Request: For those who watched Portland/Phoenix series...

[toki9]

Can we get your impression of what Phoenix did right/wrong, strengths/weaknesses, etc.? I've been reading that the series really turned when Grant Hill was put on Andre Miller, but I'm not sure how well Grant Hill really defended Andre Miller. I thought Andre Miller was a good point guard with no speed or jumpers, so how great was Grant Hill to clamp down on him?

[honestfool84]

i'm pretty sure the Spurs staff have all the games on Blue Ray.

and they'll know what to watch for.

:lol

[4>0rings]

Gentry is that you?

[SpursTillTheEnd]

The suns cant guard point guards miller was going off so imagine what hill and parker are going to do.

[Amuseddaysleeper]

Grant Hill is a great defender and did a fantastic job on Miller.

[Old School 44]

I didn't watch the entire series, but the times I did watch, they shot lights out beyond the arch with J-Rich going off. He must have had a playoff career high shooting % for that series.

[pawe]

Miller had one of those games where he thinks they wont have a chance if he wont play well because Roy already went down.. I guess Por f'd him up by playing Roy and messing up his mojo.

[JMarkJohns]

Good
Managed Aldridge very well.
Hill defended Miller very well.
Dudley and Amundson were active inside and out.
Richardson was fantastic much of the time, and many others made perimeter shots

Bad
Struggled on the glass much of the time.
Swarming defense gave up threes that better teams will make more of.

Ugly
Both Nash and Amare forced the offense too often when the ball was in their hands.
Too many turnovers/threes attempted.

Overall
Dragic is a better defender than his time against Miller gave him credit for. There were times in games where he shut down the opposition. Miller was too big and strong, hence the switch. Dragic will probably be the most effective defender against Parker and or Hill. Perimeter shooting is the key for each team, depending on defensive tactics. Suns hit a ton of threes at a very good clip in almost every game. This will probably lead to San Antonio playing Nash/Amare straight up and seeing what happens before doubling.

[toki9]

The suns cant guard point guards miller was going off so imagine what hill and parker are going to do.

That's my impression of the Suns as well, but I was curious because of all the talk about Grant Hill shutting down Miller...was wondering if that'd translate to this series...i'm doubtful given that Parker/Hill are much more athletic and speedy than Miller, but since I didn't see any of the games i thought i'd get the informed opinions of the forum members...

[toki9]

Good
Managed Aldridge very well.
Hill defended Miller very well.
Dudley and Amundson were active inside and out.
Richardson was fantastic much of the time, and many others made perimeter shots

Bad
Struggled on the glass much of the time.
Swarming defense gave up threes that better teams will make more of.

Ugly
Both Nash and Amare forced the offense too often when the ball was in their hands.
Too many turnovers/threes attempted.

Overall
Dragic is a better defender than his time against Miller gave him credit for. There were times in games where he shut down the opposition. Miller was too big and strong, hence the switch. Dragic will probably be the most effective defender against Parker and or Hill. Perimeter shooting is the key for each team, depending on defensive tactics. Suns hit a ton of threes at a very good clip in almost every game. This will probably lead to San Antonio playing Nash/Amare straight up and seeing what happens before doubling.

Thank you...

[SpursTillTheEnd]

The only thing im concerned about is the suns 3 point shooting they went off that whole series its like they couldn't miss, so we cant leave anyone open foe 3 like we did againts dallas

[sportan73]

nash was really bad, on both ends, we have to make him pay which I think this year we can do even more of as there won't be a Bruce Bowen type offensive player on the court much. He's going to be forced to defend Tony or Hill for the majority of the games, and that should prove to be a huge positive for our boys.

[Xylus]

Andre Miller had one great game, one good game, and four bad games. He was not a difference maker for the Blazers.

As for rebounding, the Suns had a +23 differential on the glass over the course of the series, so that wasn't really a problem...

[itzsoweezee]

the sons shot the three ball really, really well. it was amazing almost. hopefully the spurs defenders have more discipline than to collapse on every drive nash makes to the hoop.

unlike the blazers, the sons will actually have to guard san antonio. there's no spur like rudy fernandez, jared bayless, etc. that phoenix can afford paying little attention to on defense.

[Pero]

the sons shot the three ball really, really well.

Two of the best shooters on the team, Frye and Dudley, completely sucked from long range in 4 games out of the 6. Frye in 5.



unlike the blazers, the sons will actually have to guard san antonio. there's no spur like rudy fernandez, jared bayless, etc. that phoenix can afford paying little attention to on defense.


Uh I don't know what you're talking about since Bayless avareged 13.5pts with 40% shooting from the three. You're sort of right about Fernandez, but only because his confidence was down and was passing up open shots sometimes. Otherwise he's in no way a player you don't have to guard. He shot 47% from the 3.

[Warlord23]

- Phoenix let Andre Miller have one good game to ensure that Portland would play him all series, and then proceeded to shut his old ass down with bigger defenders
- Double teamed Aldridge as soon as he caught the ball, and Aldridge didn't react well at all. By the time Portland swung the ball around, the Suns had rotated back and the Blazers often had to take bad jumpshots late in the shot clock
- Hit long jumpers all series as Portland kept leaving their perimeter shooters open

Here's hoping that Gentry starts this series with the same tactics. By the time he figures out that Tony Parker and Tim Duncan are a tad different from Andre Miller and LaMarcus Aldridge, the Suns would have lost homecourt.

[JMarkJohns]

Andre Miller had one great game, one good game, and four bad games. He was not a difference maker for the Blazers.

As for rebounding, the Suns had a +23 differential on the glass over the course of the series, so that wasn't really a problem...

But it seemed in close games whenever the Suns needed a key rebound, it always found its way into the hands of the Blazers. Probably shouldn't have said "much of the time" but in every game there were crucial stretches were defensive rebounding was an issue.

