SB Nation User Blog: Mike Lisboa

'Twas the Night Before Clips-mas

Mike Lisboa — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:01:19 -0000

Why this picture? Cuz that's LA Clippers' Summer League participant Dionte Christmas watching Robin Lopez dunk, that's why. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)

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With apologies to Henry Livingston, Jr or Clement Clarke Moore, here's our second annual Bright Side of the Sun "Night Before Christmas" as read through purple and orange glasses. You can read last year's poem here.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

'Twas the night before Clips-mas, in the Grand Canyon State

And the Suns had just finished a cruel winter slate.

December'd been tough, with losses a-plenty,

Delaying their dreams of win number twenty.

A loss to the Cavs Back to back losses had left them all crabby,

Though 18 and 10 11 wasn't too shabby.

And 'Mare in his goggles and Nash in his tuque,

Wondered if their hot start had been just a fluke.

Then there on the schedule, served on a platter

Were the poor hapless Clippers, their record a-tatter.

Away to the others flew ageless Steve Nash

To brighten their spirits with news of this clash!

Don Sterling's a racist and a slumlord to boot,

With an owner like that, hope never takes root.

But in the off season, hope did appear:

An Okie named Blake, presumed Rook of the Year!

But alas poor young Griffin, he broke his patella

Cuz the Clips are the Clips: Sorry, young fella.

But back to the Suns where Coach Gentry was thrilled

He whistled and shouted and thusly he trilled:

"Now, J-Rich! now, Channing! now Jared and Steve Nash!

And, Grant Hill! And Goran! And you, Max Contract!

These Clips, they can't stop us so when you get the ball...

Just bomb away! Bomb away! Bomb away all!"

At this time last year it was Coach Terry and Shaq

And under those two, the scoring punch did lack

But now it's a new game; by new I mean old

With running and gunning till the shooters get cold.

Steve Nash is a-passing at an MVP pace

And if no one's open, he'll nail a shot in your face.

Amare's bum eyeball ain't affecting his shot

He can sure put it in, but he jump-shoots a lot.

Grant Hill is still a baller, from his fade to his kicks;

These youngsters he's schooling with his veteran tricks.

J-Rich comes to play, but his shot's been lacking

But even when bricking, he just won't stop attacking.

And Frye! How he drain 3s! How he runs up the court!

If only in the paint, he could hold down the fort.

Off the old bench, it was Leandro and Lou

But now those DEEP Suns have a gosh-darn wrecking crew!

The strides by young Goran need their own song

His new nickname is "Frosty," "Tragic" is long gone.

Barbosa's been ailing, but the Blur's coming back

With blow-bys and goat sounds in his Santa's sack.

And Jared can play when he's not all a-Twitter

But Taylor and Robin? Still the runts of their litters.

So thank goodness for Lou, and his pogo legs

Cuz Jarron and Tucker's +/- is negs.

Steve Kerr's got a winner; Sarver's saving bucks,

But those off-season moves: shrewd skill or dumb luck?

The Planet Orange faithful give not a care,

Winning's what counts and these Suns do it with flair.

Phoenicians, rejoice! When the Clippers come to town,

It's all but assured that they're gonna go down.

Victory will be ours, so tune in this Friday night,

Merry Christmas to all! (It's not on TNT, right?)

Recap: It's Not Robbery If You Give It Away; Nuggets 105, Suns 99

Mike Lisboa — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:58:31 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Sweet Lou had a sweet game in his Colorado homecoming last night. Things didn't work out so well for the rest of the team however. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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[Note by Mike Lisboa, 12/13/09 8:50 AM PST ]

Sorry this didn't get published until the morning... I fell asleep re-watching the game last night before publishing.

***

At some point down the road, the Suns will probably look back on this loss and the Mavericks loss as two games they'd like to have back. Phoenix wasn't supposed to compete in this game, much less have a shot at winning, coming off a grueling win against the Orlando Magic last night. But someone forgot to tell Steve Nash.

1st Half

Nash hit his first 5 shots to help the Suns to an early 13-5 lead. He looked like a man possessed. The Suns would not roll over on the 2nd night of this particular back to back. However, the early momentum did not last long as Carmelo Anthony and the Nuggets found their shooting touch, and eventually took 16-15 lead halfway through the quarter. From then on, the rest of the period was a back and forth dogfight resulting in a 29-26 Nugget lead. Nash and Amare Stoudemire accounted for nearly all the Suns 1st quarter points, but the real story might have been Robin Lopez' 3 fouls in just under 4 minutes of play.

After picking up 5 fouls in 5 minutes against the Magic, Robin proceeded to melt down defensively again, picking up all 3 of his fouls in quick succession in 1 quarter. It might have been the best thing to happen to the Suns in the first quarter as it allowed Lou Amundson to come off the bench and log some heavy minutes. Lou was everywhere in the 2nd quarter, starting things off with a block on the first play of the quarter.

The Suns started the 2nd quarter with a line-up of Goran Dragic, Jared Dudley, Grant Hill, Lou Amundson and Channing Frye and proceeded to go on a 19-2 run. Everything went the Suns' way during this stretch. Dragic was aggressive going to the hoop on one end and playing fearless defense on Ty Lawson at the other. Amundson was a beast on the boards, tipping balls back and pulling down everything in sight. Channing Frye was hitting from range and even drawing contact driving to the hoop.

