NBA TV schedule

[GMATCallahan]

... just wanted to mention that there are some old Suns' games on NBA TV this week.

https://www.nba.com/nbatv/schedule

Monday, April 6/Tuesday, April 7: Houston Rockets at Phoenix Suns, Game Seven of the 1995 Western Conference Semifinals (early morning)

This game constituted one of the most memorable and thrilling in franchise history; I also have never come across it on NBA TV before. It is an early-morning broadcast (check the link), so most people would probably need to DVR it. Given the quality of this game and its impact on Suns' history and NBA history, dong so would be worthwhile. Late in the NBC broadcast, Steve "Snapper" Jones reminds Bill Walton, "This isn't the championship game yet, Bill," and Walton retorts, "You could have fooled me. I thought this was the championship!"


Tuesday, April 7/Wednesday, April 8: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers, Game Six of the 2006 Western Conference First Round (late morning/early afternoon and also early morning the next day)

This game was another thriller in an elimination setting for the Suns. That club also amounted to the best passing team that Phoenix has featured in the last twenty-plus years (Boris Diaw at his peak to accompany Steve Nash) and played five guys who could function effectively from the perimeter and the wings.


Wednesday, April 8/Thursday, April 9: Phoenix Suns at San Antonio Spurs, Game One of the 2008 Western Conference First Round (evening and also late evening/early morning)

This game might have been the wildest playoff contest of the Nash era; I viewed it again last summer on NBA TV.


Thursday, April 9: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers, March 22, 2011 (late evening)

This game might have been the most memorable of a regular season that began the Suns' current non-playoff streak. Although Nash struggled through injury after the All-Star break that season, averaging just 10.0 points on .406 field goal shooting in 23 games, he was basically at his best in this contest.

[bwgood77]

... just wanted to mention that there are some old Suns' games on NBA TV this week.

https://www.nba.com/nbatv/schedule

Monday, April 6/Tuesday, April 7: Houston Rockets at Phoenix Suns, Game Seven of the 1995 Western Conference Semifinals (early morning)

This game constituted one of the most memorable and thrilling in franchise history; I also have never come across it on NBA TV before. It is an early-morning broadcast (check the link), so most people would probably need to DVR it. Given the quality of this game and its impact on Suns' history and NBA history, dong so would be worthwhile. Late in the NBC broadcast, Steve "Snapper" Jones reminds Bill Walton, "This isn't the championship game yet, Bill," and Walton retorts, "You could have fooled me. I thought this was the championship!"


Tuesday, April 7/Wednesday, April 8: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers, Game Six of the 2006 Western Conference First Round (late morning/early afternoon and also early morning the next day)

This game was another thriller in an elimination setting for the Suns. That club also amounted to the best passing team that Phoenix has featured in the last twenty-plus years (Boris Diaw at his peak to accompany Steve Nash) and played five guys who could function effectively from the perimeter and the wings.


Wednesday, April 8/Thursday, April 9: Phoenix Suns at San Antonio Spurs, Game One of the 2008 Western Conference First Round (evening and also late evening/early morning)

This game might have been the wildest playoff contest of the Nash era; I viewed it again last summer on NBA TV.


Thursday, April 9: Phoenix Suns at Los Angeles Lakers, March 22, 2011 (late evening)

This game might have been the most memorable of a regular season that began the Suns' current non-playoff streak. Although Nash struggled through injury after the All-Star break that season, averaging just 10.0 points on .406 field goal shooting in 23 games, he was basically at his best in this contest.

Man, wish I would have seen this yesterday, because I would have loved to record that first one. I have the second one set to record. I would love to see some of the ones from 89-92, but I'm sure if they showed any around that era they would be more that included Barkley on the team.

[GMATCallahan]

The Suns-Lakers game from March 2011 is showing again on Sunday afternoon; I viewed it on Thursday evening, and it is definitely worth watching or recording.

Also, the Suns-Spurs playoff opener from 2008 is showing again on Monday.

https://www.nba.com/nbatv/schedule

[Jdiddy701]

The Suns-Lakers game from March 2011 is showing again on Sunday afternoon; I viewed it on Thursday evening, and it is definitely worth watching or recording.

Also, the Suns-Spurs playoff opener from 2008 is showing again on Monday.

https://www.nba.com/nbatv/schedule

Man, I just done watching the Suns and Lakers game. Crazy how great my memory is when it comes to Suns games. I remembered a ton. Nash’s pass falling out bounds to Gortat that led to a Channing Frye 3 was amazing. Nash was one of a kind, loved when he pulled up from three off a pick - automatic.

