GT - Washington Wizards @ Phoenix (12-5-2010)

[rsavaj]

is anyone else suffering the idiotic Suns TV announcers? wow, these guys are dumb.

The play-by-play guy was a bit annoying, but I liked Kevin Johnson (?) or whoever the color guy was a lot.

It's Eddie Johnson and he's the only Suns announcer that I can listen to. Both play-by-play guys(Leander and Bender) are horrible(and be thankful you didn't have to listen to Bender tonight) as is the other color commentator(Scott Williams).

Some opposing fans don't like Eddie Johnson because he talks crap about players, but he makes the same types of comments about Suns players.

This. Eddie Johnson rules. Everyone else on our broadcast team is just annoying. Bender and Leander can be tolerable sometimes, but Scott Williams should go away forever.

ps
I LOVE JOHN WALL

[willbcocks]

I liked Kevin Johnson (?) or whoever the color guy was a lot.

Don't you mean African-American?

My father and grandfather always called them color guys growing up and sometimes it slips out unintentionally. I actually mean Analyst-American.

[hands11]

Gilbert Arenas should be starting. There is no reason our two best scorers (Young and Gil) should be coming off the bench. I really don't see how you could argue otherwise.

Nash is doing what he does best - picking apart the defense. I really dislike the zone defense. It should be the exception, not the rule. Good passing and good shooting teams just pick it apart. Guys are frequently not picking up a man - especially in transition D.

I really like Nick Young. Guy has been great this year. I like Kirk's game, but right now, he is the fourth best guard on this team behind Gil/Wall/Kirk and his minutes should reflect that. Flip has limited Kirk's minutes so far this game. Let's see if this happens for the rest of the game and season. Also, props to Flip for limiting Hilton's minutes.

Oh, and Steve Nash is amazing.

Well I figured Flip would target Gil for about 30 minutes this game given he played several 40 minute games and he wants to go easy on his body during his come back year. Kirk and Nick got the same amount of minutes and that is with Nick coming off an injury. Nick 23 minutes. Kirk 20. That left 43 for Wall. Wall played pretty well the first half with 10 assists but only got 2 more the second half and was 4-12 with only 4 FTA. Not that impressive the second half.

Dray found his outside shot and was balln pretty well. Seems like they could have went to him more but only 3 rebounds for Dray is pretty crappy.
Gil tried to take over in the end but should have done more earlier.
Yi is a shooting machine. He shot one more attempt them Dray in 8 less minutes.

Hard to find fault in the minutes distribution for the guards.

But Nash just chewed them up. 20 pts 17 assists and he didnt miss a shot or a FTA. WOW

This game was lost on D and at the FT line. 35 FTA to 15 is just impossible to overcome.

We had a good first half at least.

Disappointing the way they lost considering they looked good on the road the first half.

[Hoopalotta]

I liked Kevin Johnson (?) or whoever the color guy was a lot.

Don't you mean African-American?

My father and grandfather always called them color guys growing up and sometimes it slips out unintentionally. I actually mean Analyst-American.

It's hard to keep up with what all's Kosher these days. Analyst-American? I thought we could just say "homosexual".

[tontoz]

Wall has more turnovers than field goals. That isn't going to cut it, especially on the road.

Wall had 4 field goals and 4 turnovers. Oh yeah, he also had 12 assists.

On the telecast they said his last turnover was his 5th but the box score didn't reflect it. Twelve points in 43 minutes is weak no matter how you look at it.

My problem with Flip's rotations last night is that Thornton only played 8 minutes. If he is healthy he needs to play more than that. Early in the season he was their best player at times. His range is limited but he can score and is a decent defender as well. I am not a big fan of the 3 guard lineup.

[BanndNDC]

caveat: only saw the bad half

- it was all lost when wall tried to run n gun with them early in the 2nd half. no offense and no stops equal instead blowout. where was hinrich (the new great leader of men) to slow it down and try and grind a few points out when we needed him.
- while defense was clearly a problem with the entire team, arenas was noticeably bad. part of that was defending at the 3 but not all. he's been half assing it a bit (like blatche was doing a few weeks ago). never gets down in defensive stance, doesn't keep his hands in the lanes and provides only token resistance on drives. and he was doing the jamison close out on the 3 point shooter.
- why the hell do all the guards give the opposing player so much room. the over overplaying needs to be toned down.
- yi looks like a good basketball player, but he isnt one. maybe he needs glasses. he's generally in the right position (but doesn't help), rebounds (but doesnt get the ball) and takes open shots (that dont go in).
- why doesnt wall ever seem to drive (and dish) from the halfcourt? considering how often he's out there with non-shooters somebody needs to get everyone moving around.
- why cant flip put together any sets that take advantage of both gil and wall at the same time. for a while i thought gil and wall hated each other because everytime wall had the ball gil was frozen out and left standing still on the other side of the court. then i noticed it happening the other way and realized it was the offense. wtf. that's just idiotic.
- arenas does not like childress.
- booker is a garbage time stud

