What do you think JVG's scheme will be? I normally don't care about our offense because quite frankly, the Suns defense couldn't defend anyone even if they added Johnnie Cochran. I have always advocated running Nash ragged and a lil bruised to soften him up and get him out of there more often than usual. Their offense is horrible without Nash. It's worse than a high school team sometimes. Barbosa wouldn't make a pass at a Victoria's Secret model, much less to his teammates, and Marcus Banks is a future NBDL scoring champ. My scheme would be to pick and roll for the first 12 offensive possessions with Skip and Yao or Deke (elbows up Deke). I don't even care if we don't score, I just want Nash to take the hit. Everyone talks about the Sun's depth but in reality they lack a good backup PG, which is stupid since their entire offense is built around Nash. If they start going into zone, I would still attack Nash by running ISO plays for Skip all day in Steve's area and then running a pick in at the last second. On defense, I'm not saying hurt the guy, but stick a leg out or something, when you foul him make it count, I wanna hear the slap of the arm on my TV. Everyone talks about him being John Stockton, so why don't we treat him the same way???
Cochran's dead. Real classy, man. Barbosa is not half-bad - he's obviously not an elite disher like JKidd or Nash, but he could easily start on half of the teams in the NBA right now. That being said, I agree with you. Let's foul the **** out of Nash. Haha. How's that for class?
Why make it so complicated.. why not just send in Vspan start a fist fight with SNash..good frustration release therapy for Vspan too... let Vspan think Nash as Van Gundy, like in "water boy"
i think you make nash become a scorer. Dont help out when he begins to drive. Stay with your man b/c you know that when nash drives he is looking for someone to pass to, so cut off that pass and make him score 50 to beat you. well it sounds easy and good on paper, but i would be interested to see how it would pan out. I know a couple of other coaches have tried that philosphy, but the teams defenders were still leaving their man to help on the nash penetration.
Here is an idea: SUNS v. JAZZ TAPES! Why not watch some tapes of their games this season and see how in the world the Jazz have been able to stop the Suns, especially their last victory with Boozer out! (Amazing how all the "analysts" point to the fact that Raja Bell was out, but come on, Utah didn't have its leading scorer!) Anyways, my theory is that the Jazz have the post player in Boozer, and the unconventional center in Okur to really hurt the Suns. I think we migh be there with Yao, T-Mac, and Battier being our AK47 (even though AK47 is stinking up the arena this season!)
Well I’m pretty sure that the Van Gundy will try to control tempo. What i find encouraging is remembering two years in the playoffs of how effective that the Spurs were over the Suns when they were able to curtail Shawn Marion with the defense of Bruce Bowen. Despite incredible series by Nash and Amare the Spurs still beat the Suns. For some reason when Marion plays bad the Suns become beatable. We just can't defend Amare with Howard, Deke, or Hayes. We know that Nash can be stopped but Head and Alston will try their best to make it difficult for him. What i do like is that the Rockets have two great perimeter defenders in Wells and Battier. i would like see those guys defending Marion. i really believe if we can contain Marion and try out best to guard the Phoenix three point barrages that we could actually beat the Suns in a seven game playoff series. (I’m probably getting a little ahead of myself with playoff talk) i also really hope we don't trade Wells. He is match up nightmare for the Spurs. He can post up both Bowen and Manu which gives them fits....
Wells is not a good perimeter defender. Any Sun you name would leave him in the dust except Diaw, who would simply back him down and shoot over him. The best thing Bonzi does on defense for us is crash the boards. Getting back on defense is the #1 key because it stops their easy baskets. Without easy baskets the Suns are very close to average on offense. They depend on layups and dunks more than any team in the NBA. #2 is to cut off Nash's passing lanes. This requires his defender to stay on him tight and the other defenders to stay home more than normal. Nash will get his points but will wear down and the other Suns will not find their rhythms. Another key is when the Suns drop their guard you must pile drive them into the ground. They are prone to give up big runs and when they do you must score in bunches. At home when both Yao and Tracy were out, our scrub squad could only build a 13 point lead; it should have been 25. When we came back on them in Phoenix in the 3rd quarter, we demolished the entire lead but we missed too many shots. The Rockets should have been up by 10 instead of just barely taking the lead. We would have won that game if either Yao hadn't got in early foul trouble or Tracy had played. Don't leave Raja Bell open in the corner where he has been unconscious this season. Don't let Barbosa get breakaways. When he's in the game Rafer should just forget about getting offensive rebounds. Without Yao, Amare will be tough to handle; we have no answer for him. Unlike most here, I feel the Suns are very beatable and are nothing special, especially facing us in a 7 game series. Call me crazy, but the Spurs would be harder for us in the playoffs than the Suns IMO. I know over 90% here disagree.
Should sign Polomalu, Ed Reid, and Mario Wiliams to 10 day contracts. Their superior quick feet and physical play will completely destroy the Suns fluidity.
i don't know what his scheme will be, but i know what it should be. pound it inside. don't settle for a single jumper! why?: long range shots make long rebounds which leads to easy past breaks. the suns play no defense and if you try, you can get to the rim every time. lots of easy shots equal points. scoring equals a chance to get back on defense. proof it works: last years playoffs, lakers and clippers both go to game 7 by taking it to the rim with guys like kobe, maggetty, parker, and mobley. they also pounded it in with guys like brand, kaman, and to a lesser extent, kwame and odom. if we meet them in the playoffs, yao will be unstoppable in the post. tmac, rafer, bonzi, and snyder will be able to get to the rim at will. defensively, we can matchup with them by putting shane at the 4 and bringing in bonzi.
Suns are actually a pretty good defensive team. They are 5th or something in opponent FG%. Looking at their points against is unfair because they're so fast paced, they allow more possesions. The best way to go at them is a line-up of Yao, Battier, Wells, T-Mac, Head. Let T-Mac, Wells and Yao abuse them in the post. Posting up slows down the game and they don't have many strong players. Make battier draw their PF out. We can do it. Especially in the playoffs, everyone slows down. JVG is the master of slowing it down. In a 7-game series, with each game, we will improve drastically against them. It would kick ass to have a good Spanoulis or a healthy Sura to deal with Nash as well. A tough, hard-nosed guy who will push him around.
how to beat Suns 1. Hit our shoots. 2. use vspans 6 fouls to chase down Nash. 3. Defence their pass in from the begaining of every through. 4. try everything to slow them down(hard) not like right now just run back and defence our inside.
If anyone watched the old Rox Jazz games, they would know what I'm talking about. It's good, hard nosed basketball and there's nothing wrong with it as long as you don't try to kill him. Noone's put Nash in that spot before from what I recall, why not see if he's as tough as Stockton was?
A lot of people on this board are really scared of the suns, Why? The suns can't beat the Rockets at full strength, and until they do that I am not convinced.
Firstly, JVG needs to put a man on Steve Nash at all time. He is the engine for this sun machine, we neend to bug him, foul him and do whatever we can to frustrate him as much as possible. Secondly, always put yourself in front of the other guy. If you are a step slow, Nash will throw an allioop or loop pass to whomever. Late but not least, run if you can but slow it down whenever possible and Always Be Closing - when we have the lead, protect the lead and put the ball in Tmac's hand and let him create.
You 3 are barred from ever making any complaints at all about touch fouls on Yao or any other Rox player.
Matchup problems. I know we can beat them at full strength, but we always seem to let Nash dictate the tempo of the game, which is very frustrating.
