Game 53: Suns vs. Blazers

[Cro_Ruption]

Cunningham got him back though, but not as bad, great game

[lou_skywalker]

oh well, I guess the 4 day break was a bad stretch. Everybody was thinking about their plans for ASW

[sunsfever68]

You want to know what would make me jump up off my seat with Amare?

If he made a great pass to another teammate for a wide open basket.

If he played great defense blocked or altered a shot or made a person in the post kick it out back to the perimeter because he couldn't score on Amare.

I'd jump for joy if he caught the ball with his back to the basket did a quick move around a big man and threw it down.

Pick and roll dunks are easy for him.

Amare needs to step up for a max extension this isn't the kind of stepping up we need to see.

We need to see a more complete player.

More rebounds better defense Amare.

[PDXKnight]

PHX didn't start strong, but damn, they finished well.

Usually its the other way around.

I know the feeling... Ever since Roy's gone down, Portland's has had trouble closing opponents out. Roy is supposed to be back after the all star break (crosses fingers).

[Effigy]

Cunningham got him back though, but not as bad, great game

That's because STAT sidestepped Daunte in an effort to keep from being posterized. Great defensive effort from Amare.... (His dunk on Daunte WAS awesome though.

[BurningHeart]

You want to know what would make me jump up off my seat with Amare?

If he made a great pass to another teammate for a wide open basket.

If he played great defense blocked or altered a shot or made a person in the post kick it out back to the perimeter because he couldn't score on Amare.

I'd jump for joy if he caught the ball with his back to the basket did a quick move around a big man and threw it down.

Pick and roll dunks are easy for him.

Amare needs to step up for a max extension this isn't the kind of stepping up we need to see.

We need to see a more complete player.

More rebounds better defense Amare.

Blah blah blah. It was a bad ass dunk, get over yourself.

[Blackification]

Why can't some of you appreciate what is their instead of always asking for more? I think its very greedy to want a player to do everything that's what a team is for. Enjoy what he has if you don't why are you watching?

[Qwigglez]

Exactly. Like a player such as Beasley or Yi is going to bring all that and more. People dislike Amare for what he doesn't bring to the table but don't appreciate what he does bring. It'll be a sad day when Amare gets traded.

And on another note. Check out that dunk again and watch what Robin Lopez does, he always seems to do that when someone dunks, lol.

[holidayhell]

Why can't some of you appreciate what is their instead of always asking for more? I think its very greedy to want a player to do everything that's what a team is for. Enjoy what he has if you don't why are you watching?

And its greedy for a player who doesnt contribute enough on both ends to expect to get paid like someone who does.

[realsunsfan]

ROY, 5 time all star, starting all star this year, career consistent 20+ pts, 8-9 rb per game, considered one of the top bigs in the league (by most of league) can posterize ANYBODY.........you just don't trade away a player like that, unless you are in the nets or knicks position.........

[sunsfever68]

Are you guys serious? We're not talking about Yi or Beasley. if a a player has a ceiling as high as anyone in the NBA disappointment arises easiest because they have the potential and have shown flashes to be that dominant complete player. I have every right to demand Amare plays like a beast every game puts up 25 plus points grab 10 plus rebounds blocks 2 shots. He wants 18 million dollars a year or so. So if he wants that type of money show me you're worth it Amare. He has the potential people stop giving him the easy way out. Amare should be our team leader offensively our go to guy but he's not. Like the guy alot just wish he'd become that complete player.

[grumpysaddle]

its hard to score 25 a game when they rarely pass the ball to him. one thing i noticed last night was that he still got his points, yet it seemed like they forgot about him on the offensive end. the key to amare stepping up his game on defense is to give him the ball on the other end. i can't see how the people that get paid big money for the suns for this kind of stuff can't see that. and most of the time, when you give amare the ball, something good happens. in the suns losses, they are a jump-shooting team, amare disappears as an option.

so yeah, i agree amare should be putting up 25 points or more a game, but the rest of the team needs to allow that to happen. they had that streak going because they started to utilize him in the correct way. his defense stepped up because he was getting his touches. if that's what it takes to make amare a decent defender/rebounder, then why the eff not give him even more touches?

