Shaq looks terrible in debut

[jag]

And i was someone who thought this might improve the suns...i might have been wrong.

He looks very slow and out of shape, not to mention he looks lost out there.

Every time the suns try and run he stops at about half court, if the suns dont score they end up playing 4 on 5 or have to wait for him to get back haha....wow

:drunk :drunk

[T Park]

To his defense, its his first game in a long time and hes getting used to the team.

Hopefully he is slow and old. If he is that takes 1 contender out of the way and the only one to sweat is the lakers.

[johngateswhiteley]

its the first quarter of his first game....

[MaNuMaNiAc]

and this is only the first quarter, imagine how he'll be by the fourth

[SequSpur]

dude... he just came off the IR....WTF?

[jag]

Well at least he can still dunk...

[RuffnReadyOzStyle]

The Lakers have just been isoing to one side, taking Shaq to the other, and letting Gasol destroy Diaw.

Shaq is no help defender any more, far too slow.

[T Park]

The Lakers have just been isoing to one side, taking Shaq to the other, and letting Gasol destroy Diaw.

Shaq is no help defender any more, far too slow.

If true have Kurt Thomas stand about 18 feet out and or duncan, and Parker goes to teh hole at will. :smokin

[jag]

Hubie wondered when they were going to double team shaq....unless Derek Fisher is guarding him, probably never.

[Tek_XX]

When everything else fails there's always hack-a-shaq

[DazedAndConfused]

Chill out it's his 1st game since December. He's rusty, give him 10 games.

[jag]

4 pts 1-3 FG in 1st half


UPDATE: "Everything Stephen A. says is IMPORTANT!!"

[Knox]

The Shaq trade was a horrible one since he fits so poorly with the Suns' up tempo style at this stage of his career. I think this trade will go down as a poor one with the Suns missing Marion a great deal more than they thought.

Goodness gracious that beard on Gaol is horrid!

[SA Gunslinger]

Shaq also looks motivated.

[1Parker1]

I think you mean Gasol looks terrible.

God he's soft. Good thing for the Lakers Kobe has enough balls for the both of them. :lol

[adidas11]

Actually, Shaq has looked pretty solid so far. Made some good rebounds, providing toughness in the paint, and his presense is allowing Amare to float in and get key offensive rebounds. And Shaq's passing has been solid as well.

Give him a month, and he'll fit in very well with Phoenix. I just hope the Lakers can win this game, and avoid Phoenix in the playoffs.

[Shank]

Why must Gasol yell every time he takes a shot? Does he think it's tennis?

[K-State Spur]

i actually think he'll work in their offense alright. i think d'antoni was right about that.

the problem is that amare + shaq may be the worst defensive front line in the entire league.

[td4mvp21]

1st game back, 1st game with a new team...give it some more time.

[whottt]

Shaq's really killing the Suns offense...they are only going to score 120 points or so tonight.

[T Park]

Yeah Shaq looks good in the second half.

[T Park]

What a shot by Kobe.

[T Park]

It looks like you can run on the Suns alot easier than before.

Gasol and the Lakers just scored VERY easily off the break.

[SequSpur]

do any of you dipshits know anything about basketball?

[adidas11]

Another big shot by Shaq. The Suns now have a true low post option when the game grinds down to half court execution.

[baseline bum]

Shaq's taking over late in the fourth. 8 straight points.

[baseline bum]

Shaq just laid Raja Bell out with an elbow. Bell got up like he just got beatdown by Tyson.

[SequSpur]

how many fukin steps does kobe get? 4?

[ChuckD]

Raja Bell, you just got knocked the fuck out!!!

[T Park]

Gasol defensively is absolutely horrible.

[T Park]

Ok that knot thats already grown, was disgusting...

[baseline bum]

O'Neal with the offensive board and 2 FT. He's murdering LA right now.

[T Park]

Shaq seems to be settling for those hook shots and one handers quite a bit.

His free throw shooting is as horrid as ever still.

[T Park]

15 and 9 for Shaq right now.

PRetty darn good night for just his first night.

[baseline bum]

This is bad news; this ain't Miami Shaq.

[T Park]

Mike Tirico seems to be honkin on the Suns pretty hard.

[Holt's Cat]

This is bad news; this ain't Miami Shaq.

To be fair, Mengke Bateer could violate Gasol.

[T Park]

This is bad news; this ain't Miami Shaq.


You knew he wouldn't be.

[T Park]

Personally I think Shaq is still settling for the jumper hook alot just like in Miami.

