Game Day: Bulls (7-3) @ Suns (6-4), Wed 11/18/15

[AmareIsGod]

Disagree with the Bledsoe hate Mori. All of last season and the beginning of this season, I was on the anti Bledsoe bandwagon and wished he was gone. Since then I've seen a guy that consistently goes all out on both sides of the court. His jumpshot has improved leaps and bounds, his defense is much better, he attacks the hoop and kicks out when the defense collapses and he's taken steps towards being a more vocal leader. There are inevitably going to be games like last night where he can't buy a bucket. For him to succeed, he needs to be aggressive. I don't want him playing tentative and fearing making mistakes by not attacking the rim regularly. He realized his shot was off last night so penetrated quite a bit. Unfortunately he was struggling finishing at the rim too.

Not sure what more he has to do to buy a little love around here. He seems to be garnering more fans, myself included. But he's definitely not the problem.

[AmareIsGod]

Glad Markieff was back last night. His shot was on point and his effort on defense and the glass were much needed. The intangibles he brings just add to his value on this roster. You can't deny his leadership on the court. He's the biggest reason we almost won that game.

[Mori Chu]

It's on the Suns. Just look at the Cardinals. They have no problem filling a stadium with Red. The Suns would be there too. I have seen it. This town is dying to support a quality Suns team but watching this team has been depressing for a while now.

Sports is an entertainment industry. It is the team's responsibility to build the atmosphere they want in their own building. Fans are the customers.

There are plenty of teams that have gone through worse spells and have better fans. It's on the citizens of Phoenix for not supporting their team properly.

[Superbone]

Morris is just going through the motions. He is a liability out there. He may be saying all the right things but his body language is saying all the wrong things. He needs to go. I am tired of the sad sack. Poor abandoned twin.

[Superbone]

It's on the Suns. Just look at the Cardinals. They have no problem filling a stadium with Red. The Suns would be there too. I have seen it. This town is dying to support a quality Suns team but watching this team has been depressing for a while now.

Sports is an entertainment industry. It is the team's responsibility to build the atmosphere they want in their own building. Fans are the customers.

There are plenty of teams that have gone through worse spells and have better fans. It's on the citizens of Phoenix for not supporting their team properly.

Phoenix has the most displaced Chicagoans of any city in the country. What are you going to do? Profile them and don't allow them to buy tickets?

[ShelC]

As someone else said, I think he plays a brand of basketball we're maybe not so used to do so there's some resistance. He's not an instinctive pass first PG but can still be a major problem for opposing defenses.

[Nodack]

The Cards fan base wasnt so great when they were a losing team. The stands had all kinds of opposing fans in them. Winning brought out all kinds of new fans. When the Suns were a contending playoff team tickets were hard to come by and opposing fans had a much harder time getting tickets, not to mention were drowned out by Suns fans. When you are a not so great team, the fans don't show up as much and fans of opposing teams have no trouble getting tickets to the game. I was watching the game and during the exciting parts they showed some pretty fired up Suns fans. I don't blame the fans. The most rabid Suns fans are the ones who can't afford to go to the game. I don't blame the corporate guys. They bought the box seats and handed tickets out to people who probably can't tell you one player on any team but, are paying the salaries so we can see the team on TV.

If we were undefeated going into that game and Chicago was winless I gurauntee it would have sounded different.

[djy2j]

Glad Markieff was back last night. His shot was on point and his effort on defense and the glass were much needed. The intangibles he brings just add to his value on this roster. You can't deny his leadership on the court. He's the biggest reason we almost won that game.

I didn't see that last night. I saw a player who looked rusty, unfocused, and with piss poor body language. I didn't look at the plus minus stats but the team seemed to thrive more when he was on the bench. He was barking at the refs most the time he was out there. He doesn't fit in here any longer and he's not really trying to either. The only thing that has changed is that he isn't openly bashing his team any longer but it's obvious he wants out. He is an albatross around the team's neck right now

Get. Him. Out.

[Shabazz]

Glad Markieff was back last night. His shot was on point and his effort on defense and the glass were much needed. The intangibles he brings just add to his value on this roster. You can't deny his leadership on the court. He's the biggest reason we almost won that game.

I didn't see that last night. I saw a player who looked rusty, unfocused, and with piss poor body language. I didn't look at the plus minus stats but the team seemed to thrive more when he was on the bench. He was barking at the refs most the time he was out there. He doesn't fit in here any longer and he's not really trying to either. The only thing that has changed is that he isn't openly bashing his team any longer but it's obvious he wants out. He is an albatross around the team's neck right now

Get. Him. Out.

Pretty sure he was being sarcastic.

[wpmiller42]

I really liked the effort our guys gave last night, with the exception of Morris. That's just one of those games where Butler just turned it on and we couldn't match/stop him. The effort was definitely there, and I think if it's there like that all the time, we'll win alot of games.

I thought Bledsoe played well until the 2nd half of the 4th quarter when I think he tried to take over the game for the Suns like Butler was taking it over for the Bulls. I suppose I don't fault him too much for trying to take on that role, but he's got to learn to pick his spots. Hopefully that comes.