[in2deep]

same shit they always do. Play very well for stretches and get huge leads but their defensive errors ALWAYS let the opponent come back and have a chance to win.

[JMarkJohns]

same shit they always do. Play very well for stretches and get huge leads but their defensive errors ALWAYS let the opponent come back and have a chance to win.

It's close to truth, but increasingly, it's a stagnant offense that works to allow another team to get back into a game. In the NBA, in the playoffs, if you have 8 TOs in a quarter or can't score for 5/6 minute, chances are there's a difference of like 10/12 points coming for the opposition in that stretch, even against a solid defense. You have any sort of combination of the two scenarios, and in 4/5 minutes a 20-point lead can be down to one possession.

[Muser]

J-Rich went ape-shit, that's all I know.

[SpursRulez4eVeR]

i thought blazer's defense sucked major, especially on the perimeter.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

You could tell which team had the most playoff experience. The Suns knew what to do down the stretch of close games and the Blazers did not. Amare is starting to play like a veteran out there. He's not showing nerves or being obnoxious. I saw him get a bad call on one play, get blocked on the next, shake it off and hit his next two shots. I was pretty impressed by his play. And Nash was knocked for not playing that well, but his ability to find the open man and feed the pick and roll is scary. The Blazers had no answer for Richardson it seemed, and yeah, the Suns shot lights out from the outside.

The Suns are aware that they're 0-4 the last 4 times they've faced the Spurs in the playoffs. I think they're coming in with a chip on their shoulder so I hope the Spurs will be ready for that. Luckily, I think San Antonio is playing with the underdog chip on their shoulder and they seem to relish the spoiler role. This should be a fun series.

[dreamcastrocks]

Good
Managed Aldridge very well.
Hill defended Miller very well.
Dudley and Amundson were active inside and out.
Richardson was fantastic much of the time, and many others made perimeter shots

Bad
Struggled on the glass much of the time.
Swarming defense gave up threes that better teams will make more of.

Ugly
Both Nash and Amare forced the offense too often when the ball was in their hands.
Too many turnovers/threes attempted.

Overall
Dragic is a better defender than his time against Miller gave him credit for. There were times in games where he shut down the opposition. Miller was too big and strong, hence the switch. Dragic will probably be the most effective defender against Parker and or Hill. Perimeter shooting is the key for each team, depending on defensive tactics. Suns hit a ton of threes at a very good clip in almost every game. This will probably lead to San Antonio playing Nash/Amare straight up and seeing what happens before doubling.


- Phoenix let Andre Miller have one good game to ensure that Portland would play him all series, and then proceeded to shut his old ass down with bigger defenders
- Double teamed Aldridge as soon as he caught the ball, and Aldridge didn't react well at all. By the time Portland swung the ball around, the Suns had rotated back and the Blazers often had to take bad jumpshots late in the shot clock
- Hit long jumpers all series as Portland kept leaving their perimeter shooters open

Here's hoping that Gentry starts this series with the same tactics. By the time he figures out that Tony Parker and Tim Duncan are a tad different from Andre Miller and LaMarcus Aldridge, the Suns would have lost homecourt.

Both of these are pretty good analysis of the Suns' play.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

My other observation is that Gentry is better at in-game adjustments than D'Antoni ever was. That might be the biggest thing that the Suns have going for them over prior years -- their coach.

[wildbill2u]

J-Rich went ape-shit, that's all I know.

When he was in the games the sky was raining 3s. somebody better chase this guy from behind the arc.

[GSH]

Brandon Roy went down for about a month in late January, and the Blazers went 6-9 without him and averaged about 96.5 ppg. After he came back they went 16-4 and averaged about 101 ppg. He missed the first 3 games of the playoffs, and he was still hurting in the second 3 games, where he went 4-10, 2-7, and 4-16.

Anybody who watched the Spurs in last year's playoffs, without Manu Ginobili, should understand that no complicated explanations are necessary. It's hard to lose a player of that caliber and win in the playoffs. The Suns could afford to let one Blazer player go off on them a night, and focus on keeping everyone else honest.

It's worth noting that Portland got Nicolas Batum through the draft two years ago, while we got George Hill. If Batum had stepped his game up in the playoffs the way Hill has, the series would have gone to 7 games, at the very least.

[dreamcastrocks]

Brandon Roy went down for about a month in late January, and the Blazers went 6-9 without him and averaged about 96.5 ppg. After he came back they went 16-4 and averaged about 101 ppg. He missed the first 3 games of the playoffs, and he was still hurting in the second 3 games, where he went 4-10, 2-7, and 4-16.

Anybody who watched the Spurs in last year's playoffs, without Manu Ginobili, should understand that no complicated explanations are necessary. It's hard to lose a player of that caliber and win in the playoffs. The Suns could afford to let one Blazer player go off on them a night, and focus on keeping everyone else honest.

It's worth noting that Portland got Nicolas Batum through the draft two years ago, while we got George Hill. If Batum had stepped his game up in the playoffs the way Hill has, the series would have gone to 7 games, at the very least.

Batum was injured as well.

[Brazil]

Main differences I noted, compared to last years:
- Amare is quietly becoming a vet and a leader, his bb IQ improved a lot lately, he is not forcing things and let the hot hand play.
- I think Nash lost a step maybe due to his injury, his strenght is still distributing the ball, spurs have to cut the lines and let him shoot JS.
- Richardson is deadly lately, he showed he can deliver in PO. When he is the primary scorer, Suns win.
- The bench is much deeper: the suns can play an entire lineup of bench players without suffering a lot, this is a big difference. If this serie goes to 7, I think the suns will win.
- The coach is much more clever than Dantoni, we can't count on bad coaching decisions this time.