season.
Curse you, Doug Collins!
It was a good game though, until apparently the 4th quarter.
"Where are the FUCKING TWINKIES?"
I had the same kind of experience
I teach in China, so at lunch I followed the play by play through the TV Companion thing at NBA.com. I had a class at the end of the third quarter. I almost pissed myself when I returned from class and saw the final score.
At least there is a chance for revenge in two weeks, and it’s not on a back to back.
Just back from the game
Terrible loss. Terrible execution in the fourth quarter. More than 40 points allowed in the fourth while only allowing 75 the first three? Terrible
The only thing worse was enduring the Jazz fans in my section who couldn’t be contained in their exuberance in the fourth quarter….They were an unsettling homogenous group, which unfortunately I don’t fit into and it just made it worse to see….
Oh well, we are who we thought we were. But at least I’m confident we’ll make the playoffs, which is more than I can say for my thoughts from one month ago…
I hate to keep repeating myself, but what don't you all understand about playing a 4th game in 5 nights..
especially with a reduced roster.
We lost this game in the last 8 minutes, simply because we ran out of gas, and couldn’t do any of the things that require effort to execute. Fatigue sets in, and then all your timing is off, leading to missed shots, turnovers, and missed defensive assignments.
Most teams, in this position lose these games, especially if they’re playing a rested good opponent, which we were.
Anyone wringing their hands over this loss, needs to chill.
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Mar 5, 2010 1:03 AM MST reply actions 1 recs
Well said
Gotta have some perspective, and besides this is BRIGHT SIDE of the sun…. always the optimists!
Looking forward to having LB and Goran back in the rotation. Injuries hurt in games like this.
Great points
I agree completely.
Bright Side of the Sun, for all things Phoenix Suns. Twitter: @iamtrevorpaxton
by Trevor Paxton on Mar 5, 2010 9:11 AM MST up reply actions
Well I don't know if you can say that it was lost in the last 8 minutes
We were turning the ball over all game, and if it weren’t for our insane shooting, we would have “lost the game” earlier methinks.
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."
we were up by 11 with 7mins & change to play.. we lost it in the last 8 mins, when we hit our wall.
not enough in the tank to counter their run, or even put an obstacle in their way.
If I have one criticism it’s this: Alvin should have done a better job of managing minutes, especially with a gimpy Steve and a tired Amare. If he’d given Earl and Lou 5 more minutes, and played Collins some in the 2nd or 3rd, we might have won this game. And it would have been the best win of the season, by far.
Jerry Sloan, btw, does this clock management far better than any other coach, with the possible exception of Popovich.
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Mar 5, 2010 11:53 AM MST up reply actions
and also
they hit shots..I mean at some point we do have to give them credit. Price hit a few contested three’s. D Will..Okur who has sucked all year. They went 7 for 11 in the 4th and they weren’t all wide open.
Sometimes we can forget that the other team has a say in the outcome
Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @sethpo
by Seth Pollack on Mar 5, 2010 12:07 PM MST up reply actions
true.. but..
If you don’t offer any real resistance, you can make the other team look really good. People forget just how much of a game of inches and rhythm pro basketball is sometimes.
If you can’t quite get high enough to contest a shot, or are a millisecond slow in making a defensive rotation or in trying to block a shot, or mentally slow, because you’re fatigued, then that makes all the difference. In fact, imho, that timing is the fundamental difference between a good team and a bad team, more than any other single factor.
If you look at the schedule, very few teams win the 4th in 5, especially against rested, good competition. In fact, many times when you see a bad team beat a contender, it’s often one of these games.
All I’m saying is that, even though a win would have been nice, this is a forgivable loss, and that actually, given the circumstances, I’m very pleased how well we played for the 1st 40 mins and that we stuck around for so long, against a good team.
Again, if we had actually won this game, it would have been by far the best win of the season, because we would have shown the ability to grind a win out, when completely fatigued, and hence some real mental toughness.
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Mar 5, 2010 1:44 PM MST up reply actions
I rewatched the 4th qtr
there was one or maybe two of those three’s that were wide open, uncontested.
Now a few were open but that’s b/c D Will broke down Nash and got into the lane and drew help. That’s just good offense. Suns do it all the time to people
Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @sethpo
Deron *is* really good, btw
Didn’t want to give any other impression.
I think I know how to articulate my argument better: on the court, great players create opportunities, while good players exploit those that are available to them. The goal of a team, then, is to work as a unit to take advantage of these opportunities, and limit those available to the other side.
As teams get fatigued, two things happen:
- the ability to limit existing opportunities diminishes
- previously unavailable opportunities and seams of attack become exposed, making it easier for the opposition to exploit.
I guess it’s just an extension of Bill Russell’s notion of efficiency on the court, which is that you try to make yourselves as efficient as possible, and the opposition as inefficient as possible.
"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".
by Pliny the Elder on Mar 5, 2010 5:11 PM MST up reply actions
Ditto...
Everyone don’t get to hung up on this one. You had to see this coming. Back to back + late night flight back + losing an hour + Nash’s nagging injuries – LB – Goran + late start (8:30pm). We played good and hard for 45 min. Ran out of gas in the last 3 min and Utah was hitting shots. We know we should beat them on a regular night and in a playoff series. Let’s move on.
I'm fine with this loss.
Completely and totally fine.
