Shorthanded Nuggets Blow Out Shorthanded Suns, 109-92
by East Bay Ray on Feb 14, 2012 9:45 PM MST
in Phoenix Suns: Game Coverage
Email
Print
When the news broke that Steve Nash and Grant Hill would sit tonight in an attempt to rest them during the second game of three in three nights, then the Nuggets started the game 10-0 against the Suns, it was easy to see where this contest was headed. It ended up playing out that way, as the Nuggets rolled to a 109-92 win, but the Suns made things interesting for awhile, even tying the game up early in the second half.
Arron Afflalo and Ty Lawson led the Nuggets with 20 and 17 points, respectively, and Chris Andersen, best known for his enormous assortment of freakish tattoos, scored 16 in 22 minutes in the absence of Nene Hilario and Timofey Mozgov. The Nuggets exceeded their per game scoring average of 104 points, feasting on Suns turnovers and converting them to easy baskets. We have seen all of this before.
Ronnie Price and Michael Redd got the starts for the Suns with Nash and Hill sitting, and Redd played a great game, hitting 3 3-pointers on his way to 20 points. Price......eh, not so much: 5 turnovers, 4 personal fouls and only 2-11 shooting.
The brightest spot for the Suns was Markieff Morris, who played with confidence and aggressiveness and ended up with a career-high 21 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Morris also continued his problem with getting into foul trouble, which will limit his playing time if he can't get it rectified. He fouled out after 28 minutes tonight.
Ugly game, no Nash or Hill. At least the Suns got a glimmer of hope from their rookie and their reclamation project. That's something, right?
With each team missing two starters and the Suns on the road after a late game last night, not much can be discovered about either team from this game. The Nuggets have superior depth to the Suns, and are better able to plug in backups and not face a huge drop off in play, but we already knew that.
When healthy and playing at full force, the Nuggets are a team that can do some damage in the playoffs, while the Suns are among the few worst teams in the conference. Nothing we saw tonight changed that one bit.
Notes
- The Suns were able to tie the game at 62 on a Michael Redd 3 with 8:47 left in the 3rd after trailing by as many as 16 in the second quarter. Then the Nuggets closed the 3rd with a 24-8 run, led by Afflalo's 13, and the outcome was decided.
- As badly as Price struggled, Sebastian Telfair wasn't much, if at all, better. Telfair had 6 points, 3 assists and only 1 turnover but chucked up 3 bad 3-point attempts, all of which missed, and the offensive flow was terrible when he was in the game.
- With the Suns going deep into their bench, Shannon Brown and Hakim Warrick were able to get minutes after several consecutive "DNP-coach's decision"s. Neither did anything to earn himself more playing time. Brown went 2-11 and Warrick did nothing of note in his 4 minutes except commit 2 turnovers.
- Why can't Robin Lopez shoot any more? He used to have a nice mid-range jumper but he almost never hits it this season. He was 0-7 tonight, but was the only Suns players with a positive +/-. Uh, congrats?
- Let's be honest here: kind of a throw-away game tonight. I shudder to think what a Nuggets team with a healthy Nene, Gallinari and Mozgov would have done to the Suns tonight, but by resting Nash and HIll, the Suns came about as close as it gets to writing off the game as a loss. On to the next one!
For more exclusive content, follow us on Twitter @Brightsidesun and "Like" us on Facebook.
80 comments
|
2 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I hope the front office look to make some type of trade before the March deadline including anyone but Nash, Hill, Red, Morris, Dudz, and Frye. I’m not saying we should look to win by making a deal but move some of these role players (who can’t even accomplish that at all) and try to pick up someone to help us build for next year. Most of these players won’t be here next year anyways so we may as well see what value we can get even though the return for this bunch would probably be quite low. Outside of these players I mentioned above the rest of the team is hard to watch. Hell right now I would give Shannon Brown away..
by NashtyNash on Feb 14, 2012 9:54 PM MST reply actions 1 recs
Wait, you would be willing to move Gortat
but not Frye?
Channing Frye would NEVER catch flying french fries with his left hand!
by Will Slaven on Feb 14, 2012 10:23 PM MST up reply actions
Glad to see Redd getting his 3-PT range back. Game by game, he’s looking more and more like himself.
Go Suns, Packers, Jays, and Huskers!
