Game 72: Phoenix(40-31)@Portland(44-27)

[TXSun]

2 seconds left in the 3rd Q up by 30 is GARBAGE TIME! and in case you didn't know, Rudy is your 6th man not just a bench player. You got other young guys in that bench that are dieing for playing time. why not put those guys in? Other folks at the POR forum seem to agree with me.

Actually, with 2 seconds left in the third quarter Portland was up only 16, so you are embellishing by an extra 47%! At that point Portland was only pulling away from the Suns, not blowing them out. It was not until the last two seconds of the third quarter when our seventh man, Rudy put up five quick points that Portlands lead got over 20 to 21 to end said quarter.

Then to start the 4th quarter the Suns went on a quick 6-2 run where Portland looked pedestrian and called a quick time out as the lead was down to 17. Still in striking range for a veteran laden team such as the Suns and especially a team that brags "seven seconds or Shaq!" Portland then quit throwing the ball away and took their biggest lead at 28 and then emptied the bench. Yes, Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez come off of the bench for Portland. And Rudy is a rookie working his way out of a slump.

No fan wants to lose a big game, especially by 20. But the facts do not match your assessment. Even you can see that. Phoenix won two at home against Portland, as they should, and Portland handled their home court. No need to run the opposition down for playing well. The facts of the game speak clearly, and as I mentioned, your assessment of the game is way skewed by your anger at your team losing.

Good luck, as I have said, I live in Tempe and watch the Suns all of the time. I hope you do make the playoffs over Utah or Dallas. Also, go D'backs and cards!!

Oh my goodness! your facts are so irrelevant & false (for lack of word). check out the video and YOU tell me what the scores says and the time left when Rudy got hurt. Just tell me please!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDVllOyooc4
Gosh!! i can't believe you man. your argument is as weak as your facts. not trying to be rude or anything but your facts are so false. Look man I'm glad no one got hurt but key players can get hurt in garbage time. an another note, POR top managment has done a superb job building that team, wish we could do the same, congrats.

[Wizenheimer]

2 seconds left in the 3rd Q up by 30 is GARBAGE TIME! and in case you didn't know, Rudy is your 6th man not just a bench player. You got other young guys in that bench that are dieing for playing time. why not put those guys in? Other folks at the POR forum seem to agree with me.

Actually, with 2 seconds left in the third quarter Portland was up only 16, so you are embellishing by an extra 47%! At that point Portland was only pulling away from the Suns, not blowing them out. It was not until the last two seconds of the third quarter when our seventh man, Rudy put up five quick points that Portlands lead got over 20 to 21 to end said quarter.

Then to start the 4th quarter the Suns went on a quick 6-2 run where Portland looked pedestrian and called a quick time out as the lead was down to 17. Still in striking range for a veteran laden team such as the Suns and especially a team that brags "seven seconds or Shaq!" Portland then quit throwing the ball away and took their biggest lead at 28 and then emptied the bench. Yes, Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez come off of the bench for Portland. And Rudy is a rookie working his way out of a slump.

No fan wants to lose a big game, especially by 20. But the facts do not match your assessment. Even you can see that. Phoenix won two at home against Portland, as they should, and Portland handled their home court. No need to run the opposition down for playing well. The facts of the game speak clearly, and as I mentioned, your assessment of the game is way skewed by your anger at your team losing.

Good luck, as I have said, I live in Tempe and watch the Suns all of the time. I hope you do make the playoffs over Utah or Dallas. Also, go D'backs and cards!!

Oh my goodness! your facts are so irrelevant & false (for lack of word). check out the video and YOU tell me what the scores says and the time left when Rudy got hurt. Just tell me please!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDVllOyooc4
Gosh!! i can't believe you man. your argument is as weak as your facts. not trying to be rude or anything but your facts are so false. Look man I'm glad no one got hurt but key players can get hurt in garbage time. an another note, POR top managment has done a superb job building that team, wish we could do the same, congrats.

You're overreacting for no reason. You two are talking about different games. His facts are exactly accurate as far as the Suns game which is what he was referring to. Meanwhile you're talking about the Lakers game.