[WizarDynasty]

the biggest thing i saw last night was that john wall is still not a point guard because he can't dribble to his side. His handle is extremely poor when he has to change directions because be can't dribble outside his ankles, he only dribbles the ball out in front of his body. he isn't a true point guard yet. Arenas and nash both are true point guards because they actually have this ability and are highly skilled at it. i think Gil developed his dribble over the summer because he is showing much more dribble control going into the lane and going side way moving laterally and under control.
John has a long way to go towards being a true point guard but he has the passion to work hard and pretty quick learning curve if guided correctly.

[dlts20]

caveat: only saw the bad half

- it was all lost when wall tried to run n gun with them early in the 2nd half. no offense and no stops equal instead blowout. where was hinrich (the new great leader of men) to slow it down and try and grind a few points out when we needed him.
- while defense was clearly a problem with the entire team, arenas was noticeably bad. part of that was defending at the 3 but not all. he's been half assing it a bit (like blatche was doing a few weeks ago). never gets down in defensive stance, doesn't keep his hands in the lanes and provides only token resistance on drives. and he was doing the jamison close out on the 3 point shooter.
- why the hell do all the guards give the opposing player so much room. the over overplaying needs to be toned down.
- yi looks like a good basketball player, but he isnt one. maybe he needs glasses. he's generally in the right position (but doesn't help), rebounds (but doesnt get the ball) and takes open shots (that dont go in).
- why doesnt wall ever seem to drive (and dish) from the halfcourt? considering how often he's out there with non-shooters somebody needs to get everyone moving around.
- why cant flip put together any sets that take advantage of both gil and wall at the same time. for a while i thought gil and wall hated each other because everytime wall had the ball gil was frozen out and left standing still on the other side of the court. then i noticed it happening the other way and realized it was the offense. wtf. that's just idiotic.
- arenas does not like childress.
- booker is a garbage time stud

eIn Gil's defense, it was a bit of a size mismatch on those 3's. I thought he got out there pretty well. He didnt run full speed because he was scared the guy would pump & blow by him while he was closing out but if he was guarding the 1 then I dont think they wouldve made alot of those shots. He's at the 2 & sometimes was guarding the 3 where he didnt hure Richardson or Chilldress vision at all. He would close out but they could still just shoot over top of him

[Wizards2Lottery]

- booker is a garbage time stud

Pretty much. I see no future for this guy if he stays at PF. He doesn't play PF by skill but rather by necessity because his offensive game is so putrid that you can't use him at SF. Unless he develops an outside shot he'll be headed on the Dominic McGuire career path.

[dobrojim]

Gilbert looks upset...

Yeah I saw that too..

He was talking to Cassell about his minutes in the 3rd..
I read his lips he said "...he sits me"

right after that he really tried to go into take over mode.
I liked it even though he didn't look a thing like 2006. Not really.

[dobrojim]

When the Suns are hitting from 3 like this. Its hard to beat them. Even when you get a hand in their face they still bang them in..

I can think of maybe 1 three this game where the opposing player wasn't 5s late arriving.

I have no idea how a team can get great looks at the basket AND still get wide open threes. This defense is beyond bad.

Thinking the same thing. How can they be so bad at BOTH defending the rim
and defending the 3 pt line?

[dobrojim]

Booker, at best, will be Tayshaun Prince.

Nothing to sneeze at, of course.

not sure what he'll end up being but I'm pretty sure it won't be Prince
who is physically a completely different kettle of fish.

first thing though is he has to figure out how to shoot a 15 ft shot.
I honestly don't think he's made one all year.

[DCZards]

My problem with Flip's rotations last night is that Thornton only played 8 minutes. If he is healthy he needs to play more than that. Early in the season he was their best player at times. His range is limited but he can score and is a decent defender as well. I am not a big fan of the 3 guard lineup.

