Suns Run Past Clippers (113-94)

by TexSUN on Nov 23, 2007 10:15 PM MST in Game Coverage

Tonight's game followed a familiar plot line for those of us who have been watching the Suns regularly the past few seasons:

The Suns face a team that on paper should be vastly inferior due to injuries or lack of talent (the former applying in this case).
The game stays close in the first half as the underdog opposing team valiantly hangs in there, and maybe even leads at the break.
The Suns blow the game open in the third quarter.
The opposition gets somewhat back into it in the fourth, but never really threatens again.

That's pretty much what we saw tonight. The shorthanded Clippers made a game of it in the first half with Sam Cassell looking downright unstoppable and Chris Kaman taking advantage of Amare Stoudemire's unfortunate tendency to pick up early fouls. The Clippers led by a point at halftime, but they were no match for the Suns in the second half. The Suns outscored the Clippers 35-22 in the third quarter, and even though the Clippers kept the margin too close for garbage time duty in the fourth, the Suns held them comfortably at arms length the rest of the way. The Suns closed out the game on an 11-0 run in the last two minutes, making the final score look a lot more blowout-like than it really was. But this game was decided in the third quarter: Typical. Suns. Basketball.

Player of the Game: This is a very tough call, but I'm going with Shawn Marion. He got some very timely steals and rebounds that were key in closing out the Clips for good. Amare Stoudemire and Steve Nash are also good candidates.

Runner-Up: Sam Cassell. He looked more like 28 years old than 38 en route to 26 points on a 9-of-16 shooting night.

Grading the Game: B first half + A second half = A- overall.

Update: Props to ClipperSteve at Clips Nation for mentioning something in his recap that I forgot. The Suns out-rebounded the Clippers 52-41. A big part of the credit for this goes to Boris Diaw, who seemed to be making an extra effort to hit the boards, and ended up with 11 rebounds to go with Amare's 11 and Shawn's 17. When the Suns can put three guys in double-digit rebounds, there's a good chance the game ends in a "W". More, please.

Boxscore NBA.com Recap

Poll

Your turn to grade the game

A - Awesome

6 votes

B - Better than average

10 votes

C - Could be better

1 votes

D - D'oh!

0 votes

F - Flush it

0 votes

17 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 12 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

thanks for blog

Reading thru your comments help give me an idea of what was going on. The Suns just keep on rolling :-)

by jasonsuns1 on Nov 23, 2007 10:21 PM MST 0 recs

Just got home from this one

You pretty much summed it up. Typical Suns basketball.

The one semi-original, possibly novel thought that I had as I sat and watched w/ 18,000 other people a game that might as well have been scripted:

Every night whatever team the Suns are playing are totally hyped for the game. They've cicled "Suns" on their calendars amid all the other crappy games everyone must play over the 82 game season. While for the Suns, how could they possibly get up for games like this each and every week. The fact they do is really amazing.

At the same time, you get the sense they are toying w/ teams and trying things out. Let's try and let Bell work out his rust now before it really matters. Or, let's see how Amare and Diaw look on the floor together.

They seem to treat these games like scrimages and if the Washington Generals dare to get close they slam their foot down on to the throat and stomp the life out of them.

The Suns showed in this game in the first few minutes of the 2nd half and the last few minutes of the game that they could have blown this team away - as if 19 pts wasn't enough - but why should they?

by Phoenix Stan on Nov 23, 2007 11:00 PM MST 0 recs

Good image/description

"... if the Washington Generals dare to get close they slam their foot down on to the throat and stomp the life out of them."

Sounds nasty, but probably accurate. I hope they stay hungry and never lose that killer instinct when it counts.

by Vt13 on Nov 24, 2007 11:30 AM MST up 0 recs

Mavs lost again!!

They're 9-4!! Kind of nice to see the suns 2 games ahead of them, especially after last year and the suns winning so many games there in the first half after the poor start, and never really gaining on dallas during that.

by jasonsuns1 on Nov 24, 2007 10:22 PM MST 0 recs

Mavs.....meh

I dont expect too much from the Mavs in the regular season. That's not to say that they wont make the playoffs, but they sure as hell wont be winning 67 games again. They have far too many issues going after 2 humiliated playoffs exits.

With that in mind if the Suns keep up this pace (knock on wood) then we should be first seed again. Of course it's way too early in the season to tell what the records will look like, but that's how I feel.

Of course being the first seed or eighth doesnt matter. All that matter's is beating those scum sucker Spurs in the Playoffs, and advancing into the Finals. Victory in the playoffs is all that matters now, getting first seed is just a side bonus.

"Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle, but in defeating your enemy without ever fighting." Sun Tzu

by Turambar on Nov 24, 2007 10:32 PM MST up 0 recs

Fun times

Yeah it sure is good to see the Suns coasting along so comfortably. It's especially good to see them winning when you know they can still improve by leaps and bounds. Right now I still feel this team is trying to find out who they are, but unike last years slow start the Suns at least seem to be having a good time doing so. Once Diaw starts to fit in more and more, and if we can pick out some good bench guys besides Skinner, LB and Diaw then we should really start to kick ass.

Overall this win was a nice show of force by the Sun. If they keep playing this consistant they should be looking at a nice long win streak for a while (knock on wood).

"Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle, but in defeating your enemy without ever fighting." Sun Tzu

by Turambar on Nov 24, 2007 10:24 PM MST 0 recs

Suns Precision Half Court Offense

I watched this game again over the weekend (you folks understand the need for that right?) and something really jumped out at me.

The Suns half court offense which used to be a weakness is looking very very sharp. They are running some nice set plays and being much more patient. On a night when they only shot 24% from behind the 3pt line they changed things up and were very very good.

One play that REALLY stood out when I saw it live and was even better on the replay was a side pick and roll w/ Nash and Diaw. Nash hits Diaw rolling down the lane w/ a bounce pass and the defense collapses on him but he quickly dished the ball to a cutting Amare who was slashing in from the high side for a jam and one. It really showed Diaw's value as a down low passer and also some creativity from the coaches who drew it up. A thing of beauty and I will be looking for that play again.
Btw - the play was at about 5:35 in the 2nd and I couldn't find a clip of it.

I also noticed a lot more patience from Amare. They would post him up early in the offense and if it wasn't there he passed out and they reset often getting a better shot after some great ball movement, picks and cuts. I predict we will soon be hearing about the improved Suns half court offense in the media....

Think about how much better this team is then past years - a 19 point win on a night when the outside shooting was flat and Amare only played 30 minutes and LB only had 6 pts in 25 minutes.

How are teams going to stop the Suns? Who do you load up on?

Granted it was a depleted Clippers team. But I can't wait for a real test when we play Dallas and SA on the 17th and 19th of December and then rematch w/ the Lakers on Christmas day.

We have the Warriors, Orlando and Houston coming up this week but we match up well against all of them and should take 2 of 3 if not sweep those games.

by Phoenix Stan on Nov 25, 2007 3:27 PM MST 0 recs

Understanding the need

I understand that need perfectly. I watched the Sacramento game I missed Wednesday last night on DVR last night, and whenever I get a chance, I'll go back and watch that Chicago game I saw at the arena too.

Sorry for the lack of new posts this weekend. Been trying to get things unpacked, and take care of various other chores that pile up when you're away from home for an extended time. I should have the weekly report up sometime later tonight. Using a new format this time. Hopefully one that will be less confusing and come off as less "negative" than the old one did.

by TexSUN on Nov 25, 2007 7:15 PM MST up 0 recs