[TXSun]

^ nevermind, AZ Blazer couldn't keep up with the initial conversation or just didn't read. Either way great win for POR. it ends here.

[Effigy]

Rudy got hurt in garbage time vs LA, this time it could have been Roy or Aldridge. Glad it didn't happen but coach Nate should make better judgment of the situation up by 20+ with the PHX starters having no intentions of going by in the game.

How is the 3rd quarter ever garbage time? And he's a bench player! Who's supposed to be out there?! Don't we have to have SOMEBODY on the court in 'garbage time'? SHould we have had all 5 starters in instead?

albasuna, I pronounce your name alba=suna like saying Jessica Alba's last name, and then 'tuna' immediately after with an 's' instead of a 't'.

2 seconds left in the 3rd Q up by 30 is GARBAGE TIME! and in case you didn't know, Rudy is your 6th man not just a bench player. You got other young guys in that bench that are dieing for playing time. why not put those guys in? Other folks at the POR forum seem to agree with me.

Rudy's not our 6th man, that's Outlaw, Rudy is our 7th or 8th man, depending on what you call Joel. I think having your 7th or 8th man on the floor in garbage time is acceptable. I'm also not comfortable with your implication that we should send out a lineup of Michael Ruffin, Sergio Rodriguez, Jerryd Bayless, Channing Frye and Shavlik Randolph, who are the bottom 5 guys in our lineup. 30 point lead or no, I'm not real comfortable with that team going up against the Lakers for a whole quarter. I think the Lakers would make that a game pretty fast. Having Rudy in there seems completely acceptable to me and I would assume, most other rational-thinking fans.

[TXSun]

^ wow now his possibly your 8th man? he sure does play alot for a guy that almost falls out of the rotation (8th man). What about Roy & Aldridge? they played until the last 3 minutes of the game in a 20+ blowout game when PHX rested their starters midway thru the 3rd Q. Any other rational thinking fan would say they were there way too long risking injuries. what do you say?

[dantian]

our team better w/o Amare?? man those Suns fans claiming that are high on drugs.

They are more of Nash and DA fans. They want Nash to be the dominant player but even they recognize his game-killing defense. To justify Nash's on the team, they need to find a scapegoat. They childishly believe that without Amare this team plays better defense despite the liability Nash. Their main argument was, with a Camby/Chandler to clean up the **** Nash leaves on defense, SSOL would shine again.

[rsavaj]

our team better w/o Amare?? man those Suns fans claiming that are high on drugs.

They are more of Nash and DA fans. They want Nash to be the dominant player but even they recognize his game-killing defense. To justify Nash's on the team, they need to find a scapegoat. They childishly believe that without Amare this team plays better defense despite the liability Nash. Their main argument was, with a Camby/Chandler to clean up the **** Nash leaves on defense, SSOL would shine again.

our highest defensive rating was the year Amare didn't play. Before Kurt Thomas went down, we were FIFTH.

Believing that a team is better on defense without one of its worse defenders isn't childish, it's logical. Last year, Amare's defensive rating was the 2nd worst of all power forwards in the league, ahead of only Al Jefferson's. Nash wasn't in the bottom 10 point guards in the league.

[dantian]

our highest defensive rating was the year Amare didn't play. Before Kurt Thomas went down, we were FIFTH.

Believing that a team is better on defense without one of its worse defenders isn't childish, it's logical. Last year, Amare's defensive rating was the 2nd worst of all power forwards in the league, ahead of only Al Jefferson's. Nash wasn't in the bottom 10 point guards in the league.

Men, when you watch games you realize our defense breaks starting with Nash. Amare is a bad help defender. The combination was killing us. So, when Nash lets PGs driving by him like sieves or standing around leaving the 3pt shooters wide open, the defensive failure is put on someone else but not Nash! This year, Barbosa finally starts to play reasonable defense and the team's defense with or without Nash is just like nights and days, if one watches the games instead just comparing stats.

[GOBlazers]

^ wow now his possibly your 8th man? he sure does play alot for a guy that almost falls out of the rotation (8th man).

I understand the Joel argument since he plays more minutes than Oden. Basically Portland has a lot of guys that can play, and probably the largest rotation in the league with 10 players.

