Game 20: Phoenix Suns @ Mavericks (12/4/2008)

[GaliSun]

nice, dragic setting amundson for a jumper...amazing!

[harshey1388]

i know i said goodnight but had to come back for a couple things... rsavaj yeah nash shoulda been in when we cut it to 10... BIG porter mistake.

and lastly even T.O (owens) is calling out the suns heart and chemistry... man that hurts

[mkot]

Seriously, why didn't Porter put Nash in when we were down by 10 with 7 mins to go?

Answer: Because Porter doesn't has a brain and has absolutely no feel for the game.

[rsavaj]

Amare has a worse +/- than Boris, despite his 28

[mafesto]

This game was winnable with 10 minutes to go, I think Porter either went for a bathroom stop or fell asleep because he forgot to put the first team back on, its sad to watch. Nash should have been out there after the last TO.

[Stix]

Go to Hell Sarver

This is a different team with Rondo and Rudy.

[rsavaj]

i know i said goodnight but had to come back for a couple things... rsavaj yeah nash shoulda been in when we cut it to 10... BIG porter mistake.

and lastly even T.O (owens) is calling out the suns heart and chemistry... man that hurts

lol when TO starts calling you out, you've got issues.

Sigh, I love this game :/

[Purple Palace]

Amare has a worse +/- than Boris, despite his 28

+/- isn't even a good stat.

[daveang]

Sigh.....

I agree...... Why the hell didn't Porter put Nash in with 10 minutes left???

No offensive flow, all of these so called "sets" are mentally getting the better of the rotations.

Barbosa needs to play off the ball more - you there Hill?

Where was the perimeter defense?

The ring was a hula-hoop for Nowitzki tonight.

[Purple Palace]

Seriously, why didn't Porter put Nash in when we were down by 10 with 7 mins to go?

Ugh, yes. Ridiculous.

Nash was playing great tonight too. He only had 1 turnover.

[The Diesel]

Unacceptable performance by Shaq tonight.

He always struggles against Dampier.

They should have played him yesterday and sat him out tonight.

This trade is looking worse and worse.

[TXSun]

WTF is wrong with this guy (Porter)? he forgot he had Nash and Shaq or what!! Down 10 with the ball and Nash sits the whole 4th Q? I hope it was Nash who asked not to play cause if it was Porter who simply didn't put him in then we got ourselves a jackass-of-a-coach!! So many good coaches out there and we picked up Porter and now we're stuck with him for at least a season!! Kerr has really ruined this team.

[The Diesel]

Let's not forget that D'Antoni is the one who pushed for the Shaq trade, not Kerr.

I blame Shaq for this loss. He was pathetic. He ALWAYS struggles against Dampier for some reason.

I don't think Porter deserves the blame for tonight's loss. Shaq does. Nash and Amare were great.

[TsunamiZC]

Let's not forget that D'Antoni is the one who pushed for the Shaq trade, not Kerr.

I blame Shaq for this loss. He was pathetic. He ALWAYS struggles against Dampier for some reason.

I don't think Porter deserves the blame for tonight's loss. Shaq does. Nash and Amare were great.

Um he was outrebounded by Erika Dampier, he was outrebounded by Dirk. Hell Shaq & Amare were outrebounded by Dampier alone. Thats not "great"

[JohnVancouver]

I was pissed off when the tv sked came out and the first half of the season almost all the Suns games were on TSN2, which cable up here doesn't carry. But geez - it's been a blessing. The ones I have seen - Miami - N.O. - have been brutal.
I'm depressed as hell.

This is going down as one of the biggest management errors in NBA history. I know we had to trade Marion or get nothing but we looked good with Shaq last year. The first round flameout was disappointing but this year looked promising - Lopez, Barnes, Amundson were good adds, Dragic was the heir apparent, or so the GM said. I really think it's Porter.
You have to lay it at the feet of the coach. This is the wrong roster for his system, if I can dignify it with that word.
Kerr is not going to fire Porter so the only answer is for the team to disregard him and play they way they play best, or blow the thing up.
What a tragedy. And that's without mentioning Sergio, Rudy, Rondo, the KT trade and unprotected pick giveaway ... the list goes on.