It sucks losing the team we are chasing but I don’t think this game has any greater meaning beyond a tired team getting beat by a well rested Jazz squad that was pissed about losing to the Clippers.
Anyone wringing their hands over this loss, needs to chill.
Preach.
This game didn’t slip away. The Suns in the 4th quarter did the same thing they did all game long: gave up O-Rebs, turned the ball over and missed free throws. They just didn’t keep shooting at a 60+% clip to hide those deficiencies.
Twitter: @MikeLisboa
Yup
Fourth game in five nights…..Check
Back to back……Check
No Goran Dragic……Check
Playing a rested Utah Jazz…….Check
Computing……………Result found!
Result……….Loss
phxsuns: Do I love the Phoenix Suns?
Computer: Yes……. shutting down……..zzzzzz
Steve Nash plays D!!
Glad I didn't watch much of this one
Things I don’t get just by looking at the box score:
Why did Lopez only play 24 minutes, when he was 5-6 shooting with 7 rebounds and 2 blocks?
How does Clark only manage to have 1 rebound and 2 points and nothing else in 9 minutes?
I was a bit
puzzled as to why Lopez didn’t play more as well. I was actually pleased that Clark kind of stayed out of the way.
Blogging Suns Basketball. Twitter: @willcantrellphx
+1
Clark’s biggest enemy has been himself all season. When his name has been called, he’s gone into the game firing, trying to impress the coaching staff.
But, what will help his development (and trust with the coaching staff), is him keeping his head down, accepting his role, and doing what he can on a few possessions.
Bright Side of the Sun, for all things Phoenix Suns. Twitter: @iamtrevorpaxton
by Trevor Paxton on Mar 5, 2010 9:14 AM MST up reply actions
I guess I see your guys' points
And while I’m glad he wasn’t detrimental to the team, I’d like to see him be helpful.
I was really frustrated with this loss, but I was pleased with our effort.
We’re short handed, tired and hurting. Even so, we shot almost .60 and led by double digits the entire game. We had Nash out with 4 fouls in the 3rd and kept the lead. In the fourth, the Jazz hit a lot of big shots, so congrats for them. I can be wrong, but I don’t think D. Williams is a good 3 point shooter and he made 5 out of 9. C.J. Miles isn’t a great player, but had 9 points in the fourth, with big buckets. And in 2 games against them, even we ended up with 2 losses, we played well and had confortable leads. If we had Goran for this one or made some free throws, I think it’d be a different result.
I agree with Alvin. He just said we ran out of gas and I trully believe him. We have to win saturday and then rest up for the Lakers and this home streach ahead. One loss doesn’t change the fact we’re playing solid basketball. Go, Suns!
im kinda disappointed in our teams
free throws this season. especially ones in key situations. especially amare. he needs to keep the glasses on during free throws, cause at one point, he missed a 2nd free throw and went to put his glasses down and the ball flew over his head. i know im being nit-picky, but those are really easy, key points that we just throw away. gotta give it up to both teams though. the suns played great till the 4th and the jazz took advantage and didn’t give up. oh and j-rich conquer his fear of dunking.
BLAO!
Carlos looks so happy
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."
Carlos Boozer is actually Cyclops!!!
"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...
Not a bad loss?
I agree that playing 4 games in a short time span is tough and back to backs are tough and having injured players is tough; however, every team in the league face the same issues. My beef is not that the Suns lose. It is that they have chances to put games away and don’t do it, and that allows the other teams to stay close. I understand that the players get tired. But what I don’t understand is why they make those same mistakes when they are fresher in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. If they had closed out the 3rd quarter like they should have instead of blowing easy shots, missing FTs, and making turnovers they could have built a 14-16 point lead. One of the problems is that when they get a lead, they start to act if some possessions don’t count and take bad shots or try to do something that they don’t need to do. Their mistakes earlier in games let teams hang around. Seems like they lack a killer instinct and thrive on close finishes.
change of heart
I stayed up last nyt till 12.30am watching the replay of this after i spent all day at work and after work yesterday just about killing anyone who mentioned the suns or nba in fear of hearing the scores. Last nyt after the game finished i was so bitterly disappointed and frustrated BUT im so glad i slept on it becuase since calming down abit and doing abit of reading i am still disappointed in the loss but im understanding of it. It was 4th game in 5 days and we were hampered big time by injuries playing against the jazz who are no push overs. I would agree completely with the above that we just ran out of gas at the end.
I do want to make reference to a few things i noticed last nyt tho and regarding the loss:
- I have to say having deron williams in early foul trouble probably helped us ALOT, probably was alot of the reason we were in front most of the game.
- Stupid coaching by alvin gentry last nyt, can someone please tell me why lopez played stuff all minutes and channing frye was playing in perference? Carlos boozer rattled off 6 straight points against fyre in that 4th quarter run, i could not understand we in 4th quarter we did not have lopez on the court knowing we were gonna start to wear down and our shot would fall off. Channing frye really doesnt do it for me either, knock down 7 3’s against the clippers in junk time thats great, but hes way to soft and defensively is so shit against other PF’s.
- that loss hurts us alot more than just missing on moving up to 4th, san anotnio and okc after wins each today will now move up above us putting us back down into 7th.
Tough loss but understandable one, we really need to get barbosa and dragic back into the lineup asap, and pray someone preforms a mirical on nash during the 5 day break we have coming up.
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