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Open Gameday Thread - Suns vs Hornets

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By Seth Pollack
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Phoenix Suns
vs.

New Orleans Hornets
11-7 9-6
6:00PM Mountain / 8:00 PM Eastern
TV: My45 HD
Probable starters:
Leandro Barbosa PG Chris Paul
Raja Bell SG Rasul Butler
Grant Hill
 SF Peja Stojakovic
Amare Stoudemire
 PF David West
Robin Lopez C Tyson Chandler
Official Suns Game Notes
Remember when players would suddenly come down with flu-like symptoms when they had to face the Suns? Guess who's feeling a bit ill over the prospect of taking on Mr. Paul and his fast hands, quick feet and killer mindset.
Yes, I know. OTC. One Tough Canadian. And obviously Steve is not going to run from a challenge but really now, could you blame him for not wanting to get abused by yet another younger faster point guard?


Update: Per local radio Barbosa and Hill will start with Barnes and Singletary coming off the bench. Both Grant and Leandro have played well in starts. This will be a great test for LB's defense. He's got the physical skills to defend Paul as well as anyone can. Let's see if he brings the will.

Speaking of stopping great point guards...
We all know that fans are much more qualified to coach the team and pick the players then the actual coach and GM and since I am a better fan then you (as evidenced by the number of words I type about the team) I am going to step up and explain how we should handle CP3.
It's really very simple. Frankly, I don't understand why our coaching staff hasn't figured this out already. We have seen a few teams do this effectively to Nash over the years and there's no reason we shouldn't apply it to Paul. Listen up Porter, here's the 3 step plan to stopping #3.
  1. Stay home on the shooters (Matt Barnes - I am talking about you staying glued to Peja's fuzzy Greek-Serbian ass)
  2. Deny the lobs and passes to the roll man. Limit his assists. Do not let Chris create easy baskets for Tyson "I Can't Shoot the Ball" Chandler
  3. Go under all those screens and let him go nuts from the floor as long as he's not driving the lane drawing help and either finishing or passing for easy baskets
In other words, make Paul be selfish. It worked against Nash (except that it rarely did) and at least when he scores 50 you can tell everyone that it was part of the plan.
If they don't want to go that route then perhaps Linton Johnson III aka "The Chris Paul Stopper" is available for a 10 day contract.

Other keys to not getting beat by the Hornets again? Limit the turnovers which is an easy fix if the guys just stop thinking about turnovers. Elephant. They should try and not turnover the ball by not thinking about turning over the ball. The result will be fewer turnovers. Again. Simple as cutting and pasting collages. Just don't eat the paste.
btw - in case you missed it, Sarver was behind that little crafts project idea with the intent of sending a message about how childish his team was behaving. How could that not work?
Collagecopy2_medium

Oh, yes. It is not clear if Shaq will play in this game given his night off/night on schedule and tomorrow we face Erika Dampier and we know how much Shaq loves playing against that guy. There's not many centers who Shaq can beat down the court.
To recap - No Nash (maybe). No Shaq (maybe). Chris Paul going nuts (certainly). On the road after getting chewed out by the coach and insulted by the owner against a team that has owned us and is struggling for a win.
I love our chances.

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