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Suns at Pacers Game Preview: Time to Right the Ship

By Ray Hrovat

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Can Channing Frye replicate his heroics of last season versus the Pacers?
Can Channing Frye replicate his heroics of last season versus the Pacers?

Chemistry and cohesion have been the themes for the Suns as they've vaulted themselves back into the Western Conference race by winning 11 of 14 games before a rough back to back in Florida produced two losses. Their opponent tonight, the Indiana Pacers are a model of the "whole being better than the sum of the parts."

Of their starting five, only Danny Granger has missed a start (he missed two), and they're a team that gets solid production up and down their roster. At 27-18, they sit in the 5th position in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The Suns, of course, acquitted themselves well in a loss to the Heat but were then embarrassed by the Magic, quickly ending their brief foray into the wonderful world of winning teams. If there was any good news to take from the demolition at the hands of the Magic it's that the Suns were able to give their starters some rest, as only Jared Dudley played as many as 30 minutes.

Only 19 games remain on the Suns schedule and we won't find a whole lot of confident "should win"s among them. The Suns spent much of the month of March digging themselves out of an early season hole. It's critical not to let this current road trip put them right back in the same hole.

Next Game

Phoenix Suns
@ Indiana Pacers

Friday, Mar 23, 2012, 4:00 PM MST
Bankers Life Fieldhouse

Complete Coverage >


When the Suns last played the Pacers in February of last year in Indianapolis, Grant Hill scored a season-high 34 points (he hasn't scored more than 21 in a game since) in an overtime thriller that was capped by this game-winner from Channing Frye. Ah, the memories. Frye's confidence soared and he went on to hit another game-winner in the Suns next game in New Jersey.


The Suns won both games against the Pacers last year, but Indy improved through the second half of last season under new coach Frank Vogel, made the playoffs (albeit with a losing record) and have carried that momentum into this season under Vogel. They boast an above average defense, an All-Star in center Roy Hibbert and go ten deep with quality players, including former Suns fan favorites Lou Amundson and Leandro Barbosa.

Hibbert's matchup with Marcin Gortat will be one of the keys to this game. Gortat has had a rough go of it lately. There's not much shame in getting worked over by Dwight Howard, but Howard completely destroyed Gortat on Wednesday and the Suns will need him to bounce back against another strong opponent tonight.

The recent improvement of the Suns bench will need to continue tonight as well to counter the great depth of the Pacers, though the Suns are helped somewhat by the fact that the Pacers played on the road in Washington last night.

Regardless, this is a tough matchup for the Suns, as the Pacers are 14-6 at home this season while the Suns are only 8-14 on the road. It might take some heroics like what Frye and Hill provided last season to pull this one out.

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
Danny Granger 43 33.4 5.9 15.1 39.2 1.8 5.3 34.1 4.1 4.8 84.5 1.2 3.4 4.7 1.7 1.8 1.2 0.7 2.2 17.7
Roy Hibbert 45 30.0 5.3 10.6 49.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.4 3.5 69.4 3.4 5.7 9.1 1.6 2.0 0.4 1.8 3.2 13.0
Paul George 45 30.1 4.3 9.8 44.0 1.6 3.9 39.5 2.0 2.5 78.6 0.8 4.5 5.3 2.2 1.8 1.7 0.6 2.9 12.2
David West 45 29.2 4.9 10.5 46.4 0.0 0.2 25.0 2.2 2.8 79.0 1.7 4.9 6.6 2.2 1.4 0.8 0.7 2.4 12.0
Leandro Barbosa 44 22.2 4.6 10.6 43.6 0.9 2.6 36.0 1.8 2.1 81.9 0.5 1.4 1.8 1.5 1.7 0.8 0.2 2.3 12.0
Darren Collison 45 32.4 3.9 9.2 42.7 0.6 1.6 38.6 2.3 2.8 81.7 0.6 2.7 3.3 4.8 1.9 0.8 0.2 1.6 10.7
Tyler Hansbrough 45 22.3 3.0 7.4 40.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.5 4.3 81.8 1.9 2.8 4.7 0.5 1.0 0.8 0.2 2.4 9.5
George Hill 30 24.3 3.4 7.4 45.9 1.1 2.7 40.0 1.6 2.1 75.8 0.6 2.3 2.9 2.0 0.9 1.0 0.3 2.0 9.4
Dahntay Jones 45 16.4 1.9 4.4 42.9 0.4 1.0 44.4 1.4 1.7 84.0 0.4 1.4 1.8 0.9 0.7 0.3 0.2 1.9 5.6
A.J. Price 31 14.1 1.4 4.3 33.3 0.6 2.2 29.9 0.8 1.0 80.6 0.3 1.1 1.4 2.0 0.8 0.6 0.1 0.9 4.3
Lou Amundson 39 11.1 1.5 3.3 44.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.7 1.5 45.6 1.2 2.0 3.3 0.2 0.8 0.4 0.8 1.9 3.6
Lance Stephenson 36 10.6 1.0 2.8 35.0 0.1 0.6 8.7 0.2 0.4 53.3 0.3 1.1 1.4 1.2 0.9 0.6 0.1 0.7 2.2
Jeff Pendergraph 13 4.8 0.5 1.5 35.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.2 50.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.0 1.1 1.2

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