Game 1: Dallas Mavericks @ Phoenix Suns Wednesday @ 7:00 pm

[denial]

ONE GAME, GUYS. ONE!

Normally I'd agree but the offense looks exactly to me as it did last season. It's looked like this since hornaceck took over. I'm all for read-and-react. We don't have to call plays all the time. But we need ball movement and screens and good shot selection. And we can't expect to run all the time. When there are a lot of fouls we need to be able to score in half court.

Yes it was one game. But I think a season opening home game should never be a blowout like this, with any nba level players. Even if the worst team in the league. this was much more than a loss. It was more than a blowout. They clowned us, at home, season opener

[bwgood77]

ONE GAME, GUYS. ONE!

Normally I'd agree but the offense looks exactly to me as it did last season. It's looked like this since hornaceck took over. I'm all for read-and-react. We don't have to call plays all the time. But we need ball movement and screens and good shot selection. And we can't expect to run all the time. When there are a lot of fouls we need to be able to score in half court.

Yes it was one game. But I think a season opening home game should never be a blowout like this, with any nba level players. Even if the worst team in the league. this was much more than a loss. It was more than a blowout. They clowned us, at home, season opener

I think the key part of the game is the way Kieff played. If he really is going to actively try and do as little as possible, and get in foul trouble fast, we will be terrible. PF was our most crucial position to address in the offseason. He can be a good player when engaged.

Many argued that if we lost him or traded him for little to nothing, we would be awful. But the same thing holds true if he is actively trying not to play well. It sure looked like that after one game, so hopefully that doesn't continue. If it does, it really doesn't matter what Hornacek does. Leuer looked good, but we are going nowhere with him as our primary PF no matter how good Hornacek coaches. And of course Knight still needs to improve.

[Revived]

I need someone to answer this serious question. Do the Suns have any set plays at all? I don't think I can watch another season with Bledsoe and Knight dribbling the hell out of the ball.

This is my biggest complaint with Hornacek. Play designs...

[Revived]

I think if we got blown out by like the Spurs in the first game, most people wouldn't care as much. But to get blown out at home by a team projected to not even make playoffs is a bit disappointing even though it is only one game.

Our next game is against Portland, another team projected to not make playoffs. If we lose to them too, it will be a really rough start to the year.

[bwgood77]

I think if we got blown out by like the Spurs in the first game, most people wouldn't care as much. But to get blown out at home by a team projected to not even make playoffs is a bit disappointing even though it is only one game.

Our next game is against Portland, another team projected to not make playoffs. If we lose to them too, it will be a really rough start to the year.

I agree. But on the bright side, if we suck that bad, at least we can get that high pick many our craving for. Hopefully if that happens though, hopefully we don't knock the Laker to 4th, so that pick becomes valuable too. In the case we suck, hopefully we get a top 3 pick and Philly also end up with a pick in the 7th pick or later, but at least if Philly gets it, it will be a semi high pick in a bad draft...but even if that pick pans out, at least the Lakers don't get it.

[Revived]

I think if we got blown out by like the Spurs in the first game, most people wouldn't care as much. But to get blown out at home by a team projected to not even make playoffs is a bit disappointing even though it is only one game.

Our next game is against Portland, another team projected to not make playoffs. If we lose to them too, it will be a really rough start to the year.

I agree. But on the bright side, if we suck that bad, at least we can get that high pick many our craving for. Hopefully if that happens though, hopefully we don't knock the Laker to 4th, so that pick becomes valuable too. In the case we suck, hopefully we get a top 3 pick and Philly also end up with a pick in the 7th pick or later, but at least if Philly gets it, it will be a semi high pick in a bad draft...but even if that pick pans out, at least the Lakers don't get it.

As to the first bolded, I doubt it man. You know our luck. Plus this team will put together some wins vs other teams that are tanking to ruin any chance of actually outtanking others.

As for the Lakers being good enough to not be bottom 5 in the league, idk. I saw their game vs Minnesota and yikes. Ricky Rubio looked like Steph Curry against them.