Thomas and or Duncan is strong enough to shove him out far enough to make him miss.

[z0sa]

Personally I think Shaq is still settling for the jumper hook alot just like in Miami.

Thomas and or Duncan is strong enough to shove him out far enough to make him miss.

Thomas can effectively guard Shaq 1on1.

Leave amare to tim and co.

[T Park]

The Suns offense with barbosa in there, the BBall IQ drops significantly.

[ChuckD]

Shaq has no body control. He's taking out team mates, opponents, refs...

[ancestron]

Shaq did alright.

[ManuTim_best of Fwiendz]

Yeah, Shaq looked pretty good in crunch time.

It's wishful thinking for Spurs fan, that Shaq is completely washed up. He still there to make some plays.

[Admidave50]

He had a good night for his first game for the Suns, playing against the Lakers was certainly a motivation for him. Wait to see the next couple of games to really see what we can expect from him

[z0sa]

i wish i could have seen this game ... :(

[Louie Vega]

I'm glad I didn't !

[Agloco]

And i was someone who thought this might improve the suns...i might have been wrong.

He looks very slow and out of shape, not to mention he looks lost out there.

Every time the suns try and run he stops at about half court, if the suns dont score they end up playing 4 on 5 or have to wait for him to get back haha....wow

:drunk :drunk



Shaq might have a few good games here and there. I think that his days of consistently good play are over however. The Suns will be lucky if they get good mileage out of him through this years playoffs.

[2Cleva]

Shaq looked good. He'll be a force on offense and the glass - he does free up Amare.

But like someone said - Amare and Shaq up front defensively is horrible. Simply run around them and you got a layup.

But LA showed why they may be the best in the West tonight. Gasol couldn't handle Shaq but I'm not worried because Bynum will have his back soon enough.

[SA Gunslinger]

But like someone said - Amare and Shaq up front defensively is horrible. Simply run around them and you got a layup.

Tim Legler.

He said you can just pic-n-roll Amare, Shaq, and Nash to death.

[nkdlunch]

this was a great game. Lakers are #1 team and favorite especially if Bynum comes back healthy.

But suns and mavs... not so much

[K-State Spur]

This is bad news; this ain't Miami Shaq.

actually, it looked a lot like the Miami Shaq. 15 & 9 in 29 min? pretty close to his average.

by the way, they also gave up 130 points tonight. so much for shaq defending the lane...

[E20]

Shaq played to his season averages ~15 and ~9, had a nice dish and he hustled twice. The hustling was expected in his 1st game as he wants the world to see that he will back up his statment. Other than that his D was horrendous and Phoneix more or less look the same nothing too special. However Shaq looked GREAT coming back from his 'injury' which backs Walton's statments that Shaq fakes injuries.

[Purple & Gold]

I think you mean Gasol looks terrible.

God he's soft. Good thing for the Lakers Kobe has enough balls for the both of them. :lol

Gasol's not paid to be a tough man. That's what we have Bynum for.

[Purple & Gold]

how many fukin steps does kobe get? 4?

:lol :lol It looked like 3 1/2

[Purple & Gold]

However Shaq looked GREAT coming back from his 'injury' which backs Walton's statments that Shaq fakes injuries.

Of course he does. I can't remember the last time he played a full season. 30 games and playoffs is a good Shaq season.

[ancestron]

Bynum better come back shitting gold bricks for all this talk.

[z0sa]

Bynum better come back shitting gold bricks for all this talk.

he'll be shitting bricks soon as he faces duncan or shaq in the playoffs. Either one will put him through a test of fire. Anyone remember a year ago or so whenever shaq and bynum got into it?

yeah, expect lots more of that drama if he starts to frustrate shaq.

[whottt]

The main thing I notice is that the Suns run the team through Shaq when Nash is on the bench. That sucks.


That's a been a huge achilles heel for the Suns...what happens to them when Nash is out of the game. They've addresssed that now...

Shaq was clearly trying to adjust to the Suns...he wasn't confident Shaq, he was trying to fit himself to the team and play a supporting role ...it won't take a long for him to make that adjustment.


It's also pretty obvious that he was trying to play second fiddle to Amare and stay out of his way...


Shaq wants this title people....he doesn't want to be tied with Duncan. He's not worried about shots or credit or anything of the kind...he's only worried about doing what the Suns want him to do to win a title. That's a problem for Spurfan.




And one other thing I noticed is that he got up and down the court pretty damn good...he may not like doing it, he may not do it if he doesn't have to...but he can still do it.