Defensively, the Suns showed active hands, poking, prodding, blocking and tipping balls that Denver brought into the paint. Aggressiveness and activity were the Suns' hallmarks in the second quarter and they were rewarded. (It also didn't hurt that what open looks the Nuggets did get weren't falling.) The Nuggets did not score a field goal in the first 5:30 of the quarter. Nash checked back in around the 5 minute mark and continued his hot shooting. 1 minute later, the Suns had their largest lead of the game at 52-35. There was so much frustration with how the game was going for Denver that both Carmelo Anthony and George Karl received technical fouls complaining about the officiating. That shoe would soon enough be on the other foot.

This would be their high water mark as they shot 55% for the quarter while holding the Nuggets to 39% shooting and forcing 8 turnovers. Lou Amundson alone finished the 2nd with 8 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks. Grant Hill defended Carmelo Anthony as well as anyone this season in the first half, holding him to 12 points on 4-12 shooting. The Suns would take a 60-47 lead into halftime on the strength of this performance.

[Note by Mike Lisboa, 12/13/09 9:10 AM PST ]

I don't know how I forgot to mention this: This might have been the best quarter of basketball the Suns have played all year. It was something to behold.

2nd Half

In the 3rd quarter the wheels came off for the Suns. Chauncey Billups and Melo both found their stroke scoring 10 points each. The Suns for their part went ice cold, shooting 36% and turning the ball over 6 times (after only committing 8 turnovers in the first half). While Steve Nash continued his blistering offense going 3-4 from the field, the rest of the Suns were a paltry 3-11. The Nuggets were far more aggressive in the 3rd quarter, slashing and cutting to the hoop and drawing contact. They almost matched the Suns run from the 2nd quarter with an 18-2 run of their own to cut the Suns lead to 1 point. The Suns had lead by as much as 17 early in the quarter.

The 4th quarter was a back and forth affair and the Suns had a chance right down to the wire. The Suns traded baskets with the Nuggets for the first 5 minutes of the 4th quarter until the Suns had a disastrous stretch of game where they turned it over on 3 consecutive trips down the floor. 2 of those turnovers were offensive fouls on Amare Stoudemire, also his 4th and 5th fouls for the game. Turnovers played a large part in the Suns' unraveling. They had 6 in the 4th quarter and 20 for the game. The Suns actually shot a scorching 69% in the 4th but had 6 fewer shots than the Nuggets due to turnovers and offensive rebounds (the Nuggets had 15 for the game, 6 in the 4th quarter).

With just under 4 minutes left, the Nuggets began to assert control. After yet another Suns turnover on a bad pass from Channing Frye to Lou Amundson, Carmelo Anthony came down and scored on a put-back of his own miss to put the Nuggets up 94-92. On the ensuing 4 possessions Steve Nash and Chauncey Billups put on a clinic in clutch, with Nash hitting a 3-ball and a jumper in the lane, while Mr. Big Shot hit a pair of 3s of his own to give the Nuggets a 100-97 lead. On the next trip down, Kenyon Martin got Nash on a switch and blocked his fadeaway attempt. On the ensuing Nuggets' possession with 1:36 to go, Billups missed a long jumper, but drew a blocking foul on Grant Hill after Denver collected the offensive rebound. He went 1 of 2 at the line to give the Nugs a 4 point lead with 1:18.

After Grant Hill nearly turned the ball over on an inbound pass a few seconds later, Nash layed in a finger-roll with 1:00 to go to pull the Suns within 2 points. Grant Hill force a Carmelo miss to get the Suns the ball back with 30 seconds to go.

Controversy!

With the Suns trailing by 2, on what would be the Suns' final meaningful possession, Steve Nash found himself covered by Nene at the arc. Nash drove left, had some arm-to-arm contact with Nene and had his lay-up attempt blocked by the Brazilian center. No foul was called on the play despite the obvious contact. What happened next truly doomed the Suns. After the miss, Carmelo Anthony rebounded the ball with 7.8 seconds left on the game clock. The nearest Sun to Anthony was Steve Nash. Angry about the non-call and complaining to the official underneath the basket, Nash did not turn and foul Anthony. Amare Stoudemire was the 2nd closest and seemed to not understand the need to foul until Anthony had already gotten around him. Jared Dudley, he of the high basketball IQ, came flying in to commit the foul, but overpursued and got screened away from Melo, allowing Anthony to get downcourt where he was eventually fouled by Channing Frye after running the clock down to 2.0 seconds.

At this point, the Suns were down by 2 with a career 80% free throw shooter going to the line. Standard practice here is to hope he misses 1 of 2 and do what you can with the remaining 2 seconds on the clock. Except the Suns never got the chance. Alvin Gentry went ballistic on the referees, getting ejected from the game. 2 technical free throws plus 2 free throws for the foul later and the Suns are down by 6 with not even a prayer of a chance at a last second shot.