Just wondering, you guys in PHX know what the attendance is, dropping or still sell-out?
Maybe that will get Sarver's attention.
It really is time to start drinking again ...

[mkot]

Let's not forget that D'Antoni is the one who pushed for the Shaq trade, not Kerr.

You kept saying that and it's wrong. I hate repeating myself so I'm going to keep it simple...No MikeD didn't push for it. If anything, Sarver wanted it because the deal financially it's a slam dunk. Kerr hesitated and MikeD was against it. There's an article came out last offseason on MikeD's take on the Shaq deal. He said he support the deal, but he'd never said he's the one to convince the hesitate Kerr to make the deal. And I also remember that MikeD was on PTI after being hired by the Knicks, and basically said the reason why things got turned around to make it seem like MikeD had to convince Kerr about Shaq is because the media jumped on the idea of MikeD being hesitant. So Kerr came out and was like if anything he convinced Mike and he was the reluctant one. Kerr came out in the media to defend MikeD as to make it looked like they're on the same page.

I just never did believe MikeD wanted the Shaq trade anyway. It goes against EVERYTHING he's been about since he took over the coaching reigns. He likes small and fast, but Shaq is big and slow and Shawn is his boy. You know, can't trust everything the media/Kerr/Sarver feed you.

[b-ball forever]

Who the eff said Amare's better than Dirk?

Bball, I'm gonna have to stand by my trade Amare for Dirk sentiments.

You can stand by your sentiments all u want, that doesn't make Dirk an upgrade over Amare on our team at all.

Feel free to actually bring up valid reasons on why that would be by digging up my long ass post and rebutting all of the zillion points I already made back there on why trading AMare for Dirk would be a (Please Use More Appropriate Word) swap, I'm not gonna make a 100 000 word count post to prove how stupid the idea of bringing Chokewitzky over is everytime u bring that shiyt up

U don't trade Amare for Dirk cuz he doesn't do jack as far as fixing any of our weaknesses.
There are much better packages we could get in exchange for STAT as far as actually improving our team (which Dirk wouldn't at all).

[tsherkin]

The one thing Dirk does bring relative to Amare is that he's an average defender and isn't a disinterested rebounder. Of course, Porter would immediately take the PnR away from Dirk (a play he and Nash ran quite successfully in Dallas for several years... funny story about that...) and would probably have him camped out instead of moving without the ball, probably denying him elbow and wing isolations, too.

Dirk's got a player's option for 10/11, so there's no way that Sarver would go for a deal like that, IMO. And of course, Dirk is 30 years old.

I would still rather have Dirk atm because he's a much better competitor and a much smarter player... and less of a chemistry-busting asshat than Amare, but that doesn't mean he's necessarily a better option. He wouldn't revolutionize the team's defense and he has a clear weakness for smaller defenders.

But b-ball is right; as far as packages go, Amare-for-Dirk isn't the best thing that the Suns could pull back in return for Amare. Younger players and picks are probably better bets, even if the talent doesn't match up.

[Frank Lee]

You know, can't trust everything the media/Kerr/Sarver feed you.

ya know... you can add D'Ant to that list too...he was a spinmaster...but that is niether here nor there.

Face it, as you said, money wise, Sarver could not resist getting Shaq...but in fairness, we would still have a festering Marion and Banks..and maybe D'Ant. This Front Orfice was not in the position to add any significant post help...other than dealing Swannie. Christ, we traded (excuse me, bribed a team to take ) KT, the very one who was to be that guy.

Anyways...I was posting to comment on Nash's absence in the latter part of the game...apparently he had the FLU a few days prior and was sitting due to med reasons. They probably put a minute limit on him and Porter had already used it up. But look what happened to us at that point...

Phnx hacked there way back to be down by ten...then, over the next 5 trips down Barbosoos had 2 turnovers and a missed J, Hill missed a driving layup and a 3ptr, Barnes missed 2 FTs....Bang...we are down 17. and its time for the food channel.

Our weaknesses are exposed nightly....atleast D'Ant could hide them behind a 117 pt performance.


PS...hey Tsherk...I would wager that somewhere down the line, Nash and Dirk play on the same team for gits and shiggles at player minimums.

[tsherkin]

I would love for that to be Toronto...