Game Day Open Thread: Phoenix Suns vs. New Orleans Hornets

by TexSUN on Jan 5, 2008 3:21 PM MST in Game Coverage Comment 27 comments

Phoenix Suns	vs.	New Orleans Hornets
23-9		22-11
7:00 PM Mountain / 9:00 PM Eastern
TV: FSN AZ HD, NBA League Pass
Probable starters:
Steve Nash	PG	Chris Paul
Raja Bell	SG	Morris Peterson
Grant Hill	SF	Peja Stojakovic
Shawn Marion	PF	David West
Amare Stoudemire	C	Tyson Chandler

Quick, without looking at the standings, name the team with the best road record in the West. The Suns, right? Nope. Not anymore. After the Christmas Day loss in LA, they are now a close second. So it must be the Spurs, right? Nope. Not even close. In fact, the Spurs have a losing record on the road at 5-7. So do the Mavericks who are 6-8. The team with the best road record in the West is the New Orleans Hornets--the same Hornets who beat the Suns about three weeks ago in a game nobody remembers thanks to games against the Spurs and Mavericks immediately afterwards. The Hornets sit tied with Dallas for the second best record in the tough Southwest Division. Oh, and their wins haven't all come against weak teams either. In fact, the Hornets have more wins against their own conference than any other team in the West, good for second-best record amongst Western teams against teams in their own conference. In addition to the win over the Suns, they also have wins over the Lakers, Mavericks, Nuggets, and Warriors. In other words, the Suns should have their hands full tonight.

I'm expecting this game to be ever bit as nail-biting as this one was last March, hopefully with the same result:

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hey texsun

good buildup for tonights game!! I'll be following along on radio and blog.

Chris Paul I think had a 20+ assist game the other night! Plus Peja is an assassin as a shooter, and Chandler is one of those players who, in my view, is
a great player. This should be fun tonight!

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 5:36 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

hey texsun

also, boston plays detroit tonight, I've been thinking Boston is way ahead of Detroit this yr, but I've heard some people say Detroit is the other top team in the east. Curious to see how they match up. Looks like it's in Detroit also

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 6:01 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

also

I guess Boston only scored 12 in their first Q tonight also, its a virus...what should we name it...

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 6:41 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

looking good for suns so far

74 suns
65 N.O

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 8:27 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

nba lp is not playing the game

this sucks

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 8:29 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

well from stats

looks like marion is the only suns player shooting a lot and missing 1 for 8
plus 2 for 4 on free throws!

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 8:42 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

trying to make this look busy

I'm not so sure I agree with the above comment...

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 9:03 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm glad someone spoke up about the above above

comment, I was thinking the opposite, this guy is always talking about the mavs this, the mavs that, and he says hes a suns fan but won't spend the money to watch the games...I don't know...

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 9:04 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

well

I'm keeping track of this game without video and without audio (nba lp is playing democratic debates!). If this keeps up, I figure next week I'll be looking at cloud formations or smoke signals to keep up with the next game!$@%^

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 8:45 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

banks is getting some playing time

and really making the most of it, again....good for him! (and us!)

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 9:06 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

tie game

5min left, and diaw takes a 3 pointer?, ah!

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 9:07 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

4:20 left

105 to 105, nice to see we're right in it, after looking at Marion's 1 for 8, I can't help but think of (think it was srp's) comment about Marion being asked while playing against Durant, would he (Marion) like to get 20 to 25 shots, and Marion laughed about it, unsure of this...it could be taken a few ways, but it does sound like srp suggested, Marion just doesn't get it, that he is number 4 or 5 on the team as far as offensive threat, not that he isn't our best in other areas...but it just seems like for 17 million, he should be our number 1 on offense, or the best defensive player in the league, which he is not.

nice.. 107 - 105 suns losing after being up the last 15 quarters!,

from 7 min out and a 5 point lead
for suns here's the suns breakdown

banks layup scores

banks jumpshot misses

barbosa LAYUP misses

Diaw 3pt shot misses

Diaw reverse layup scores

Nash 3 pt misses

diaw makes 2 ff

Barbosa layup scores

Marion dunk scores

.53 seconds left

suns down by 6

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 9:17 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

suns were winning this all night it sounds like

then just fell apart when it mattered most,

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 9:18 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

actually, above is not correct

Look at suns scoring by quarters
31 37 25 20
then N.O.
34 23 33 28

1 bad quarter by N.O,

2 bad quarters by suns!

