Suns @ Lakers

[RunDogGun]

Kobe Bryant. Hate the guy as a Suns fan, Love the guy as a basketball fan.

He's just inhumane with some of the shots he can make. Absolutely ridiculous

I love it when a person misspells a word, and says something that they didn't mean to say, but it still makes sense.

I don't think it was misspelled, but it did make the comment funnier. Even if it was done unintentionally.

[JTrain]

"Inhumane" works, similar to "no regard for human life".

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tag9UmmFfY8[/youtube]

[gaspar]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39p-n0T16Ew[/youtube]

[Frank Lee]

......this team will be very difficult to guard for a full 48 mins.

but you and I know, its the last 5-4 minutes that determine most games. Getting those back to back stops and scores is how you win games in this league. Its a last half of the 4th quarter league. Whether or not we have the nuts to man up on teams in crunch time is the big Q. Big Boys in the post going to abuse us. And if the Plum can't hit his FTs, he won't be in there...so the onus goes on Len or a tiny line up with undersized PF KeifMo playing the post ????

We will once again live and die by the jumpshot

[letsgosuns]

I caught most of the fourth quarter and overtime of this game. Unless the Suns make a trade for an inside scoring post presence, they are not going to be any better than last year. Markieff is nowhere near a reliable scorer and the Suns will get destroyed by teams with good interior players. Markieff and Tolliver combined for 7 points and 4 rebounds (all by Markieff) tonight in 43 total minutes. Horrible production from your power forward combination. I cringe at the thought of them going against the Spurs, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Rockets, and Clippers. Pretty much any team that has a good frontcourt is probably going to demolish the Suns. It might sound crazy, but Alex Len could turn out to be the key to this season. The Suns have expectations of what they will get from everyone except him. So without a trade for an inside scoring big man, the Suns taking the next step will hinge on Len's ability to become a real impact inside player, and I have no idea if that is going to happen.

Why "inside scoring" big? Are we talking about the offense or the defense? If we're scoring efficiently, who cares where those points are coming from?

The reason the Suns vs. Lakers game last night went into overtime was because the Suns went on a terrible ice cold shooting stretch in the fourth quarter. The Lakers announcers said at one point towards the end of the fourth, the Suns had missed 13 of their last 15 shots. That is exactly the reason why the Suns need an inside scoring big. You live by the three, you die by the three. A big man inside scorer can get you easy baskets when jump shots are not falling. The Suns currently have no one to give the ball to in the paint to either score or draw fouls. They have not had that since Amare was on the team. The Morris brothers, Anthony Tolliver, Shavlik Randolph, Earl Barron, these guys are not inside scorers. Yeah they might hang around the rim but they are not the kind of player that can go out and have a 35 point, 15 rebound game. The Suns just do not have that. They need a big time scoring presence inside so they can truly compete.

[Sunsdeuce]

Lol yall flame Sundeuce for bashing Tucker and yet yall do it yourself? C'mon man.

It just peeves me when there's a particularly cynical tone to it... especially on a repeated basis.

It's one thing to say "that was a bad play" or "PJ needs to work on his post game" or "PJ is a bull on the fastbreak and has to learn" but it's another thing altogether to say "PJ is a scrub and here's why:..... did I mention PJ Tucker is bad?".

The optimist in me always wants to believe players can improve on their weakness. There's not point being dull and dry, bashing the dead horse with the same rhetoric.

Also SD's arrogance is laughable, and pretty much why everyone targets him. If he chose to present his opinion in a tone that wasn't condescending I'm certain everyone would mind their own business.

Look, I have been watching basketball for a LONG time. Put it this way I was going to basketball games at the madhouse on McDowell. It's not like I'm a teenager or in my twenties. I know quality players when I see them. I feel like people that absolutely love tucker only look at the box scores. I have seen 100s of tucker type players come and go.