Read my thoughts on Creighton University athletics at Creightonian.com
I also edit things at Ridiculous Upside. Check it out.
by Omaha Sun on Feb 14, 2012 9:59 PM MST reply actions 1 recs
At this point I would trade anyone
We really don’t have a future. We need a young future superstar like OKC when they were struggling. Maybe they should look for someone like Jeremy Lin in Asia although that would be really hard. We can suck for a few years but still sell tickets so Sarver won’t throw a tantrum. The dude is bringing fans even to the opponent’s home court. Just look at the Toronto game earlier when he hit the winning three. I was confused to why everyone was cheering.
P.S: I’m sure he took that shot for Mayweather Jr. calling him out. Eat that Mayweather.
Twitter: @FredLegittt
Well Jeremy Lin is from California
so…
"I don't lift weights because they are heavy, and I don't run because it makes me tired." - Charles Barkley
by Suns R Us on Feb 14, 2012 10:20 PM MST up reply actions 2 recs
yes he is
But being that I am in Taiwan I can tell you, he’s accumulating groupies here too.
Channing Frye would NEVER catch flying french fries with his left hand!
by Will Slaven on Feb 14, 2012 10:25 PM MST up reply actions
Still, he developed his game in the states
Channing Frye would NEVER catch flying french fries with his left hand!
by Will Slaven on Feb 14, 2012 10:25 PM MST up reply actions
He's of Taiwanese descent, is he not?
Go Suns, Packers, Jays, and Huskers!
Read my thoughts on Creighton University athletics at Creightonian.com
I also edit things at Ridiculous Upside. Check it out.
Hes half n half
Like the lemon tea I drink from lipton
"Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose"
by phxpurple on Feb 15, 2012 4:39 AM MST via Android app up reply actions
Redd is looking gooood
Him and keef need to be the offensive focus for the second unit. Just give it to the and let the postup/iso. Everyone else just hand back for open 3’$ and off. Rebs for put back. Watching rolo post up is disheartening. He looks like hes struggling with chronic diarrhea and just starts shaking(milk shake?) And at the last moments throws up a hook shot that looks like a curveball from div 2 womens softball
"Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose"
by phxpurple on Feb 15, 2012 4:47 AM MST via Android app up reply actions
I really hadn't noticed the amount of discrimination and ignorance that asian people have to deal with in the US
until this whole Lin thing blew up. People have signs that say “the yellow mamba” and “crouching tiger hidden point guard”….seriously? No one would do this stuff to a white guy, and probably not to a black guy either. People are dicks
Yeah I saw the yellow mamba sign too. I am not sure people realize how racist that is, but I was blown away.
Member of the "Let’s Make FanShots Relevant!" Club
Yeah it's sad. Most ignore it though
But it’s dumb how other people strike back at other races too and then it just becomes a big problem. One comment I read was saying “oh I bet it’s the black people discriminating Lin because they’re just mad that this Asian guy is doing something that black people are only good at…sports”. That right there is just an immature reply and just makes the situation worse. I think racial issues will never go away. Humans just can’t accept other humans that look different from them.
Twitter: @FredLegittt
by modernage13 on Feb 15, 2012 12:01 AM MST up reply actions
You could take it that way
but it could be just descriptive or thematic, honestly. If Kobe is the Black Mamba, and you want to make a comparison with Lin, what might you say?
In the U.S. all this stuff is racially charged. In the rest of the world not so much.
Take Australia for example, here it common to call gingers “Rangas” which is short for Orangutans. All they see is the commonality of color, not the other attributes of the animal.
By the way, Planet Orange, Gorillas => you can call me a Ranga.
I shoot blanks.
in other words you can pretend to be colorblind
or you can embrace that color, and perhaps challenge others to do the same.
Of course from the anonymous comfort of my laptop, and all. =D
I shoot blanks.
the rest of the world not so much?
you don’t get out much, do you?
I only travel the world for work, so no I don't get out much.
Well, let me add latin americans.
They use color on a purely descriptive basis. Aunt Negra ain’t black, she’s just darker than the rest. Cousin Blanca ain’t white, she’s just fairer than the rest.
So that’s another part of the world where “yellow mamba” doesn’t equate to racism.
Not to turn this into a political discussion, I just fail to jump on the racism bandwagon here. Care to try again?
I shoot blanks.
Tonight's Suns game and this recap actually had nothing to do with Jeremy Lin.