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 9:21 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

Hmm

Does anybody know why Nash didn't come in to play in the 4th quarter until there was only 5 or so minutes left? I didn't hear anything but kept wondering what was up with that? Boy, they sure blew that 4th quarter and thus the game. Nice of Marion to show up tonight.

by TwinnerA on Jan 5, 2008 9:23 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

don't know on nash

yep, marion was horrible, even rebounding wise. You'd think even if he wasn't scoring, he could always hustle and get rebounds, there has to be something wrong with this team (and there are a lot of things right), but I mean how come they play so off and on

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 5, 2008 9:31 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

this is why I'm 100% excited about this team

Found this in the azrepublic, rarely do I get something I like out of it, but I normally skim it, it's kind of a thing with me if I can go through my skimming in under 1 minute...I liked this statement,
not the reality of it, but it does help to explain why (even with our overall record) some of us our wondering whats wrong with this team!

"When the nation wonders why Suns Nation panics over a 23-10 team, tell all those people this and they should then understand. . . The Suns are 1-6 against the West's current playoff seeds."

(above " from azrepublic)

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 6, 2008 1:16 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

BECAUSE THIS MADE A DIFFERENCE

IN MY MIND...

MARION SHOOTS 9 SHOTS MAKES 2

AMARE SHOOTS 11 SHOTS, MAKES 6

WITH THE WAY AMARE HAS BEEN PLAYING THE LAST WEEK OR MORE, MARION AND OTHERS SHOULD BE TAKING LESS SHOTS AND AMARE SHOULD BE UP AROUND 20!!!! I'D BE PRETTY MAD IF I WAS AMARE, KNOWING WHAT HE COULD'VE DONE OFFENSIVELY VS marion.

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 6, 2008 1:20 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

OMG!!!

DID ANYONE SEE THIS STAT FROM THE GAME, GRANT HILL GOT THE HIGH FOR REBOUNDS FOR US, NOT AMARE, NOT MARION, NOT SKINNER (not his fault...lack of playing time). Seriously, this is about as scary as marion and barbosa going 0 for 8 from the three point line!
Does the coach and players actually think most nights we won't miss that many, and keep the same strategy, or does he wake up and use barbosa's speed to attack the basket, use amare's finesse(spell check Yes!) to attack the hoop, etc etc!

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 6, 2008 1:36 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

Amare

It's really hard to understsand what happened with Amare in this game. He started out strong, got the Suns' first bucket, looked good defending Chandler, Bender said 'maybe he'll be go over 30 for the 3rd straight game', and then he was out of it.

No real foul trouble. Just not getting the ball. I know LB went on a hot streak in the 2nd quarter, so it's good to keep feeding him when he's like that (he did hit some long shots, but I guess his foot was on the line each time). And then in the third quarter, the emphasis was clearly to get Shawn going, and it wasn't really working. And it's like they just forgot about Amare until the 4th quarter, by which time he was also out of it.

Anyway, my usual optimism aside, I have to start to wonder about this team if they're (the coaches, Nash) are that worried about this or that player's psyche (Shawn has no points .. oh, no, he'll go into a funk!) that they gear their strategy toward that instead of just winning.

This loss was terribly frustrating because they played SO well in the first half and couldn't sustain against a team they could well face in the playoffs and must be able to beat.

by SueB on Jan 6, 2008 4:44 AM MST reply actions 0 recs

amare 11 fga

pretty simple, we didn't give him the ball

by jasonsuns1 on Jan 6, 2008 9:13 AM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, that's what I mean

They just stopped giving it to him.

by SueB on Jan 6, 2008 4:45 PM MST up reply actions 0 recs

Another tough loss

boy this one hurts almost as much as the game we dropped in N.O. due to crappy 1st quarter play and that Christmas day debacle in LA.

I kept thinking all through the first half how well the Suns were playing. Diaw and LB were great. The D on Paul was awesome by both Bank and Marion. Banks of course was great off the bench. Even if Marion was having an off night the rest of the team was stepping up.

And then even when it got close in the early part of the 4th you just figured the Suns would close strong and the tired Hornets would fade. But instead, they did a GREAT job of denying Amare the ball generally D'd up and shut us down all the while Paul played great and it was the Suns that faded late. I really should watch that 4th qtr again but I don't have the stomach for it yet...yuck.

Oh, and according to Paul Coro in the AZ Rep, Amare didn't show for practice today:

Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni only said that Stoudemire did not come Sunday for "personal reasons" and that Stoudemire had contacted Suns head athletic trainer Aaron Nelson to inform him that he would not be at practice.

by Phoenix Stan on Jan 6, 2008 5:05 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

Amare

Amare should be the 1st option to start the game and if the game is anywhere close down the stretch in the 4th he should also be the one with the ball to either score or get to the free throw line. They shouldn't have lost last night. Also, I am still trying tof igure out why Nash only played the final 5:41 of the 4th (and played all of the 3rd except the final .37 seconds). Idiotic to leave him in so long in the 3rd when we needed him more in the 4th.

by TwinnerA on Jan 6, 2008 5:07 PM MST reply actions 0 recs