Whats your thoughts
suns with their amazing offence, Amare back, Nash, Marion e.t.c
Jazz with their great team-work, great rebounding and great frontcourt
thoughts?
Printable View
Whats your thoughts
suns with their amazing offence, Amare back, Nash, Marion e.t.c
Jazz with their great team-work, great rebounding and great frontcourt
thoughts?
i think mavs should be included too!
Not scared of the Suns. The Jazz will fade whether that be late down the stretch or once they reach the playoffs (granted they stay healthy which is NOT granted). Hate to say it, but the Mavs are the only versatile and SIMILAR team that could knock us off in the West. Rockets will be tough if they're healthy too.
They will be yes but I'm asking which of those two would be a bigger threat. As the spurs may meet them in round two...depending how the seeds workQuote:
Originally Posted by Emanuel20
i cant ever remember the west being this fucking loaded. Even during the kobe/shaq era it was nowhere as tough because the west about the Spurs/Lakers and then everybody else. This is different because there are a few teams capable of beating both the spurs and mavs.
Gotta go with the Suns because of their matchup problems.
A healthy Amare is damn-near unguardable. Boris Diaw as a super-quick PF. Leandro Barbosa as a quick, elusive SG. And they have the great facilitator who will be working w/o cuts on his fingers w/ the new-old leather ball.
I think the Jazz will be tougher defensively for sure, but their biggest question will be with depth. Can they survive the grind of 82 games while healthy? I'd be concerned w/ Boozer and Kirilenko's health if I was them. They should be good though.
spurs already destroyed the suns!!!!
the mavs are the only team im worried about and i dont think they will beat us in a 7 game series!!!
Yeah, two years ago........Quote:
Originally Posted by batman2883
i'm honestly worried by all three: Suns, Jazz and Mavs. Even the Lakers to a degree. I think Spurs fans are fooling themselves if they think we shouldn't take each of those teams very seriously. Hopefully, in a 7-game series, experience will be the factor that tips victory our way, but those teams all have youth on their side. And sometimes, youth beats out experience. Not often, but sometimes.
If we're talking ONLY about the Jazz and the Suns, I'd have to say I'm a little more scared of the Jazz.
You guys can't sweep the Lakers under the rug like you want to. LA has the biggest frontline in the West, best overall player, and best coach.
It's all going to come down to health....the West is loaded for sure.
The knicks should be a threat to the spurs.
I agree Lakers will be a threat but biggest frontline?Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Cleva
Kwame, Odom, Bynum, Walton, TuriafQuote:
Originally Posted by The_Game
Yes, biggest frontline. Most athletic as well. Assuming they are healthy come playoff time, they will hurt teams inside.
Mavs. I'm not afraid of Jazzers or Suns.
Well, yeah when you play 5 guys in your frontline! :lol
Cleva is right though....Lakers are again part of the equasion. They are back to being the best team in LA with the second best coach in LA.
A healthy Rockets team poses the greatest threat of all...
even healthy I would put Houston after SA, LA, Dallas, Utah, and Phoenix (in no particular order)
None ; injuries are the only threat
(as far as matchups against the Spurs are concerned)Quote:
Originally Posted by MosesGuthrie
Yao > Kwame + Bynum
Wells = Odom
Bryant => McGrady
Alston or Sura >>> Smush Parker
P. Jax > Van Gundy
Rockets Defense >>>> Lakers Defense
suns have the best talented team and if amare keeps getting better they have a domiant big man inside. along with the MVP.
No team has better players than the Suns, in theory they should be the toughest test for the spurs due to who they have.
health is the main reason why suns havn't made the finals.
you mean position by position?Quote:
No team has better players than the Suns
Threats to Spurs:
1. Lack of Rebounding
2. Small Ball
3. Dallas Mavericks
I mean players as a wholeQuote:
Originally Posted by MosesGuthrie
roster wise
They have the MVP
a 20 and 10 player
a beast in Amare
Barbosa with 16-18 PPG off the bench
Kurt thomas a guy who can give them 9-8 a game off the bench
Raja Bell could pour in 14-17 a game
Diaw can put up 10+, 6 and 6
they are very talented.
Those who don't think they can win it all are clueless.
Wells is nowhere near the player that Odom is. Wells was MAYBE on his level for one playoff series versus the Spurs, but hasn't done a thing this year. Odom may have just been injured, but when healthy, he's 10 times the player that Wells is.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phenomanul
Bryant is far and away better than McGrady and comes without the injury concerns, so that negates the lack of point guard play.
Oh and speaking of PG's, Farmar, whom you forgot, and Parker are better than Alston. And is Sura even playing again???