Would be funny if this is finally the draft we actually tank in considering this draft supposedly blows. It would be similar to the 2013 draft which also blew. In the case that it happens, would be just the Suns luck that they tank in years where the drafts suck and they do good in drafts where there are multiple superstar caliber prospects (2014 draft).

[Son of Ra]

Didn't expect to be back on the fire Hornaceck train that quickly
And my god I dislike our backcourt...never loved Bledsoe but I guess I can live with him but Knight...has he had a single good game for us since the trade?
At least it seems like the young ones will finally get some burn this year

[Damkac]

We all was complaining about Bledsoe lack of playmaking. Well he looks like Nash compared to Knight

[batsmasher]

ONE GAME, GUYS. ONE!

Normally I'd agree but the offense looks exactly to me as it did last season. It's looked like this since hornaceck took over. I'm all for read-and-react. We don't have to call plays all the time. But we need ball movement and screens and good shot selection. And we can't expect to run all the time. When there are a lot of fouls we need to be able to score in half court.

Yes it was one game. But I think a season opening home game should never be a blowout like this, with any nba level players. Even if the worst team in the league. this was much more than a loss. It was more than a blowout. They clowned us, at home, season opener

It's still one game. We looked like a different team in preseason and the exact same old same old in the opener. There's no reason we can't find a flow like we had in preseason.

But god, it was awful..

Bled doing his bull runs to the rim, BK forcing alley oops like a 5th grader with a really tall dude on his team. PJ and Kieff looking completely disinterested in basketball. Chandler forgetting how he won DPOY. There was absolutely nothing to like. TJ and Book can't defend. Mirza has zero defensive awareness. The offense we did run was completely forced. We didn't fastbreak.

The good news is, it can't be that bad again. The bad news is, it was the season opener and now every casual Suns fan has no interest in going to games because that's what they think they're going to see when they do.

I suppose it's up to our lord savior, JLeuer.

[Funky Tut]

It was absolutely terrible watching that game. I was so pumped for our first game, there was a little gleam of optimism in me from this season. I was ready to turn the game off in the 3rd quarter, we just looked absolutely terrible and got destroyed by an ancient Mavs team. I have been so low on this team for a while and while it was just one game, it just left a sour taste in my mouth.

[Dirk]

Matthews, Williams and Parsons haven't played at all this pre-season. Dirk played in two games. The backup Center is dreadful - just yesterday there was a glimpse of Len abusing it, I can see the Suns dominating the boards with ease. The only legit center is Pachulia and he is better as a backup. Ditto for the SF position --- Evans will probably start and he can't shoot to save his life. All this to say that in all honesty the Suns should blowout the Mavs. This is my best attempt at reverse jynxing this thing. Good luck for the rest of the season guys.

I think it worked. Good job.

Such a bizarre game.

Some things changed from that post of mine. A couple of guys got back --- and obviously that stabilizes the ship a bit, but they were under a minutes restriction and are still in recovery. So, not much would have changed as far as who would win and lose, I thought the Suns could blitz the Mavs with pace and size inside.

Honestly, if this wasn't the very first game of the season... and as such... overreacting to it could be silly, I would say some of those guys just aren't playing for Hornaceck. The lack of energy and urgency was unbelievable. The Mavs played at their old man pace with such ease. Williams was literally jogging through the game. The only time in the game where there was energy was at the start of the fourth quarter... and that faded away quickly. A note on the crowd... for an opening game... it was really quiet(have a look at the Kings game for instance, that place was electric), but we can't blame the fans, the team gave them no reason to cheer, but yeah, it just contributed to a surreal environment where it felt like the Mavs were running their stuff in a pre-season game.

I watched a ton of Suns games over the past couple of years(mainly because of my love for Dragic and also because you were right there with the Mavs fighting for those coveted last seeds in the West), and boy things changed dramatically, from a uber energetic team that played with great pace, to all that dysfunction, especially the second half of last season, carried over into this opening game, this is why it feels Hornaceck will be on the hot seat soon if the first stretch of the season is just a repeat of the last half of the previous one.