Seeing Vince Carter in a Suns uni gave me bad memories though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GMATCallahan]

Man, wish I would have seen this yesterday, because I would have loved to record that first one. I have the second one set to record. I would love to see some of the ones from 89-92, but I'm sure if they showed any around that era they would be more that included Barkley on the team.

Tomorrow (Monday), NBA TV is showing Game Four of the 1992 Western Conference Semifinals, Portland at Phoenix (the final NBA game ever played at Veterans Memorial Coliseum): https://www.nba.com/nbatv/schedule.

Of course, parts will be missing, but they will have all the down-the-stretch stuff. I do not recall NBA TV ever before showing a Suns' game from the immediate pre-Barkley era (the Cotton Fitzsimmons-coached teams that featured Kevin Johnson, Tom Chambers, Jeff Hornacek, Mark West, Dan Majerle, Tim Perry, and Andrew Lang over those four successive seasons and which won the fifth-most regular season games during that span).

[GMATCallahan]

The Suns-Lakers game from March 2011 is showing again on Sunday afternoon; I viewed it on Thursday evening, and it is definitely worth watching or recording.

Also, the Suns-Spurs playoff opener from 2008 is showing again on Monday.

https://www.nba.com/nbatv/schedule

Man, I just done watching the Suns and Lakers game. Crazy how great my memory is when it comes to Suns games. I remembered a ton. Nash’s pass falling out bounds to Gortat that led to a Channing Frye 3 was amazing. Nash was one of a kind, loved when he pulled up from three off a pick - automatic.

Seeing Vince Carter in a Suns uni gave me bad memories though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, it was quite a game. For those who might want to view it at a later date and thus do not want the details ...

Spoiler:

I had recalled the game going into an overtime session or probably two, but I had forgotten that it amounted to a triple-overtime affair. I had remembered Nash as perhaps posting a 20-20 game in terms of points and assists, but instead he just missed at 19 points and 20 assists. It is, however, the only game in NBA history with at least 20 assists and 5 made three-point field goals by the same player.

http://bkref.com/tiny/wwTRs

Nash did commit a couple of bad turnovers in the third overtime where he dribbled into defensive congestion along the sidelines. Also, in the overtime periods, he twice fed Channing Frye in the post after a Laker switch on the pick-and-pop. Frye had successfully scored on this maneuver early in the game, but Los Angeles had adjusted later in the contest by swarming Frye, who was not accustomed to playing through—or passing through—pressure in the post. Instead, Nash should have cleared Frye out and taken advantage of his own switch off the dribble, even if Lamar Odom proved effective at switching onto guards. I remembered being frustrated by Nash's unwillingness to do so back in 2011, but I had forgotten the major reason why—the Lakers had adjusted to smother Frye after he received the post-entry pass, unlike early in the game. Nash should have made the adjustment, or Alvin Gentry should have told his point guard to make the adjustment. The result was that Frye twice lost the ball in the overtime sessions and overall posted 4 turnovers against 1 assist.

Frye enjoyed an incredible performance, though: 32 points and 14 rebounds!

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201103220LAL.html

Vince Carter started well with ten first-quarter points on two treys, a slashing layup in the half-court, and a fastbreak layup off a Nash feed. Yet he finished 7-23 from the field, including 2-13 on threes! Yikes.

I had forgotten that Robin Lopez was still starting, with Marcin Gortat coming off the bench. Of course, since Lopez only played 9:55 in this game, compared to Gortat playing 53:05, it hardly mattered. Also, the Suns possessed a strong bench with Aaron Brooks, Jared Dudley, Mickaël Piétrus, Hakim Warrick, and Gortat. Naturally, their starting lineup was a bit weaker with Lopez instead of Gortat, but since Lopez was playing limited minutes, the starting lineup was not bad, either. Of course, Vince Carter and Grant Hill were past their primes and about ten years past their respective peaks, but there was still enough talent to make the playoffs—that roster was more talented that I had remembered, and the Suns were 33-29 before finishing the season just 7-13. Phoenix was 35-33 entering this game, and then this loss sent the Suns on a 5-9 spiral to conclude the campaign.

The fact that Phoenix failed to make the postseason with that roster speaks to the depth of the West, obviously, but also to the difficulty of enjoying success amid in-season turnover and the importance of continuity and chemistry in basketball. Brooks, Carter, Pietrus, and Gortat all joined the Suns during the season, and achieving optimal cohesion amid a roster in flux is tough. And then, of course, Nash's "pelvic instability" and resultant slump in the second half of that campaign hurt. It was, perhaps, a preview of what would happen to him once he joined the Lakers a little over a year later.