The Rockets...or Rocket that scares me is Yao and...that's it.
The Suns were healthy in 2003.
They are a very good team and are capable of winning the west, however I think the consensus here is that the Spurs have more than two threats. Phoenix can light it up but they also get lit up. They are second in most points allowed and 16th in both rebounding and blocked shots. They need to get better defensively.
Mavs, Suns, Jazz, Lakers, us.
I would not be surprised if that group ended the season within 3Ls max of each other.
iow, Spurs should start playing NOW for HCA, not on March 1.
Jazz the champs this year, book it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by RS189
If they had a skinny, sweet-shooting two guard, I'd call them the 2004 Detriot Pistons.
EDIT:
PG - Tough-nosed, big defensive guard w/ shooting touch
SF - Long, lanky do-it-all guy
PF - Big with Range
C - Defensive toughness (though Boozer can score)
Overall: Gritty defensive-oriented team that won't score a bunch of points....though neither will their opponent.
I give them a shot, but think that the rest of the league has improved considerably.
I don't think the 2004 Pistons could win this year, so I don't think the 2007 Jazz can.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Game
Thank you for this amazing logic and lack of a short-sighted "we've beat them before" or "they don't play defense" kind of BS. I'm not saying the Suns are a front-runner to win the West, but to count them out/ignore them would just be stupid. I wonder if people's tunes would change if Raja Bell hit that FT and they won it in regulation earlier this season... and the Jazz didn't go on that run to beat SA...
Quote:
Originally Posted by MosesGuthrie
They are second-most in points allowed, but 3rd in point differential, and I think it's important to note that, as well. Sometimes their best defense is their offense because they'll let a team score and then run on down and score within a few seconds. Numbers are also skewed by the New Jersey game where they gave up 157.
And in 2003, they had a completely different team - Stephon Marbury at PG, Penny Hardaway at SG, Jake Voshkul at C and Frank Johnson as head coach.... doesn't matter that they were healthy...
I would agree that Odom > Wells...Quote:
Originally Posted by PHAT TONY
Matchup wise, however Wells causes more problems for the Spurs than Odom does...
The fact that Wells is currently in Van Gundy's dog-house does nothing to dissuade the difference... er my opinion anyways....
McGrady is streaky... but when he's on (and healthy); NO ONE can stop him.Quote:
Originally Posted by PHAT TONY
I guess the same could be said of Bryant; except that Bruce has a better feel for Bryant's game than he does for McGrady's. McGrady is longer.
True, Sura is not yet playing... but he's a much better playmaker than any of the other three.... he's got a little bit of Manu's quirkyness to his game.Quote:
Originally Posted by PHAT TONY
And again, as far as matchups are concerned Alston is a harder matchup for Tony because Alston is a better assists playmaker than Smush. He can also knock down the deep ball with higher accuracy than Smush. Smush's only advantage over Tony is that his length bothers Tony.
We agree on this one.... very few if any can guard Yao straight up (without getting into foul trouble that is)....Quote:
Originally Posted by PHAT TONY
I don't think HCA really matters that much to the Spurs. It's always a good thing to have but they're confident enough to know they can win on the road in the playoffs. I think they (much like the Mavs) tend to play better on the road. I know home court doesn't mean squat when the Spurs & Mavs play. It doesn't mean much when the Mavs & Suns play either. I'm guessing it's the same with the Spurs & Suns.Quote:
Originally Posted by boutons_
While neither team really concerns me when I think of a 7 game playoff series in comparison to the Mavs, that's not to say that either team would be an easy out for the Spurs. I'm guessing the Suns right now. Its just too early. I picked the Suns because they've been running deep into the playoffs the past couple of years and it seems Amare Stoudemire is gearing back into form.
:tuQuote:
Originally Posted by timvp
Agree with this list 100%. I really hope Elson can pick up our system better and win the starting spot because if we don't pick up another rebounding forward this year, our rebounding will be our ultimate undoing.
We may have won tonight against Minny but we were outrebounded. Again. Elson seems to be our only big besides Tim that can board worth a damn and that's a scary thought. The Jazz would be a very tough out in the playoffs just because of their rebounding.
As you also correctly mention, the second biggest chink in our armor is small ball. Because of our lack of a true SF, pop is still toying with small ball playing Finley at PF even though we got burned with this strategy last year. All the threats for the title this year have true SFs that could force Pop into his smallball ways.