[RunDogGun]

its hard to score 25 a game when they rarely pass the ball to him. one thing i noticed last night was that he still got his points, yet it seemed like they forgot about him on the offensive end. the key to amare stepping up his game on defense is to give him the ball on the other end. i can't see how the people that get paid big money for the suns for this kind of stuff can't see that. and most of the time, when you give amare the ball, something good happens. in the suns losses, they are a jump-shooting team, amare disappears as an option.

so yeah, i agree amare should be putting up 25 points or more a game, but the rest of the team needs to allow that to happen. they had that streak going because they started to utilize him in the correct way. his defense stepped up because he was getting his touches. if that's what it takes to make amare a decent defender/rebounder, then why the eff not give him even more touches?

If Amare was a good passer out of the post, or even had a good post game, I could see your point. The truth is, he has a terrible assist/turnover ratio. Not all good things happen when Amare gets the ball. Great things happen when Nash draws the team away from Amare, and delivers an awesome pass to Amare. But for overall, clutch choices, Amare is not the man.

Some of you guys are acting as if Amare gets his points like Marion did (almost no plays run for him.) But that is not the case. We play a flow game, and the touches seem very good (except for JRich, has too many.) If we just start throwing the ball down to Amare for most of the game, our team will die quickly. We need movement, and more guys slashing to the hoop, not lobbing it in to one of the guys on our team with a low basketball IQ.

Why do we need to placate Amare on offense to get him to play defense? Isn't paying him the most money on our team enough?

[Blackification]

Why can't some of you appreciate what is their instead of always asking for more? I think its very greedy to want a player to do everything that's what a team is for. Enjoy what he has if you don't why are you watching?

And its greedy for a player who doesnt contribute enough on both ends to expect to get paid like someone who does.

Uhm you are faulting someone for trying to get the most amount of money possible? Why would anyone not try and get the max if they knew it was a possibility? If I was amare and I knew there was a chance I could get the max I would do all I could to get it why would he say well the max isn't important when he has a chance to get it. This a business not just a game.

[grumpysaddle]

its hard to score 25 a game when they rarely pass the ball to him. one thing i noticed last night was that he still got his points, yet it seemed like they forgot about him on the offensive end. the key to amare stepping up his game on defense is to give him the ball on the other end. i can't see how the people that get paid big money for the suns for this kind of stuff can't see that. and most of the time, when you give amare the ball, something good happens. in the suns losses, they are a jump-shooting team, amare disappears as an option.

so yeah, i agree amare should be putting up 25 points or more a game, but the rest of the team needs to allow that to happen. they had that streak going because they started to utilize him in the correct way. his defense stepped up because he was getting his touches. if that's what it takes to make amare a decent defender/rebounder, then why the eff not give him even more touches?

If Amare was a good passer out of the post, or even had a good post game, I could see your point. The truth is, he has a terrible assist/turnover ratio. Not all good things happen when Amare gets the ball. Great things happen when Nash draws the team away from Amare, and delivers an awesome pass to Amare. But for overall, clutch choices, Amare is not the man.

Some of you guys are acting as if Amare gets his points like Marion did (almost no plays run for him.) But that is not the case. We play a flow game, and the touches seem very good (except for JRich, has too many.) If we just start throwing the ball down to Amare for most of the game, our team will die quickly. We need movement, and more guys slashing to the hoop, not lobbing it in to one of the guys on our team with a low basketball IQ.

Why do we need to placate Amare on offense to get him to play defense? Isn't paying him the most money on our team enough?

i didnt say not to run plays for him. he has improved his one on one game though... adding some finesse and soft touch where he at one time was all about power and athleticism. a lot of his turnovers this year i feel have at least a good amount to do with the goggles. he used to have some of the best hands for a big man i've ever seen, where he seems to miss the crazy passes he used to catch pre-goggles. he'll get more and more accustomed to them, i'd assume. i can only imagine that it's a big change to have to look through goggles. its got to alter your vision especially peripherally. and if you can get 30 points from him a night by running plays for him and that picks up his defense, why not go with it? he's one of the best finishers in the game, which is more than i can say for j-brick and he gets way too many attempts a game. don't mind j-rich posting up or going in for layups, but he's just not an effective long distance shooter anymore. i'd be okay with giving every single attempt j-rich gets during a game to amare. at least twice as many would be going in the basket.

[RunDogGun]

Uhm you are faulting someone for trying to get the most amount of money possible? Why would anyone not try and get the max if they knew it was a possibility? If I was amare and I knew there was a chance I could get the max I would do all I could to get it why would he say well the max isn't important when he has a chance to get it. This a business not just a game.