One of the most shocking things was Morris being defended by Matthews... the guy coming off the achilles injury... and he still couldn't take advantage. 5 fouls in 11 minutes, some very cheap ones. The only bright spot was really Leuer. Other than him Teletovic looked god awful. Knight is very streaky and just isn't a dependable guy in therms of leading the team. That would fall to Bledsoe, but his bball iq is questionable to say the least. Chandler was a non factor. I feared that you'd feature Len in some way, being matched up against much smaller guys but he was hardly used. Oh, I almost forgot, that 14 year old you have did well, but the game was out of hand by then. There were very few bright spots. With that said, I felt like the Suns were making too many changes and with that... just not allowing players to get into the game more.

I'm intrigued by this game vs Blazers and will try to watch it.

[Saberestar]

Didn't expect to be back on the fire Hornaceck train that quickly
And my god I dislike our backcourt...never loved Bledsoe but I guess I can live with him but Knight...has he had a single good game for us since the trade?
At least it seems like the young ones will finally get some burn this year

Yes, one against Orlando last season.

[pidi]

God damn it, i never saw a suns Crew playing like this.

There was no Passion, there was no game plan, there was absolutely nothing. i don´t care if
it was the first or last game in this season. with this Kind of effort the suns are going strictly in
the lottery. i am not known for overreacting or crying like a Baby, but this game was an absolute disaster.

morris - let´s see if he get´s in foul Trouble again in 3 minutes. let´s see if he can get his candy ass up and Play like a grown man

puh i am dissapointed and will get up at 3 am this morning to watch the second game and i am hoping that we will Show some effort.

[King4Day]

I actually only felt there was rust with this team in game 1. I saw glimpses of what could be. Once players learn their roles, it may not be so bad.
And if it is, we just need to move some players. We have to retain Chandler though for his leadership. We've got him locked up long term so no need to send him out.

[Son of Ra]

Didn't expect to be back on the fire Hornaceck train that quickly
And my god I dislike our backcourt...never loved Bledsoe but I guess I can live with him but Knight...has he had a single good game for us since the trade?
At least it seems like the young ones will finally get some burn this year

Yes, one against Orlando last season.

Oh, well then...

[NavLDO]

I think if we got blown out by like the Spurs in the first game, most people wouldn't care as much. But to get blown out at home by a team projected to not even make playoffs is a bit disappointing even though it is only one game.

Our next game is against Portland, another team projected to not make playoffs. If we lose to them too, it will be a really rough start to the year.

Remember two years ago when the Suns were projected to be a 20-25 win team, though ended up 48-34?

Projections mean diddly squat. We have NO idea how good or bad the Mavs will be, nor the Blazers. We could start 0-2, the forum blow up even worse than this game, and 5 months later the Suns could be 46-36, with the 8th seed, behind the 6th and 7th seeds, Dallas Mavericks and Portland Trailblazers.

Or, we could start out 1-1, destroy the Blazers, everyone here 'flying high' about how great our young players looked, Knight with 22 pts, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, and 3-4 from the 3 Pt line and 5 months later, end up 25-57 and drafting top 5.

Point is, nobody has no idea what's going to happen, and the result from next game won't likely mean a darn thing either in the greater scheme of things.

As I believe I probably alluded last year about this point in time in the season...we really won't have a good idea of where we stand until at least 25 games into the season, and even that could change, but at least then we'd have empirical evidence to base our assessments on, not one game and meaningless projections from sports writers.

[NavLDO]

Just posting to get off having '666' as my post count--bad juju and all with Halloween coming up!

[bwgood77]

I think if we got blown out by like the Spurs in the first game, most people wouldn't care as much. But to get blown out at home by a team projected to not even make playoffs is a bit disappointing even though it is only one game.

Our next game is against Portland, another team projected to not make playoffs. If we lose to them too, it will be a really rough start to the year.