I agree with everything you had to say RonMexico. No one should overlook the Suns this year and you cannot compare this team to two years ago or even last year. The Jazz are playing very well also and should not be taken lightly either. Neither the Mavs or the Spurs are way ahead of us and as of tonight we are ahead of the Mavs. The season has just begun and there is a lot more to play so don't go counting your eggs before they are hatched, Spurs and Mavs fans!
Thanks. I'm just trying to keep perspective. I'm not making grand generalizations about the playoffs in December. I'm just trying to say that I see this Suns team getting better, rather than worse as the year goes on and I don't see many glaring issues personnel-wise. Spurs fans keep complaining that need to get someone for Finley or get another rebounding big-man or stop toying with small-ball.
The Suns (aside from a truly effective backup PG) have a good roster intact and just need to work on things such as maintaining intensity (and, therefore, big leads). Banks can become a quality backup, but I just think he needs time and confidence - and then that can put Barbosa back in his natural role of SG. I think Jalen Rose will prove valuable late in the year as Jim Jackson and Tim Thomas did the past 2 seasons.
I think they need to work on some of their fundamental defense, such as how they handle screens and not getting lazy on the shooters, which has been improving the past 6 games or so. (They already play the passing lanes and double-team extremely well.) They need to work on defense now because they've proven they can't just "switch it on" come playoff time. Thirdly, the more Amare comes along, the more I think they'll be able to survive better in a half-court game.
LOL Suns homers, the Mavs and Spurs have beaten you this season. Let's look at your mighty record.
Games you've won - 15
- 10 teams under 0.500
- 2 teams at 0.500
- THREE teams above 0.500 and one of those teams is in the east, easier schedule
Games you've lost - 6
- losses to teams above 0.500 --> ALL OF THEM!!! You've lost to the Jazz twice and one apiece to the Spurs, Mavericks, Clippers, Lakers...basically you can't hang with the West teams that are above 0.500...i'm not saying you won't be able to, you just haven't done so yet and you've had plenty of opportunities
beat the elite a bit more often and then we'll talk
Quote:
Originally Posted by ponky
DAMN I hate to agree with a Mavs fan but he laid the smack-down all on your ass. :lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by phyzik
it's even better than He is a SHE, hahahahaha!
Yeah, ok - your record against above .500 teams isn't so great either, so just stop right there. Secondly, when did those losses occur for the Suns? Oh yeah, in the first 2 weeks of the season with 3 back-to-backs in a row. I'll admit, the Suns were really out of whack with their chemistry and their ability to keep leads at that point in time and I was getting very frustrated and anxious about this season.Quote:
Originally Posted by ponky
However, they had double digit leads in 4 of their losses and were a Raja Bell FT away from beating the Spurs in SA, then had to play the Mavs the next night after an OT game in Texas. So don't talk to me about how great the Mavs have played against piss-poor competition this year, as you can see below.
Mavs have LOST to Sub-.500 teams THREE Times!! I'm happy the Suns haven't blown a fucking easy game against one of those ninnies. So, the Mavs have beaten Memphis TWICE... BIG fucking deal. Memphis is 5-17... wow, real quality wins. Yes, the Suns lost to Utah, but had a 19 point lead in that game, while you guys got BLOWN OUT! The reason I find comfort in that is because the Suns haven't lost to a sub-.500 team this year and they tend to do it a lot because they play down to their competition.
Mavs have only beaten 4 teams with an above .500 record, which is *GASP* only 1 more than the Suns!!! Guess where that win came? In Phoenix, on the second night of a back-to-back when Amare was sucking it up and the whole team was in vagina mode. Now they've rattled off a 12-game winning streak (like your Mavs did) against only slightly better competition than Dallas had and all of a sudden you're discrediting this streak.
Talk to me when you don't get blown out against Utah, the Clippers (sub-.500), Washington (sub-.500), and Detroit (in the east, so as you say "easier schedule").
The greater irony is that your signature is littered with quotes blasting the officials, when your Baby Dirky is one of the most coddled players in the history of the NBA.
Indeed. :tuQuote:
Originally Posted by RonMexico
Haha, BTBs as an excuse? You're talking to the wrong person, we don't have BTB problems, we also played three of them in a row a couple of weeks ago right before meeting San Antonio the day after Thanksgiving.Quote:
Originally Posted by RonMexico
"Yes, the Suns lost to Utah, but had a 19 point lead in that game, while you guys got BLOWN OUT!"