All hail holy SD and his superior insight

To Tuck or not to Tuck, that is the question. Somewhere in-between solid starter and marginal role player lies the truth. There is plenty of room for an upgrade at SF. May be Warren grows into it, and perhaps Mother Tucker will be part of a packaged deal to acquire a significant piece. Who knows, but the "deuce' is the totter to the Pro-Tuck teeter. And to be honest, I don't think the teeter is all that strong, its just the totter is unwelcomed on this uber positive playground.

We are going to get pounded inside this yr, and have even more reliance on Treys and Js.

I haven't said one thing about tucker this game. Wow, now I understand batsmasher, he just looks for people to bash. Get a life! I'm sorry that tucker is your favorite player. Besides tucker is my last worry right now because he is gone in a year or two anyway. What I'm worried about is We have no interior defense, post, or rebounding. A team cannot live off of three and jump shots. Got to be able to get the dirty downlow points by your bigs which we can't do right now.

As stated above, there is going to be many times when the shooters get cold. We will be able to get a big lead fast and also lose a lead real fast with the current roster we have.

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[Puff]

I caught most of the fourth quarter and overtime of this game. Unless the Suns make a trade for an inside scoring post presence, they are not going to be any better than last year. Markieff is nowhere near a reliable scorer and the Suns will get destroyed by teams with good interior players. Markieff and Tolliver combined for 7 points and 4 rebounds (all by Markieff) tonight in 43 total minutes. Horrible production from your power forward combination. I cringe at the thought of them going against the Spurs, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Rockets, and Clippers. Pretty much any team that has a good frontcourt is probably going to demolish the Suns. It might sound crazy, but Alex Len could turn out to be the key to this season. The Suns have expectations of what they will get from everyone except him. So without a trade for an inside scoring big man, the Suns taking the next step will hinge on Len's ability to become a real impact inside player, and I have no idea if that is going to happen.

Why "inside scoring" big? Are we talking about the offense or the defense? If we're scoring efficiently, who cares where those points are coming from?

The reason the Suns vs. Lakers game last night went into overtime was because the Suns went on a terrible ice cold shooting stretch in the fourth quarter. The Lakers announcers said at one point towards the end of the fourth, the Suns had missed 13 of their last 15 shots. That is exactly the reason why the Suns need an inside scoring big. You live by the three, you die by the three. A big man inside scorer can get you easy baskets when jump shots are not falling. The Suns currently have no one to give the ball to in the paint to either score or draw fouls. They have not had that since Amare was on the team. The Morris brothers, Anthony Tolliver, Shavlik Randolph, Earl Barron, these guys are not inside scorers. Yeah they might hang around the rim but they are not the kind of player that can go out and have a 35 point, 15 rebound game. The Suns just do not have that. They need a big time scoring presence inside so they can truly compete.

I agree totally with your take.

I remember everyone picking on Amare for his poor defense and rebounding. Generally that was because he always seemed to be in foul trouble when he became too aggressive on defense and he boards. However when it came time to stop another teams run it was Nash to Amare for an and 1. It was a devastating combination and MDA put up with Amare's weaknesses so that he was available when needed. Without Amare on the court we had little to stop the other teams runs except for outside shooting or a Marion put back. Put an Amare clone on this team and we instantly become a very dangerous team.

It is clear that we have a weakness in that area and I have no clue as to how we fix it. My expectations are not really very high with this group and I do not expect them to make the playoffs. I surely hope I am wrong and will be watching and rooting for them every step of the way.

I also believe that our ultimate success is in Len's hands at this point as well. I said that a couple of weeks ago and folks thought I was nuts. I have little faith in Plumlee, Randolph, Tolliver, Barron or the Moris Brothers to get the job done. Len is really an unknown. He is big and reportedly very skilled. We need that skill to be in full bloom sooner than later.

[Sunsdeuce]

Why "inside scoring" big? Are we talking about the offense or the defense? If we're scoring efficiently, who cares where those points are coming from?