My Take

To blame the Suns' loss on poor officiating at the end of the game is to ignore the several other glaring holes in the Suns' game in the second half: giving up 10 offensive rebounds, turning the ball over 12 times, scoring only 39 points while giving up 58. It also ignores how much better Denver played in the second half: only 3 turnovers, 8 steals, and a 20-13 rebounding edge. Sure, the Nuggets got to the line 15 more times than the Suns, but that was to be expected. The Nuggets are hands-down the most aggressive and effective team in the NBA at getting to the line, with a 40.8% Free Throw Rate (ratio of number of free throws made to number of field goals attempted). The Suns, by contrast, are in the middle of the pack in the NBA, with a 29.6% rate, which makes sense given the Suns' reliance on jumpers and 3 pointers.

These are the the things that the players on both teams have control over by how they play the game. They cannot control how and when the whistle does and does not blow. All they can do is execute and hope for the best. Last night, the Suns problems with execution were the same as they have been all season: giving up too many offensive rebounds and turnovers coupled with weak defensive rotations (J.R. Smith goes 0-8? Bullet dodged.). These are things that can be fixed and worked on and improved upon. So can in-game awareness of things like getting one's toes behind the line on a 3-pointer (see below in "Notes"). If Nash and Frye do that over the course of the game, the Suns are up by 1 when Nash makes his fateful drive. If, instead of wondering about the non-call, Nash or Amare makes a move to foul Carmelo Anthony, maybe the Suns have a shot at getting the ball back with 5-7 seconds left on the clock instead of 2. If Gentry doesn't lose his cool, if Amare takes better care of the ball, if J-Rich hits that shot, etc.

The Suns had ample opportunities to win this game even with a bad call or two going against them. Is NBA refereeing inconsistent and frustrating? Sometimes. Should it be more transparent and are reforms necessary? Definitely. Is it an over-riding factor in determining the outcome of games? Very, very rarely. And last night was not one of those times.

Random Notes

So much for bigger or longer defenders slowing down Steve Nash: 11-17 FG, 28 points and 7 assists with only 2 turnovers. I think the longer defenders do disrupt his ability to share the ball but it helps if the people he's passing it to make their shots, too.
Amare Stoudemire seems to be struggling to figure out when to take the jumper and when to take it to the hole. In the 3rd quarter when Denver was at the tail end of their big run, he made a pair of nice moves to the bucket, one that resulted in a score and the other in a trip to the line. However, his 7 turnovers for the game may make him a little gunshy about puttling the ball on the floor in the future.
For a team that likes to live and die by the 3 ball, the Suns did a poor job of making sure their feet were behind the line last night. 3 potential 3-pointers were ruled 2-pointers upon official review because of toes on the line. 1 by Nash, 2 by Frye.
It was nice to see Channing Frye have a strong offensive showing on the road and on the second night of a back to back.
Jason Richardson on the other hand continues to struggle. Over the last 10 games, J-Rich is shooting only 45.1% on is field goals and 33.3% from 3 point land. Over the last 5, it's even worse with 41.4 FG% and 25.0 3PT%.
Goran Dragic had a solid night with 4 points, 4 assists and a steal with only one turnover leading the 2nd unit as well as containing Ty Lawson (2 points, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, -18 for the game). Point guards were not the problem for the Suns last night.
Jared Dudley's 3 point shooting continues to impress. After going 2-3 from downtown last night, he leads the Suns, hitting 48.8% of his shots behind the arc.
If nothing else, the Suns showed they CAN be competitive against tough competition on the second night of back-to-backs when the spirit moves them. Nash, Hill, and Stoudemire all logged over 34 minutes in last night's game (with Grant Hill leading all Suns with 42:45).
Get ready for some congestion downtown: 8 of the Suns' next 10 games are at home... finally!

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Mike Lisboa — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 01:54:07 -0000

Final - 12.12.2009	1	2	3	4	Total
Phoenix Suns	26	34	17	22	99
Denver Nuggets	29	18	30	28	105

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Game Preview - Phoenix Suns vs Denver Nuggets

Mike Lisboa — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:43:03 -0000

More photos » by Barry Gossage - NBAE via Getty Images

More of this, please. (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)

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There is absolutely no way this game ends well for the Phoenix Suns. Whatever your bar is for the Suns' performance in this game, lower it. I'm eschewing the typical "match-up" format for this preview in favor of bullet points, because while the Suns may have an edge here or there with regards to personnel, none of that has mattered so far on Second Nights.

I know that's not very Bright Side of me, but the deck is stacked heavily against the Suns tonight:

Denver is ranked 3rd in offensive efficiency. The Suns are ranked 23rd in defensive efficiency.
The Suns are on the second night of a back-to-back. They are 1-4 in these games, 0-4 against teams with a winning percentage higher than .217.
On second night games, ALL the Suns starters shoot notably worse except for one: Steve Nash. He actually has higher FG and 3PT percentages on the wrong side of back-to-backs than his season averages. His overall totals are down in these games, but so are his minutes as they've generally ended in blow-outs. Could Steve Nash be any more amazing?

Also, when the other 4 starters are not shooting well, that means fewer assists for Nash, which means he's reduced to being a scorer, which he does more than competently. At some point, Robin Williams is going to show up and hug Nash and tell him, "It's not your fault (unless your man went for a career-high again)."

The Nuggets are 1 of only 3 teams that plays at a faster pace than the Suns, so there is no "running these guys off the court." Oh yes, the game also takes place a mile above sea level. Winded won't even begin to cover how Phoenix will feel come the second half.