This is something to celebrate? It's much better to get blown out than to lose a lead and then lose the entire game when you had the W in your pocket. Like I said, it's the winning record that counts and you haven't beaten us or the Spurs and those are the only teams that matter. If you want to count yourself in the mix then look at the records of these teams against each other. Mavs have beaten the Spurs once and the Suns once...Spurs have beaten the Mavs once and the Suns once...and the Suns have beaten...they have beaten...help me out here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonMexico
I find them funny and the Harris foul was a big deal because Duncan was shooting a three, which in itself is pretty fucking hilarious. Shall I go get those foul stats for you as well? Last time I checked Wade and Duncan garnered more fouls than Dirk...this season AND last. I only post those quotes because Spurs fans like to bitch about Dirk and his fouls but they don't talk about all the freebies Duncan gets.
Um, that Utah loss was on the road in OT and like I said, they were working on chemistry issues (oh yeah, and Nash wasn't playing, because if he was there, I think he would have righted the ship and they would have won that game). You're basing this on one loss... In fact, it's even funnier because I was watching that game and Okur got 3 FTs at the end of regulation in a play very similar to the play for which you attack Ronnie Nunn.
Your record against above-.500 teams is still BELOW .500, so I don't know what your point is here... that we lost to the Mavs early in the season? Ok, congratulations.
Suns had back-to-backs against quality teams like Dallas, San Antonio, and Utah... not Memphis (like Mavs did) - if you don't win a B2B against Memphis, the league should contract your franchise.
Haha - Duncan posts up down low and gets double teams. Dirk gets to the FT by standing outside and falling to the ground on his jumpshots.Quote:
Originally Posted by ponky
LMFAO, look at all these "what-ifs" "maybes" and lame ass excuses for your losses. You don't see the frickin' point? You have yet to beat a team in the West that will most certainly make the playoffs and you've had six chances to do so already. Oh but, you have your excuses to fall back on, so I guess that's something. I don't make excuses for the shitty start of our season, there really isn't any to make, everyone knows the date of game one so they should've been prepared. I'm not touting the Mavs win streak as any big accomplishment, I don't like several things about the way they're playing right now BUT at least we've managed to beat a couple of our contenders whereas you can't really say the same. Besides, my original post was in reference to some silly Suns fan telling Spurs/Mavs fans to watch out for the Suns. Watch out for what? We're not the Nets.Quote:
Originally Posted by RonMexico
we fear nobody besides pops rotations
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonMexico
Right cause Dirk never gets double-teamed and Duncan never gets fouled from a couple of feet outside the paint. That's why everyone was crying foul when Dampier blocked his shot outside of the paint in the semis. Now you're just talking out of hatred for the Mavs with no reasoning behind your statements. Anyway, I have nothing wrong with Duncan, he's a great baller so I'm not going to bash him but I think your comparison is dumb.
BTW, way to focus on stupid silly stuff like sigs. I believe you posted this earlier, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonMexico
This guy is a douche bag, take what he says with a pound of fucking salt. All 88 of his post's are nothing but nonsense.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nashfan
:lolQuote:
Originally Posted by TDMVPDPOY
Dirk rarely gets double-teamed like Duncan does... no one double-teams you at the 3-point line, dollface. You're right, Duncan can be a couple of feet outside the paint... not 20 feet and getting "bear-hugged." That's what you all call defense up there since Avery came to town, right?Quote:
Originally Posted by ponky
Haha, oh, so I'm making excuses, but not the girl who says that Wade and Duncan have gone to line way too much the past couple of seasons (how can I be wrong to view this as a thinly-veiled excuse as to why you lost in the Finals last year)?
It's not really an excuse from me, because I'm just pointing out that they weren't playing well and they should have won those games (oh, and I think when your two-time MVP is out for a game against the #1 team in the West, it's not an excuse to say he would have made a difference in a 3-point loss... I figured you'd take pity on me too, since the officials blew a call and we all know how much you care about that).
I was saying that they didn't get blown out by Utah and the Clippers like the Mavs have. In fact, they haven't been blown out at all this year: they've been in each of those losses, and just didn't execute down the stretch. However, now they are executing, so the rematches with those "better" teams in the West should turn in their favor, I hope. Basically, I'm saying that nothing about the Mavs scares me when we face them. Unlike facing the Spurs has scared me every year since '03.
Lastly, please don't get involved in my discussions with that little bitch dirk4mvp - my goal is simply to get under his skin and call his homer ass out. You seem to be less of a homer, but more of a Suns hater, so I'm giving you a little hard time, but I still respect you more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RonMexico
Ummm, first off, you should once again check and see how many 3s Dirk's taken this year before you pull rabbits out of your ass. He's been trying to take less of them and working on getting inside a bit more.
