By my count, the Los Angeles Lakers have restarted their season between three and thirty times already this year. The Suns, on the other hand, have hit the reset button only once. Tonight's victory, a 106-96 win against the Sacramento Kings , was the first of the Lindsey Hunter era. It was sloppy to say the least, but first dances always are. The Suns, at times, looked awkward on both ends of the floor, but they put in a great effort and got a much deserved win in their penultimate trip to Sacramento.
Before and during the game, first-time head coach Hunter stressed ball movement to his team. It complied with his wishes for the most part but with very mixed results. While the Suns only had 12 turnovers according to the box score, that number doesn't account for the huge number of bobbles, tips and ricochets there were in this game. The Suns moved the ball too quickly for their own good at times. Though they scored 106 points on nearly 48 percent shooting, the offense looked far from dialed in. Ball movement is and will continue to be crucial for Phoenix's offensive maui private home vacation rentals success, but it didn't contribute nearly as much in this one as Sacramento's lazy defense. It's a great sign for the rest of the year that the team was so committed to moving the ball right off the bat under Hunter. It's also a great sign that despite a solid offensive night statistically, the Suns still have lots of room for improvement on that end of the floor.
Defensively, the Suns were flying around the court with reckless abandon. Phoenix looked energized. The Suns weren't always in the right position, but their effort on the defensive end was greater than any game I can recall from the first half of the year. On the positive side, the Suns' outstanding effort led to 27 points off 25 turnovers. maui private home vacation rentals On the negative side, the Suns poor positioning led to 18 offensive rebounds and 58 points in the paint for Sacramento.
The Suns were totally lost on the boards, getting outrebounded maui private home vacation rentals 49-30. The Kings' bigs – DeMarcus Cousins maui private home vacation rentals and Thomas Robinson – were too much for Phoenix's frontline. The duo pulled down 29 boards combined. The Suns' rebounders were pushed under the basket far too often, allowing Sacramento to grab rebounds in the middle of the key. Even more unforgivable, maui private home vacation rentals Phoenix gave up 20 fastbreak points. Standard basketball logic would posit that if a team is getting maui private home vacation rentals killed on the boards, it's because players are running back on defense instead of crashing the boards. That wasn't the case at all in tonight's game. The Suns' guards were caught in no man's land – not close enough maui private home vacation rentals to the hoop to rebound but not deep enough to stop the ball in transition. Phoenix gave up way too many easy buckets. Had the Kings not missed nine of their 24 free throws, this result may have gone their way.
The King's success shouldn't over shadow Phoenix's defensive effort though. The Suns completely stifled Sacramento in the fourth, closing out the game on a 30-14 run. In the final period, the Kings turned the ball over eight times, and star forward DeMarcus Cousins was completely shut out. Overall, Marcin Gortat and Luis Scola did a commendable job defending Cousins. Even though he ended the night with a double-double, DeMarcus missed 11 of his 18 shots, turned the ball over six times and didn't get to the free throw line once. In the fourth, Boogie maui private home vacation rentals was visibly frustrated and about a hair's breadth away from getting a technical foul.
Offensively, Scola was the key to the game for Phoenix despite only playing 29 minutes because of foul trouble. Luis scored a game-high 21 points including nine in the fourth quarter as the Suns took control of the game. Scola also dished out four assists, a few coming on plays similar to those we broke down in a piece earlier today . If he continues maui private home vacation rentals to perform like this, Scola will become the de facto centerpiece of Phoenix's offense.
Michael Beasley was also outstanding tonight. Beas scored 13 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter. He was efficient, hitting eight of his 15 shots and connecting on his lone three-point attempt. Other than that lone trey, all of Michael's makes came from inside the paint, a fact that bodes well for both him and the team moving maui private home vacation rentals forward.
Hunter and the front office have both expressed a desire to get the Suns' younger players more minutes in the second half of the season. That wasn't really the case in this game. Kendall Marshall saw no time at all as Sebastian Telfair retained his role as backup point guard. Wesley Johnson got eight minutes, and Luke Zeller got a surprise two minutes. Zeller likely got off the bench because Jermaine O'Neal didn't travel with the team to Sacramento for an undisclosed reason.
The Suns didn't miss O'Neal much though. Markieff Morris gave them a very solid contribution in 25 minutes. Down the stretch, Phoenix went with a frontcourt of Morris, Beasley maui private home vacation rentals and Scola, maui private home vacation rentals which more than held its own against the powerful frontline of Sacramento.