Brooks played really well in reserve, with 15 points (6-9 FG), 3 assists, and 0 turnovers in 13:40. He played some good games with the Suns, and he was a talented offensive point guard with quickness, fine footwork, a nice shooting stroke, and definite functionality in a pick-and-roll game. The previous season with Houston, he had started all 82 games and averaged 19.6 points and 5.3 assists while shooting .398 on threes in 6.4 attempts per contest. Unfortunately, Brooks departed for China during the 2011 lockout, leaving the Suns with Ronnie Price and Sebastian Telfair to back up Nash in 2012.

https://www.nba.com/suns/news/suns-gm-headed-china-visit-brooks#

Overall, that 2011 season proved strange, and the aftermath was even stranger. Once the Suns bought out Carter, lost Brooks, and declined to re-sign Pietrus, they probably should have traded Nash as he entered the final year of his contract, especially if they were not going to offer him the kind of deal that he wanted in free agency. (And that decision proved wise, as giving a a thirty-eight-year old point guard a three-year contract at major money would have been risky and possibly disastrous, as the Lakers soon learned.) Instead, the Suns replaced those guys with the likes of Price, Telfair, Shannon Brown, and a broken-down Michael Redd. Even though Carter constitutes one of the most overrated players in NBA history (impressive longevity aside) and was somewhat past his prime by the time that he landed in Phoenix, he remained better than Brown and especially a decrepit Redd. The Suns ended up missing the playoffs again in 2012—their third lottery appearance in four years—and then lost Nash in free agency.

Back to the game, I had remembered Kobe Bryant scoring plenty of points, but I had not recalled him posting a 42-12-9 stat line. I had correctly remembered that while Grant Hill played his usual tenacious defense, he fouled Bryant too often, and indeed Hill fouled out in the third overtime.

Finally, while viewing the game, I thought to myself that prior to the last couple of years, where the jerseys have been cluttered with corporate debris, the Suns had probably never featured worse uniforms than the orange-and-gray ones that they sported in this contest. Orange and gray? I understand why they were wearing wide swaths of gray up and down the sides, as the basic scheme proved the same as with their regular, purple road uniforms. But at least purple and gray, while a dubious combination, complemented each other nicely enough. Orange and gray did not, and worse yet, the orange was not a robust "Suns" orange but rather this somewhat pale, nearly pastel orange. Replace the gray with purple and render the orange a bolder shade, and at least Phoenix would have featured an orange uniform worth wearing.

[GMATCallahan]

Man, wish I would have seen this yesterday, because I would have loved to record that first one. I have the second one set to record. I would love to see some of the ones from 89-92, but I'm sure if they showed any around that era they would be more that included Barkley on the team.

Tomorrow (Monday), NBA TV is showing Game Four of the 1992 Western Conference Semifinals, Portland at Phoenix (the final NBA game ever played at Veterans Memorial Coliseum): https://www.nba.com/nbatv/schedule.

Of course, parts will be missing, but they will have all the down-the-stretch stuff. I do not recall NBA TV ever before showing a Suns' game from the immediate pre-Barkley era (the Cotton Fitzsimmons-coached teams that featured Kevin Johnson, Tom Chambers, Jeff Hornacek, Mark West, Dan Majerle, Tim Perry, and Andrew Lang over those four successive seasons and which won the fifth-most regular season games during that span).

Viewing that game again, I believe that the Suns' teams of that period might have constituted one of the best passing clubs in NBA history—the ball movement was sometimes pinball-style yet so precise. In that double-overtime game, the Suns totaled 34 assists against just 6 turnovers—in a fast-paced affair where, due to the conventions of the era, the paint was often clogged with bodies. Portland also featured excellent ball movement and recorded 36 assists in that game, but the Blazers posted 17 turnovers. The Suns' starting guards, Kevin Johnson and Jeff Hornacek, combined to record 23 assists against 2 turnovers.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/199205110PHO.html

A couple of plays in the third quarter really stand out:

With the Suns trailing 94-91 and less then five minutes to play in the period, Kevin Johnson brings the ball up the court and runs a pick-and-pop on the right wing with Tom Chambers, who slips the pick and fades toward the right corner. Johnson crosses over, right to left, and heads toward the middle, causing the Blazers' Danny Ainge to leave Dan Majerle and collapse into the paint. Johnson hits Majerle on the left side of the top of the key, and without a dribble, Majerle immediately passes behind him to Jeff Hornacek, who is above the three-point arc. Majerle then quickly sets a screen on Hornacek's man, Portland's Clyde Drexler, turns out of the pick, and rolls toward the hoop. Hornacek takes one dribble, and now double-teamed by Drexler and Ainge (who had to help on Hornacek after Majerle picked Drexler), leaps into the air and hits Majerle heading toward the hoop. Thunder Dan takes one dribble and scores on a layup—in rapid succession, Johnson to Majerle to Hornacek to Majerle.