Guard play: As awesome as Chauncey Billups vs. Steve Nash sounds on paper, I doubt we'll see it very often. I expect we'll see lots of J-Rich on Billups (who is tough cover for Nash) and vice versa while the Nuggets continue the trend of putting longer defenders on Nash in the form of Arron "I'd Like To Buy A Vowel" Afflalo.

Guard play, part 2: The Suns badly need Jason Richardson to shake off his Second Night slumping if they hope to have a prayer in this game. His shooting percentage drops from .485 to .385 on Second Nights.

Guard play, part 3: Goran Dragic against Ty Lawson could be really, really fun if Dragon Frosty shows up. However, if it's Tragic Frosty, he will find himself in a couple of posters before the night is through. I have a hunch Dragon Frosty will be making an appearance tonight (though Dragon Frosty runs the risk of melting himself, so I don't really know how that works in the grand scheme of things).

Ditto Channing Frye whose 3PT percentage drops from .435 to .300 on Second Nights. If he's not hitting, that frees up Nene, Chris Andersen, and/or Kenyon Martin to stay in and protect the paint. It's an offensive double whammy for the Suns as it hurts both their perimeter and inside games when he is missing.

Jared Dudley and Grant Hill will have their hands full with Carmelo Anthony. And by "full" I mean "no one else has been able to guard him this season and I don't see that trend magically ending tonight." Carmelo has been downright Kobe-like in his ability to score from anywhere inside of half-court this season.

Amare Stoudemire has to get it going on down low, which is a tall order against Martin, Birdman and Nene. The Nuggets get more free throws per field goal attempt than any team in the NBA. A healthy dose of Amar'e And-1s would help things considerably tonight.

Unless the Suns suddenly start closing out on shooters, I can see J.R. "My Name Is Isn't Earl" Smith going to town on Phoenix tonight. Again.

The one true Bright Side I foresee going into this game is that since the Nuggets are a faster team than the Suns' more recent opponents, I expect to see heavier minutes for Lou Amundson and "My Name Really Is Earl" Clark. If 'Melo gets it going early, Gentry might give Earl a whirl on the Denver's scoring machine. And we all know how much Nene likes playing against Looooooooouuuuuuuu.

Predictions

This game has blow out written all over it. The Suns remaining competitive for more than 2 quarters, much less winning this game, flies in the face of everything we've seen from them so far this season. For the Suns to win, they have to somehow find that crazy offensive rhythm they had through the first 17 games of the season and Denver has to be commensurately ice cold from the field. A Suns victory isn't impossible tonight, just highly improbable. But that's why they play the games, eh? Denver wins 122-100 and the Suns get a moral taco victory.

P.S. - I have no problem being wrong about all of the above and the Suns pulling one out tonight.

[Note by Mike Lisboa, 12/12/09 11:55 AM PST ]

It's unfortunate this is a Second Night game, because with both teams well-rested, this match-up has the potential to be a fast-paced yet nasty shoot-out. Fortunately, the next couple of times these two teams it will be after a day or two's rest.

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Whoops. Did the NBA change the definition of sweep when I wasn't looking?

Mike Lisboa — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 16:02:38 -0000

Whoops. Did the NBA change the definition of sweep when I wasn't looking?

Thoughts on Steve Nash

Mike Lisboa — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:17:01 -0000

True story: Back at the end of the 2003-2004 NBA season, Erick Dampier and Steve Nash became free agents. Erick Dampier was coming off a never-to-be-matched-again career year in Golden State averaging 12.3 ppg and 12.0 rpg. He looked like a beast of a big man who had finally broken through. Steve Nash was a good-but-not-great point guard coming off a fairly average year with the Mavs averaging 14.5 ppg and 8.8 apg.

I desperately wanted one of these players on the Suns. It was not Steve Nash. And when the Suns did sign Steve Nash to a 6-year $63 million deal I nearly lost my mind.

WHY? WHY?! Why another point guard? Why another guard period? Where had guards gotten the Suns in their 36 year history? I loved Kevin Johnson. I loved Jeff Hornacek. I appreciated (but kinda disliked) Jason Kidd. I only kinda sorta remembered Paul Westphal. For as long as I remembered the Suns had always been a guard-dominated team, or at least seemed that way. And I was tired of seeing guards come up short. For once I wanted the beast on the block and I was convinced Erick Dampier was going to be that guy. I was definitely blue and definitely disappointed and went into the 2004-2005 season with the least of expectations (this was after all a team coming off a 29-53 season).

In retrospect, I can safely say the entire universe is probably glad I was not the Suns' general manager at the time. I don't know why I ever doubted Steve Nash. This was after all, the guy who sent my then-hated (now-beloved) #2 seeded Arizona Wildcats packing in an upset in the NCAA tournament as a freshman at #15 seed Santa Clara. A freaking freshman.

I remembered liking him in his limited minutes in Phoenix his first 2 years in the league, but then, I lost touch with him. I wasn't a nutty hoop head back then and we were still a few years away from the interweb explosion and a whole generation of writers making camp in their mothers' basements to keep me abreast of the slightest quiver of genius buried 11 men deep on a far-flung (read: not covered by the local beat reporter) roster. I feel like my lack of awareness regarding Nash is a forgivable sin.