Blogging Suns basketball for Bright Side of the Sun from California wine country.
Twitter: @EastBayRaymundo
by East Bay Ray on Feb 14, 2012 10:30 PM MST up reply actions
Jeremy Lin
is 10000x more interesting than anyone on this suns team haha
Actually it did, Lin was mentioned at least 20 times throughout the game thread
and I’m pretty sure he was mentioned during the game. You just forgot to mention him during the recap:P
Don't trade Dudley!
by Beavis 25 on Feb 14, 2012 10:58 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs
How sad would it be
if every team’s recap mentions Jeremy Lin’s game. That would actually get annoying.
Twitter: @FredLegittt
by modernage13 on Feb 14, 2012 11:52 PM MST up reply actions
We should check out Yale's basketball team instead. Maybe they have someone.
I wonder who’s ballin at the University of Chicago these days.
And asia. Oh yea asia. Any Indian players?
I shoot blanks.
I'm surprised we even tied the game.
Twitter: @FredLegittt
by modernage13 on Feb 14, 2012 11:52 PM MST up reply actions
But they were missing players too
So it makes it depressing again.
"If Gortat pulls off a real Dream Shake in-game this year I will shave my head.
Mark my words." Piotr Szczesniak 12/12/11 2:12 PM
Cardinals, Suns, D-backs for life!
I knew we were gonna lose
Those first two pre season games with them were brutal. With Galinari injured I thought we would only lose by 10…boy was I wrong.
Twitter: @FredLegittt
by modernage13 on Feb 15, 2012 12:02 AM MST up reply actions
Ugh....
Arizona Cardinals/Chicago Bears fan
Phoenix Suns, Arizona Diamondbacks, Phoenix Coyotes, Arizona Rattlers fan
[I have always lived in Arizona, dad is from Chicago].
Leading the NFL in swagtangibles
Does anyone else think Lin is overrated, or just me?
Averaging 5 turnovers per game.
He is averaging 41 minutes per game.
The only team with a winning record they played was L.A, who had Derek Fisher to defend him (he with no lateral movement or quickness).
I understand that 26 and 8 are great averages, but he has played bad teams except L.A in his games and then had 8 TOs against Toronto tonight (another bad team).
And nobody can play 41 minutes a game for a whole season, and his stats will drop with realistic minutes too.
Please don’t call racism on this either I couldn’t give two shits if he was asian, black purple whatever. Based on his performance and opposition I don’t see him as great as he is hyped to be.
Carter having a glazed-eyes contest with Boris Diaw. Carter's winning, but Diaw might respond by eating his eyes.
what? why is this here?
Can whoever replies first to any post, instead of typing “FIRST!” please type “JEREMY LIN!”
Then we can get that out of the way and move onto to other business.
I shoot blanks.
by ZonaFlash on Feb 14, 2012 11:32 PM MST up reply actions 3 recs
No kidding
His name doesn’t need to pop up in every single place on this site.
"If Gortat pulls off a real Dream Shake in-game this year I will shave my head.
Mark my words." Piotr Szczesniak 12/12/11 2:12 PM
Cardinals, Suns, D-backs for life!
Rec
Go Suns, Packers, Jays, and Huskers!
Read my thoughts on Creighton University athletics at Creightonian.com
I also edit things at Ridiculous Upside. Check it out.
Nobody can play 41 minutes a game for a whole season?
You don’t know Mike D’Antoni.
Forty minutes on the floor for one his teams is called “warming up.”
I jest. But not by much.
oe Johnson and Shawn Marion both did close to that for us at 40.6 and 40.7 mpg season averages. And there were many, many times during the D’Antoni era here where any number of guys would go over 40 minutes more than six games in a row.
We can argue forever about whether D’Antoni overplayed his starters. I happen to think it’s not that big a deal if guys play an extra 3-4 minutes over the basic expectation of 36, especially if their rest breaks are managed as carefully as they were by D’Antoni. He was a master at using quarter breaks, stretching play stoppages and spending time-outs strategically, so that 4 or 5 minutes off the clock equated to 15 minutes or so of real-time rest for his stars.
If we weren’t so rest-obsessed under Gentry, we could have stolen that game last night. You could see Nash just aching to go in when it was close in the third.
I'm Michael Beasley's imaginary friend.
