What will the excuse be for the Grizzlies loss?

[hunterxaz]

He didn't get enough looks for sure but racking up 3 fouls with 5 mins left in the 2nd doesn't help either. He was severely limited in PT tonight.

[Kerrsed]

Dragic does not give it to him either and forces stupid shots too.

I disagree with this sentence. The past 5 or so games, when Dragic is in with Amare, he usually looks for Amare 1st.

[Blackification]

I do agree with you too kerrsed that Amare does not get enough touches, and Nash does not give him the ball enough. Barbs is a freakn black hole and the guy cannot pass for some damn reason. Dragic does not give it to him either and forces stupid shots too. At least he can pass at times. If this team wants to win and go further, than they have to go through Amare more and let him dominate like he used too. I believe he still can. But get him going early and then work off of him. They don’t do that. Remember when he was one of the top FT attemps guys in the league? He got the ball alot, and got opposing big men in foul trouble, not anymore.

Yup people complain about his and 1 scream a lot but in the d'antoni days he was leading the league in and 1's for like three years in a row. He was just too quick to stop so they would foul and he would still put the shot in cuz of his strength you can't do that with only 9 shots a game especially when half of those are jumpers. I can't complain about his jumpers either cuz they go in but just cuz they are going in doesn't mean that is enough u give him the ball more and say go to work inside too but he can't do that if u dont set him up for it with a pick n roll which he don't do anymore cuz nash tries to get frye jrich barbosa or dudley some shots which hurts amare.

[Blackification]

Dragic does not give it to him either and forces stupid shots too.

I disagree with this sentence. The past 5 or so games, when Dragic is in with Amare, he usually looks for Amare 1st.

Agreed, last year dragic didn't but this year he probably gives it to amare first. Its when the ball goes to barbosa that he gets ignored. Today it was barbosa controlling it and amare pick n rolled but the defense let amare wide open for a pass and amare was right in front of barbs but he threw it across the court to dragic and the defense instantly switched off and the ball movement got stuck. If barbs gave it to amare he would have easily rolled to the basket for a quick shot or got a wide open jumper. I also notice that when we start the game amare doesnt start scoring until nash sits and dragic comes in like last year when nash would sit and amare would play with dragic lou and the others he would get hot until barbosa and barnes would start chucking like frye jrich and barbosa do now. Thats why I wanted gentry to put nash, dragic, dudley, amare, and lopez to end the game today. but instead he put in barbosa who missed a whole bunch of threes that im sure dudley would have made.

[Miklo]

What boggles my mind is Amare was 6 out of 9 tonight. How does Amare get only 9 shots????

Foul trouble/fewer minutes...this is a great point because when you have Amar'e hitting 6 of 9 you can't really complain. ZBo chucked up 22 shots to get his points, had just 2 more rebounds and the same amount of blocks, Amar'e with a steal.

[Blackification]

What boggles my mind is Amare was 6 out of 9 tonight. How does Amare get only 9 shots????

Foul trouble/fewer minutes...this is a great point because when you have Amar'e hitting 6 of 9 you can't really complain. ZBo chucked up 22 shots to get his points, had just 2 more rebounds and the same amount of blocks, Amar'e with a steal.

You said it all right there.. people underrate amare because they look at his stats and how many points he gets but they don't look at the efficiency in how he does it. You can look at Randlophs stats and amare and say randolph is better but then you look at the shooting percentage and shots taken and its a whole different story.

[JohnVancouver]

So with Frye out and Rolo in, Stat still had trouble getting shots?
That's messed up.
We need to start Dragic at the 2 and Duds can be the 3-pt shooter to pull the defense out.

Richardson, Barbs, Frye are all hurting us. Sit them down for the foreseeable future

[MarJJMar]

The Grizzlies have way more talent and especially more size and we are a jump shooting team with no real philosophy.

[JohnVancouver]

The Grizzlies have way more talent and especially more size and we are a jump shooting team with no real philosophy.

Yes, it's true. Time to face facts

[Sandra]

The Grizzlies have way more talent and especially more size and we are a jump shooting team with no real philosophy.