Shaq is still the fastest 300lb 7footer in the league...and one of the fastest legit bigs....still.

[Spursfury]

I hope everyone caught Shaquille Oneal's debut with the Suns last night. He was horrible he look like he should be on the Injured reserve list for Phoenix. He was talking so much smack about he can still run he look slow and out of shape. After the game when he was getting interviewed he was still breathin all hard. Phoenix was trying to hard to get him in the post like he is there first option and it didn't work. I am more concerned about the Kidd trade than the Oneal trade. I wouldn't be suprised if they get knocked out in the first round like Dallas last year...



GO SPURS GO

[polandprzem]

Grass is green as I've checked last time

[mavsfan1000]

I think both trades sucked. Marion is their best defender along with Harris and Diop being Dallas's best defenders. Give up defense and you get screwed.

[hsxvvd]

In all honesty he looked better than I expected. He played hard, but the bad news for the Suns is that IMO that was as good as it will get.

[mathbzh]

He didn't play for a while, I think it is to early to know exactly what will happen in Phoenix. That said, I believe they will be in big trouble if they don't sign a decent perimeter defender to their roster.

One thing is to notice about that game:

46-33 => This is the rebounding score. Phoenix outrebonding a team is not so common. I don't know if it is only an effect of Shaq presence but it could change things in Phoenix.

[bresilhac]

Chill out it's his 1st game since December. He's rusty, give him 10 games.

Give Shaquille 10 games and he'll be finished for the year pretty much. It isn't rust that is his problem. It's old age and too much wear and tear. Old players, years past their days of effectiveness tend to deteriorate rapidly as time goes by not improve. It was funny watching Shaq sprint up the court after the goaltend as if he were 25 again. But those days are long since gone. Now Shaq can barely get up and down the court and even when he does it's too little too late.

[whottt]

I hope everyone caught Shaquille Oneal's debut with the Suns last night. He was horrible he look like he should be on the Injured reserve list for Phoenix. He was talking so much smack about he can still run he look slow and out of shape. After the game when he was getting interviewed he was still breathin all hard. Phoenix was trying to hard to get him in the post like he is there first option and it didn't work. I am more concerned about the Kidd trade than the Oneal trade. I wouldn't be suprised if they get knocked out in the first round like Dallas last year...



GO SPURS GO



Yeah...the Spurs obviously aren't worried about the Shaq trade at all...they just traded for Kurt Thomas for the hell of it...


Nice take.

[dimsah]

If you fuckers are scared then get a dog! God damn, bunch of whiney bitches.

"We should be worried about Shaq." "What are we gonna do?"

Grow a pair and then go watch a basketball game.

[hsxvvd]

Gasol's not paid to be a tough man. That's what we have Bynum for.

:lol

[urunobili]

premature ejaculation thread

[RonMexico]

:lol :lol It looked like 3 1/2

Yeah, he did. Oh, well.

I think my favorite moment was when Sasha and Pau embraced. If that's not a poster for promoting gay marriage, then I don't know what is.

[whottt]

If you fuckers are scared then get a dog! God damn, bunch of whiney bitches.

"We should be worried about Shaq." "What are we gonna do?"

Grow a pair and then go watch a basketball game.


That's no way to talk about Pop and RC. Shame on you.

[RonMexico]

He didn't play for a while, I think it is to early to know exactly what will happen in Phoenix. That said, I believe they will be in big trouble if they don't sign a decent perimeter defender to their roster.

One thing is to notice about that game:

46-33 => This is the rebounding score. Phoenix outrebonding a team is not so common. I don't know if it is only an effect of Shaq presence but it could change things in Phoenix.

Rebounding was great. Didn't translate into defensive stops, but Kobe shot a really tough 64%. I'd say he was uncontested on maybe 3 of his attempts. His adrenaline was pumping, too, we see.

Suns just need to rotate on shooters in the corner better. They try to do the same thing with Hill, Diaw, and Bell, so they should be used to it.

Extra defender is key. Or just play Strawberry and get the kid some confidence. Quinton Ross is my #1 choice, but I don't know if we have enough to convince Donald Sterling to get rid of him.

[mathbzh]

Grow a pair and then go watch a basketball game.

The size of yours should not have much impact on how well Phoenix plays.

I am not scared of Phoenix or any team but I respect them. Fans and medias laugh at the Shaq trade... coaches and GM try to address the matchup problems it creates. They may not fear Shaq anymore but at least they respect him.