[Mori Chu]

I really enjoyed the performance by Booker. I also liked hearing Mark Jackson say, "This guy [Booker] is a starting shooting guard in this league. Right now." He isn't quite there, but that was cool to hear the national commentator say that about our rook.

[djy2j]

Glad Markieff was back last night. His shot was on point and his effort on defense and the glass were much needed. The intangibles he brings just add to his value on this roster. You can't deny his leadership on the court. He's the biggest reason we almost won that game.

I didn't see that last night. I saw a player who looked rusty, unfocused, and with piss poor body language. I didn't look at the plus minus stats but the team seemed to thrive more when he was on the bench. He was barking at the refs most the time he was out there. He doesn't fit in here any longer and he's not really trying to either. The only thing that has changed is that he isn't openly bashing his team any longer but it's obvious he wants out. He is an albatross around the team's neck right now

Get. Him. Out.

Pretty sure he was being sarcastic.

Guess I was confused since the previous post seemed serious.

[Mori Chu]

AiG has had a series of posts lately where he sarcastically gushes about a player or game etc. that actually sucked. He plays it straight and pretty tongue-in-cheek, but he will rave about how great Markieff's shooting was after he shot 30% one night or something, so it's pretty clearly sarcasm.

[AmareIsGod]

Sorry djy2j for any confusion. For the record, I HATE the Morris twins with a passion. Nothing fires me up more than channeling my inner hatred for either one of those fucks. The only believable positives you'll ever hear out of my mouth regarding Quieff are those of joy if and when he's off the team and/or incarcerated. The only thing that would make me happier would be watching his esophagus implode while barking at the officials followed by him tripping over his shoelaces and spraining his penis on national TV. Hate is a strong word but even then I don't think it truly describes the level of disdain I have in relation to Markieff (or Marcus).

[EDC]

I have been impressed with both of the guards because it seems like the are actually improving. The turnovers are still high but they aren't just always jumping into the bigs hoping for a call. They are keeping their dribbles in the paint a lot more and finding the guy for the corner three.

A lot of what holds them back is just bad decisions. The horrible shot selection at times and them throwing the ball away after a drive. That and their decision to ditch the offense at times. All of that will hopefully keep improving as the season goes on.

I'm really liking that double screen play they have been running that gets Bledsoe the ball around the free throw line. Maybe Coach does have some useful plays.

[Furlanfufi]

The lack of a 3rd scoring option killed us last night (along with the 1st half defense.)
If TJ played, we could come out on top.

[Superbone]

Ha ha! You had me LOLing at that next to last sentence, AIG.

[pickle]

i wrote a few days ago that i still don't see bledsoe's leadership on this team, maybe i'm wrong. i'll be happy to be proven wrong. it doesn't quite feel like you can always give the ball to him and wait for him to make something happen when we are down a couple of possessions late in a game -- feels like he's getting a lot of his production earlier on in the games. i do love his effort on defense, even if he's prone to mental lapses once in a while, which can and hopefully will improve with age. the holes in his game that bother me, such as an unwillingness to set up his teammates when possible (say you have a two on one break, bledsoe's default is always gonna be taking it up himself), and or the slow release on that outside jumper, may improve with time. if they do, then i would absolutely move him into the upper echelon of starting pgs in the league and eagerly await the suns to build a team around him. if not, i will continue to sulk.

i'm not plugged into twitter and don't know if markieff has been mouthing off. my anger towards him is far less than towards marcus, and honestly what i saw on the court yesterday isn't as bad as what some here see... he is making an effort on defense and taking decent shots. he does seem to play with less fire, but i don't think he's just out there to get his only. given that his contributions are not exactly irreplaceable, i'd rather move him and get rid of the distractions inherent in his presence on the team, but i'm less pessimistic about having to play him and get some production out of him on court so that we could get a fair deal in return.

[JCSunsfan]

I really enjoyed the performance by Booker. I also liked hearing Mark Jackson say, "This guy [Booker] is a starting shooting guard in this league. Right now." He isn't quite there, but that was cool to hear the national commentator say that about our rook.

I hope the Suns realize how popular Booker has a chance to be. He has a charisma to him and will put people in the seats. This slow development process is a mistake with him.

[JCSunsfan]

It's on the Suns. Just look at the Cardinals. They have no problem filling a stadium with Red. The Suns would be there too. I have seen it. This town is dying to support a quality Suns team but watching this team has been depressing for a while now.

Sports is an entertainment industry. It is the team's responsibility to build the atmosphere they want in their own building. Fans are the customers.

There are plenty of teams that have gone through worse spells and have better fans. It's on the citizens of Phoenix for not supporting their team properly.

There are only three teams where this happens with any significance. Chicago, Boston and the Lakers. There are all kinds of Chicago fans in Phoenix and for most the basketball season, Boston and Chicago fans are looking for a reason to travel to Phoenix for the weather. Who travels to Chicago in January.

There are probably more native Californians living in Phoenix than native Phoenicians. So, whose job is it to win over these fans from their hometown teams?

i HATE it when people ignorantly rip on Suns fans.