But come back into my consciousness he did. And with something of a vengeance. With Nash at the helm the Suns took the league by ridiculous storm. 62 wins later, no one was sure what happened other than something magical had entered our presence and a lot of it had something to do with the Canadian guy running the point. But then the magic wasn't strong enough. After 3 straight seasons of being thwarted by inevitably stronger black magic (injuries, suspensions, better fundamentals, whatever you'd like to call it), the magic was in doubt. The question was asked: where exactly have guards gotten the Suns? So a center was brought in and that not only got the Suns nowhere, but more or less killed the magic.

So now the Suns find themselves back where they began with Nash: off to a magical start that seems doomed to fade into the mugglehood of mediocrity. But this time I realize that in asking where guards, specifically this guard, Steve Nash, number 13 in his 13th year (magic numbers?) out of Santa Clara, have gotten the Suns, I've been missing the point.

History may ultimately judge Steve Nash as a Sun who couldn't get over the top, the same way it has judged Charles Barkley, Tom Chambers or Kevin Johnson. But that doesn't change the fact that Barkley took the Suns up against the Jordan Bulls in the Finals, that KJ dunked over Olajuwon or that Tom Chambers buried his knee in Mark Jackson's chest and dropped 60 on the Sonics. And if you are fortunate enough to have been around for any of those things, you know how special those moments were. And if you're me, you look back at those names and realize that is wasn't just guards who couldn't win it all for the Suns, but forwards and centers too (who among us hasn't asked why Mark West never put Phoenix over the top in his 6 ½ seasons with the Suns?).

And so, rather than worry about how it's all going to end in championshipless disappointment (and it will), I'm choosing not to ask where this guard has gotten us or where he will get us. Instead I'm asking: where is Steve Nash right now and what is he doing? Because if history has shown me anything, it's that whatever he's doing for the purple and orange, it's probably something pretty amazing that I'm going to want to remember.

Between bloody noses, dagger 3s, hip checks, gun kissing, four-eye-face-making, full court bounce passes, holy-christ-how-did-he-do-that-wraparounds, kooky Vitamin Water shilling and countless other memorable moments, Steve Nash has kept Suns fans entertained and in awe over the last 6 years. Ring or no, shouldn't that be legacy enough?

Game Preview - Phoenix Suns vs. Dallas Mavericks

Mike Lisboa — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:38:44 -0000

More photos » by Tony Gutierrez - AP

"Trade me for a Shaqtus, will you?" Former Sun Shawn Marion plots his revenge. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

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So, after a creampuff of a schedule so far in terms opposition, the Suns finally get a chance to prove they belong in the discussion of Western Conference powers. Those 2 losses to the Lakers? Totally expected. It's going to be the rare team that gives that Laker squad a run for their money. Anyone who expected the Suns to do more than compete for 2 or 3 quarters in either of those games was probably a little delusional.

But the Mavericks? They're the proverbial "someone our own size." In addition to hoping for similar seeding in the Western Conference play-off picture, the Mavericks have even had some of the same early season challenges/knocks the Suns have:

The Mavericks have played 12 of their first 21 games on the road. The Suns have played 14 of 21 away from Phoenix.
The Mavericks have had an even softer schedule than the Suns. Opponents winning percentage is .457 vs. .487 for Phoenix.
The Mavs have only played 7 times against teams with a record better than .500. The Sun have only played 7 times against teams with a record better than .500.
The Mavericks are 5-2 in those games. The Suns are 3-4 in those games.

And that's where these two teams diverge in terms of early season success. The Mavericks even notched an early win over the Lakers (a 94-80 thumping at Staples Center) who have proved... how shall we say this... challenging to the Suns.

Let's go to the match-ups and see how else these teams stack up.

Guards

At the point, Steve Nash squares off against one-time benchmate Jason Kidd. Both long in the tooth and wizards with the ball in their hands, Nash is a better scorer and Kidd is a better defender. And according to a panel of basketball expert types, Kidd holds a slight edge in "basketball IQ." This is basically a push and should be a fun match-up to watch as the two veterans try to out-wile each other. Off the bench, it's J.J. Barea vs. Goran Dragic. Barea's been logging heavier minutes than Dragic, but serves the same role: holder of serve while the starting maestro catches his breath between virtuoso performances. Hopefully, confident Dragic shows up and can use his size and speed to over-match the smaller Barea. Again, there's no discernable advantage for either team here.

At shooting guard, the Mavs roll out French rookie Rodrigue Beaubois against Jason Richardson. Beaubois is fast as all get out and can leap tall guards in a single bound. Look for the Mavs to get him going early with their now-trademark alley-oop play they run for the little guy. Whatever. The real story at the 2 for the Mavs is Jason Terry, who notoriously lights it up against the Suns. J-Rich will have his hands full preventing Terry from getting his and better remember to pack his offense if he hopes to out-gun Terry. The Suns may miss Leandro Barbosa's scoring punch here.

Forwards

Well, well, well... if it isn't our old friend Shawn Marion. I expect to see a motivated Matrix against Grant Hill tonight. Off the bench, Jared Dudley versus Quinton Ross is fairly even match-up of hustle guys who trade on their defense.

