Phoenix(5-1)@Washington(2-4) 1PM Sunday

[omegatronic3]

wow these guys remind me of the Redskins.

so much for a good season...didnt see the game but clearly this team aint gelling. Whos to blame ...is it the system..or is Arenas not up to snuff..is Butler done? I thought our D was starting to look better but clearly it isnt.

[Dat2U]

It make sense to start Haywood, Blatche, Butler, Foye, and Arenas.

Those 5 guys are clearly our best players right now, and 4 of them (ex Haywood) are our best offensive players. But that doesn't mean we should start them. If we do, our second unit is going to be pathetic on offense.

I think we need to keep one of our 4 real offensive players on the second unit. Arenas and Butler won't be benched, so that means either Foye or Blatche comes off the bench. That player should still get 30+ minutes, but he needs to be in the game when Arenas and/or Butler are sitting.

Flip has picked Blatche as the guy with the second unit. I think it's the right call. As long as Blatche is getting 30+ minutes, I don't see the problem.

IMO the offense stinks right now because we've basically got 4 healthy guys that are reliable offensive weapons. Whenever DS or Oberto are in the game its pretty much 4 on 5. When Oberto & DS are in the game together, its 3 on 5. We have too much of that. You can't continue to play complete self-checks on offense and not expect some fall off. I also think the Oberto/Wood combo clogs up paint and takes driving lanes away from Gil. I'm not crazy about those two playing many minutes together.

I'd also say fixing the starting linueup is more important than worrying about your bench. Put your best five out there, play 'em big minutes and see if they can have better results than we've had the past 4 games.

[dobrojim]

^

that combined with the players learning a new system and what you
see is what you get. T'aint pretty, that's for sure.

the assist:to ratio is definitely troubling

[LyricalRico]

I'd also say fixing the starting linueup is more important than worrying about your bench. Put your best five out there, play 'em big minutes and see if they can have better results than we've had the past 4 games.

Agreed. Maybe then we won't be constantly playing from behind.

[dobrojim]

fixing the starting lineup hopefully is easy

just be patient and wait for AJ and MM to come back.

[miller31time]

Didn't see a lot of this game since the Ravens game was on at the same time but I caught bits and pieces.

From what I saw, we played reasonably well but have short sequences when we just lose it. It's the whole "The team played 23 seconds of great defense"-type thing. Hopefully, this is something that will be remedied in time (along with our health issues).

[dobrojim]

PHO was a tough matchup for us

Their C is a 3 pt threat and their 2/3 players had big size advantages
on us. Add in a vet former MVP PG who knows how to pick a team apart
and you have a tough time. They just beat BOS. They're good. Give them
credit.

plus we were missing our 2nd best player plus our 4/5/6th best player.

We played well at times but not well enough to win. Shaq effect