[Game #64] Phoenix Suns(33-30) vs Orlando Magic(41-25)

[Calvin Klein]

Mark Jackson .... just too painful for words. "Dwight Howard, doing what he does, dominating ............... in the painted area."

Thanks, Mark.

"...poth ends of da floh' "

[visions]

Wow that was bad. Easily one of the most painful, boring and lackluster Suns games I have seen in almost 20 years of following them. The icing on the cake was having it called by probably the worst announcers in any major sports league.

The most glaring thing for me (even moreso than the lack of defense) was how many easy shots the Suns missed and also how many bad shots they took, This has been a problem all season but sometimes other aspects of the team's perfomance can cover it up...not today.

Warrick is the master of missing easy shots, followed closely by Lopez. You just can't hope to win if you're constantly missing point blank layups!! Aaaaaaarggh!!!!!!!!

Then you have useless Carter continually chucking up lazy and terrible shots and Pietrus bricking left, right and centre.

This team today wasn't just missing Nash...it was missing a player who could actually finish a play.

This game could be made into an instructional video called "How to take a chemistry laden conference finalist and turn them into a non-playoff bunch of mismatched, ill-fitting parts in less than 1 year"

[Mac1]

quite frankly im certain there are guys in the D league better then lopez..so why not look there for a quick upgrade?

[DRK]

Nah, Lopez is in a massive slump. His confidence is shot.

People who watched last year's playoffs konw Lopez is capable of being a good center. Lopez just needs to build confidence to get back to that level.

[KLEON]

Nah, Lopez is in a massive slump. His confidence is shot.

People who watched last year's playoffs konw Lopez is capable of being a good center. Lopez just needs to build confidence to get back to that level.

DRK you are probably a fan of Lopez but its time to smell the roses, Lopez is just suctacular. As a Suns fan I'm embarrassed to see this guy not only playing but starting for us and the only reason why he played well last year is because of Amare being double teamed and triple teamed last season.

BTW I've seen point guards play better defense on Howard.

[lilfishi22]

Lopez is absolutely in a slump. Call it a down season. But he has potential and we've seen how effective he can be with the right guys around him (ie when he isn't the only guy with the ability to score in the post). He was so effective last season, scoring off O boards he picked up and when pressure is off him, but now that Amare is gone, teams only have to worry about him so they pay more attention to him.

He's no star talent, but I think he can be that C next to an elite big on a good team. He's shown he can be a great defender even though he's subpar rebounder. I could see him grow into Kendrick Perkin type of role.

[RvM]

RvM,

Mike Denton in his Magic post game analysis mentioned that there are rumblings that VC is unhappy in Phoenix. I've seen nothing. You know all things VC so what's up?

Perhaps because we're losing?

I wouldn't know. I'm not some insider source, just as follower of VC.

But, if I were to put my analysis, I'd of course say that VC is unhappy in Phoenix. I mean, he was traded away from a championship contender and his HOMETOWN for a team that's unstable and might not make the playoffs.

Still that's no excuse for his lack of effort and he hasn’t said anything publicly but his effort says otherwise. He’s said the right thing, and it’ll only lead up to him being bought out in the off season and trying to get signed to a team for the minimum. Sad really.

(AGAIN. Not making the gamethreads for a whole week. Anyone taking tonight's game?)

[DRK]

Nah, Lopez is in a massive slump. His confidence is shot.

People who watched last year's playoffs konw Lopez is capable of being a good center. Lopez just needs to build confidence to get back to that level.

DRK you are probably a fan of Lopez but its time to smell the roses, Lopez is just suctacular. As a Suns fan I'm embarrassed to see this guy not only playing but starting for us and the only reason why he played well last year is because of Amare being double teamed and triple teamed last season.

BTW I've seen point guards play better defense on Howard.

That may be true, about how having Amare really helped his game, but as a young player he's got to learn how to play without the defence drawing all the attention. This is his first season without Aamare, it will take him a long time to get used to.

Dont get me wrong, I'm not a Lopez fan-boy by any means... The way he's playing right now is worse than I was with my torn quad. But I keep thinking back to the WCF's last year, and how much of an impact he was for us.

I think he will be much improved next season, after a summer of working on his game and another full pre-season.

[rsavaj]

Kind of random and OT, but I've been playing NBA Jam Tournament Edition pretty regularly over the past few months. I'm 62-4 so far, and the 4 losses I have are to...the Magic.

I just can't beat them. Penny Hardaway manages to out-clutch me in the 4th. Every time I lose to them by one shot...either by 1, 2 or 3 points, RIGHT at the buzzer. It's effing annoying.

I mean, the computer AI is setup so that if you ever get a big lead, they STORM back and always make it a game in the end(I never win by more than like 4 or 5 points), but Penny's Magic are just superpowered in the 4th.