I agree. But on the bright side, if we suck that bad, at least we can get that high pick many our craving for. Hopefully if that happens though, hopefully we don't knock the Laker to 4th, so that pick becomes valuable too. In the case we suck, hopefully we get a top 3 pick and Philly also end up with a pick in the 7th pick or later, but at least if Philly gets it, it will be a semi high pick in a bad draft...but even if that pick pans out, at least the Lakers don't get it.

As to the first bolded, I doubt it man. You know our luck. Plus this team will put together some wins vs other teams that are tanking to ruin any chance of actually outtanking others.

As for the Lakers being good enough to not be bottom 5 in the league, idk. I saw their game vs Minnesota and yikes. Ricky Rubio looked like Steph Curry against them.

Would be funny if this is finally the draft we actually tank in considering this draft supposedly blows. It would be similar to the 2013 draft which also blew. In the case that it happens, would be just the Suns luck that they tank in years where the drafts suck and they do good in drafts where there are multiple superstar caliber prospects (2014 draft).

Yeah, I already mentioned before that it would be another bad year to suck, unless we can get top 3 or so, or win the lotto. It doesn't seem like many teams are trying to tank this year though. And since many think one regular season game is indicative of exactly how good a team is, then Portland, Denver and NY are all pretty good.

[Revived]

Matthews, Williams and Parsons haven't played at all this pre-season. Dirk played in two games. The backup Center is dreadful - just yesterday there was a glimpse of Len abusing it, I can see the Suns dominating the boards with ease. The only legit center is Pachulia and he is better as a backup. Ditto for the SF position --- Evans will probably start and he can't shoot to save his life. All this to say that in all honesty the Suns should blowout the Mavs. This is my best attempt at reverse jynxing this thing. Good luck for the rest of the season guys.

I think it worked. Good job.

Such a bizarre game.

Some things changed from that post of mine. A couple of guys got back --- and obviously that stabilizes the ship a bit, but they were under a minutes restriction and are still in recovery. So, not much would have changed as far as who would win and lose, I thought the Suns could blitz the Mavs with pace and size inside.

Honestly, if this wasn't the very first game of the season... and as such... overreacting to it could be silly, I would say some of those guys just aren't playing for Hornaceck. The lack of energy and urgency was unbelievable. The Mavs played at their old man pace with such ease. Williams was literally jogging through the game. The only time in the game where there was energy was at the start of the fourth quarter... and that faded away quickly. A note on the crowd... for an opening game... it was really quiet(have a look at the Kings game for instance, that place was electric), but we can't blame the fans, the team gave them no reason to cheer, but yeah, it just contributed to a surreal environment where it felt like the Mavs were running their stuff in a pre-season game.

I watched a ton of Suns games over the past couple of years(mainly because of my love for Dragic and also because you were right there with the Mavs fighting for those coveted last seeds in the West), and boy things changed dramatically, from a uber energetic team that played with great pace, to all that dysfunction, especially the second half of last season, carried over into this opening game, this is why it feels Hornaceck will be on the hot seat soon if the first stretch of the season is just a repeat of the last half of the previous one.

One of the most shocking things was Morris being defended by Matthews... the guy coming off the achilles injury... and he still couldn't take advantage. 5 fouls in 11 minutes, some very cheap ones. The only bright spot was really Leuer. Other than him Teletovic looked god awful. Knight is very streaky and just isn't a dependable guy in therms of leading the team. That would fall to Bledsoe, but his bball iq is questionable to say the least. Chandler was a non factor. I feared that you'd feature Len in some way, being matched up against much smaller guys but he was hardly used. Oh, I almost forgot, that 14 year old you have did well, but the game was out of hand by then. There were very few bright spots. With that said, I felt like the Suns were making too many changes and with that... just not allowing players to get into the game more.

I'm intrigued by this game vs Blazers and will try to watch it.

Glad other fans are also starting to see Hornacek and his shortcomings.

[TeamTragic]

Hornacek is not a coach. He is stand in that got lucky one season. At least Dantoni helped this franchise progress albeit his anti-defense stance. Just horrible.