Two minutes later, with Phoenix trailing 98-96, Kevin Johnson again brings the ball up the right side of the court, this time hitting Hornacek on the right wing before cutting down the middle and curling around to the weak side. Hornacek uses a brush screen from Chambers to penetrate into the middle and find Dan Majerle in the left corner, who swings it to Johnson at the top of the arc. Johnson starts going one-on-one against Portland's Ennis Whatley and then zips the ball to a cutting Hornacek, who has plunged back door toward the basket from the right corner after Chambers came up to set a brush-down-screen on Ainge, who had picked up Hornacek on the play. Hornacek thus draws Drexler (his original defender on the possession) away from Cedric Ceballos and touch-passes the ball to Ceballos cutting along the left baseline for a two-handed jam—Johnson to Hornacek to Majerle to Johnson to Hornacek to (touch-pass) Ceballos, with Chambers also playing a major role on the possession through body movement and picking.

On the TNT broadcast:

Jack Givens (the color commentator and former NBA player): That is nice.

Ron Thulin (the play-by-play man): A shooting guard with a point guard's vision—Jeff Hornacek.

(By the way, that Johnson-Hornacek-Majerle-Ceballos-Chambers lineup is one that Mike D'Antoni would have loved. It is not, however, one that the Suns sported throughout the game—just in spurts.)

[GMATCallahan]

Man, wish I would have seen this yesterday, because I would have loved to record that first one. I have the second one set to record. I would love to see some of the ones from 89-92, but I'm sure if they showed any around that era they would be more that included Barkley on the team.

NBA TV is showing Game Seven of the 1995 Western Conference Semifinals, Houston at Phoenix, again on Wednesday in the late afternoon or early evening, depending upon one's time zone:

https://www.nba.com/nbatv/schedule

It is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the game.

(NBA TV also showed it in early May, in addition to the April showing.)

Unfortunately, NBA TV uses an "NBA's Greatest Games" version that omits large chunks of the first, second, and third quarters. For instance, in that edition, you will not see Kevin Johnson's second, third, fourth, and fifth assists. (His second assist is his second-best of the game, behind only his tenth and final assist.) You also will not glimpse his third and fourth made field goals.

The potential to show a complete, or more complete, version exists. For example, in March, I viewed Game Three of the 1994 Western Conference First Round between the Suns and Warriors on NBA TV. In addition to being in HD, the edition showed virtually every second of the game, if not every second. Likewise, the other week, I watched Game Five of the 1993 Western Conference Finals between Phoenix and Seattle on NBA TV. In addition to being in HD, the edition showed virtually every second of the game, if not every second. I also watched Game Seven of that 1993 series on NBA TV a few hours later. Although that showing constituted an "NBA's Greatest Games" edition and omitted a few minutes, it included more of the contest than the "NBA's Greatest Games" version of Game Seven of the 1995 Western Conference Semifinals.

Regardless, the fourth quarter of that Houston-Phoenix game is incredible. Having viewed the broadcast several weeks ago, I will post some thoughts and analysis later. (Also, that Game Five of the 1993 Western Conference Finals is showing in the early morning Thursday.)

Incidentally, I watched Game Seven of the 1979 Western Conference Finals, Phoenix at Seattle, on Sunday evening on NBA TV. This version left out some parts of the first quarter, but otherwise, it proved pretty solid.

[GMATCallahan]

Man, wish I would have seen this yesterday, because I would have loved to record that first one. I have the second one set to record. I would love to see some of the ones from 89-92, but I'm sure if they showed any around that era they would be more that included Barkley on the team.

Game Six of the 1990 Western Conference Finals, Portland at Phoenix, is airing on NBA TV on Monday; Game Five of the 1993 Western Conference Finals, Seattle at Phoenix, is showing a few hours later.

https://www.nba.com/nbatv/schedule