Yes, it's true. Time to face facts

Oh, yeah? And that we have Nash and Amare means nothing?

[nevetsov]

So with Frye out and Rolo in, Stat still had trouble getting shots?
That's messed up.
We need to start Dragic at the 2 and Duds can be the 3-pt shooter to pull the defense out.

Richardson, Barbs, Frye are all hurting us. Sit them down for the foreseeable future

With a struggling Barbosa, an inconsistent Hill, and an offensively challenged Rolo all playing alongside Amare, teams can afford to pay greater attention to Amare and let the other starters try to beat them.

None of those guys are good enough/ consistent enough to pick up the slack and punish the opposition when they double down on Amare.

This is where an Iso player ala Jrich and a league leading 3pt% shooter like Dudley need to be in the lineup with Amare and Rolo.

Nash/ JRich/ Dudley/ AMare/ Rolo is what i'm liking for both Offense and Defense right now.

Frye can keep out on the 3 point line and create space for the 2nd unit slashers Dragic, Barbosa and Hill. Lot of shots so it would make sense to have a rebound hound like Lou on the 2nd line with them.

Something like:

12:00 Nash/ JRich/ Dudley/ Amare/ Lopez (off+def)
07:00 Nash/ Barbs/ Dudley/ Frye/ Amundson (shooters + rebounder)
02:00 Drag/ Barbs/ Hill/ Frye/ Amundson (slashers + rebounder)

09:00 Drag/ JRich/ Hill/ Amare/ Lopez (off+def)
07:00 Nash/ JRich/ Hill/ Amare/ Lopez (off+def)
05:00 Nash/ JRich/ Dudley/ Amare/ Lopez (off+def)

Sub Collins if Lopez gets into Foul trouble.
Give Amare some of Frye's minutes, and maybe some spot duty at C.

[tsherkin]

I think any discussion of the offense as a reason for losing is not only a) unproductive but b) obscuring the truth.

The Suns scored 118 points; there's nothing wrong with the offense.

If they'd allowed less than 30 points in the 4th quarter, they'd have won. Instead, they allowed 37 (!!!!) points in the 4th quarter and, consequently, lost by 7.

That Amare got 9 shots is not a travesty; it's been an issue in OTHER games, but certainly not in this one. Everyone in the starting lineup, as well as Jason Richardson, got 10+ shots.

That group of 6 guys shot 51.2%.

Is it unfortunate that Richardson and Barbosa combined to shoot 38.5% in the game?

Yes.

Do the Suns frequently win by outgunning opponents?

Yes.

Does that excuse the 4th quarter?

Hell, no!

This game was won and lost in the fourth, period, although the fact that the Suns gave up 30+ in three of four quarters is telling enough. They put themselves in a 14-point hole to start the game, got back 12 of those points in the second quarter, played the Grizz even in the third (30-30) and then lost the 4th by 5 because they couldn't defend a freaking broke-leg wombat if their lives depended on it.

This is a game lost because this team cannot play defense. This is a game lost because the Suns are the second-worst defensive team in the LEAGUE. Only Toronto is worse defensively... and only by 1 points per 100 possessions.

That should TERRIFY you.

Offense isn't the issue here, lads; the Suns scored 98 points AFTER the first quarter. The problem is that they allowed 91, but were already in a 14-point hole. And that number in the second half only looks pleasant because they had a really good 2nd quarter... and a spectacularly bad fourth quarter.

Ugh, so frustrating...

[sunsfan13az]

Were just proud we scored 100 pts in a game even though the other team wins.... God this is getting beyond bad I like the fact robin lopez is playing a lot better but god why must every team we play score 110 plus on us every night.... Be nice if Amare would try to play any defense . Awww well maybe we will get on a winning streak here soon i'm praying to god we beat the nets tonight heh

[JohnVancouver]

Amar'e's defense and rebounding have both been much improved - was he regressing last night?
I recall from years past if he wasn't involved enough in the offense he lost interest in defense