Game Day: Pelicans (7-18) @ Suns (11-16), Fri 12/18/15

[AmareIsGod]

I think my sentiment on being alarmed by how unkempt his eyebrow is was shared by you when you first saw it, as was the case with many other fans. Just because I'm late to the game noticing it.

I'm sure, like it has for you and many others, it will grow on me and I won't be startled. I think it's easy to say "some people don't care about their appearance" as part of this AD discussion but after Googling him and reading up on it, he apparently does care as it's become his trademark and he gets monetary gain from it.

[Danimal]

buddy I think AD was just looking for a simple trademark to stand out. Albeit unconventional I guess this one fell in his lap and he just rolled with it. Maybe they tried the British teeth angel first and it didn't work. Maybe one day he will get past the gimmick but this seems to be a generation of letting their facial hair do the talking

[Superbone]

I came here just to say boooooooo, Markieff is playing. Boooooooo!

He played well tonight. His second good game of the season.

[Superbone]

By the way, the Suns are not piping in much (almost no) music during game play. No player specific cues after made buckets, no pre-recorded chants, no fake cheers. It is awesome. It is letting us here the game and start cheering on our own. It is so much better this way.

They occasionally play a beat on defense to give the fans something to get their best for Defense chants but that's it.

Interesting. I just finished watching the game and didn't notice but now that you mention it, you're right. I wonder what that's about? Hopefully making some changes to the in-game entertainment for the better.

[Superbone]

I'm sure, like it has for you and many others, it will grow on me and I won't be startled.

I'm looking forward to seeing your before and after pictures.

[Superbone]

Maybe they tried the British teeth angel first and it didn't work.

I wasn't aware that there was a British teeth angel. He sure isn't doing a very good job.

[Superbone]

Great game from Len. Loved the three pointer. (As long as he doesn't get enamored with it.) He was excited. 19 points, 13 boards, 2 assists, 2 steals, and a block.

[Danimal]

Maybe they tried the British teeth angel first and it didn't work.

I wasn't aware that there was a British teeth angel. He sure isn't doing a very good job.

There wasn't, he just has god awful teeth. For someone with so much cash and in the public eye that much you think he would have gotten some adult braces or something by now.

[JCSunsfan]

Maybe they tried the British teeth angel first and it didn't work.

I wasn't aware that there was a British teeth angel. He sure isn't doing a very good job.

There wasn't, he just has god awful teeth. For someone with so much cash and in the public eye that much you think he would have gotten some adult braces or something by now.

I think it's an old picture. Probably has.

[LazarusLong]

Suns took advantage of a team that looked and played tired.

Many carp about the Suns' backcourt, but I watch New Orleans and am very glad the Pels resigned Eric Gordon. That's a messy bullet Phoenix dodged. He's shooting only 40% from the field for the season.

[djy2j]

The number of courtside empty seats tonight is a little disturbing.

Noticed that as well. Emptiest ive seen it. I looked at the attendance in the box score and it just said "several"

Good game for Keef by his standards. Credit where credit is due

[Mori Chu]

Suns took advantage of a team that looked and played tired.

Many carp about the Suns' backcourt, but I watch New Orleans and am very glad the Pels resigned Eric Gordon. That's a messy bullet Phoenix dodged. He's shooting only 40% from the field for the season.

*SO* glad that signing fell through for us. Eric Gordon has not lived up to that contract at all. Would have set us back a couple of years.

[Mori Chu]

Really proud of Len and pleased with the last few weeks he's had. We all coo about Booker and Warren, but Len is as important and promising of a piece as anybody we have on the roster.

[OE32]

Really proud of Len and pleased with the last few weeks he's had. We all coo about Booker and Warren, but Len is as important and promising of a piece as anybody we have on the roster.

100%. It was a tremendous development last night when Len spent so much time matched up with Davis and seemed to come out of it with the advantage. When he hit that corner three, I jumped out of my chair! Len is looking very, very good.

What does everyone think about Markieff's minutes out there? He looked pretty good last night too. Played Anderson well and hit a couple threes. Perhaps a step faster than he had been before he sat.

But man, the energy last night was pretty bad overall. Bled looked really good, but he's been good all year. Let's see how we do against the long arms of the Warrior-killers.

