Game 1 Opening Night: Phoenix@San Antonio Oct 29

[rsavaj]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8736 ... 162&ATT=73

Interesting analysis by Rosen who doesn't sound as crabby as usual.

[DaDragicShow]

Someone make hornets- suns thread im too lazy to make one.

[tsherkin]

I like that the Suns took it easy with Amare and then fed him when it counted, at the end of the game when buckets were needed. That worked out well AND has to feel good for Amare. Ease back into the game, but damn, when it counts, we need you. That's got to be a message from Porter.

And I like that Shaq had only 3 fouls going into the final 3 or 4 minutes of the game. He got two quick ones right at the end, but it wasn't a big deal. I LOVED his rebounding.

I thought that the defense was pretty much incapable of handling either Duncan OR Parker, which was worrisome (especially with the prospective return of Manu later in the year), but that the offense didn't look nearly as crabby as expected, especially given the 103-point end result. I liked it.

I loved the early touches for Shaq, though it was distressing to see the Suns go away from him for so long in the second half (this was before Amare started getting touches).

He needs first half touches, a few more in the third, then a few more early in the fourth (and then as opportunities present themselves while the offense gears towards Nash/Amare) to keep things interesting for the defense.

I loved the Hack-a-Shaq after the tip, that was hysterical, especially because of Pop's "thumbs up" moment. It was great.

[-SDU-]

didnt shaq have 10 boards at the half? if so then his second half was worrying

i also noticed that barnes hardly played in the 4th either

i didnt realise that porter was going to run lineups with all 5 bench players on as one unit, not sure if im a fan of it, but if he knew he was going to do that, then its VERY smart to have hill on that unit and barnes starting

there wasnt a whole lot of integration with some bench playing with some starters, well not as much as i expected

im assuming the rotation will shorten over time

the hack at the start was hilarious for sure!

[b-ball forever]

For those who missed last night's play of the day :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S_soY5Jg_Q

Pop's a BAAAADDass mofo

[-SDU-]

haha i read on that

[b-ball forever]

Notice how KT doesn't even go up for the jump ball (so that we get the possession and they get to foul Shaq).
Right after the foul Finley, who looks like he's having trouble keeping a straight face walks away and avoids eye contact with all Suns players so as not to crack up, and while Shaq has teh ZOMGWTF look on his face u can see Kurt crackin up in the background

[tsherkin]

didnt shaq have 10 boards at the half? if so then his second half was worrying

11, IIRC. He played 15 minutes or so in the first half, then about 7 in the 3rd (1 board) and the last 8 minutes of the 4th (another board). I'm not so worried about it though, because you could see a lot of them were long rebounds. Barnes had 4 boards in the 3rd Q, for example.

Remember though, the Suns only had 10 boards in the entire quarter. They had 16 in the first, 9 in the second, 10 in the 3rd and but 4 boards as a team in the fourth quarter.

So you can rip Shaq for it, which is semi-legitimate after he had 5 in the 1st and 6 in the 2nd...

Or you can look at the shooting percentages.

Phoenix was 7/23 in the first, 9/18 in the 2nd, 11/18 in the 3rd and 12/20 in the fourth. This is a trend matched by the Spurs.

San Antonio was 8/25 in the first quarter, then 12/21, 11/18 and 9/16.

There simply weren't as many rebounding opportunities as the game progressed because it became mostly trading baskets. San Antonio only had 14 rebounds the entire second half too (compared to Phoenix's 14 as well). This after the Spurs had 24 boards in the first half.

I wouldn't look at it as an area of concern.

[-SDU-]

nah definately not ripping him for it, noticing it for some concern, but as you point out, not a major one when looking at the stats

[daveang]

Very impressed with our opening night performance, many good things to be brought out of it, and some not so positive observations, most of which I'll talk about on the next episode of Run N Gun, there's just too much to write here!

Very good to see the bench contribute across the board, and Porter went 10 players deep in the rotation!