Game 29: Suns (13-15) - Clippers (8-22)

[schnakenpopanz]

blake is ok at least he has no deer face like duncan.

[Herman4MVP]

Los Angeles Clippers
9-22

Phoenix Suns
13-16

Just sayin' - you had a great night and deserved the win but at the moment: Suns are still better

[ray ray]

great win for the Clippers.. For the Suns, they showed me toughness in coming back. To bad they didn't show up in the fist half. We need a PF in the worst way and it might take trading Lopez along with Childress in order for that to happened.

[Mr. Sun]

We need a PF in the worst way and it might take trading Lopez along with Childress in order for that to happened.

Won't be easy as no one wants to take on salary including Sarver and you are only talking $8 million there. Need a scorer and Gentry to teach defense.

[lilfishi22]

It's hard to believe how much of a presence Lou was for *our* guys chemistry-wise defensively. Seemed like last season we were a respectable defensive team but we have arguably the same defensive talent this season yet we are basically last in every single defensive stat. Heck, it almost makes it seem like we're missing Amare's defensive "presence" the way we're playing now. I dunno if there's something wrong with Gentry but I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt since he took a group of guys last season, who I thought would be a terrible defensive squad, and made them satisfactory defensively.

[RaisingArizona]

Grant could take him.

[rsavaj]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anl4PajsqeE[/youtube]

Grant Hill is nothing short of amazing.

Frye and Lopez are big parts of this team. Frye contributes even when his shot is not on...active in terms of boxing out, plays good defense. Lopez is something like 18-22 in his last few games, and we saw what kind of impact he had on our team last season.

I don't know wtf is wrong with our defense. I really don't. The lack of chemistry is obviously huge, but it's frustrating to sit through. Chilly is a good defender. Dudley is a good defender. Pietrus is a good defender. Lopez, Frye and Gortat are good defenders. Hill is an exceptional defender.

And somehow, we are the worst defensive team in the league. WHAT. THE. EFF.

[BurningHeart]

Blake Griffin pissed me off today. Flopped all over the place, got cocky after his stuff, just playing like an overall punk. Grant Hill came over to him a couple times to tell him to stop flopping and they almost fought. Loved that the old man was coming over to the rookie to teach him a few things.

I'm really surprised there wasn't a full-blown fight. It was very chippy out there.

BS flagrant foul on Frye. Absolutely ridiculous. And on that scrum, it was on our side of the court, and Griffin clearly hit Frye in the face. Called a loose ball foul on Frye. Prettttttty lame.

Ultimately, a crappy offensive start doomed us. Shame too, because it would be nice to start off with a win against the Clips to set up a bit of a streak against the Sixers, Pistons, and Kings. Oh well.

At least we saw Nash/Dragic play alongside each other. We have too many guys, it's crazy. Warrick was very, very wild.

Loved what I saw out of Pietrus, despite the boneheadedness of the last play. Speaking of that last play, horribly drawn-up play, Gentry.

Seats were nice, free food, etc. I had a bit of a "gag order" on me, bro said to watch it with the language and stuff since the suite was full of his bosses and whatnot.

[Jdiddy701]

Speaking of Siler, I don't know who's more of a bust, Siler or Lopez.

In all seriousness, Suns will be 16-16 when we play the Lakers. I'll take it.

[PHXfan85]

Grant Hill is nothing short of amazing.

Frye and Lopez are big parts of this team. Frye contributes even when his shot is not on...active in terms of boxing out, plays good defense. Lopez is something like 18-22 in his last few games, and we saw what kind of impact he had on our team last season.

I don't know wtf is wrong with our defense. I really don't. The lack of chemistry is obviously huge, but it's frustrating to sit through. Chilly is a good defender. Dudley is a good defender. Pietrus is a good defender. Lopez, Frye and Gortat are good defenders. Hill is an exceptional defender.

And somehow, we are the worst defensive team in the league. WHAT. THE. EFF.

Q.F.T.

[BurningHeart]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anl4PajsqeE[/youtube]

Grant Hill is nothing short of amazing.

Frye and Lopez are big parts of this team. Frye contributes even when his shot is not on...active in terms of boxing out, plays good defense. Lopez is something like 18-22 in his last few games, and we saw what kind of impact he had on our team last season.

I don't know wtf is wrong with our defense. I really don't. The lack of chemistry is obviously huge, but it's frustrating to sit through. Chilly is a good defender. Dudley is a good defender. Pietrus is a good defender. Lopez, Frye and Gortat are good defenders. Hill is an exceptional defender.

And somehow, we are the worst defensive team in the league. WHAT. THE. EFF.