At power forward, we have both teams big guns, men who, when playing at the tops of their games are virtually unguardable. Dirk Nowitzki is a one man wrecking crew from all over the court and while Amare Stoudmire doesn't have Dirk's range or ability to create off the dribble, he's a handful from 20 feet inwards. Slight edge to the Mavericks here. Off the bench, the Mavericks have Kris Humphries and former Sun Tim Thomas. Is tonight the night we finally see Lou Amundson back in the line-up? The Suns could probably use some of his energy on the road after a tough loss to the Lakers.

Center

True story: when Erick Dampier and Steve Nash were free agents a few years back, I wanted the Suns to throw gobs of money at Dampier after his career year at Golden State and nearly tore my hair out when they offered Nash his massive contract. Let's just say that was not my best basketball moment. That said, despite his tendency to mail it in from time to time, Dampier can do his damage down low. If he gets physical, Channing Frye could be in for another long game. While more athletically gifted, Robin Lopez needs to stay in control of himself and not pick up cheap fouls against Dampier or veteran back-up Drew Gooden. This is an opportunity for him to show his stuff against some veteran competition and a very manageable match-up if he can keep his wits about him.

Predictions

On paper, this is a good quality match-up for both teams and an opportunity to shed early season "soft" labels. As usual, the teams square up well against one another on a position by position basis. For the Mavs defensively, I expect we'll see a lot of Dampier and Gooden staying home down low with Amare while Dirk floats to the perimeter against Channing Frye.

Also, I expect the Mavs will continue the trend of switching longer defenders out on to Nash to disrupt his passing game. Nash will have to figure out how to shake his former partner-in-oop Shawn Marion to keep the Suns offense from stagnating.

It's at this time where I have to point out the one big discrepancy between the two teams. While the Suns hold the offensive edge, scoring 112.1 points per 100 possessions (1st in the NBA) versus 106.2 for the Mavericks (12th), Dallas is a much, much better defensive team, allowing only 99.9 points per 100 (5th) versus a whopping 107.6 (24th) for the Suns.

While the Suns can win this game if they can return to the terrifyingly efficient offensive game that tormented opposing teams earlier in the year, I see them struggling against the Mavs relatively strong defense and slow pace. The Suns haven't been able to push the tempo against quality opposition (Celtics game notwithstanding) and Steve Nash has yet to adjust his game to overcome bigger opposing defenders. Until the Suns improve their sieve-like porous matador thus far weak defense, they are reliant on an increasingly tenuous jump-shooting offense to pull them through.

It pains me to do it, but while the Suns should be much more competitive in this game than previous ones against quality teams, I see the Mavs pulling away on the strength of big games by Nowitzki and Terry and their superior defense. 107-96, Mavericks.

That said, it should be a fun game, and after a couple days of rest the Suns will be looking to prove me all kinds of wrong, so getcha popcorn ready! Head over to Mavs Moneyball to check out the view from the other side of the bleachers.

Game Day Links

Suns vs Mavericks coverage
Mavs Moneyball
HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - Jorge Sierra » Most Valuable Tweeters
the former Bobcat is the clear Twitter MVP. His trade to a relevant team like Phoenix and his impressive activity with the social media website have made him a recognizable face for NBA fans – which wasn’t the case one year ago while still in Charlotte. Dudley reports news (calls himself JMZ), gives away tickets and interacts with fans, journalists, owners and fellow NBA players.
azcentral.com - members
They still might get there. But with the Lakers taking root in Los Angeles so far this season, the Suns playing a league-high 14 road games and "Phoenix at L.A. Lakers" coming up twice a night after a home game that was just a check-in from an East Trip, it's hard to make take any lasting impressions away other than that the Lakers are better.
Lakers rout Suns in LA again
"They bottle up everything you try to do," Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. "They switch, and they knock off. We could never really get anything going. We're not so much a fast-break team but a rhythm team and they just take you out of your rhythm."
Lakers 108, Phoenix 88: Second verse, same as the first | Lakers Blog | Los Angeles Times
I think we can all agree that if asked to create NBA kryptonite for this year's Suns squad, it would look a lot like the Lakers. Length, mobility, dominating post play, and so on. Generally speaking I like to avoid grand proclamations so early in the season, but I'm comfortable declaring that there is absolutely no earthly way Phoenix would beat a healthy Lakers team in a playoff series. None. Something under zero, really. But the Suns are 15-4 vs. the rest of the league. That's worth something, and Sunday night the Lakers beat them by 20. That's worth something, too.

This one is a must read. A true basketball poet lays the Suns bare

Hardwood Paroxysm » Blog Archive » What a Feeling, To Be Mortal
Maybe the hustle and the bustle of the Suns doesn’t quite fit your living style, but who could possibly claim that the exaggerated in-game highs and lows of the Suns — the 20-point lead built and swallowed by a 5-25 run, the 3-point barrages followed by defensive letdowns — aren’t basketball’s most fitting equivalent of life on the outside? It’s not about the 9-5 grind, and it’s not necessarily about winning all the time; the Suns’ existence is predicated on winning more than you lose, embracing who you are, playing by your own rules, learning to live through the ups and downs, and remembering that the line between work and play doesn’t have to be crystal clear. They work hard, they score points, and they play basketball like it’s a game worth playing. They may not have the talent of the Lakers or the convention of the Spurs, but this is a team of hard workers and ball players with a plan.
Suns hope to warm up in Dallas
Suns fans must yearn for those 14-3 NBA darlings they had a week ago - probably as much as the Suns now yearn to rediscover their offense. That Suns team had three four-game winning streaks, an unflappable road mentality and shot 50.7 percent from the field.
azcentral.com blogs - Coro's Suns dish - PaulCoro - A fair fight for the Suns
The Suns get some help with that tonight with Louis Amundson returning from his flu bout. His stomach still hurts but he going to play tonight and probably get to guard Nowitzki. Welcome back. His key is energy so we will see how much of it he has after a couple days in bed.

