Traveling ESPNS article here

Are we serious? I like this line in the article...

"Whether or not this will affect play on the court remains to be seen. Referees have long been instructed to allow two steps and in interviews with NBA players last season there was some confusion about the rule."

Can we assume that this happens with other rules?

How about reaching in? (ie bruce bowen on the spurs). Based on how that article reads that is a statement out of the president of referee operations mouth. What do you guys think?

Will this affect anything for us?

I think Amare might like the rule. May make his moves to the basket more effective?

Did anybody see the missed call on the last shot of regulation before the over time in the Lakers / Magic tragidy?? I was under the impression that what Pau Gasol did was considered a goal tend? Am I wrong? His fingers cleary pass through the under side of the rim. They clearly touch the rim.

The way I read the rules it's a goal tend? I 'll keep an eye out for video or a picture. But my DVR says goal tend.

I keep pretty good tabs on sites like NBA.com ESPN.com and any other site I think I might find Suns news on.

It pains me to see the Suns trashed by the basketball community. Even during winning times this team could not get respect from the NBA and its retarded fans. Now that we are not exactly on the same level as the Lakers and Celtics it has grown even worse.

Years prior when the Suns had to try to lose 30 games the articles still had no respect.  Can they win with a "run and gun" system? Every loss was front page news. Every win was, well just a statistic under a standings tab on the website. For some time now the Suns where just expected to win but not expect to "WIN".

From 1988 to 2001 the Phoenix suns went to the Playoffs 13 times. Over the entire history of the Suns from 1970 to Current we have made the playoffs 28 times. Only 9 other teams in the history of the NBA have achieved this or more. The Spurs have 28 (soon to be 29). Why is our Suns team so disrespect by the NBA? By the Refs and most of all, by the fans? I don't think I remember a winning season or losing season where we had not been the losing bet in most situations.

Is the bottom line really a championship? I would have to go out on a limb and say that the holy grail of the season would not get us the respect we desire. This team has been to the show, this team has paid it's dues. When is it our turn to catch the luck it takes to prove ourselves?

For those of you who don't think the Suns get the shaft I beg of you please read these:

http://nbahoopsonline.com/History/Leagues/NBA/Rules/index.html

This song is how I feel when it comes to the Suns right now....

ed note: Head over to Pick Axe and Roll and cheer on our new BFF's

We Need the Mavs to take a loss tonight against Denver. Even though Nene is out I think the Mavs will have a tough time competing in this one. I do wonder though, how in the world does it seem like every suspension in the NBA has a negative affect on the Phoenix Suns?

That's just our dumb luck. I will surely be rooting for Denver. GO CARMELLO! heh. Who is with me?!

I really hate all of this...I was more content just knowing we had a reserved spot in the playoffs.

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Ed Note: Bumped from the Fan Posts. I've intended to write a detailed preview of this game myself and have a LOT to say on the matter but once again am just slammed today. Maybe later. Thanks to antiw0rm for stepping into the breach

The Suns have more or less dominated the Blazers the last few years outscoring them by an average of 11.7 points and winning 11 in a row until our last meeting. Phoenix beat them twice this year, then came Roy. Roy scored 52 points in 44 minutes to finish his best game of his career and give the Suns a taste of their own scoring medicine. The Suns sit 2 - 1 against the Blazers this season.

However, Last night against Philadelphia Roy went 5 of 18 from the field and watched as his team climbed back from a 14 point deficit to eventually be defeated in extra minutes. Portland in the race for better positioning in the Northwest division will need to avoid adding another loss or risk being caught by Dallas in the 8th seed. Portland is currently tied with Utah at 44 - 27 for 6th in the west.

Phoenix coming into this game will need to shut down Roy and keep close tabs on Steve Blake. These two combined for 72 points and are the reason the Suns lost to Portland in the last meeting.

Blazers Edge Preview

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I found a WEBSITE that ran a 10,000,000 game simulation based on current season statistics for the last 14 games of the season. The results are decent and I think are able to give some good results based on theory. It is true that none of these could be the case as they do not exactly account for other teams and changing trends in short spans of time. But this is actually good data. Take a look at this graph that I stole borrowed.