[JCSunsfan]

The thing about that three is that everything about it looked good. He caught it and shot it in the flow with nice form and follow through. Looked perfectly natural.

[EDC]

[youtube][/youtube]

I just hope both Len and Bledsoe continue to work on their PnR game. Was nice to see Len setting hard screens. Then Bledsoe actually making good passes.

Hopefully we see a lot more of that.

[Nodack]

Finished watching the game at 5am. I have noticed that they are seriously working on getting the ball to Len and Chandler more the last few games. It's a hit and miss thing. It was all miss to start the season. Now it's starting to hit. It's almost like they are a young team figuring it out together and growing together. A work in progress to be sure but, noticeable progress.

The Pelicans didn't even resemble the Pelicans that beat the Suns twice. They looked all out of sorts. Anderson who?

[ShelC]

I noticed this too early in the game with Chandler sealing his man in the paint and us trying to get it to him near the rim. My only issue is that Chandler's not any kind of threat catching the ball and making a move to score. So even throwing it to him to play inside/out is a challenge because he just doesn't command respect with the ball in the post. Unless it's a catch and dunk/lay-in or a lob, you don't want to throw it to him on the block.

Len's a different story and we should be actively featuring him with that 2nd unit so he gets accustomed to being a main offensive threat and letting others play off him.

[Indy]

Preach it Shel

[pickle]

I just finished watching this game. It was a great effort all around, even Kieff, so that was impressive.

I like Bledsoe's aggressiveness, but his basketball IQ is clearly still lacking. On the plus side, he works hard and doesn't complain, so there's a chance he can continue to improve. I haven't really enjoyed him at the helm of this offense, but I suppose the alternative could be equally frustrating, just in different ways. I get that passing angles and not leaving his feet are difficult things to work on, but this summer if he could improve with finishing at the rim that would bump his game up even more. Also his jump shot is slower and he doesn't get a lot of lift, so even when he isolates a big guy his step back needs to be that much more exaggerated to get a clean shot off. I don't know at this stage in his career if it's advisable to change his shot mechanics though.

Knight, I really don't know what to say. On defense, it's clear he tries, but it's equally clear that he just bites on fakes too easily and loses focus at times. On offense, I can totally sympathize with his inability to do what he wants due to his slim build (as I've alluded to before, I have a similar body type and can totally see some of the issues he's having on the court as physical rather than mental), so I haven't been as harsh on him as others here. But I wish it were different. I like that he's a cerebral player and hopefully he can continue to improve his game over the course of the year as well as the off season.

Len was very impressive, he was assertive and did not hesitate when given the opportunity to attack. I also love that our guys are looking for him under the basket for lobs. Great game all around, nothing but positives for this game.

Kieff played! and played reasonably well, all things considered. He's not matched up against starting 4s for most of his minutes so it's hard to see his impact defensively. On offense he looked good and I enjoyed the lob to Len. He clearly has talent, and when he got knocked down his teammates came to pull him up, which tells me that the chemistry is good, so maybe indeed whatever he's dealing with is bottled up inside and hasn't affected his locker room presence, which by itself is a huge improvement over last year. On the other hand, the rumors that we are moving him for Terrence Jones and Corey Brewer seems to fit the minutes, if indeed Brewer cannot be traded until Jan 15th. We can't keep coming up with awful excuses to keep Kieff on the bench if he will be here another month. If he continues to produce decently and the chemistry holds, then I won't be opposed to keeping him. But that's a bit of a catch 22, as he might be holding things together in order to not jeopardize that eventual trade.

Leuer was active and played good defense. He also rebounds pretty well despite lacking bulk. There was one possession in particular where he and AD battled for a missed shot by the Pelicans. You can see his aggressiveness, even if AD got the rebound thanks to just being more gifted physically. The Len to Leuer pass when Leuer cut along the baseline was also a thing of beauty. Leuer has a very good understanding of both the spacing on the floor and his role on the team. He might be a slightly older and less gifted Warren in that sense.

I'm okay with Booker sitting, as long as Hornacek sticks to his strategy of playing guys at least 20 min off the bench if they get off the bench at all. Consistency helps. I'm not particularly cool with the 3 pg lineup though.