Game Day: Suns (9-5) @ Raptors (11-2), Mon 11/24/14

[Ring_Wanted]

Didn't get to watch the game tonight. Were Goran and Len as awful as their +/- shows?

Dragic didn't play well, Len was alright, but nothing special.

I'm hoping Marcus and Plumlee have played themselves out of the starting lineup.

Dragic's season has been really hard to swallow so far. This could be a very very long year for him.

Last season he led the team in +/-, basically tied with Frye (in contrast Tolliver is the worst on the current roster by a mile). This year, playing the same, he is posting a negative value.

It's unbelievable, but the team is actually doing better when he is not on the court, or to be less hard on him and praising others, when his replacement is playing.

Can you imagine Nash playing with no Amare-Gortat/Frye-KT (even Marion-Diaw) by his side?

Santa, if you are listening I want a trade involving a guard for a pick and roll/pop partner who can start or lat least play 20-25 mins. I know it is hard to accomplish, but I am open to anything.



As for Plumlee, he is bench bound indeed, but Len is too foul prone and inconsistent right now. Anyway looks good for those who called Len over Miles before the season.

Marcus has a case against Tucker because his defensive stats are actually better than PJ's, but rebounding makes a huge difference and Tucker is a clear plus there.

My ideal scenario involves adding that p+r big man and making Green-Marcus-Kieff the core of a potent second unit, plus a center who hopefully ends up being Plumlee because Len becomes real starting material.

[Ring_Wanted]

In the 1Q Valanciunas killed us but what he did to the Suns, Kieff paid them back, and there were stretches of fluid ball movement and smooth scoring. They displayed the side to side flux that Hornacek instilled last season and that, plus Markieff's effectiviness gave us the lead despite Valanciunas.

Our game morphes radically when the two microwaves are on the court together but we know that said change is only good or bad depending on the results, although it's not too eye pleasant, at least to me.

In the first half IT3-Green played with PJ, Tolliver and Plumlee/Shavlik which is a way to tell the rest of the lineup to get out of the way and focus on collecting garbage, plus some PJ here and there.

After giving the nukes some time to do their thing Hornacek put in Dragic and Bledsoe, trying a little of 3PG lineup that just doesn't work. One of the guards will just stand there and watch, and defensively you are guaranteed to have at least one matchup deficit.

After realizing this, IT3-Tolliver-Shavlik were taken out and the lineup became Bledsoe-Dragic-Green-PJ-Kieff. Small ball but it looked better, although Dragic kept struggling until was subbed by Marcus. Bledsoe-Green-Marcus-PJ-Kieff actually played good defense and by the end of the 2Q things were close again at 48-54, after trailing by 10.

[Ring_Wanted]

3Q was all Dragic, but the result was not good. He finally scored a field goal and immediately had another layup. At long last some explosion near the rim, against Valanciunas. From there on he took control of the ball and fed his teammates for layups or wide open threes, but it was a waste because nobody could make outside shots with the exception of PJ. Tolliver is an actual waste of space on both sides and I'd rather play Shavlik if forced, but above all I want to see TJ Warren at stretch PF.

Some turnovers here and there by Goran, little defense or rebounding and the Raps found themselves up by 13 after three quarters. 66-81.

IT3-Green-PJ-Tolliver-Len.

Vasquez is not quick but his size allowed him operate comfortably against IT3, not scoring but setting things up for rollers/shooters. Lowry also got what he wanted out of Isaiah, a clear contrast compared to Bledsoe.

Bledsoe in for Tolliver and we are back to 5on5.

10 minutes left and the Raps relaxed visibly, up by 14 and thinking the game was done, but you can't do that with IT and Green on the floor. 80-83 after back to back to back 3s by Thomas and suddenly there was a game. Kieff could have tied it but missed all his 3pt attempts.

Incredible offensive call against IT3 while shooting a three, instead of a foul on Ross for invading the shooter's landing space. Unbelievable. And since it was so obvious, the refs promptly amend it by calling a foul on Lou. It was a foul, so nice job and all but there's a big difference between 3 FTs and a mere TO.

Green in a nutshell: TO and Raps up by 7. Three in the face of Lowry.

IT's defensive intensity is awful. There's a point where he just won't keep moving and that's it.

Please Kieff don't miss dunks.

PJ cut their lead to three with another 3pt from the key. It's nice to see him hitting from other places than the corners.