Here is Utah's schedule. What I am seeing here is that we have 2 teams that possibly could and should be in our sights. As was stated in another post we play this team twice. And it looks like they have a MUCH tougher schedule than the Mavs and are already faltering.

Upcoming Games
March	Opponent	Time	Local TV	Nat TV	Radio
Fri 20	@ Oklahoma City	6:00pm	FSN		KBEE - 98.7 FM
Tue 24	vs Houston	8:30pm			KBEE - 98.7 FM
Wed 25	@ Phoenix	8:30pm	KJZZ		KBEE - 98.7 FM
Sat 28	vs Phoenix	7:00pm	KJZZ		KBEE - 98.7 FM
Mon 30	vs New York	7:00pm	FSN		KBEE - 98.7 FM
Tue 31	@ Portland	8:00pm	FSN		KBEE - 98.7 FM
April	Opponent	Time	Local TV	Nat TV	Radio
Thu 02	@ Denver	8:30pm			KBEE - 98.7 FM
Fri 03	vs Minnesota	7:00pm	FSN		KBEE - 98.7 FM
Sun 05	@ New Orleans	5:00pm	FSN		KBEE - 98.7 FM
Wed 08	@ Dallas	7:30pm	KJZZ		KBEE - 98.7 FM
Fri 10	@ San Antonio	6:30pm	KJZZ		KBEE - 98.7 FM
Sat 11	vs Golden State	7:00pm	KJZZ		KBEE - 98.7 FM
Mon 13	vs LA Clippers	7:00pm	KJZZ		KBEE - 98.7 FM
Tue 14	@ LA Lakers	8:30pm			KBEE - 98.7 FM

I think we should be watching this team very closely as well.

Somebody in some response post indicating that we barely beat the Thunder. I just wanted to point out that the Terrible Thunder beat the SA Spurs last night. What a weird world we live in? Teams that supposedly suck can come out and beat a team held so high in standards. ... Just saying. It happens to all of us.

We realy are not that bad people. If we make the playoffs we DO have a chance to do something  beyond going 0 - 4. Lets get behind our team as we sometimes have a hard time doing and root them on until we can't root anymore!!!!

Here is the magic numbers as things stand right now.... The suns have to go 12 - 6 (HAVE to beat the Mavs the next time they play) .... The Mavs would have to go 7 - 10 Losing the match up with the Suns

Maybe im wrong?

Games Behind; the formula is ((first place W - teams wins) + (teams loses - first place L)) / 2, Just work backwords. I will spare you my math.

Maybe you guys have a different way of doing this?

So obviously, we didn't beat the Lakers. The best defense is offense. If you open up well offensively you will have an easier time on defense. That is a well known fact. We did well creating open shots but the movement from the weak side was not present. The slashers did not slash. And after the first quarter it resulted in a lot of missed 15 - 24 footers. Basically the Lakers turned our game around on us. They grabbed the boards and ran the floor on missed shots. Which we couldn't do to them for lack of rebounds and rebounding.

In order for our system to work our size has to get better. We cannot defend teams that have powerful low post presence and 5+ inche advantage in nearly all power positions on the floor. In basketball size counts. It creates problems all around on the court. The Lakers beat us by taking precise and controlled possessions. They pushed the ball and if the break did not develop they made sure they got the best shot available in a set offense.

I am curious to see what Gentry does on Sunday against this team. I almost get the feeling that there isnt anything else we can throw at them. If by some hand of god we played this team in the playoffs the size factor will be something we cannot overcome no matter how much we hustle.

If the Lakers shoot that well no system or amount of defense will beat them.

But stranger things have happend.

If Steve Nash cannot go on Thursday night. Do we still have a frozen farts chance in hell?

I think we might. It would be an extreme longshot be it can be done. Take the bobcats for example. They have a few possible future stars but nobody really worth giving the cake too. They beat them.

