what bench?
Bingo, this was very apparent last night in the fourth quarter of the game. Another Suns fan just said "it was one of those nights" and "throw the tape away" but that's ridiculous because the Suns were so close to taking the game from the Wolves and in a close game situation against a relatively good team (Wolves, Mavs), they rely on the buckets. They REALLY need to pick up a decent backup PG.
KG was ridiculous last night but he had quite a bit of help spread throughout about 4-5 other players.
5th game on a long road trip tends to be a hard one, especially when your team has won 17 straight. I don't think it was any indication of the state of the Suns, especially since it was against the Minnesota Timberwolves and because, you know, the 17 games prior.
I believe the Suns are going to make a trade here pretty soon for another active contributor, a back up PG or C, that'll help strengthen the bench. And when Kurt Thomas returns, we'll be much better off. For some reason, whenever KT goes down, our defense takes a hit.
That and their inability to play defense
They need a true backup PG or need to take it out of LB's hands and put Diaw in charge of ball-handling/running the offense when Nash is out. It's pretty simple to run switch up your offense and run it through a post player, especially one with the court vision of Diaw.
Yes and no. The Wolves hit 59% and they were on fire the whole night. With KG hitting EVERYTHING, they did need buckets to keep up. In other words, I couldn't have seen any other player hitting the types of shots he was last night (unblockable 15+ fadeaways) except maybe Dirk on his 50 point night. Once the Suns had to commit everyone (it seemed like all 5 guys were creeping in the lane), the Suns got killed by Foye and Jaric (don't get me started on Madsen) when they nailed wide open jumpers. They were very close even with 2 minutes left but shots that normal fall (12 foot runner by Nash) didn't and Amare was non-existent.
We are talking about a game that in May not even the Suns will remember much less us. It was the end of a road trip and KG was on fire. Every dog has his day. I doubt that the Wolves will play that well again.
^I'm saying that the Suns starters have been playing too many minutes all year, and given their style of play, this is dangerous for them come playoff time. I was just using the Wolves game as an example. You could take alot of Suns box scores and do that. D'Antonti needs to ease off the accelerator for awhile.
That maybe but this whole bench thing is a little overrated. Last year the Mavs made it to the Finals with basically Stackhouse and Diop as the only bench players opposing teams took notice of. I doubt Armstrong and Daniels kept Popovich,D'Antoni and Riley up at night. However the Suns could use a point guard to back up Nash Banks does not cut it. Also they could use a Center to either back up Amare or allow him to slide to power forward. As it is right now though the Suns have enough to win.
The bench aspect is probably overrated more and more as you go through the playoffs, but you don't want to be worn out, especially with the Suns style. I remember in game 7 of the 05 Finals the Spurs bench was Horry and Barry, plus Devin Brown for about a minute.
I agree, I would hope that as the season goes on and the Suns lock up one of the top 3 seeds that Nash,Marion and Stoudemire start playing reduced minutes. I would be happy winning 50 games and earning the 3rd seed if it means a rested and fresh Marion,Nash and Amare. We have to wait to see if the Suns make any trades before the deadline.
I agree that D'Antoni is doing a poor job of managing minutes.
But I think it's foolish to definitively say that it will "do them in." The playoffs aren't here, so there's no way of telling.
I don't think it will do them in as they have made the West Finals the last 2 years winning some tough series with the Mavs,Clippers and Lakers. Mind you they have won those series with injuries. Johnson in 05 and Amare,Bell and Thomas in 06. Still he needs to find a way down the road to cut down the minutes for Nash and if possible Marion and Stoudemire.
You might be right, I just wanted to put myself on record. If the Suns win it all or none of their starters look particularly worn down in the series they lose then I will admit that I was wrong about the Suns' short bench, and therefor large starters' minutes in the regular season, being their downfall.
Yeah, and those injuries in the past two years haven't been fatigue related (Joe Johnson - freak accident; Kurt Thomas - stress fracture; Amare - surgery). Now, Nash's deterioration and back problems have been fatigue related in the past 2 years, BUT this is the first summer in a long time that he has dedicated strictly to conditioning and personal training. Like there's no way to tell if this pace will wear the Suns down come April/May, there's no way to tell if Nash not playing soccer or for the Canadian National Team will help him deeper into the playoffs, because theoretically he would need to make it through 2 extra playoff series (WCF win and then the Finals).
Still, I know he has changed his personality this season to a more serious one, and we've seen what he can do when he's pissed (i.e. almost 3 straight triple-doubles against Dallas in 05 WCSF), so maybe his determination can help him grit his teeth and pull out some extra energy. Since he is the team leader, the rest of the guys should feed off his energy and hopefully lead to a better team effort. But again, this thread is just full of a lot of speculation and I'm simply adding to it.
Nash will need the energy in a playoff series vs. the Mavs as Dallas will use 4-5 different defenders against him throughout the games/series to try to wear him down. They'll use Harris, Terry (hopefully not too much), Howard, Buckner and even D.George against him. Of course, Nash can beat all those guys but the point will be to wear him down. I'm guessing that Buckner will be used specifically to be physical with him (meaning Buckner will be in foul trouble a lot)
suns bench will do them in.."the ass?"
no but the reason dallas is better is beacuse of their deeper bench and better rebounding.
No, the starters are doing them in tonight. They want to start a more impressive 17-game losing streak.
that would be more suprising, but im afraid boston will hit it first.
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