Game 56: Phoenix Suns (29-26) @ Chicago Bulls (34-21)

[Mr Puddles]

All this hatefest and stupidity and none of those Tucker haters complimenting or praising him for a 20/6 game with three steals?

People are stuck in their ways. Tucker played well. He kept us in the game since nobody else was able to score at will. I still think Knight should have played more but I understand it being his first game and all.

I admitted that Kieff sucked tonight on offense-- I mean, I can't really spin that. However, his defense wasn't bad at all, imo. AB and Gasol killed us down the stretch.

Keiff lost the Suns the game. How many second chance opportunities did the Bulls get down the stretch? When Markeiff's shot isn't falling, he is a liability for this team - I'm hoping the Suns can address this issue during the offseason because I've lost faith in his ability to ever become a respectable rebounder. I'm hoping we can either get a power forward who doesn't get dominated on the glass night in and night out, and move Keiff to the bench, or package him and his brother for an upgrade at the 4 spot.

[RunDogGun]

All this hatefest and stupidity and none of those Tucker haters complimenting or praising him for a 20/6 game with three steals?

People are stuck in their ways. Tucker played well. He kept us in the game since nobody else was able to score at will. I still think Knight should have played more but I understand it being his first game and all.

I admitted that Kieff sucked tonight on offense-- I mean, I can't really spin that. However, his defense wasn't bad at all, imo. AB and Gasol killed us down the stretch.

Keiff lost the Suns the game. How many second chance opportunities did the Bulls get down the stretch? When Markeiff's shot isn't falling, he is a liability for this team - I'm hoping the Suns can address this issue during the offseason because I've lost faith in his ability to ever become a respectable rebounder. I'm hoping we can either get a power forward who doesn't get dominated on the glass night in and night out, and move Keiff to the bench, or package him and his brother for an upgrade at the 4 spot.

His missed free throws was bad, but not getting to the free throw line is what did us in. Well that and Noah "illegal screen" Machine. Way too many baskets went in off his bs that anybody from the Suns would have been called for. It's sad watching another player do what Duncan does. It's a foul!!

But hey if you know you'll get away with it, why not right? It's like people thinking Bowen was a good defender, when all he did was be allowed to hold, grab, kick, and foul the crap out of players. Hell I could do that crap, doesn't mean I'm a good defender. This league is becoming a joke, and is setting a bad example for kids watching and learning the sport.

[Mr Puddles]

The Bulls had 5 offensive rebounds in the forth that were a direct result of Little Buttercup Keiff not manning-up in the paint, leading to 9 points. People are talking about our backcourt's defense on Aaron Brooks in the 4th, Brooks only had 1 basket that wasn't a second chance point.

It's great that Morris is lights out down the stretch on the offensive end, but how many games have we lost due to his constant inability to keep his man off the boards.

[RunDogGun]

Dude was guarding Noah for most of the game. Len couldn't keep Gasol off the boards either. I would call Len soft. Gasol also blocked two of Alden's shots without even jumping. Morris didn't play a good game on offense, but imaching the game again, and MkMo is working hard.

[grumpysaddle]

Remember when this board wasn't the most annoying thing on the internet? Seems like a lifetime ago.

Saying this team is treadmilling in mediocrity is pretty hilarious. After the trade they are the 3rd youngest team in the NBA (barely in 3rd to the SIXERS. Look at what they are doing). You can't be treadmilling when your team is a bunch of dudes 3-7 years from entering their prime.

The overreactions in this thread are ... This team traded ONE-THIRD of its players away 2 days ago. They just got the players they traded for today. Give the new team a chance to have a practice or two before thinking about throwing them under the bus.

I really don't want to have to put everyone but about 5 other posters on my ignore list. Please don't insist on making me.

[Young gun 6]

Love the team we have at the moment and the fact we have 20mil of cap space in the off season. Just hope we can see 20ish mins of Goodwin per game and 10mins of TJ per game for the rest of the season.

[Mr Puddles]

Dude was guarding Noah for most of the game. Len couldn't keep Gasol off the boards either. I would call Len soft. Gasol also blocked two of Alden's shots without even jumping. Morris didn't play a good game on offense, but imaching the game again, and MkMo is working hard.

Markeiff has been a terrible rebounder all season. Len was active on the boards, the fact that a raw 21 year old has trouble keeping an all-star power forward off the boards is not something that I'm concerned about - especially when he's able to grab 11 rebounds in the process. The fact that Morris gets out-rebounded on a consistent basis by basically anyone he plays against, and hasn't shown any significant improvement what so ever in that respect over the course of his career, is a point of concern.

Overall, a lot of positives to take away from this game and I like a lot of the pieces we currently have on this roster. Once we can address the rebounding issue on this team, we're a lock for the playoffs in the next few years.

[Revived]

Dude was guarding Noah for most of the game. Len couldn't keep Gasol off the boards either. I would call Len soft. Gasol also blocked two of Alden's shots without even jumping. Morris didn't play a good game on offense, but imaching the game again, and MkMo is working hard.

Markeiff has been a terrible rebounder all season. Len was active on the boards, the fact that a raw 21 year old has trouble keeping an all-star power forward off the boards is not something that I'm concerned about - especially when he's able to grab 11 rebounds in the process. The fact that Morris gets out-rebounded on a consistent basis by basically anyone he plays against, and hasn't shown any significant improvement what so ever in that respect over the course of his career, is a point of concern.

Overall, a lot of positives to take away from this game and I like a lot of the pieces we currently have on this roster. Once we can address the rebounding issue on this team, we're a lock for the playoffs in the next few years.

It feels like we've been trying to address that issue for over a decade now.

[Revived]

All this hatefest and stupidity and none of those Tucker haters complimenting or praising him for a 20/6 game with three steals?