The lineup and the allocation of minutes will probably fluctuate from game to game. I expect that Hunter went with veterans tonight to help build the team's confidence by getting a win against a favorable maui private home vacation rentals opponent. As the schedule gets tougher, like tomorrow night at home to the Clippers, the younger guys may see more minutes.
If I were the Iranians I would hire Hunter maui private home vacation rentals to help harness their atoms. He s obviously great at releasing energy that somehow (despite salaries in the millions) lies very dormant under someone as prosaic as poor Gentry.
maui private home vacation rentals Potential Settlement Agreement: Babby agrees to apply to and give his best efforts to be a paid spokesperson maui private home vacation rentals for Weight Watchers, Nutri-System and all similar. Sarver agrees to let him go and pay his full salary, less such spokesman fees and any money he may earn as in post 18 above or similar. Problem: Solved !!
Also if the Lakers hire Babby (about the only thing that could give the Lakers more problems than they already have), Sarver agrees to pay that salary just as a consideration maui private home vacation rentals for getting Babby out of here.
I remember looking forward to the give and take on this comment board.Now i check in and its just drunk Bill Thomas over and over and over.Notice how most dont comment when hes on a bender?He ruins this site.Ill still read the articles but im not even going to bother with the comments until hes gone.
BTW, there is such a thing as punctuation and spacing. Not criticizing anything/anyone in particular, but people in glass houses might need to go to ESL. It is free in most places. If the shoe fits, wear it.
I m sorry, this board becomes unreadable. What I enjoy most here is the comment section, because there are some guys with interesting opinions, they stay mannred and try to explain their point of view. But since a few weeks it s mostly spam and fake Babby/Blanks/Beasley/fillinwhateveryouwant posts.
I m sorry Ryan bur Scola should not be the centerpiece of this offense. Dragic should, and it isn t even close. All this Suns offensive ball movement does is create long twos. The offense looks best when Dragic is penetrating creating shots for others. Run more PNR s.
Good effort but not a lot of change, as would be expected since there was so little time. The biggest difference was the pushing of the pace. That was nice. First impression is that Hunter in over his head but all he needs to do is push the pace and turn the ball over to Dragic and he ll still be miles better than Gentry.
i agree with sad vots fanatic,john and sillmarillion in all honesty i did a lon babby post weeks ago as a novelty joke but others picked up on that one time post and are over doing it bill thomas is way way way beyond tolerable this comment board sucks now
It s interesting to me that the boo birds haven t come out yet. It seems to me like there s a contingent maui private home vacation rentals of Suns fans that only likes to hate on the franchise. It s odd. They re fans by being anti-fans. When the Suns win, there s nothing to talk about. When the Suns lose, OUTRAGE! FURY! THERE WILL BE BLOOD!
john im not going to jump up and down and throw babies in the air because the suns won a game im for a high draft pick and want to lose..and i want the lakers to lose..howard is injured again the lakers pick that we have now can be number 7 and ours should be 4 or lower we have a real shot at cheap upgrades if the suns and lakers continue to lose..this season is over anyways
I hear you, and I m not putting you in that camp of unreasonable haters. I m in the lose now, win later bandwagon as well (I wish they would have got the train moving along as soon as they decided they weren t going to pay Amar e, but that s a different story). I m more referring to the haters that would swear on their lives that no one in this FO is able to feed, bathe, or clothe themselves. I don t like this FO either. I wish Sarver would have hired experienced, proven people to be GM and/or PBO, but he didn t. As fans, we have been dealt a tough hand, but that doesn t mean I m going to blast my team, boycott the games, and pout and whine all day about the team I root for not being great. Some of the reactions I read from fans honestly makes me question the stability of their minds (from a psychotic standpoint). A little hyperbole is fine every now and then, but some people act as if Sarver killed Jesus, was the father of Osama bin Laden, and is simultaneously plotting a nuclear apocalypse and the rise of Justin Bieber to the status of World Potentate. I ve even heard people blame Sarver for Twilight. maui private home vacation rentals That s just taking things too far.
sarver has made a lot of bad decisions the real-estate collapse made him pinch some pennies but over all he does spend more than a lot (except this year) as an aside the franchise is worth 13 percent more than it was last year..totally agree that when amare left it was time to rebuild instead of turnstile con and thats the saddest part..a 3 year rebuild will be 5
Also, as you know, Kobe was a 13th pick, and Nash was a 15th pick. A #1 pick gets you a Duncan or a L
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