You're right, it is a testament to the play of the Pistons this year, but you have to acknowledge the fact that the Suns unraveled in the third. I mean, they just made so many bone-headed mistakes, not to mention the lackluster EFFORT on D.
I can already hear it coming. Its one game, it will take some time before they figure it out. Cliche stuff...
If a #2 seed team have no chance of getting out of the west, whats the point of watching? The Suns aren't favored to win the west thats for sure, but saying they have no chance at all prior to the trade is going a bit too far.
Looks like i was right. Without Marion, they really do look like one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA. Their mangement should be regretting to hell that they did this trade.
LOL @ JVG talking about McLovin and how SuperBad should win Best Picture. JVG seems like a cool guy to hang out with.
Not true- every year is different. I think they definitely could have beaten the Spurs, just like Dallas beat the Spurs 2 years ago. They panicked after the Gasol trade, plain and simple. The more they played together, the better they got. Now, without Marion, they are much further away from going to the Finals than they would have been. Phoenix is DONE. Even more than Dallas, who is going to miss Devin Harris more than they think. It's San Antonio, the Lakers, the Jazz, and the Rockets.
Mike Breen: What do you do as a player when a game is out of hand like this? Jeff Van Gundy: Pad your stats.
Or this one- if a guy makes a half-court shot on the team that's losing, it immediately ties up the score. JVFG!
Those Suns were a Robert Horry cheap shot away from dismantling LeBron's Cavs in the finals. Those Suns were in first place when they made the trade. Now they look terrible and are struggling to score - when have you EVER said that about Phoenix? Even their "great game" against Boston - they only scored 85 points!! And only won because Allen and Pierce had one of their worst shooting nights of the season. Losing Marion hurts the Suns moreso than Shaq helps them, plain and simple.
Maybe this game helps the Rocks in the Barry-palooza! Need a good showing by the Rox later, or a win in which we see a desperate need for a smooth-stroking, nifty-passing big 2-guard.
What I do like about the Pistons is that they didn't have any knee-jerk reactions about trading off their players after the loss to a much-weaker Cavs team last year (Pistons were better and I'll stand by that). They stick with their team, for the most part, with the exception of B. Wallace. Props to them.
-They controlled the best team in the league from start to finish the other night. -With Marion they were the worst rebounding team in the league. (not that it is his fault per se, but it made them small at PF and C) -One of their primary areas the Suns haven't been as good is their 3 point shooting (outside of Nash). Marion was part of the problem--their worst high volume 3 shooter. Look at the games post trade (and of course Shaq has only played the last 3): -2 point OT loss to NO -Beat 2 scrubs -2 point loss to GS -12 point victory over Dallas -6 point loss to the Lakers (high scoring that went to the last few minutes) -8 point win over Boston (one of the few games that team was never really in it) -huge blow out to Det (who was 1-2 earlier this week) Basically it is way to early to determine anything. Detroit has been a great regular season team of late years only to flame out in the playoffs. People were handing the rings out to Boston until last week. Suns has always been one of those blow you out, get blown out teams. One game, with Phx just getting used to new players. Shaq has done some good things, helps with the boards and Amare has flurished at the PF, but at times the whole teams looks slow. They will need to adjust rotations--I think Hill and Bell need less PT (But MDA is an idiot with rotations, so not sure if it happens). But i will say if their perimeter shooting (outside of Nash) does improve (Bell, Barbosa, maybe add Barry) they won't go far. They need that deaeye shooting to make Nash and their inside guys (Amare, Oneal) most effective.
