i have to give credit to the lakers for exposing the suns even more. once the suns start missing shots they are easy to beat. how many easy layups this the lakers have in the second half. I counted like 5-6 possessions in a row in the third quarter where they had layups. impressive showing by bynum. biggest question is how will they play with kobe in there. bynum is not going to get as many shots, lamar not as many, can they be just as efficient? granted this laker team would have had a much much tougher time winning tonights game if they played a team with any sort of interior defense
Yes. Suns started losing their lead when Amare checked in the game. I am not very impressed by Amare's play in this game. He is not quick enough to defend on the perimeter (abused by Odom) and he's not very strong now to bang in the post.
guys it's only the season opener, we will take take a look at how they fare in the next couple of games
it looks like the suns were -1 with amare in and -7 with him out. how was he holding them back so much in his 12 minutes of play? and bynum looked nice but kwame brown actually looked competent against the suns in the playoffs last year so we'll see how he plays against a real interior defense. cool to see maurice evans from UT get some significant time and play real well. hope he gets to keep playing the rest of the season. the suns will obviously be back from this. every once in a while they let their D's suckitude outpace their O's awesomeness and the lakers showed in the first 4 games of last years playoffs that they can be decent at slowing them down with their bigger inside guys, but they are still going to be nasty to stop this year. nash still looks good, marion and barbosa can just fly around, diaw is so damn versatile, bell can defend and hit 40+% on this 3's, stoudemire will get back into the flow, and kurt thomas will give them a little inside toughness while still hitting those jumpers. damn tough to stop. granted, they went so far to the extreme last year in their style of play without amare and kt (basically just all quick 3 point shooters plus diaw creating mismatches) that it might take a while to adjust back to closer to 2 years ago when they were even better but not quite such a small-ball team.
Amare might be the worst PF defender in the league right now. He's waaaay skinny, doesn't move very well laterally, offers no resistance at the hoop, and is only marginally explosive(certainly not enough to intimidate). On the dunk he got, he was wide open via Steve Nash and wasn't that high up. He doesn't look to be of much help this year. He'll need a whole summer of working out, there's no time during the season.
I didn't post in the boris diaw contract thread, but I think the suns will regret that money. he's no better than derrick mckey
Derick McKey Was pretty darn good. In his prime, he'd be worth that today. He was traded straight up for Detlef.
diaw is also pretty good, but I wouldn't pay those guys that much money because they really don't do any one thing very well. very good all around players though.
Amare did not look like Amare, and I wonder if he ever will. His freakish athleticism is gone. Ming was a load for him before, now, he will be flicked aside like a knat. Surely the Suns will not even try to body him up against Ming.
the other thing about diaw is you're already paying another all around forward, marion, max dollars. why do you turnaround and pay another foward who can play the three or four so much money.
I am wondering if I was watching the same game as some of the other posters (and I'm definitely not a Suns fan). Amare certainly didn't look like the Amare of old. He looked uncomfortable in the offense (only got 12 minutes and didn't start so he didn't have the benfit of having Nash on the floor as much) and tentative. He also has clearly lost weight and isn't in the same shape he used to be in. One ofthe few positives i saw in his game was his athleticism. He made a nice block and threw down a dunk in which he was pretty high above the rim (whoever said he wasn't I can't understand how high they tought he could jump). I agree with a lot of analysts that say he needs to be taken slowly and we'll see where he is at the All-Star break. He can knock down a jumper and make moves to the basket I just think it's mental (even the coaches think that). I think he inflated his ego so much that now he's scared and doesn't know how to balance it. I think his athleticism is almost all the way back and he doesn't feel confident. His teammates have said he's done dunks they didn't even see him do before the injury in practice. The question as to if he can make it back will depend on whether or not he gets his aggressiveness back. Amare can hit the jumper from 15 and he's not taking it. He used to catch those passes that went off his hands (his two to's). It's all timing and attitude. I think he'll return to stardom but he needs time with Nash and the rest of the starting 5 as he hasn't played competetive basketball in a long time.
Just guessing but maybe they plan on letting Marion walk in 08 or 09 and wanted to lock up Diaw to be the replacement.
I agree. People seem to have this idea that Amare is just injured and slowly healing, but I don't think that's the case. When the cartilage in the knee is gone, it's gone. He can still jump pretty high when he wants to, but I'm sure it hurts like hell. Running is probably painful as well. Are we really to believe that Amare is gonna push through this pain and swelling for years to come? I think he'll be done in a few years.
I suspect we are defining athleticism a bit differently. Remember, I used the term "freakish athleticism." Yes, he looks like he has regained NBA level athleticism, but you must remember he "was" one of the most explosive leapers ever. He is not at that level, or IMO, near to it. He only played for 12 minutes, and that speaks volumes. He has rehabed for over a year. He just didn't look like his former self. This guy was absolutely amazing. There is a tendancy to forget how incredible he was, like Penny.
He didn't have the same microfracture as Penny or Webber, it was like Stockton's. I don't know how much of his jumping ability he has back because he's so tentative. On the two plays I spoke of that was the old Amare. I guess we'll see as the season progresses. His rehab has been stunted by an early comeback and another knee surgery. He only played 12 minutes because he was only supposed to play 20 and none of the Suns good players really played in the 4th (and i doubt he would have been in there anyway because his defense isn't good now). I still think he'll be back, but I can see it going the other way.
