Game 77: PhoeniX(42-34)@Dallas(45-31)

[rag-time4]

I don't think I saw a single poster so far in the thread mention Stromile Swift at all. He was the only active player not to play at all in the game.... and the Suns defense got absolutely hammered.

So... was he expected not to play in this game? Or is he just not respected and seen as a defensive factor?

[TXSun]

I don't think I saw a single poster so far in the thread mention Stromile Swift at all. He was the only active player not to play at all in the game.... and the Suns defense got absolutely hammered.

So... was he expected not to play in this game? Or is he just not respected and seen as a defensive factor?

yeah really what is the deal with Stro? is he not doing his job at practice or something? give this guy some burn please, he can actually still block shots.

[rag-time4]

I don't think I saw a single poster so far in the thread mention Stromile Swift at all. He was the only active player not to play at all in the game.... and the Suns defense got absolutely hammered.

So... was he expected not to play in this game? Or is he just not respected and seen as a defensive factor?

yeah really what is the deal with Stro? is he not doing his job at practice or something? give this guy some burn please, he can actually still block shots.

Nash dislocated Stromile's pinky on a handoff during the loss @ Sacramento... but Stromile got taped up and continued playing. He's had that happen before so I don't see why it should keep him out of the lineup.

He was dressed and on the bench... they just didn't use him today. At all.

[visions]

Well that was probably the worst I have ever seen the Suns play in 15 years of watching this team, particularly when you consider the importance of the game and the amount of talent on the roster.

LB and Hill were the only players who showed up ready to play.

The turning point was definitely when Gentry benched LB and brought JRich back into the game. LB was on fire at that point and Gentry put that fire right out with hopeless JRich.
What the hell was Gentry thinking???

Most of the team is to blame for this terrible "effort" today but I really thought that decision by Gentry turned the game totally in the Mavs favour.

[lilfishi22]

I could be wrong, but i could've sworn our playoff odds jumped from something like 6% to 13% according to Hollinger today. Is that due to the easier schedule or some sorta typo.

[BurningHeart]

Probably meant to be 1.3%?

[rsavaj]

I don't think I saw a single poster so far in the thread mention Stromile Swift at all. He was the only active player not to play at all in the game.... and the Suns defense got absolutely hammered.

So... was he expected not to play in this game? Or is he just not respected and seen as a defensive factor?

If he's not getting minutes over Robin Lopez, either he's A)still out of shape or B)just sucks in practice.

[lilfishi22]

Probably meant to be 1.3%?

ah . . . order has been restored. We're back at 1.2%

[BurningHeart]

Probably meant to be 1.3%?

ah . . . order has been restored. We're back at 1.2%

If it happens and we get in, I will never complain about my sports luck again.

[Ninjafish]

now I can say this one goes down as the most disapointing season of all times. loaded roster and we didn't even make the playoffs. we need to play defense, fu*k this SSOL. we're the laughing stock of the NBA, reporters, fans, media, you name it. where ever you turn to watch or listen, they're talking $hit about our lack of defensive effort. and now all those idiots are not so much idiots now that we didn't even make the playoffs. it's a very dark day in the lives of PHX fans. "no playoffs", that doesn't sound right, I can't believe this $hit. Please replace Kerr already, he needs to get out.

SSOL isn't the problem. It's not an excuse for no defense. The bench plays SSOL and they play pretty good defense.

[tsherkin]

Rondo can suck KG's left toe, that guy is turrrrible, only reason why he has a name in the NBA is because he plays with 3 f-ing hall of fame players. All of his points come off double team help on those 3, he has one of crapiest looking shots ever. I don't know why everyone thinks he is so good....now Rudy is another story, f sarver in his two holes for dealing him.

1) Scoring isn't everything; he's a capable dribble-penetrator and has improved his jumper to the point where you can't back off of him entirely; he's also a very good rebounder and defender.

2) Rondo is quite useful; you don't think having that kind of player backing up Nash would be much better than Tragic?

[JohnVancouver]

If he's not getting minutes over Robin Lopez, either he's A)still out of shape or B)just sucks in practice.

---- I wondered about that too and all I could figure is they know who Swift is after 9 yrs in the league and after seeing him in practice and the games he's played here, but they still don't know who Lopez is. Swift is a vet min guy and Sideshow is our big draft selection of the past four years. We need to know.
Personally, I would have had them both out there but I'm not going to dump on Alvin.
I agree about leaving the Dragic/Amundsen/Duds/LB lineup in when they looked good but like I say, it's the coaches call to make and I can't really fault him for going with the starters. That's who we are really going to live and die with.

A day after the ax came down I'm over the disappointment and honestly, it's kind of a relief. I don't think a blowout series against the Lakers would have cheered anyone up or provided a happier ending to this season and I'm kind of glad to deny LA that.

I still think that Shaq will be gone, at least, and we should be able to get something decent for him in the way of picks or young talent given his resurrection this year.
We have an honest to god bench now, which we've never really had. Amundsen and Duds are both real solid additions at a price we can afford. Dragic looks far better than we thought six months ago. Hill is still an absolute steal at the vet min.

My hope is that Kerr starts the rebuild process without completely blowing it up. As noted we have no 1st round pick next year so racing to the bottom gets us nothing.

[JohnVancouver]

My last post on it -

as soon as I saw those orange unis, I knew we where screwed

[tsherkin]

John, if we're rebuilding, then the assets going out are bringing back picks, potentially even PHO's own 2010 pick. Amare to OKC... get'er done.

[Sun Scorched]

I was at the game..........

At a certain point, probably J.Ho's bank in at the end of the 2nd quarter... I just started laughing. All the Mavs fans around me actually started feeling bad. They tried to cheer me up by saying, "Well, Barbosa is having a good game..."

It was kind of cool to get to be at the game where Kidd passed Magic on the all-time assist list......

[rag-time4]

Anyone who thinks that not playing Stromile Swift based on practice makes sense when the starting PF in a HUGE game shot 0-2 and was scored on at will needs to seriously check their priorities. You'd have to be an absolute conservative (Please Use More Appropriate Word) if you're going to throw wins out the door and not play a guy because of practice when you have someone who is playing like crap in a game, especially a game of the importance of the Suns Mavs game!

Anyway, I think Stromile Swift not playing a single minute has nothing to do with practice and everything to do with playing the younger guys...

But if the Suns wanted to win the game Stromile should have been playing. Barnes gave the Suns nothing, and Dudley's defense in the paint was nonexistent.