What about Roy & Aldridge? they played until the last 3 minutes of the game in a 20+ blowout game when PHX rested their starters midway thru the 3rd Q. Any other rational thinking fan would say they were there way too long risking injuries. what do you say?

I thought the same thing during the game. But on second thought, Nate is trying to teach this team how to play playoff basketball, where every game is a must win.

[Effigy]

^ wow now his possibly your 8th man? he sure does play alot for a guy that almost falls out of the rotation (8th man).

Rudy plays 25.7 minutes a night. Not exactly 'falling out of the rotation' But he's not a starter, so he can't be higher than sixth man. Travis is the first man off the bench and plays 28 minutes a game. Joel plays 23 minutes a game, so if you want to go by minutes you can call Rudy our 7th man, but Joel's role is more important this year as he is having to start when Oden is hurt (he's starting right now), and he has to play when Greg is in foul trouble. So you see calling Rudy our 7th-8th man was exactly accurate.

What about Roy & Aldridge? they played until the last 3 minutes of the game in a 20+ blowout game when PHX rested their starters midway thru the 3rd Q. Any other rational thinking fan would say they were there way too long risking injuries. what do you say?

I say you're changing the subject. You initially said that Rudy got hurt because we were playing him in garbage time, and shouldn't have been on the floor. I then proved you were wrong by showing you the rotation we'd have to put out there in order to keep Rudy off the floor and not have anyone ahead of him in the rotation. Basically we'd have to have a Sergio, Bayless, Ruffin, Frye and Shavlik Randolph lineup, and nobody would seriously play the Lakers with that lineup for a whole quarter, 30 point lead or no, that's just begging them to make it a game again. Now you have dropped that and want to talk about Roy and Aldridge. We were talking about Rudy, having our 7th-8th man in a blowout win is perfectly acceptable. SOMEBODY has to be on the floor for us.

[dantian]

^ wow now his possibly your 8th man? he sure does play alot for a guy that almost falls out of the rotation (8th man).

Rudy plays 25.7 minutes a night. Not exactly 'falling out of the rotation' But he's not a starter, so he can't be higher than sixth man. Travis is the first man off the bench and plays 28 minutes a game. Joel plays 23 minutes a game, so if you want to go by minutes you can call Rudy our 7th man, but Joel's role is more important this year as he is having to start when Oden is hurt (he's starting right now), and he has to play when Greg is in foul trouble. So you see calling Rudy our 7th-8th man was exactly accurate.

What about Roy & Aldridge? they played until the last 3 minutes of the game in a 20+ blowout game when PHX rested their starters midway thru the 3rd Q. Any other rational thinking fan would say they were there way too long risking injuries. what do you say?

I say you're changing the subject. You initially said that Rudy got hurt because we were playing him in garbage time, and shouldn't have been on the floor. I then proved you were wrong by showing you the rotation we'd have to put out there in order to keep Rudy off the floor and not have anyone ahead of him in the rotation. Basically we'd have to have a Sergio, Bayless, Ruffin, Frye and Shavlik Randolph lineup, and nobody would seriously play the Lakers with that lineup for a whole quarter, 30 point lead or no, that's just begging them to make it a game again. Now you have dropped that and want to talk about Roy and Aldridge. We were talking about Rudy, having our 7th-8th man in a blowout win is perfectly acceptable. SOMEBODY has to be on the floor for us.

We Suns fans are sometimes in self denial that a player of Rudy's calibre could be the only 7-8th man on another team's rotation!

[jaypo]

Dantian, I couldn't agree with you more. There is this guy on a couple of other threads that insists that the Suns' horrible record this year is solely because Shaq can't cover the pick and roll. I've argued that Nash gets beat so badly by anyone he covers that it's impossible to play the PNR no matter who you are. Our defensive problems start with Nash. He can't stay in front of anyone, and that puts more pressure on the rest of the team. If Shaq leaves his man to cover Parker, Duncan is left all alone for the 15 ft. shot. The whole defense starts to breakdown the second someone takes Nash off the dribble, and it's nobody's fault but his!