Please point to where I said that I thought Wade and Duncan have gone to the line way too many times? I never said such a thing. If you read carefully, what I pointed out was that Dirk goes to the line no more than do Wade and Duncan, see the difference between those two statements? The only reason I point this out is because there are fans who like to bitch about officiating...I'm not one of those. Sigs are funny and meant to rile up people, you do understand that with your *he posts like a girl* comment, right? I didn't even bring up the topic of fouls, you did.
Lastly, I'm not a Suns hater, nor a Nash hater. I just think the Suns haven't gone the distance yet...never said they won't but I don't like little shits like that Nash poster telling us to not count our chicks before they're hatched or however that dumb saying goes.
As for Dirk41MVP, I'll try to refrain from posting, I hadn't noticed his discussions, but have at it. I'm moving on to something else for now...until we meet you guys in January!
:santahat
WTF A LEGIT POST FROM THIS GUY?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirk Nowitzki
Even a blind squirrel can find a nut every now and then - I guess this guy actually posted something intelligent.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sense
Well, I guess we can agree that I don't like being generalized with all Suns fan homers, just as you don't like to be generalized and included with all Mavs homers.Quote:
Originally Posted by ponky
I was just saying that you used Duncan and Wade as your examples, so I read between the lines and assummed you were upset about officiating in the Finals (you use Rasheed Wallace as a source in your sig quote), and that you say Spurs fans complain too much about Duncan - both seem to indicate a chip on the shoulder...
too hard to tell. Jazz are unproven in the playoffs so they are a question mark. Suns are usually not too tough for us in the playofss Amare or no.
The Suns are a different (not saying better or worse) team than previous years. Diaw and Banks can make a difference with their D. It'll be interesting, but that's another reason I said Suns over Jazz in this thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by nkdlunch
bumpQuote:
Originally Posted by Phenomanul
And here people thought I was crazy.
It was just one game and from the parts of the game I saw the Spurs missed a lot of wide open shots.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phenomanul
Quote:
Originally Posted by mabber
I'm not basing it on last night. Last night simply served as an example.
If not for a miracle comeback in Houston... we would be 0-2 against them this year. Not to mention we don't have an answer for either Wells (the new Spurs killer) or Yao.
Houston matches up favorably against the Spurs.
Yeah... I don't expect Juwan Howard or Battier to shoot flawlessly against the Spurs every time they play. But consider that McGrady wasn't even playing.
I think the Rockets play better as a team w/o TMac. Yao gets more shots and that's definitely better for them. Of course, I think they need TMac to have a chance in the west but he needs to defer more to Yao.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phenomanul
I'm not sure who matches up well with Yao. He abuses the Mavs everytime they play as well. The Mavs just concentrate on stopping the other guys when they play.
I was wondering if those bizarre lineups and strange rotations were part of a big Pop plan not to give our supposed playoffs opponents some material to work on.Quote:
Originally Posted by TDMVPDPOY
He did the same against the Mavs.
I don't mean he wants to lose those games, but sometimes it seems like he's making the exact opposite choices that everybody else would have made. :(
Does he want to save his weapons for later ?
CIA Pop ?
Haven't y'all seen this every year since Pop has been the Spur's coach? He experiments with lineups/rotations for the first half the season until he figures out what works best. This is why the Spurs always start playing their best basketball in the second half of the season and into the playoffs. As long as the Spur's have the best record or are close to the best record Pop can get away with doing this. He has a good enough team to get away with this and he takes advantage of it. Avery does the same thing and you know he learned it from Pop. Avery experimented with how he used Jason Terry the first 20 games of the year and it cost them a 2-3 losses at least.Quote:
Originally Posted by JPB
I'd think most of you Spur's fans would realize this by now and not be too concerned with him using different rotations or lineups early in season. Obviously, it's going to cost the team a few losses but you can't learn what works best w/o seeing what doesn't work.
I promise you he's not trying to hide anything from possible playoff opponents this early in the season :lol
Pop is a GREAT coach!!! I guess some of you have only been fans thru the successful years and sometimes lose sight of that or don't realize it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mabber
I get you point.
But we're not talking about big experimentations or major moves here.
Sometimes you see a player or a combination which has been efficient during a game completely disappear for a player/combination that has sucked badly and continues to suck, whithout legitimate reason.
And it might cost the game. :(
And yes Pop is a great coach. That's why I'm questioning.
I've only seen about 10 Spurs games this season so he, obviously, could be doing this a bit differently but that (experimenting with rotations/lineups early in season) has always been his way of doing things.Quote:
Originally Posted by JPB
That's why I'm not really worried and I think we will see another epic Mavs-Spurs series next year. :) . See you there.Quote:
Originally Posted by mabber