If Nash cannot go it could result in a huge letdown for the lakers. We are missing Amare and then Nash goes down. It could be one of those times they come out with the attitude of "we are playing the bench tonight". I wonder what you guys think about this?

Can we still compete?

I really do not feel as bad now based on our situation. I watched the Celtics do exactly what they did to us (shoot extremely well) and torture the Nuggets.

The result was a bigger win. They beat the Nuggets who have been playing the same way with, for the most part, the same personnel all year long. By how much? The Celtics beat them by 38 points and the Nuggets didn't even get passed the century mark, nor did they look like they would make a run at any point in the game.

Since we are in competition with teams like the Jazz and only 4 - 5 games out of the 3rd  playoff spot. Does this peak to the ability of our team when compared to teams like the Jazz and Nuggets who have essentially the same record as we do?

I think it does. I think it speaks to the positive and shows that we have potential to still do something THIS season. I don't think in a season like this we should still be comparing ourselves to the Celtics(or the Lakers), especially at this point in time. Anybody that plays the Celtics on any given night could look like they need a lot of work. Same with the Lakers and some nights the spurs and several other teams. I think we should be comparing ourselves with teams that we are in competition with right now. Those should be the important games to look at for the short term goals. Can we beat the Nuggets? Can we beat the Atlanta Hawks? Can we beat New Orleans and Dallas?

There will be a time when we will need to worry about a loss to the Celtics and be negative about it in the future I'm sure. But right now we should be looking at teams in our current competition.

Now I'm going to get a lot of - "well if you cant beat the best then whats the point?" Well the point is if we keep comparing ourselves to the Lakers and Celtics we will never get anywhere because we will continue to make drastic moves and changes that effect things too rapidly for every player to adjust. It clouds rational thinking.

I think it is all about baby steps right now. So can we beat teams with similar records? Or are all of our conclusions based on the final goal?

I still have hope. Here is what we have accomplished in the last few games. Under the new coach our record now stands at 3 and 1.

- The Suns have blown out teams that we are supposed to be blowing out setting records for the team and NBA. Before the change we nearly lost to these exact teams (who had more players hurt at the time).

- The Suns have learned that (thanks to Boston) rebounding with a small lineup is more important than life itself. Maybe learned is not the term. Maybe it should be reminded?

- We did play competitively against Boston even leading early and nearly coming back from a 21 point deficit. This is a great team who had a lot of rest and came out shooting well despite periods of decent defense. I know the whole game was not a great defensive performance but in a SSOL system it's not designed to be that way. They happen to get some calls, some rebounds, and convert those into shots whether they had been covered or not on a consistent basis. It is what they do and why they are champions. Remember last time we played this team we did not have a chance the entire game. From the first shot there was absolutely no hope.

- Player enthusiasm seems up. This may be the most important accomplishment the entire season.

- The bench is getting playing time and in a lot of instances actually compete very well compared to the past. They have held leads, increased leads, and decreased opponents leads. Something I don't ever remember seeing? Maybe you do because you are old?

So over all I would have to say the Refs, The loss, The trade talk.... None of that matters because in reality everything seems to be positive based on and compared to what we had before the coaching change. Is it positive enough to work and 'salvage' this season? I don't know because I'm waiting for Phoenix Stan to tell me.

I just listened to the announcers in this celtics game say "It was a good call that the referess did not call the technical on Steve Nash initially as it would have slowed down the fast break."

This was after they flamed Matt Barns for complaining a call. Only to retract all three statements after viewing the replay.

And how many times this game did we watch the referees call a ticky tack call on the celtics that result in a side out and stop our fast break?

I can't stand national announcers or tv broadcasts. Or national games we get the short end of the stick every time. Even when we are favored to win.

If the suns stay within 10 this will be an accomplishment.

It appears that some reading reveals that after a retinal detachment repair that often you can go back to work 1 to 2 weeks after surgery if cleared. Lets hope this is true for Amare. Even 4 weeks would be substantially better than 8. Anybody else have any information on exactly what procedure and severity of the injury so we could get a more accurate return date. I would think at 4 he has a good chance of returning and wearing some sort of protective gear. Maybe a face mask and bubble wrap?

