The Story of the Suns Blazers Series So Far is Simple: OGs
by Seth Pollack on Apr 23, 2010 11:23 AM MST
in Phoenix Suns Commentary
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PrintAs a writer/entertainer/dude who wants more people reading his stuff, you have to love complex things that require detailed explanations. Charts and graphs. Video break downs. Expert analysis.
But this series has defied all that. This series really has a very simple story line. I was going to break out some kind of hand drawing tool and demonstrate in simple stick figures and a cute picture but this series doesn't even need that.
Ready, here goes. Don't blink:
Other Guys (OGs)
That's it.
In Game 1, the Blazers doubled the Suns' primary weapon and the OGs didn't do squat. At the time, I gave the Blazers defense a lot of credit for shutting down the Suns, but mostly it was just poor ball movement, poor shooting and a bit of shock at the Blazers' game plan.
In Games 2 and 3, the Suns turned the tables. They doubled the ball out of Aldridge's hands, trapped Miller on the wing, zoned up the lane to deny penetration to Bayless, and the Blazer's OGs disappeared.
I could list all the shooting and scoring numbers, but why bother? We all saw it. Richardson, the OG of the Series, stepped up. Rudy, Webster, and Bayless haven't.
What's more, the Suns simply have more OGs to count on. If they stay home on JRich or he goes cold, then the original OG, Grant Hill, might take over. Maybe Frye will finally (finally!) find his stroke. Dudley shot over 55% from three in two separate months this season and hit a total of 120 long balls. LB might find his range. Goran's been pretty consistent from deep.
Gentry has plenty of cards to play until he finds the hot hand. McMillan's cupboard is bare.
...and yes, Blazer fan, I know all about your injuries and yes, it would be a different series if your team was healthy, but you know what? They are not. You go to war with the players you have, not the players you had.
Credit the Suns for executing in transition, but they don't get those looks if the Blazers put the ball in the hole. And the Suns have taken away their primary options and there's simply no other bullets in the chamber.
Unfortunately, the Suns very well could go cold from deep and drop another game, but over the course of another 4 games ... doubt it.
The scary thing is that the Suns are still not playing up to their potential. If Robin is able to come back in the next round and the Suns can go back to being a team that dominates the glass, controls the paint without having to double team, and can get those easy put-backs and little dump-offs in the paint when help rotates to Amare ... Watch out, that's the best Phoenix Suns team we've seen since 1993.
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I hear you...
Portland’s OG’s haven’t stepped up and Phoenix’s have. That is pretty much what it comes down to.
Great article!
Though at first, I was thinking, “How do the Suns have Original Gangsters stepping up?”
Ah, fun with word play!
Bright Side of the Sun, for all things Phoenix Suns. Twitter: @iamtrevorpaxton
Yeah, that’s what I thought. “OGs in this series? What do they do, call the cheerleaders ‘bitches an’ hoes’?”
by 8472species on Apr 23, 2010 12:12 PM MST up reply actions
I wanna be annoying...
Any updates on Robin?
by Lorenzo Franceschi Bicchierai on Apr 23, 2010 11:46 AM MST reply actions
He's being re-evaluated on Monday
If there are no setbacks, he’ll begin practice with light contact, I believe.
Agreed
Great write up. It’s a matter of pdx picking their poison. I believe our defense will come out doing the same thing again, and without many options pdx is in the same boat on Saturday. I do believe they will come out with a little more fire, but then once again they must pick their poison.
And god forbid our anger ridden center makes a post season appearance. Can’t wait to see him back on the court.
Go Suns!!!!
I was just thinking
If Aldredge pushed Robin, He might get stuffed in a trash can
April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?
Hope I get your meaning. :D
I fully agree if you mean that Aldredge might get stuffed in a trash can. Don’t Aldredge can do that to RoLo though.
Hollinger says of Aldridge: “if this guy were any softer, you could blow your nose with him.”
by 8472species on Apr 23, 2010 4:01 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs
another thing
that i haven’t seen many people talking about is the fact that because these blazers don’t do alot of scoring, all we really have to do is come out and get a 15-20 pt lead and then hold them off for the rest of the game, I know that’s common sense but it’s not a case of l.a. where they can make up a 20 point deficit in 5 minutes of game time, I think that our 1st quarters have been the keys to both of the victories so far, I mean alot more than that goes into it, but one of the keys.
