The Suns get owned. 22 pts lead, 7:20 mins to go. regular season series will be 4-0. trading away Kurt Thomas to save money were bad moves. trading away Marion for Shaq are even worser. The Suns have messed up their best squad with 2 bad trades. Kudos to the Suns owner Rob Sarver and Steve Kerr. Shaq will be better off retired before the classless Suns fans boo him out of the court.
the shaq deal was the most idiodic trade in the last 10 years. i mean i can see why the heat did it, but the suns? ANY of the 30 teams would be better with shaq EXCEPT the suns. i feel bad for steve nash.
suns fans excuss is "it is just the first couple of games they got to get to used to playing with each other." Well I think they did mess the team up should've stayed with Marion imo because the way their system is played it seems shaq gets in the way.
refs were not really helping the hornets either, just saw shaq elbowed chandler on one end, then either him or amare grabbed chandler again on the other, and no call
Without Marion, the spacing of the floor is not the same anymore. The running game is slowing down. Grant Hill is just not Marion. Hill is a good half-court mid-range player. With Shaq, the Suns are like some mismatch pieces trying to work together. It's just bizarre.
Shaq's like the girlfriend who you know is wrong for you, everyone else knows it, too, yet you can still find reasons to stick with them. "Well, she's nice sometimes...we have fun together occasionally...there are times when we don't get on each other's nerves..." etc., etc. Shaq's too big of a personality for that team. You can mentor a Penny Hardaway, a young Kobe, or even Dwayne Wade, but do you think Amare is really going to listen to Shaq? You think anyone is going to convince Amare to play defense? Steve Nash is the personality for that team, just like Kobe is for the Lakers and Garnett is for the Celtics. Regardless of his demeanor, Nash no doubt has an ego and probably feels out of place with Shaq on the team. This is what his body language seems like, anyway, after having watched a few games with them. You just can't be a true leader with Shaq on your team- he's it, and he's basically upset the whole balance of that team. They'll get wins against scrubs and the occasional upset against a better team- but they are done. Now, Jason Kidd, on the other hand, that might turn out good. They looked very, very good with him out there. Hopefully (and I hate saying this, sort of), we won't be the only teams that succumbs to the injury bug.
im watching the game thru http://www.channelsurfing.net/ click on that game, use IE no firefox, I dont know if yall are watching it another way , game is almost over anyway
Oh, and D'Antoni is a mediocre coach. Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, Pat Riley- those coaches proved that they could adapt to different styles and win with both. He is a whiny crybaby of a coach who inherited a great team. You watch- D'Antoni will never be successful unless he enters into a tailor-made situation.
What saddens me is the realization that, if the Hornets (who don't have a star center like Yao) can demolish the Suns like this, think of what the Rockets or late with Yao can do to them.
2 years ago the Suns had Tim Thomas, Kurt Thomas, James Jones, and Eddie House contributing. Last year they shed Tim Thomas and Eddie House and were still successful with a 3 deep bench of Barbosa, Kurt Thomas and James Jones. Then they shed Jones and Thomas. This year seems to be where every cost cutting move is finally catching up to them. (Remember this started with Joe Johnson) The Suns were really bad vs playoff teams in the West prior to the Shaq trade. I really don't think the Shaq Marion trade was such a bad idea. It was the cumulative effect of shedding 4 productive players over the last 2 years without getting anything in return that has truly hurt them. They shed Jim Jackson too, but he was washed up after contributing 3 years ago. James Jones played 18mpg and shot 38% from 3pt land and averaged 6.4pts. Kurt Thomas played 18mpg, shot 49%, averaged 4.6 pts, 5.7 rebs, and provided tough defense. Tim Thomas played 24mpg, shot 43% from 3pt land and averaged 11 ppg. Eddie House averaged 18mpg, shot 39% from 3pt land and averaged 9.8ppg. So they traded those 4 guys over the last 2 years for Grant Hill...I forgot about him. And then Marion for Shaq. That left them a 2 man bench with Diaw and Barbosa. That's a big reason why they've been sucking this year. Their record was inflated with Eastern wins, but they're record against good teams was worse than the Rockets. Dang, they just singed Linton Johnson off the streets and played him 20+ mins in that blowout tonight...a true sign of their sucky bench. So yeah...everyone is blaming this Shaq trade, and I'm not saying they're wrong...I'm just saying the Suns started sucking way before that and it just started to show now. They're still going to be fun to watch, but they could have been very scary if their owner wasn't relatively cheap. Imagine this team: Amare Marion Hill Bell Nash Kurt Thomas Tim Thomas Diaw James Jones Barbosa You can replace Marion for Shaq on that team and it's still would have amazing shooting, depth, and length.
Two struggling teams and the one struggling the most got destroyed. The Hornets needed this after losing to pathetic Washington.
I'll beat this dead horse again: They should have traded Amare when they had the chance to. No one on that team plays anything resembling above average (or even average) defense--hell, even Raja Bell is just a shooter now. All I can see is this: if they don't win a championship this year, that Phoenix team is done.
you GOTTA love the way bonzi and mike are playing for nola! bonzi: bruised tendon mjames: 4 pts 1 dime in 12 mins the hornets have been owned by mr. morey