Aurorahealthcare and webmd for more resources.

It's understandable why one could think the last two games could be a bust. With lack of personnel and a team still in diapers, it is expected that the Phoenix Suns should have destroyed the Clippers team all season. However, they did not destroy this team all season before the last two games. As a matter of fact the clippers gave the suns a run for their money in the first two season outings with the Phoenix Suns barely winning by 14 points combined for the two games. This time around though, it was a different story. This time around was a story of domination. In a back to back set with the Clips the Suns seem to have righted all of the wrong. They showed us why we should believe and that they still have a taste for winning.

Change in minutes-

The Suns new coach not only changed the rotation in minutes, he made it make more sense than I have seen from the Suns organization in a long time. The rotation allowed for starters to be fresh and rested for key points in the game. The first part of this season featured nearly no rations and the same in seasons past. The entire bench seemed to be pleased in getting, particularly early in the game, minutes as they produced and in most cases not only held the Clippers down but actually left their own mark before the starters returned. This is a HUGE change from anything we have seen.

Points in the paint-

One thing I think this team has learned and taken from the Porter appearance is points in the paint. Points in the paint are arguably one of the most important aspects to basketball as it is a judgment of how well your offense is playing against the defense. In the D’Antoni era the Suns would often resort to three point shooting and abandon all other aspects of the run and gun. With the lack of consistent three point shooting and the availability of players who can post and create their own shot the Suns have the ability to put up outstanding numbers in the paint. That is exactly what they did against the clippers. The test will come when they play a Boston team that has a better defensive paint presence. We have only seen two games in this system but what we have seen if consistent would be devastating to most teams even the hardened Celtics. If you score more points than the other team. You win.

Shaq-

The old man can. Shaq obviously older yet rejuvenated. Shaq can and will get up and down the floor in the SSOL system. He doesn’t need to be down the floor for the play to start. If the team scores before he makes it to half court then great. If the defense gets back in transition then it is simple to pull the ball out and wait for Shaq and the offense to set. This will give the team the hybrid feel and the offensive toughness for the playoffs while allowing players like Amare and Nash a chance to work Suns magic.

Defense needs work-

Defense under porter was terrible. Players seemed confused about when to help, who to help on, and what to help with. Most of all they seemed to be unable or unwilling to adjust to changes in the offense of the opposing team. During glimpses we have seen this team play some terrific spurts of defense at some key points in games.  The question is if we can string a few of those together against good offensive teams. I havn't seen anough to expect much here yet.

Conclusion-

Even though we have old players and a team dependant high injury risk point guard in Steve Nash this team could have success and with some luck (which we have never had) maybe even go deep into the playoffs.  The SSOL style makes up for some defense deficiencies and in the past allowed us to compete with even the hated Spurs for 7 games. Our post and paint presence is stronger than it ever has been with Shaq, Amare, and an array of guards who can drive and post. If our bench can deliver half of the performance of these last two games our starters will get the rest they need. And as long as you score more points defense becomes less of a concern doesn't it?

It could happen … Just keep the belief.  

BTW

These are just my opinions and not much statistical data as I don’t believe any of it applies due to all of the changes that have been made since last season. We still really do not know what to expect from this team as it stands today.

You may have already read this but if you havn't I will post it here.

This is from Michael Schwartz and was posted on the valleyofthesuns board.

A word of caution to the Amare bashers out there, sometimes you don’t realize what you have until it’s gone.

It is a good read as far as statistical analysis goes. And it confirms my belief that this problem is not Amare. It's a management / team thing.

I did some reading and found some information mostly from HERE. Everything suggests that Amare getting rebounds is completely a non factor in winning games for the Suns. Even more weird is the consideration that Amare scoring 20+ doesnt seem to help us either.

I just wanted some blog coaches out there to take a look at some of the numbers and consider that there is a bigger  "TEAM" problem here and that trading Amare would not necessarily fix any issue.

Go figure. No Really I mean go look at the numbers.