[sribb43]

Shaq also looks motivated.

its just sad how he claims his hip feels pain free and now he is motivated...i wonder what his Heat teammates think of him not being healthy or motivated to play for them

[sribb43]

Duncan will abuse Amare or Shaq in the post
Dirk will abuse Grant Hill or Amare

Suns would have been fine if they kept Thomas and Marion IMO......watching kobe drop 41 last night will be a common thing for Suns opponents the remainder of the season. people will have monster games... already CP3, Dirk, now Kobe have had 35+ point efforts against them since the Matrix left

[mathbzh]

I agree with you (this is why I believe they must sign a wing defender). But before that trade, Al Jefferson, Andrew Bynum, Tim Duncan... any decent big in the league had career night against the Spurs... The Suns didn't have a shot for a championship... now, with bigs IF, they may have one.

And Kobe can drop 41 any given night regardless of who is guarding him. Before that game he dropped 16 (in just 28 minutes) , 30 (in 39 minutes) and 38 (in 41minutes) despite Marion. That is not much better than 41 in 46.

[1Parker1]

Kobe has been going off lately. Yesterday, Bell contested pretty much every shot and Kobe would just look Bell in the face, look at the clock winding down and hit his little fadeaway. :wow

[703 Spurz]

And i was someone who thought this might improve the suns...i might have been wrong.

He looks very slow and out of shape, not to mention he looks lost out there.

Every time the suns try and run he stops at about half court, if the suns dont score they end up playing 4 on 5 or have to wait for him to get back haha....wow

:drunk :drunk

Jumping the gun there pal?

[DazedAndConfused]

You guys are crazy. Shaq looked great out there considering it was his 1st game in a month. The Diesel seems to have instantly solved a lot of their most glaring problems, and Amare will be a much better player because of this. He is an absolute beast.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

Offensively I think he's going to be better than advertised. He and Nash were already showing signs of some pretty good chemistry. I don't know how much Pau Gasol represents a real defensive test for him, but he looked good. That dive on the floor impressed me; I think the motivation is definitely there. Defensively this team is going to be just as bad as they ever were, and that's what's killed them in the past. On top of that he picked up 5 fouls tonight, and it seemed like the refs were really just letting them play.

I know it was a big game so I'm not suprised to see slightly more minutes than most were expecting, but I hope D'Antoni isn't counting on him putting in 30 a night in this system for the rest of the year. It's just one game, but it didn't do anything to change my initial reaction to this trade: it changes the look of the Suns, makes them noticeably better in the half court, but will not be enough to put them over the hump in such a stacked WC.

[BonnerDynasty]

Shaq looked good, but I think Bayless actually had a good take for once. If they are going to set up plays for Shaq and really focus in on him being productive on offense, go for it PHX. I'll take PHX running more half-court against the Spurs who have been doing half-court forever. Spurs slow it down for PHX anyways but I think we can take Shaq and his Suns.

Shaq also looked pretty slow on defense. Amare still getting in foul trouble, here we come :hungry:

Also good to see Shaq has been working on his free throws.

[Spurminator]

Given D'Antoni's penchant for playing 7 or 8-man rotations, I will not be surprised if Shaq is pretty worn out by the end of the season.

[missmyzte]

its just sad how he claims his hip feels pain free and now he is motivated...i wonder what his Heat teammates think of him not being healthy or motivated to play for them
He did say recently that he didn't run for the Heat because no one was going to pass him the ball anyway so there was no point. He'll run for the Suns because they'll pass him the ball everytime.

And people still say KOBE was the only cancer in LA???

[rAm]

Yeah, he did. Oh, well.

I think my favorite moment was when Sasha and Pau embraced. If that's not a poster for promoting gay marriage, then I don't know what is.

yea I was like wtf was that?

just shows you how gay sasha is, gasol was like what the fuck you little queer get off me

[RonMexico]

Given D'Antoni's penchant for playing 7 or 8-man rotations, I will not be surprised if Shaq is pretty worn out by the end of the season.

That's the main problem. He can go 10 deep with the current roster and easily go that far if they add another piece today.

Will he? Probably not.

Will Kerr be pissed? I would.

[RonMexico]

yea I was like wtf was that?

just shows you how gay sasha is, gasol was like what the fuck you little queer get off me

I've made the gay joke about a few players over the years:

-Magic and Isiah making out at midcourt all the time
-Mike Miller looking like a lesbian
-Dirk for loving Hasselhoff

But, I honestly and truly think that Sasha Vujacic loves penis.

[Sportcamper]

Shaq looked great…He gives the Suns “teeth”…He may have lost a step but he is Entertaining and worth the price of admission……