I agree on Thornton. He should start ahead of Gee if he's healthy. Gee is athletic but Thornton is the more polished offensive player.

I was disappointed that both Gil and Nick were left on the bench when the Suns went on their scoring spurt and the Zards needed to counter with some scoring of their own. Need to begin starting Gil and Thornton, and let Hinrich, etc. come off the bench. Having Gil in the starting lineup (next to Wall), despite his putrid D, gives the Zards the best chance of getting off to a good start.

[WizarDynasty]

i can't think of any phase of teh game the alonzo gee isn't better than Al thornton at including the mental side of basketball.

[WizarDynasty]

caveat: only saw the bad half

- it was all lost when wall tried to run n gun with them early in the 2nd half. no offense and no stops equal instead blowout. where was hinrich (the new great leader of men) to slow it down and try and grind a few points out when we needed him.
- while defense was clearly a problem with the entire team, arenas was noticeably bad. part of that was defending at the 3 but not all. he's been half assing it a bit (like blatche was doing a few weeks ago). never gets down in defensive stance, doesn't keep his hands in the lanes and provides only token resistance on drives. and he was doing the jamison close out on the 3 point shooter.
- why the hell do all the guards give the opposing player so much room. the over overplaying needs to be toned down.
- yi looks like a good basketball player, but he isnt one. maybe he needs glasses. he's generally in the right position (but doesn't help), rebounds (but doesnt get the ball) and takes open shots (that dont go in).
- why doesnt wall ever seem to drive (and dish) from the halfcourt? considering how often he's out there with non-shooters somebody needs to get everyone moving around.
- why cant flip put together any sets that take advantage of both gil and wall at the same time. for a while i thought gil and wall hated each other because everytime wall had the ball gil was frozen out and left standing still on the other side of the court. then i noticed it happening the other way and realized it was the offense. wtf. that's just idiotic.
- arenas does not like childress.
- booker is a garbage time stud

eIn Gil's defense, it was a bit of a size mismatch on those 3's. I thought he got out there pretty well. He didnt run full speed because he was scared the guy would pump & blow by him while he was closing out but if he was guarding the 1 then I dont think they wouldve made alot of those shots. He's at the 2 & sometimes was guarding the 3 where he didnt hure Richardson or Chilldress vision at all. He would close out but they could still just shoot over top of him

Yi has low awareness and he doesn't diagnose on defense well at all. he is also soft and not hustle player. he really makes us a very dumb team out there.
Wall has poor handles, he doesn't have excellent going laterally and undercontrol his handle is only good when going one speed straight forward. he also need alot more strength to keep taking it inside. i think he will get better but he defintely has major work to do on working with his lateral handle. he also is showing poor lateral foot speed on defense, i see him getting beat alot of the dribble.
blatche needs to really improve his quickness both offensively and defensively, he needs alot more low leg and calf strengthening. hinrich has always been a bench player. heady but he isn't long enough to really be a consistent defensive force. he has the mental and hustle but that can only take you so far. Gil is an sg/pg. Tweener are destined to come of the bench but can be game changer which is what gil is. McGee will improve in the post.. he still needs to work on his reaction time and quickness.

[nate33]

i can't think of any phase of teh game the alonzo gee isn't better than Al thornton at including the mental side of basketball.

Thornton has a better ability to create his own shot, but overall, I agree with your general point. Gee is better than Thornton at a lot of things, and only worse at a couple of things - things that'll he'll improve upon in time.

If we bench Gee, I think we should insert Young into the starting lineup. Young provides the things that no other SF on the roster can provide: outside shooting. I can live with Flip continuing to start Gee becuase of his size, defense and rebounding; but I don't see the logic in replacing him with Thornton. Start Gee or Young.

We need to shop Yi, Thornton and Hinrich. All three players might be able to help someone, but they're not in our long term plans here and we can live without them.

[DCZards]

If we bench Gee, I think we should insert Young into the starting lineup. Young provides the things that no other SF on the roster can provide: outside shooting. I can live with Flip continuing to start Gee becuase of his size, defense and rebounding; but I don't see the logic in replacing him with Thornton. Start Gee or Young.

I can't see Nick starting...at least not at SF. It would be too small a lineup if the starters included Wall, Kirk and Nick. Gee and Thornton may only be a couple of inches bigger than Nick but those inches, combined with their superior bulk/strength, make them preferable to Nick at the starting SF.