Suns News: Week 20 (2/28 to 3/6)

[bajanguy008]

Like Aaron's game review
I too was surprised by his assist total lol and would have said he struggling with running the offense. At least he kinda agrees with me

[LazarusLong]

For a minute or two on the Bally Sports broadcast, there was a simulcast of Al doing the game.
I enjoyed his style, and hoped the producer/director would have stayed longer with the simulcast.
The crew of K-Ray, EJ and Diggins-Smith last night babbled incessantly and missed some key plays ...

I agree about Al and how good he is at describing what is happening, even at a fast pace. He might not get every pass or shot attempt, but you really don't miss much. The TV team isn't good at that. But I will say that Sky is really, really good at what she does. I wish they had her on every broadcast. She actually talks about the way the team is playing, what types of sets they are running, and is actually teaching about the game. Not just a bunch of "in my day" like from Eddie (who I still love) or really bad football analogies from Kevin.

I like EJ, but last night he went off on too many tangents. Reminds when Steve Albert and Ann Meyers-Drysdale teamed ... the Suns were bad enough, and they made it worse with tales of yesteryear.
.
Diggins-Smith should be given an opportunity to do color commentary/analysis on her own. She's very knowledgeable and well-spoken.
The three times I've seen her has been with K-Ray and either EJ or Meyers-Drysdale.
Don't need three broadcasters ... they just get in each others way or saying/echoing what others say.

[Vladimir_Taltos]

Wouldn't this have been nice to see, given current circumstances?

[ShelC]

[Split T]

Heat are the only team we haven’t beat this year

[Split T]

[Superbone]

Heat are the only team we haven’t beat this year

Yet.

[TOO]

Heat are the only team we haven’t beat this year

They match up with the Suns very well across the board.

[ShelC]

[Split T]

Has there been a single one of those posts where we weren’t in the top right bracket? We’ve really maintained a great offense and a great defense the entire year.

[Mori Chu]

Look at how bad the Nets are on that chart. They've really fallen apart.

I think the Celtics are overhyped right now. They're very hot and are playing great, especially defensively, but I think they'll regress to the mean.

Pretty weird to see the Bucks so low on the defensive axis. I think of that as their strength.

[ShelC]

Good article of Jae's float game with lots of good quotes from Mikal and Monty too.

So, how about just a bit further out, floater territory? That’s the addition to Crowder’s game this year. Through 52 games, he’s taken just over one shot per game from 4-14 feet. The 54 attempts already double the 27 he had last season and the 26 the year prior. He is 28-of-54 on those looks, a career-best 52%. It makes up for 14% of his shots, also a career high.

Back in December, Crowder described it as a “playoff-type shot” that he still works on every day. He noted that good defenses aren’t going to allow you to get a clean lane to the rim, so it’s about finding that pocket of space and capitalizing on it.

“I’m trying to think ahead, I’m trying to play ahead,” he said at the time. Sometimes teams are pushing Crowder off the line to force him to make a play off the dribble. That’s where the floater comes in handy.

[ShelC]

Another good one on Holiday and how he's fit in with the Suns

For many players, getting traded at trade deadline can be unsettling and transitioning to a new environment and a new team can be rocky. Such transitions into a locker room can be catastrophic, regardless of the players’ role or responsibility within the team.

This has clearly not been the case for the Phoenix Suns newest member, Aaron Holiday. And the difference is palpable.

“Just the way they play basketball, even before I sat - they were the number one team in basketball before I got here,” said Holiday after Thursday’s practice.

“It’s been the easiest transition for me.”

[The Bobster]

Magic number for the Suns to clinch a better record than -

Golden State - 13
Memphis - 12
Miami & Utah - 11
Philadelphia - 10
Chicago - 9
Milwaukee & Dallas - 8
Cleveland & Denver - 7
Boston - 6
Toronto - 5
Minnesota - 4
LA Clippers - 2
Brooklyn - 1

[The Bobster]

It feels impossible for me to think of the Phoenix Suns, and not think of Al McCoy. Despite so many amazing players over my ~35 years of intense fandom (to go along with another 5 or so from when I was too young to really remember much), my Mt. Rushmore of the Phoenix Suns includes Al and Jerry. There is only room for 2 players.

Yep, I'm damn near 60 (Wow! Scary just typing that out loud) and I remember being a little kid listening to the great Al McCoy. SHA...ZAM!

Zing go the strings!
Swisheroo for two!
Oh Brother!
Heartbreak Hotel!
You can put this one in the ol' deep freeze.

I feel pretty fortunate growing up out here listening to Al broadcasting the Suns and Vin Scully call the Dodgers games on KTAR and watching Roger Staubach just about every week on the Cowboy Broadcasting System (with Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshire).

For a minute or two on the Bally Sports broadcast, there was a simulcast of Al doing the game.
I enjoyed his style, and hoped the producer/director would have stayed longer with the simulcast.
The crew of K-Ray, EJ and Diggins-Smith last night babbled incessantly and missed some key plays ...

I remember listening to Al in the late 70s on a transistor radio. He was good then and great now.

I used to listen to the postgame show so I could find out the Suns' individual scoring because I kept the team stats on my own. It was a great day when USA TODAY started publishing stats every week for the whole league.

Sports over the radio has lost a lot of its luster in the 50 years since I started listening to Dodgers and then Suns games, but if you grew up in my generation of prior to that, it was all we had for the majority of the schedule.

[The Bobster]

Magic number for the Suns to clinch a better record than (19 games remaining) -

Golden State - 12
Memphis - 11
Miami - 10
Utah & Philadelphia - 9
Chicago, Milwaukee & Dallas - 7
Denver - 6
Cleveland & Boston - 5
Toronto - 4
Minnesota - 3
LA Clippers - 1

[Split T]

This seems good

[TOO]

This seems good

Imagine if Crowder was someone that was actually good...

[Split T]

Well Crowder has 21 of the assists, 20 of the steals, and only 4 of the turnovers

Cam is 26 assists, 6 steals, and 5 turnovers.
Mikal is 24 assists, 10 steals, and 6 turnovers.

[Split T]

Of course points are 165 for Cam, 143 for Mikal, and 98 for Jae