Slow, Soft and Old: Suns Fall to Hawks

by SwingMan on Nov 7, 2007 9:16 PM MST

[Editor's Note: I tried to catch the first part of this game, but once again could not get the broadband connection to League Pass to function. Not sure if the problem is on my end or theirs, but regardless, if Steve Nash can score 34 points while shooting 7-of-10 three pointers with 11 assists and five rebounds, yet the Suns still manage to lose the game, I'm guessing I didn't miss much. Thanks, SwingMan for sitting through it and giving us the rundown.]

Slow, soft and old. That's how the Suns looked tonight, limping to a 105-96 loss at the hands of an Atlanta Hawks team that seemed to be all arms and legs.

(If you're looking for an extended recap, well, I'm sorry to disappoint - I hate spending time on subjects that look and smell like a mountain of elephant dung).

Our Suns were no match for Atlanta's energy, athleticism and hustle - Amare or no, we were losing this game.

Did I say that Nash wasn't pressing? Obviously scratch that - 4 first half turnovers and a COSTLY, key late turnover helped flush this one away. BUT, we need to answer the question: why was Nash pressing in the first damn place????? His teammates, who, outside of Matrix maybe, looked like they'd bathed in frozen molasses and donned uniforms drenched in half-dried tar.

Raja slipped right back into funk mode, Hill couldn't penetrate worth dick and Boris morphed right back into Doris. Nothing new with Banks - he can be thoroughly depended on to disappoint. Marks? Maybe he spent his season's allotment of hustle in Charlotte last night? Skinner started to show some life, but thanks to D'Antoni's stubborn (putting it as nicely as I can for a family site) adherence to a certain rotation never even thought to put him into the game to knock some of those flying Atlanta bodies around until the 4th quarter - never mind that the Hawks, while shooting nearly 10% better than the Suns from the field from the half, had 10, TEN offensive rebounds to our 4.

Once again - slow, old and soft is exactly how the Suns played this evening. When you're smaller than virtually every opponent, you've gotta out-quick `em and out-hustle `em. Why on God's green earth can't this team do that consistently?

Think I've been a bit hard on the Suns, who are playing a back-to-back? Figure this: Atlanta traveled last night as well - and had a longer trip into town. No excuses for such a pitiful effort. O-boards, O-boards, O-boards.....

Will the Suns find a fountain of youth spiked with Red Bull before Friday, or will they once again be sipping pina coladas with the Geritol set?

Stay tuned for the 2nd Black Friday of this young 3-2 season. I pity the other beat writers who have to mull through this mess of a game. Oh yeah, our 1st round pick just got worse to boot - how's that for a topper?

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Arg

Gotta agree man. Even though I could only catch this on the radio I could still tell our boys were making a half hearted effort. Those of us who remember last season should find nothing surprising about this kind of start. Back then we went 0-4 before we started showing any hint of life. Is there cause for concern? Yeah I think so, but overall I feel that this goes back to our history of slow starts to the season and of course the fact that STAT has been out for a while.

As for rotation issues. Coach D probably should have put in Skinner earlier, and I wont be surprised if he says this later. He reason for not putting him in is that he was maybe trying to force Diaw to produce in a situation where we were in trouble. Lets face it, we need Diaw to be back to his old pre-Doris form if we really want our team to kick ass.

As for Hill. I still love having him on the team and especially starting, but he's a work in progress for the time being. Hill has only just jumped into the Suns system and is doing so as fourth or fifth bannana (depending on Bell's night) which he is unused to. I say that give him a couple more weeks in the trenches and he'll start to produce some real consistant numbers.

Lets hope and pray these Suns can get it together and start kickin ass like they were trained to do.

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

by Turambar on Nov 7, 2007 9:07 PM MST reply actions

Suns just like an old tube radio?

Takes a while to "warm up" before you start hearing music?

I can only hope.

Turumbar, looks like most readers here agree with us - so much that this game isn't even worth posting messages about.

Can't say as I blame y'all one bit.....

Always remember to keep one foot in the groove

by SwingMan on Nov 8, 2007 12:19 AM MST reply actions

Exhaustion

I'm going to post a "weekly report" sometime tomorrow. But right now, I'm physically (and mentally) way too tired to think let alone write a coherent sentence.

by TexSUN on Nov 8, 2007 12:47 AM MST up reply actions

Dont sweat it, Tex.

Do an investigation on why Sominex stocks are going through the roof and you'll wind up at the same place. ;)

Seriously though, I'd wait until the Suns are back from the road trip to give out with a progress report.

Always remember to keep one foot in the groove

by SwingMan on Nov 8, 2007 1:22 AM MST up reply actions

Not half-hearted. That's what scares me

I don't agree that the Suns were playing with a half-hearted effort tonight. I think they were just outhustled by a youthful, high-energy team who also had a height advantage inside with Amare absent once again.

I think it was more of an energy issue. This is different from lack of hustle. They were TRYING, they just couldn't get it done. The Suns missed a lot of shots off the front of the rim, especially late. So even though the back-to-back games shouldn't be an excuse since both teams had it, it clearly hurt the Suns more than it did the younger, hungrier Hawks.

I read that Boris' ankles are still bothering him. This may sound bad, but I hope so! Because how else can I explain his total absence. After his huge game the night before, it was very disappointing to see how he played in a close game when he was really needed.

I've always laughed at the announcers (like the Hawks guys last night) who say they need to make Steve Nash score instead of pass. Well, he did both, but it still wasn't enough. And at the end when he was pressing to try to salvage the game, he ended up making a couple of bad TO's.

Very frustrating.

by SueB on Nov 8, 2007 7:57 AM MST reply actions

Same ol, Same IL

Has anyone noticed that the Suns can not stop any team that pounds the ball up the middle? First the Lakers, now the Hawks. I wonder how long Will it take every team to just send a lone ranger up the middle and the Suns will fold. The Suns are now shoot once and forget the rebound. Amare will help that but has anyone started wondering if Amare is hurt more than we have been led to believe?

by OneSunsFan on Nov 8, 2007 8:45 AM MST reply actions

No excuses in the NBA, but...

Sounds like Boris is still aching according to AZ Republic's take:

Amaré Stoudemire, who scored 43 points and grabbed 16 rebounds the last time the Suns played in Atlanta, missed his third consecutive game due to a sore right knee. The Suns' replacement starting center, Boris Diaw, hobbled by a bad left ankle, was in no shape to make the Hawks pay for defensive switches.

Also, here's what Steve Nash had to say:

"I don't have any answers right now," Nash said. "It's not my goal to go out and shoot 20 times. It's not my goal to be that aggressive. I just felt like I had no alternative. I wish I could've come up with something a little better to get more balance out there. . . . They were so athletic at switching so many things, I felt like I'd be putting my teammates at a disadvantage if I wasn't trying to take advantage instead of putting it in their hands and making them go against someone."

by TexSUN on Nov 8, 2007 9:41 AM MST reply actions

The Hawks are good

The hawks are really looking good this year...a sleeper team. The have youth, incredible athleticism, and lots of talent. I think we should give credit where credit is due. They beat mavs (w/o josh howard), almost beat detroit, and beat us (w/o amare) but they've really surprised me thus far.

by alta on Nov 8, 2007 1:00 PM MST reply actions