Ross has to be a frustrating shooter to Toronto fans. In a sense he is like Green.

Finally grabbed the lead 95-94 after an amazing three by IT3 and a layup by Bledsoe. Didn't last long. DeRozan scoren on Green and Lowry drove by IT3 with no rim protection to speak of.

Bledsoe and 1 tied the game 98-98, two minutes left.

TO by Green who couldn't get by Patterson.
Offensive rebound by 2Patterson.
Offensive rebound by DeRozan.
Weak defense, foul and Patterson makes two FTs. 98-100, 35 secs.

Green could have penetrated by just refused to drive and started the play over.

Lowry picked IT's pocket, loose ball and the refs called a jump ball when it should have been a timeout, or a foul on Amir. Game over.

[Ring_Wanted]

Whoever complained about the refs, it was totally deserved.

Home cooking to start and home cooking to finish. The 1stQ was brutal. They protected Valanciunas like he was Wade, and in the 4Q there were many questionable/phantom calls, all in favor of Toronto, plus the stupid jumpball on IT3.

[ShelC]

Thanks for the recap ring!

Does it make sense to start Green and not Marcus? Seems like IT and Green are just going to chuck when they're in, and again, because of IT's defense (or lack thereof), it may make sense to put defenders around him where he can just focus on scoring. IT, Tucker, Marcus, and Plums in the 2nd unit.

I like the idea of TJ as a stretch four provided he can continue shooting well from 3 (which he did in the Dleague). And like Shawn, he may not need plays run for him to score. He can get his points in transition and the flow of the game. The question is where he fits.

Was there a point when Bledsoe and Thomas were playing well together? By the stats it seemed like we made that late run with both of them in the game?

[Indy]

Awesome recap Ring! Thank you for that. I feel like I just saved 2 hours.

[Ring_Wanted]

No problem guys.


I actually like IT3-Green together. They are coexisting well and at least pass the ball to each other, even if it's just to take turns.

Marcus is becoming a 3D specialist but we need rebounding a lot, so PJ should eventually get back the starting position. By the way, Lou Williams torched Tucker (and every defender but Bledsoe, who also owned Lowry)

Bledsoe-IT3 played well, or to be more accurate, they hit their respective shots while sharing the court. Thomas was just heroic but the refs killed him with that dumb decision.

There's a lot of season left, but so far it seems that Bledsoe-IT3, Bledsoe-Dragic and IT3-Green performs better than IT-Dragic and the three PGs together.

If Dragic, Kieff, Thomas and Green are not dominating the offense, they are not giving you anything, and the backcourt logjam makes it almost impossible to balance things out.

Only Thomas has been used on his own so far, with Green, which probably takes a toll on the way Bledsoe and Dragic behave. Plumlee-Len also trend to dissapear, so too often we are fighting 4vs5.

So far I think rotations are still a mess and have not been fully figured out. Not ever using Tolliver and the 3pg lineups would be a good start, but beyond that, the coach will still have too many players who need to play and too many who need the ball to make an impact.

[Sunsfan4life]

Didn't see the game, but nice recap Ring. Nice to see a full line out of Bled tonight.

Overall I would of taken a 4-2 road trip a week ago. I actually had this game,LAC and Boston pegged for L's. Suns need to shake the lineup up though. As many others have said, Starting Len for the Plum makes sense, but also I'd like to see P.J. back in the starting lineup.

[iLLmatic]

I liked to see Bledsoe get more aggressive in this game, he seemed to be taking it to the basket more often than in the past games this season.

[YGR]

Awesome recap Ring! Thank you for that. I feel like I just saved 2 hours.

Yes, thanks for the recap Ring!

That was quite a comeback attempt by the Suns…

Nice to see Bled had great game. I know Goran didn’t have good game, but I would have liked to see Goran come back on about 4 minutes left instead of Green.

[LazarusLong]

Given that Toronto is currently the class of the East, and the Suns were playing on the road, I wasn't terribly disappointed in the loss. A key play or two, and Phoenix could have stolen this for the win column.

Valanciunas' big night does point out a glaring weakness; Suns need another big body to absorb fouls, play a bit of D and grab a board or two. Randolph isn't, and Tolliver is a part-time marksman. This, of course is no big surprise.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Suns need another big body to absorb fouls, play a bit of D and grab a board or two.

Every year...

[LazarusLong]

I can hear Uncle Gene now ... FIX THE PAINT!!!!!!!