Recap: And It Wasn't Even That Close; Cavs Roll Over Suns, 107-90

Mike Lisboa — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:51:07 -0000

More photos » by Tony Dejak - AP

Coach Gentry demonstrates the zombie-like play of the Suns in their two most recent games. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

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I'm going to start with the good stuff since if I have to re-live that game from start to finish, I'll quit 50 words in and link to an Associated Press article. The game basically ended in the first quarter when, up 18-12 with 4:20 to go in the quarter, the Cavs when on an 11-0 run to go up 29-12 and never looked back, leading by as many as 28 at the half. Oh, but I wanted to talk about the good stuff. Here it is then:

Goran Dragic bounced back nicely from his poor performance in New York to provide some second half spark. He finished with 14 points and 5 assists on 5-6 shooting and was pretty adventurous in the lane. It was nice to see him actually run the offense when he was in the game instead of letting someone else make the plays.
Earl Clark showed some defensive chops and ball-handling skills in his minutes. It's his decision-making that needs some work once he handles the ball that he needs to improve.
Amare Stoudemire grabbed 12 whole rebounds.
The Suns had a lead at one point early in the game.
Down 57-29 at the half, the Suns showed some fight in the 2nd half. Not enough, but some.
Though the Suns never threatened in the second half, they did get close enough that Mike Brown felt compelled to bring LeBron James back in the game with 5 minutes left after the Suns got within 16. That was probably the high point of the game for me.

The Suns defense, or lack thereof, was the story tonight. The Cavaliers simply killed them from wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Of the 12 Cavaliers who took the court, anyone who played more than 48 seconds scored at least 8 points. 7 of those players were in double figures. LeBron James didn't need to score a kajillion points because he was too busy facilitating the rest of the team. He finished with 12 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds and another embarrassing come-from-behind block on Jason Richardson.

For their part, the Suns starters stunk on ice:

Steve Nash was 5-12 from the field and had more turnovers (6) than assists (5). It's hard to blame him for the low assist number though when the rest of the first line went 20-51 (39.2%) from the field.
Jason Richardson continued to struggle on the 2nd night of back to backs (Where have I read that before?), at one point going 0-9 from the field before sinking 2 consecutive 3 pointers in the second half to finish 2-11. It's worth noting that he never quit on the game and continued battling for rebounds (7) despite not having his shot going.
The same cannot be said for Channing Frye, who was clearly frustrated battling with Shaquille O'Neal in the paint and appeared to quit after a couple of particularly physical encounters with the Big One. After an ineffective 1st half, he found his shooting stroke in the 2nd half to finish 9-17, leading all Suns scorers with 22 points.
Amare Stoudemire seems to keep waiting for the game to come to him. Like the rest of the starters he was largely ineffective in the first half as the Cavs buried the Suns under an insurmountable lead.
Alvin Gentry seemed pretty flummoxed by his team's inability to put it together on the court, bringing Earl Clark and Robin Lopez in early. There didn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the rotations. Partly, I think he's still figuring out how Robin Lopez fits into the grand scheme of things.
One line-up note stuck out: He kept Frye and Stoudemire on the floor long after the game had been decided. Phoenix Stan and I have a theory that because they made the mess that was the first half, he wanted them to clean it up in the second. Whether or not that was the message, they both responded by staying with it despite the insurmountability of the lead.
I am not conveying how out of hand this game was. The Cavaliers defense in the first half was giving no quarter and the Suns weren't taking any. The Suns shot less than 30% in the first half and less than 20 from 3-point range.

Really, it was just a massive, massive failure to respond to their own lackluster performance in New York last night. The first halves were nearly identical. There was no offense and even less defense. The Suns have yet to demonstrate they can stay in a game when they are not hitting their shots. The Cavs dictated the tempo throughout and more or less had their way with the Suns.

It's a long season. The Suns have time to go back in the lab and work some of this out. However, if the past two games are any indication, the Suns are in for a long December against the NBA's best teams.

Suns vs Cavaliers coverage

Fear The Sword

Game Preview - Phoenix Suns vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

Mike Lisboa — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:22:52 -0000

Amar'e Stoudemire must start AND FINISH with his gorilla game for the Suns to have a chance in Cleveland tonight. (Photo by Max Simbron)

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Hopefully the Suns can make like Alando Tucker and wash the icky residue of last night's loss to the Knicks off their hands before mixing it up with the Cavaliers in Cleveland tonight.

The Suns head into Cleveland 2-1 with a chance at salvaging a winning record on this eastern road swing before coming home to face the Kings on Saturday. Last night the Suns came out flat on both ends of the court and despite rallying to get within 6, never recovered offensively or defensively.