I know what you mean, it's just tough to get into a flow when the rotation is constantly switching up. One of the best things about D'Antoni (and heralded as arguably the worst) was his short rotation. It allowed the players to get into the zone, to be comfortable with teammates. Kept flow on offense as well. We're mashing up talent and units, as we should, but until it gets a bit more focused, I'd expect the struggles to continue.

[swe_suns]

so philly just beat denver on the road and we're playing philly on wedn. at home

[Birth of the Cool]

First off Blake Griffin is amazing. That left handed dunk in traffic and the monster alley-oop from Baron just over Gortat was prime Vince like. However, I do agree with some posters here that he has a arrogant, smug vibe that is kinda off putting and that annoying habit that Gerald Wallace has of making his mouth guard a chew toy. He has a Karl Malone mean streak/dirty play to him too that I don't like (swung at Gortat just because Gortat dared to play him physical) and as a rookie he has already realized how incompetent the Refs are so has resorted to flopping to get calls like Chris Paul. To his (minor) defense he is getting physically manhandled (and illegally sometimes for sure) out there but he's a PF - that's the life of a PF day in / day out & especially a rookie. NBA Players aren't gonna stand for a rookie to get what he wants in the block. That's the reality of it. He's basically getting a lot of his points off of athleticism and great hustle/determination which is great but he's got to get some post moves (didn't show it much yesterday but I know he loves that spin back to the baseline hook shot), get a more consistent perimeter jumper and improve his FT's and in a few years this guy will be Karl Malone light (like I said he already has that Karl Malone nasty/dirty streak).

I loved what Grant Hill brought. It's kinda sad Gentry felt Hill was the best option to guard Blake Griffin (is he too fast for Gortat, Lopez and too strong for Frye?) but Hill just put in man's work to do what he can against the Beast. He actually got under Blake's skin (haha).

Someone said they don't understand how Phoenix has such awful defense when their individual players aren't bad defensively - the problem is their TEAM defense is freakin' horrible. There was one point where Gortat came off of his man to try and block a guard's drive - at that point Childress (i'm pretty sure it was him but not positive) should have rotated from the weak side perimeter to put a body on the big Gortat just left but he was very late in doing so, which resulted in an easy dump in to the big & dunk. Gortat, Pietrus & Carter all came from a disciplined Defensive system in Orlando and you already saw a bit of how they play defensively and I think overall you will see an improvement on D (esp. if you are able to put Lopez/Gortat out there against opposing "big" lineups).
In the NBA guys have to be on an invisible string connected to one another to be a good defensive team - from what I've seen from Phoenix right now they are a scattered defensive team that has no cohesion but I think the new guys will help that out.

Anyways even though they lost to the lowly Clippers I do like the grit/toughness that I saw Phoenix play with. They didn't give up on the game and were actually physical the whole game (something you don't think about when thinking of Phoenix basketball). I think once Vince gets plugged in and a week or so of practice/games this team will look much better (hopefully they don't lose too many games until they get acclimated because the West is indeed Wild & Playoffs are tough to come by).

[JasonDaPsycho]

Blake was playing like Reggie Miller, only he's not 6'7, not under 200 pounds and is very athletic.

Win by any means necessary. Chinese saying, "Soldiers shouldn't mind playing dirty." Blake Griffin demonstrated that. The Clippers need that swagger. They need that arrogance from the Ginger Flopper. He gets away with physical calls because he plays physical. He gets more calls on the offensive end because, well, he's physical. Plus his acting skills is right up there with Al Pacino in his prime, so...

The Suns have to understand that they win games mostly to please the fans of the team, not the fans of the game, and as long as they get results, then we're happy. So, if Grant Hill all of a sudden plays like Bruce Bowen, I'd still love him because the other team's superstars had it coming (and I don't mean scoring nothing in the first half, but more of scoring nothing over the next few months ) and we're winning.

[blackjays1]

To those calling Warrick an Amare-lite: in the history of his career, Amare has never had a game without atleast 1 reb and 3 points.

So a great night for Warrick is like a horrible night for Amare lol.

[JohnVancouver]

disappointing game, Griffin is a monster - a bit of a dick and seems prone to 'roid rage (those zits are not just an adolescent holdover, I'm sure)

I said a couple weeks ago Warrick had worn out his act and he's surely proved it now - keep him onthe bench. Nash and Dragic make a ince team; use Chills as a slasher, give Duds the minutes he deserves and a;ll respect to GHill -

"What'd you say? No, what did you say?" We got DeNiro at small forward

Priceless

Gortat looked much better but we need to keep both centers unless offered a deal we can't say no to

not a good loss but things are improving - nice to see Pietrus play the way i recall from GS