I didn't mind that he played guys for that long
I mean Marion and JJ were young, athletic and pretty good. They could go for that long. Had he remained though, eventually he would have needed to stop and play a deeper bench.
Don't trade Dudley!
AI and Kobe did it a couple times IIRC.
Go Suns, Packers, Jays, and Huskers!
Read my thoughts on Creighton University athletics at Creightonian.com
I also edit things at Ridiculous Upside. Check it out.
THIS IS WHAT THE MASSES WANT TO KNOW!
I wonder what color his toothbrush is???
Member of the "Let’s Make FanShots Relevant!" Club
effing pansy.
Lou rode his bicycle to work everyday even after suns fans made him famous.
This tool is now getting his own sofa??? Success has gone to his head.
I shoot blanks.
Good game for Keef and Redd
That is what I take out of this game. Keef can get his points even without Nash on the court. Redd is looking much better than when we first got him.
"If Gortat pulls off a real Dream Shake in-game this year I will shave my head.
Mark my words." Piotr Szczesniak 12/12/11 2:12 PM
Cardinals, Suns, D-backs for life!
trade anybody and everybody not named morris and REBUILD
this is stupid. people say that no one will watch if we rebuild. Id rather watch a young growing team than this old garbage team. we currently have no hope for the future. think about this, can u name ANY team that on the current plan will be worse than us in 2 years? this is disgusting.
Charlotte Bobcats
BOOM
"If Gortat pulls off a real Dream Shake in-game this year I will shave my head.
Mark my words." Piotr Szczesniak 12/12/11 2:12 PM
Cardinals, Suns, D-backs for life!
by Airwave on Feb 14, 2012 11:37 PM MST up reply actions 1 recs
i dunno. their gonna have a top 3 pick this year, were gonna have a top 10.
if they hit on some1, they will be better off than us
I don't even think 1 pick can save them
Unless he like LeBron or something.
"If Gortat pulls off a real Dream Shake in-game this year I will shave my head.
Mark my words." Piotr Szczesniak 12/12/11 2:12 PM
Cardinals, Suns, D-backs for life!
Hard to tell
We have plenty of cap flexibility (more than a lot of teams) so we just have to sign the right guys, maybe make a trade. And keep drafting well. I want James Harden in 2013 so badly though.
"If Gortat pulls off a real Dream Shake in-game this year I will shave my head.
Mark my words." Piotr Szczesniak 12/12/11 2:12 PM
Cardinals, Suns, D-backs for life!
Their pick this year is owned by Chicago
Twitter: @FredLegittt
by modernage13 on Feb 14, 2012 11:55 PM MST up reply actions
Good game during the first 3 quarters; good for the Nuggets and bad for the Suns who have shown all their shortcomings. The absence of Nash has shown the reality of Gortart: a player unable to create his own shot; a player who only lives of the pick&roll in the offensive and of his ability to rebound because he doesn’t defend a shit.
Trade him; this is the best moment, while he still has a certain name in the League.
The team isn’t going anywhere; it’s the best time to rebuild; we have a good player in Morris that surely will be a star in the future; it’s a way to start; I said it yesterday: if Redd is capable to score 15 ppg with good % until the end of the season also we have to keep him, mainly because he will be cheap; Dudley is a good role player; Frye is inconsistent in the shot, but a shooter is a shooter, and he is not a bad rebounder. If Brooks returns with the Suns already we have a basis to start; the rest of players either are worthless or are a good assest to trade with them.
Those mentioned players + some draft picks obtained via trade + some free agent and I’m convinced that we will have a better team than the current.
The game awards:
The good: Morris and Redd
The ugly: The bird
The bad: the rest of the Suns players.
You should be GM......
Still Gortat ,and Gortat. Dude, do you know other names? I know he played bad this night. I posted one time Suns are too much addicted to Nash. On other way every team always will need good playmaker and passer and always will be a player who will score points thanks to his passes . For Gortat this is first season as a starter. I think many of you are annoyed that he is first scorer at this moment. After last season many of you also said that he is a player on 16-18pts,11rebs, 1,5blks per game. He is close those numbers. Suns have more players. Why they can’t score more. Why?
Oh I know , your little doughter can score , defend, rebound more and better. Congratulations.
Which a Star players will come to Suns? Suns don’t have players to make a good deal.
Morris is going to be a star
but Gortat is overrated…wha??
Gortat can score in the post, idk what you are talking about. He’s got spins, baby hooks and fall away 7 foot jumpers in his arsenal!