People are stuck in their ways. Tucker played well. He kept us in the game since nobody else was able to score at will. I still think Knight should have played more but I understand it being his first game and all.

I admitted that Kieff sucked tonight on offense-- I mean, I can't really spin that. However, his defense wasn't bad at all, imo. AB and Gasol killed us down the stretch.

You complain about others overreacting and yet you think Tucker should be crowned for his first 20 point game in a LONG time? Are you serious?

[Skillmatic]

Could someone post the highlights of Archie Goodwin against the wolves and the Bulls please? I didn't watch the games

[suns91fan]

All this hatefest and stupidity and none of those Tucker haters complimenting or praising him for a 20/6 game with three steals?

People are stuck in their ways. Tucker played well. He kept us in the game since nobody else was able to score at will. I still think Knight should have played more but I understand it being his first game and all.

I admitted that Kieff sucked tonight on offense-- I mean, I can't really spin that. However, his defense wasn't bad at all, imo. AB and Gasol killed us down the stretch.

You complain about others overreacting and yet you think Tucker should be crowned for his first 20 point game in a LONG time? Are you serious?

Tucker's primary job is not to score. He takes 6.7 shots per game so it's perfectly understandable why he rarely scores more than 20 points. Many of the things he does, cannot be seen on the stat sheet, hence why some people think he doesn't contribute enough. When in reality, it's quite the opposite.

[Revived]

People are stuck in their ways. Tucker played well. He kept us in the game since nobody else was able to score at will. I still think Knight should have played more but I understand it being his first game and all.

I admitted that Kieff sucked tonight on offense-- I mean, I can't really spin that. However, his defense wasn't bad at all, imo. AB and Gasol killed us down the stretch.

You complain about others overreacting and yet you think Tucker should be crowned for his first 20 point game in a LONG time? Are you serious?

Tucker's primary job is not to score. He takes 6.7 shots per game so it's perfectly understandable why he rarely scores more than 20 points. Many of the things he does, cannot be seen on the stat sheet, hence why some people think he doesn't contribute enough. When in reality, it's quite the opposite.

I don't care if Tucker scores or not. I get that he's being paid mainly for defense & rebounding.

[sunstrooper]

Being among the biggest opposers to playing Goodwin, i have to admit he played very well the last 2 games - sound and responsible, without rushed and immature shots/drives. Overall quite a pleasant surprise.
The Suns are in dire need of a defensive ass. coach. Defense is atrocious. All it takes is 2 opponents crossing under the basket and 1 drive in and all 5 Suns are collapsed shoulder-to-shoulder under the basket. No rotation, no switches. At the same time on offense no off the ball movement whatsoever, no PnR, nothing. Guess for another year we have to say "ahh...next season" .

[Sunsss]

Pretty good game. Excluding FTs we scored 104 points against the Bulls on a back-to-back. That's really good. Unfortunately FTs was the difference maker.

Good debut for Knight. Liked him on the fastbreaks. Could have used him against the Wolves when we were outscored in that department.

Biggest difference I'm seeing after the trades is that we're playing loose and moving the ball. 23 and 25 assists in two games. Our season average before the break was 20.6.

[JMac1]

Defense and rebounding is attitude. It is called a "want to" skill, you have to want to do it all the time. You can never take a play off or you end up looking like Kieff or Amare.

Don't need a new coach to teach it-they do-you need a coach to enforce it.

[Cutter]

...........Biggest difference I'm seeing after the trades is that we're playing loose and moving the ball. 23 and 25 assists in two games. Our season average before the break was 20.6.

Thanks for posting this, I've been meaning to look this up.

The team assist number should go up even more as new players learn the system and the ISO ball effect begins to fade. We still have some ISO being played (Kieff and marcus) but it is much diminished from what it was before.

[kennydorglas]

Defense and rebounding is attitude. It is called a "want to" skill, you have to want to do it all the time. You can never take a play off or you end up looking like Kieff or Amare.

Don't need a new coach to teach it-they do-you need a coach to enforce it.

Exactly.
Kieff's lack of effort in rebounding/boxout is atrocious.

[RunDogGun]

Defense and rebounding is attitude. It is called a "want to" skill, you have to want to do it all the time. You can never take a play off or you end up looking like Kieff or Amare.

Don't need a new coach to teach it-they do-you need a coach to enforce it.

Exactly.
Kieff's lack of effort in rebounding/boxout is atrocious.

Rebounding is definitely not his strong suit. He takes a lot of long twos, and many fade aways. He puts himself in not so good situations for offensive rebounding. Tonight he had his hands full, keeping foul happy Noah off the boards. One thing I did notice about Noah is he is quite smart about when to wait, and then set up under the hoop. But sometimes he is just allowed to shove guys out of the way. I still can't believe he only had one foul.

Noah often set the high pick (well really just a moving screen, so Keef was not in position to board. When near the hoop, he had his hands full with trying to keep Noah out of the paint. But, on offense, he can usually stretch the floor decently, even if it's longer twos. So he is good to have, even though he doesn't rebound well. It would be nice if he attacked the hoop. Even on offense, if he and his brother just followed drivers to the basket, both guys could grab two more boards a game, since we seem to miss many lay ups (usually fouled and not called).

Tucker does a decent job of boarding, and Len is really coming around in that department, and he doesn't really jump all that much. It would actually be great if the MoBros would hire Barkley in the offseason, and work on rebounding. Imagine the two of them grabbing two to three more boards a game.

[NTB]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/569543707004936193[/tweet]

[Cutter]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ZachLowe_NBA/status/569543707004936193[/tweet]

I like the x/x/x/Wright/Len lineup that we have played sparingly the last two games. Good interior defense, and my eye test says it tends to do better than the opposing team when on the floor.