So, which Suns team will show up tonight? The 14-3 power rankings darlings or that group of zombies that took the court in New York last night.

The Cavaliers come into tonight's game riding a 4 game winning streak, including a 16-point thumping of the Mavericks on Saturday. That's right: Saturday. In addition to being at home, Lebron and company have 3 days of rest. For their part, after taking most of yesterday's game off, the Suns should be plenty rested as well *rimshot*.

Match-ups

Guards

At the point, we have Steve Nash going up against Mo Williams. On paper, this would seem to be a clear advantage for the Suns, but last season Mo torched the Suns for 30 points in their meeting in Phoenix and 44 in Cleveland (Nash missed this game with an injury). Off the bench, it's Daniel Gibson vs. Goran Dragic. While Boobie is capable of getting hot, in 8 games this year, he's only averaging 6.8 point per game. If Dragic can bounce back from a terrible performance in New York, they should basically cancel each other out.

I thought it was the 30-somethings that were supposed to struggle with back-to-backs? Jason Richardson has been a key ingredient to the Suns potent offense this year, averaging 17.4 points per game, good for 2nd on the team behind Amare Stoudemire. However on the 2nd night of back-to-backs, all of J-Rich's offensive numbers have taken a hit: -7.7% on FG%, -4.9% on 3PT%, -32.1% on FT% (yipes!), and -6.1 PPG. There's no reason he shouldn't reverse that trend against Anthony Parker (and you thought the Suns had cornered the market on lesser siblings! He has to play in the shadow of his sister Candace.) and he'll have to if the Suns want to win this one.

Off the bench at the 2, it will be interesting to see who the Suns go with in Barbosa's absence. After pouring it in (14 points on 4-7 shooting), Alando Tucker may have earned some increased minutes. Equally mysterious is who the Cavs will bring off their bench behind Parker. After seeing limited use thus far this season due to personal and health reasons, Delonte West played a season-high 29 minutes against the Mavs, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 boards.

Forwards

Grant Hill will have his hands full with LeBron James. If he and Jared Dudley can combine to keep LBJ around his averages, the Suns will probably consider that a success. I don't think anyone has any illusions of stopping him.

Off the bench, Jamario Moon is something of a Matrix-Lite, so he and Jared Dudley will engage in some kind of sideshow hustle competition.

At power forward, the Suns have what should be their clearest advantage, offensively at least. Amare Stoudemire needs to bring his vaunted Gorilla Game to exploit Cleveland's tandem of Anderson Varejao and J.J. Hickson. If he can stay out of foul trouble, look for Amare to log heavy minutes and heap piles of offensive abuse on the Cavs while not having to worry too much about being challenged on the other end. Except for rebounds.

Center

Here's where line-up and strategy will come into some serious play. It's entirely possible the Cavs elect to send Varejao and Hickson out on Frye at the perimeter, keeping Shaquille O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas in the lane to defend Amare on the pick and roll. If that's the case, look for Amare to log heavy minutes and heap piles of offensive abuse on the Cavs. (See what I did there?)

Defensively, Channing Frye doesn't have the bulk to keep up with Shaq in the post and the Cavs will probably go to this mis-match early and often, much like the Lakers did with Andrew Bynum earlier in the season against the Suns.

Robin Lopez will probably get some early minutes on the defensive end to see if he can help stop the bleeding in the paint against the much larger Shaq. Robin vs. Shaq has the potential to be explosive as Robin looks to heap some punishment on the The Big Mentor who rode his Fuzzy-head pretty hard last season.

Of course, that's just wishful thinking. Shaq will destroy Robin given the chance.

Predictions

Offensively, the Suns will look to spread the floor against the Cavs using their dead-eye shooting (which hopefully they bring with them tonight) to exploit the lack of speed of the Cavs big men. If his shot his falling, Channing Frye could have a career night. Similarly, if the Cavaliers lumbering bigs stay at home on Stoudemire, he and Nash should have a field day running the pick and roll till the cows come home.

Defensively, the Suns will have to find a way to limit Cleveland's opportunities in the paint AND contain the speedy Williams AND contain LeBron James. If the Lopez and Frye struggle with Shaq, look for Jarron Collins to come in and provide 6 additional fouls against O'Neal. I'm pretty sure Robin will use his up fairly quickly.

In a perfect world, the Suns draw the Cavaliers into an up-tempo shoot-out, regain their accuracy and out-run the Cavs. For their part, Cleveland and their 8th ranked defense (100.6 points per 100 possessions) will look to keep things slow as molasses (7th slowest pace in the NBA), bogging the Suns down in a half-court game. Look for them to pound it inside and run plenty of isolations for LeBron James. Like, 70 of them.

While I think the Suns will come out more focused than they did last night in New York, I don't see them winning this game. They'll keep it close in the first half, but their porous defense will be their undoing as the game wears on.

Final score 105-93, Cavs.

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Fear The Sword

Old theory: Suns lost to Knicks due to lack of energy. New Theory: Suns lost to Knicks because...

Mike Lisboa — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:57:16 -0000

Old theory: Suns lost to Knicks due to lack of energy. New Theory: Suns lost to Knicks because Alando Tucker was the only one who wasn't germ-ridden and ill.