But lets just ignore that for a moment. Lets say he can’t create his own shot. If he’s a good pick and roll player and rebounder…what is so bad about that??? He’s gonna get a fatty contract because he can do that! I also don’t know where you are coming from when you say Gortat is a bad defender…
by forget on Feb 15, 2012 3:42 PM MST up reply actions 2 recs
Rec.
Of all the things to complain about on the Suns, Gortat has a bad scoring game and crucify him? He’s been a workhorse and has exceeded expectations since he came to Phoenix.
Blogging Suns basketball for Bright Side of the Sun from California wine country.
Twitter: @EastBayRaymundo
by East Bay Ray on Feb 15, 2012 5:39 PM MST up reply actions
I see the logic of trading Gortat
No one on this bunch is sacred and if he has reasonable value, all I see is Larry Nance to roll the dice with.
Problem is players don’t get enough due when they play with Nash. It’s hard to assess the individual vs joint value.
I shoot blanks.
Morris also continued his problem with getting into foul trouble
but at least this time haven’t been silly fouls
Morris foul trouble is rookie mistakes, and should improve as the season progresses
If he was moved to the starter position, he would be out on the arc waiting for a pass to jack up a three, so keeping him on the bench is allowing him to develop paint play, where he needs to be
i want to start steve nash's MVP campaign.
my case:
his numbers approach (and in some ways are better than) his numbers during his two MVP seasons.
he is playing with unquestionably the worst supporting cast in the nba:
-price and telfair belong in the d-league
-hak belongs in the d-league
-shannon brown should be competing in high-jump events, not playing basketball
-frye and childress would (maybe) be the 9th or 10th guys off the bench on a decent team
…and yet, when nash is running the show we can (usually) compete with whomever we’re playing, at least until the fourth quarter when they begin doubling nash because we don’t have a scorer.
to summarize: without steve, we are the worst team in the nba – 32 out of 32. WITH steve, we’re just mediocre-borderline-bad (maybe 20 out of 32). if ONE player can make that difference, i’d say he’s pretty damn valuable.
Just remember what ol' Jack Burton does when the earth quakes, and the poison arrows fall from the sky, and the pillars of Heaven shake. Yeah, Jack Burton just looks that big ol' storm right square in the eye and he says, "Give me your best shot, pal. I can take it."
~Jack Burton, "Big Trouble in Little China"
Only 30 teams in the league.
Remember it this way – the Suns are prophecied/predicted to be the 29th worst out of the 30 teams in the future power rankings.
I can use two numbers to describe where Steve’s case for MVP consideration begins and ends:
12-17
It was only called the mildly irritated house on McDowell until I showed up.
by Jim Coughenour on Feb 15, 2012 7:37 AM MST up reply actions
Linsanity
with that going on in New York, Nash’s rumor to the Knicks is finally going to die down (not a good sign for us)
the Knicks simply don’t have the contracts to pull off a deal for Nash this season. It was NEVER going to happen.
Twitter me at: @sethpo
by Seth Pollack on Feb 15, 2012 10:39 AM MST up reply actions
Poor Ray.
It didn’t take long for your game recap to turn into a Jeremy Lin shrine. Don’t worry. I still love you more than Jeremy Lin.
Just because Steve Nash has that "dirty hipster" look doesn't mean he's in need of a shower. Steve Nash bathes in the tears of his victims on a nightly basis.
Mark of a Beast, baby. Mark of a Beast.
Bright side
As bad as it has looked at times, we are only 3 games back for the 8th seed. Probably not likely, but still not an insurmountable hurdle.
BAMF goes HAM.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
NBA Playoffs Content Module
Related FanPosts on Bright Side Of The Sun
Related FanShots on Bright Side Of The Sun
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Friend Us On Facebook
SBNation.com Recent Stories
In Association With
Ball Don't Lie - NBA - Yahoo! Sport
- C-a-C: This is probably as close to LeBron James working with John Waters as we’ll ever get
- Dwyane Wade’s hot pink pants: The kind of thing you can get away with when you drop 41
- Lamar Odom to New York? Dwight Howard on the move? For now, it’s all talk
- David West hilariously denies each and every one of his young fans a high-five (VIDEO)
- Behind the Box Score, where the Miami Heat are moving on to the conference finals
Follow us on Twitter