I get what you are saying, but the guy makes a ton of money, and he really only does half of his work. I guess it comes down to work ethics, and how people are raised. Most people now a days, do only what they need to get by. When I was growing up, it was more about doing the best that you can when you can. It is definitely a problem, that the youth of America has.

The sad part is he gets paid to play. Heck, I give it my all on the court, and I don't get paid a dime. I can't imagine even making $400,000 to play a sport.

[RunDogGun]

[

i didnt say not to run plays for him. he has improved his one on one game though... adding some finesse and soft touch where he at one time was all about power and athleticism. a lot of his turnovers this year i feel have at least a good amount to do with the goggles. he used to have some of the best hands for a big man i've ever seen, where he seems to miss the crazy passes he used to catch pre-goggles. he'll get more and more accustomed to them, i'd assume. i can only imagine that it's a big change to have to look through goggles. its got to alter your vision especially peripherally. and if you can get 30 points from him a night by running plays for him and that picks up his defense, why not go with it? he's one of the best finishers in the game, which is more than i can say for j-brick and he gets way too many attempts a game. don't mind j-rich posting up or going in for layups, but he's just not an effective long distance shooter anymore. i'd be okay with giving every single attempt j-rich gets during a game to amare. at least twice as many would be going in the basket.

The point I was making is, we do run plays for him. I feel that his turnover issues started way before the goggles, although I see your point about that. He became very predictable with his moves, and players that were smart and watched their film, figured out how to take the ball out of his hands. The main problem Amare has is he is afraid to get injured again, and it hinders his game.

I am also saying, that the day we run our offense through Amare is the day that the Suns die. He just isn't that player, he just isn't that smart. We run our offense through Nash, and I have every confidence that he gets everyone involved. I would not be happy giving every JRich attempt to Amare. I really don't know what some people see when they watch Amare. Sometimes he just looks lost out there, like he has no idea what to do when he gets the ball. If he doesn't just bull his way to the basket, he looks around for Nash, or someone else to give the ball to. Now he does surprise me with the occasional good pass to a wide open player under the basket, but that is one play out of about ten games. But he doesn't drive and dish, he doesn't make anyone around him better.

He is a great finisher, but that is because we have one of the best offensive players in Nash, setting him up.

[dantian]

its hard to score 25 a game when they rarely pass the ball to him. one thing i noticed last night was that he still got his points, yet it seemed like they forgot about him on the offensive end. the key to amare stepping up his game on defense is to give him the ball on the other end. i can't see how the people that get paid big money for the suns for this kind of stuff can't see that. and most of the time, when you give amare the ball, something good happens. in the suns losses, they are a jump-shooting team, amare disappears as an option.

so yeah, i agree amare should be putting up 25 points or more a game, but the rest of the team needs to allow that to happen. they had that streak going because they started to utilize him in the correct way. his defense stepped up because he was getting his touches. if that's what it takes to make amare a decent defender/rebounder, then why the eff not give him even more touches?

If Amare was a good passer out of the post, or even had a good post game, I could see your point. The truth is, he has a terrible assist/turnover ratio. Not all good things happen when Amare gets the ball. Great things happen when Nash draws the team away from Amare, and delivers an awesome pass to Amare. But for overall, clutch choices, Amare is not the man.

Some of you guys are acting as if Amare gets his points like Marion did (almost no plays run for him.) But that is not the case. We play a flow game, and the touches seem very good (except for JRich, has too many.) If we just start throwing the ball down to Amare for most of the game, our team will die quickly. We need movement, and more guys slashing to the hoop, not lobbing it in to one of the guys on our team with a low basketball IQ.

Why do we need to placate Amare on offense to get him to play defense? Isn't paying him the most money on our team enough?

You should have said, If we had given Amare chance to develop his passing and low post skill. And Amare's offensive IQ is just fine and actually he passes quite well. His TOs are mainly from off. foul or being hacked in the paint rather than intercepted passes, which are far less costly than Nash's that always lead to 2 fastbreak pts for the enemy.
We lost this game because we were not well prepared for more sophisticated half court defense Blazers threw at us, our bad perimeter defense that allowed Blake and Miller to perform like 2xMVP and better. We had only a couple of postups for JRich to punish the small lineup of Blake/Miller, etc. It's really hard to fault Amare for this loss.

[Sandra]

Sure enough of all turnovers, offensive foul is the worst, especially when the foul is commited by STAT. Few things are worse for the Suns than having Amare in foul trouble