The reason the Suns vs. Lakers game last night went into overtime was because the Suns went on a terrible ice cold shooting stretch in the fourth quarter. The Lakers announcers said at one point towards the end of the fourth, the Suns had missed 13 of their last 15 shots. That is exactly the reason why the Suns need an inside scoring big. You live by the three, you die by the three. A big man inside scorer can get you easy baskets when jump shots are not falling. The Suns currently have no one to give the ball to in the paint to either score or draw fouls. They have not had that since Amare was on the team. The Morris brothers, Anthony Tolliver, Shavlik Randolph, Earl Barron, these guys are not inside scorers. Yeah they might hang around the rim but they are not the kind of player that can go out and have a 35 point, 15 rebound game. The Suns just do not have that. They need a big time scoring presence inside so they can truly compete.

I agree totally with your take.

I remember everyone picking on Amare for his poor defense and rebounding. Generally that was because he always seemed to be in foul trouble when he became too aggressive on defense and he boards. However when it came time to stop another teams run it was Nash to Amare for an and 1. It was a devastating combination and MDA put up with Amare's weaknesses so that he was available when needed. Without Amare on the court we had little to stop the other teams runs except for outside shooting or a Marion put back. Put an Amare clone on this team and we instantly become a very dangerous team.

It is clear that we have a weakness in that area and I have no clue as to how we fix it. My expectations are not really very high with this group and I do not expect them to make the playoffs. I surely hope I am wrong and will be watching and rooting for them every step of the way.

I also believe that our ultimate success is in Len's hands at this point as well. I said that a couple of weeks ago and folks thought I was nuts. I have little faith in Plumlee, Randolph, Tolliver, Barron or the Moris Brothers to get the job done. Len is really an unknown. He is big and reportedly very skilled. We need that skill to be in full bloom sooner than later.

Very well put.

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[Jdiddy701]

......this team will be very difficult to guard for a full 48 mins.

but you and I know, its the last 5-4 minutes that determine most games. Getting those back to back stops and scores is how you win games in this league. Its a last half of the 4th quarter league. Whether or not we have the nuts to man up on teams in crunch time is the big Q. Big Boys in the post going to abuse us. And if the Plum can't hit his FTs, he won't be in there...so the onus goes on Len or a tiny line up with undersized PF KeifMo playing the post ????

We will once again live and die by the jumpshot

Very great point. Finishing games will be very difficult. Still think our "post" players to get us the easy buckets are Dragic and Bledsoe with points in the paint.


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[lilfishi22]

I think the Suns need for a big in our offense is not needed. Rebounding and defense are what this team will be lacking but I think Plumlee will surprise us soon here with that.

Suns will be a playoff team. With Green and IT off the bench and possibly TJ, this team will be very difficult to guard for a full 48 mins.

6th seed if everyone is healthy is easy for us to accomplish. Something tells me we're going to be an awesome home team.


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It would be good to get some more consistency from Plumlee offensively but I agree, we don't need as much big man offense as we need rebounding, defense and hustle.

[lilfishi22]

The reason the Suns vs. Lakers game last night went into overtime was because the Suns went on a terrible ice cold shooting stretch in the fourth quarter. The Lakers announcers said at one point towards the end of the fourth, the Suns had missed 13 of their last 15 shots. That is exactly the reason why the Suns need an inside scoring big. You live by the three, you die by the three. A big man inside scorer can get you easy baskets when jump shots are not falling. The Suns currently have no one to give the ball to in the paint to either score or draw fouls. They have not had that since Amare was on the team. The Morris brothers, Anthony Tolliver, Shavlik Randolph, Earl Barron, these guys are not inside scorers. Yeah they might hang around the rim but they are not the kind of player that can go out and have a 35 point, 15 rebound game. The Suns just do not have that. They need a big time scoring presence inside so they can truly compete.

We also didn't have our primary offensive options in the game that whole 4th quarter and OT either. Also IT is still getting used to his new team. I strongly doubt we would go 2-15 had we had Bledsoe and Goran in the game during that stretch.

It did peeve me though to see Morris taking his big man defender off the dribble, only to settle for a mid-range jumper when he could've taken it to the rim for the foul or the bucket. This was one of my big concerns losing Frye is that it could take Kieff out of the paint and go back to being more of a jump shooting big like he was in his first couple of seasons. We need him to be working inside and using his quickness to his advantage.