That's true..if T-mac already needs a tune-up or whatever after an intense regular season game, then how is he going to last in the playoffs, which are grueling, painful, exhausting? I really hope Yao, Bonzi, Vspan..everyone to really play well and roll well come playoff them.
I'm Flabergasted that bonzi was pulled with over 5 minutes remaining. 68 to 78. bonzi comes in. he scores 6 of the next 8 points to get us within 2 points. then gundy for some odd reason, yanks him. he was our only bonafide offense out there. i'm just lost for words how gundy can pull this guy out when he is the only 1 doing anything out there.
I can't believe I'm saying this I love tmac so much but its time to face the fact and trade him before its too late. ok I gotta go wash my fingers after typing this.
how can a trade happen? he is probably the hardest guy to trade. max contract, with known chronic back problem. it isn't like ai, who can still play, no big injury concerns. if CD can find something pretty good, oops, i mean morey, then he should have tenure for life
The game was blown in the second quarter. We had a lead of what, 25-27 points? Then the suns go into a 2-3 zone and in about 3 minutes they close the gap and take the lead. Sure they are the Suns and the law of stats predicted that they would make a run like that with three pointers due to Nash and their system, but our execution was pathetic. We repeatedly swung the ball around the perimeter from head to lucas to alston, with one of them deciding to jack up a three pointer after a few passes. How did our offense change with the zone? It didn't. We were still running a pick and roll with J.Howard or Chuck. If you've played competitive basketball you know that a pick and roll is not effective enough against a zone. You have to attack the gaps rather than swing the ball around for 9 consecutive three pointers. We had a man in the middle as most zone offenses go, but that man was Hayes for a while, which poses no real threat from the elbow. Either way, without penetration into the zone causing a collapse, we were not going to get any easy baskets. A substitution as JVG did somewhat, Battier (High BB IQ) in, Howard (Jumpshot threat) in for Hayes, but this was perhaps the one game in which Novak would actually contribute. Also, Bonzi would have been a great option in the 'short corner' area. Some kind of overload or other BASIC zone offense would have helped us maintain a lead. Also, this was by far Alston's best game, he was extremely active and confident from the beginning, which is something I hope he continues to do. His creativity early (recall the drive with the reverse layup, pullup jumper, and drive/dish to Mutumbo) really helped our team believe they could hang with the Suns. He couldn't sustain it for the whole game, but this kind of creativity and activity (offense and defense) should help us alot.
I know... That's why I said before its too late! this is based on what I posted before talking about trading him.
Bonzi has not played in a while so he would not have been able to play a full game. It seemed like JVG kept him rested until the fourth quarter and tried to insert him for a big push. It was a smart coaching move IMO and it worked for awhile. Then I guess he got elbowed as some other poster said. I missed the last five or six minutes so I don't know. In any case, I thought it was a smart decision by JVG. BTW, I really loved how passionately we played for most of the game! Even without Yao or T-Mac, it seemed like they believed they could steal this win. That kind of intensity will go a very long way.
Are you kidding me? T-Mac has put this team on his back (no pun intended) since Yao has been out and has been averaging near 30 ppg. He puts up 45 on 17/29 shooting last night, and because he sits out tonight as a precautionary measure you're going to suggest that we can't win with him?? Yes, he has had back issues, but he can now play pretty much injury free, but of course it will tighten up now and again. It's the regular season, we need to be cautious. It's called waiting for the playoffs before he goes all out every night. Sheesh.
Here's what I took away from this game: 1. The Suns are not unbeatable. I think many fans on this board are shellshocked from those bad blowouts last season. We had a chance to win tonight without both of our two superstars. At full strength, we CAN handle these guys, even in the playoffs. 2. Bonzi is one or two games away from returning to form. He's not quite there yet. Kirk is officially a scrub. 3. Rafer seems to be out of his terrible shooting slump, finally. I don't expect him to continue playing at the level he played tonight, but I don't think we'll be banging our heads on the wall as often over his shooting as often as we did earlier this season. 4. Lucas is not ready for big minutes. But at the same time, his poor shooting tonight was probably an exception -- he is better than this, and he is capable of giving us an offensive spark on the bench. 5. Juwan was overdue for an off night. Don't blame him at all. 6. We need our big man back.
Abuzukie, anybody still remember him? has a good season in the warriors. 10.4ppg 3.4rpg 1.3spg for a rookie. Tonight, he has a season-high 26 points, 7 rebouds, why signed the useless pagett?? JVG really likes veterans. Man that sucks
Just got back from the game, it was a lot closer than I expected. JVG has these guys playing hard, but int he end we did not have enough firepower. The one thing with JVG is that this team will be in every game. We need to win the Denver game. If the Rockets can come out of this tough stretch at no worse than 26-16 the schedule looks good for them to get even more games over 500.
Well, I just watched it on DVR. Not surprised that we lost, but am dissappointed that the team couldn't pull off an upset. They were hustling like crazy out there but they were just overmatched. I do think Dallas is WAY better than Phoenix and if we had Tmac we would have won tonight. That being said.....I HATED our defensive scheme tonight...I thought it was HORRENDOUS... The on the ball pressure was nice...Rafer did a good job...BUT.... Why would you EVER leave Bell, or Barbosa, or any of their 3 point shooters ? Why? The Rockets should NEVER double Nash....play everyone else off the ball and give him NO ONE TO PASS IT TO.....turn Nash into a scorer....I don't care if he gets 50...... He wants to pass the ball.....and the rest of the team if they are shut down, Phoenix crumbles. Almost all of Phoenix 3 point shots were WIDE FRICKEN OPEN !!! And that is terrible defense......too often our guards and SFs left their man to help stop Nash from penetrating.....DON'T !!!! Oh well, again, I am pleased with the effort but I am not impressed with Phoenix overall, they can be beaten, and I would expect with Tmac and Yao that the Rockets could handle them in a playoff series. DD
No, he should have rested his starters again....if you ever notice we don't finish quarters well, particularly the first and 3rd quarters because JVG leaves his starters in there when the other team brings in fresh guys..... And our guys need a blow...it happened again tonight....they made 3 runs at the end of quarters...2nd, 3rd and 4th...... Our guys tried but they were just tired...and again, I thought our defensive scheme was crap. DD
I have been saying all along that both V-Span and JL3 have been playing out of position. JL3 is really a very small shooting guard (ala Calvin Murphy) and V-Span is a PG... DD
I think JVG is very smart to use this game to experiment what we can do with the Suns, who very likely will be our first round opponent in the playoffs. JVG had better learned something useful from this game
yeah, but you wouldn't have seen those numbers if he stayed in Houston cuz he would've gotten same time as novak and vspan get and thats very little and obviously he's getting enough time in GS to put up those numbers and he wasn't doing very well in training camp otherwise he would've stayed, no cross that he still couldn't stay cuz Sura thought he was able to come back. but on the positive side we got two future star on our bench vspan and Novak though I think vspan is going to be a HUGE PG in the future! all the patience will payoff!!