The Blazers
w/o Roy did come back on the Suns earlier in the season….and last night they cut 20 points off a lead
Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @sethpo
by Seth Pollack on Apr 23, 2010 11:53 AM MST up reply actions
Yeah, but,
The Suns weren’t really competing in the second half. I saw a lot of lazy passes, travelling calls, and lackadaisical using up the 24 second clock without any action towards the basket. At one point, Richardson was the only Sun scoring the ball. If I’m Gentry, I focus on that stretch and get the boys to play hard for 48 minutes. Now McMillan has something to coach up.
April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?
Seth is right...The way the Suns play, no lead under 35 points is safe...
It is a fact of life that we can’t never take our foot off an opponents neck…
"The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving."
Ulysses S Grant
We still won by 19, so what’s the complaint? They took a 31 point lead and got it down to 11 and we built it up to 19 before the game was over. We still blew them out. They never got back into the game, but were close at one point. We really held on to our lead. It was just so big that of course they were going to cut it down and trim at it a bit, but we still won by 19. To think that we could maintain a 31 point lead in the playoffs on another team’s court for the majority of the game is hoping for a bit too much.
Well, put it this way
At halftime, McMillan had absolutely nothing useful to use in showing the team how to prepare for game 4. Now he has the motivation of a fight, plus a few film snippetts where the Blazers forced the action and had the Suns on their heels. The PDX trap was somewhat effective in the 2nd half, albeit too late. Nash and Dragic were using up the clock, and nobody was moving. I bet we see it from the start tomorrow.
April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?
I was 100% sure
That OG’s stood for Original Gangsta’s…
well.......
I think the suns organization deserves credit for having one of the best, if not the best medical staff…..that’s part of the game, keeping your players healthy and making sure they are doing the right workouts and diets to keep their bodies in tip top shape……we are definitely one of the older teams in the league with Grant Hill and Steve Nash (real OG’s) as two of our starters but we also have the most potent and fast paced offence in the league. Of course accidents are accidents, basketball, especially play-off basketball is a very physical game making injuries unavoidable, but with a strong medical staff players can be put on the right path to recovery to ensure a safe and speedy return to the court. look at Shaq he came here in the worst shape of his career, he left looking and moving like someone many years younger more like his old self, and now ROLO has suffered a pretty serious injury and he’s already back on the court working out.
So as many excuses as the Blazers are getting for suffering so many injuries their style of play is really slow games, really low scores and walking the court all night albeit they play a high contact style of game. Give our Suns some credit for coming out every night, putting their foot on the gas and out scoring out running and just out hustling, much younger teams and going 54-28 for the season. The Suns are going to dominate this series and playing like they have been I like their chances against any team, our OG’s look hungry……hungry enough for a three course play-offs meal with room for some Finals desert? yeah I think so.
Good piece
Short and streamlined. I like that, say more with less. Thanks for not forcing stats or graphs into the equation.
This series has been very easy to understand. Portland’s main focus obviously has been to not let Nash and Amare go apeshit on them, and since we’ve gotten so much help from Grant and Rich, plus a lot of patience and smart play from Amare, that approach has been countered masterfully.
I don’t know what adjustments Portland has left to make.
"The Nash abides."
I don't know about you, but I take comfort in that.
It's good to know he's out there, The Nash, taking 'er easy for all us sinners.
well they could guard the others guys
and let Amare score 40, with Nash getting 20 assists… but then, that’s prob not very appetizing either…
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.
Let's face it
If Jason starts being Michael Jordan and plays with that attack mentality, then the Suns have 3 players that need to be doubled, and we WILL go far
April 29, 2008 Total Eclipse of the Sun. Is the sky falling?
It's funny
I just remembered that after Game 1 I asked Jason about this. I noticed that in the 2nd half he was totally fired up. He was playing with an extreme intensity and was really the leader on the floor – imploring the crowd to cheer when the Suns made a run and just playing harder than everyone else.
I asked him about it after Game 1 and I guess b/c it was a loss he downplayed it a bit (it’s at the very end of the audio clip):
Me: Jason, it looked like you came out of the half with a little bit of an edge to your game, a fire in your eyes. Did I see that right?
Jason: Yeah. I just think we didn’t have the energy we normally have and I just tried to put it on my shoulders to bring energy to this team and bring some excitement, rebounding, just whatever it takes to help this team try and win the game.
This dude is a competitor. He might be the quiet kind but I am LOVING the way he’s stepping up as a leader as well.
Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @sethpo
Agree w/ everything except for Webster
I think he’s been the only dude playing consistently well for Portland.
I love our OG’S!
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."
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