Game Day: Warriors (5-0) @ Suns (3-3), Sun 11/09/14

[Superbone]

We used the Rocky Balboa tatic...

Uh, I think you mean Muhammad Ali who pioneered the rope-a-dope tactic.

But Rocky ended the cold war!

True dat.

[INFORMER]

Serious question:

How good would this starting lineup be?

Dragic
Bledsoe
Marcus
PJ
Markieff

(Groan)

Still, that may be one of the better options with what the Suns have to work with. Ugh.

[Xylus]

Serious question:

How good would this starting lineup be?

Dragic
Bledsoe
Marcus
PJ
Markieff

(Groan)

Still, that may be one of the better options with what the Suns have to work with. Ugh.

Pros:
+Improved spacing with 5 players who can hit the 3
+Faster pace
+Our 5 best defenders (in my opinion) on the floor at the same time, including Bled, Kieff and PJ, who can all guard larger players for some period of time

Cons:
-Lack of size will get dominated by talented frontcourts

[INFORMER]

Go for it.

[INFORMER]

I will add that Plumlee has given two solid performances in a row after looking awful for the last 50 games or so. So I'd hate to do anything to hinder his return to solid play.

[SDC]

Serious question:

How good would this starting lineup be?

Dragic
Bledsoe
Marcus
PJ
Markieff

(Groan)

Still, that may be one of the better options with what the Suns have to work with. Ugh.

a better starting five would be

dragic
green
plumlee
keef morris
marcus morris

[SwingMan]

[youtube][/youtube]

[ShelC]

Always fun when the 3s are falling.

[Ring_Wanted]

I'll take any win, but IT3 and Green won't save the team every game. The first half was awful again with no defense, a ton of TOs and bad shot selection.

The refs were inconsistent but this time we were favored overall because they called our way in the second half.

Kieff, IT3, Dragic and Green can't have so many defensive lapses. Draymond Green is part of the new wave of stretch tweener 4s and he is hitting everything, Kieff, so put a hand in his face. Barbosa can't drive to the basket like it is 2006. PJ is our only grown man on D+R. Just invaluable to this team.

We basically deserved to lose, but the team woke up in the 4Q, on both sides of the court. IT3 drew a lot of contact and the refs did respect him, awarding even phantom calls. Green hit key threes and Marcus helped too. Plumlee had a good night, and Goran had another 2013-14 game, but the best part was watching defensive intensity for the first time since the SAS game.

[Sunsfan4life]

Think its important to get these next two before heading out on a long east trip. The Suns still aren't playing well IMO. Dragic had a nice game last night and seemed to have more legs which is good, but home games vs the Nets and Charlotte should be W's for us before a 6 game trip where I can easily see us dropping 3 games (@LAC,@Toronto,@Boston who I think is much improved).

[Sunsfan4life]

Tucker gets the game ball for me tonight. IT the runner up and Gerald Green the bronze. Plumlee and Morris were solid on the boards as well.

[LazarusLong]

Nice comeback in the fourth. Green was in one of his Eddie House zones. Nice game by Cus Morris, to compensate for a couple of bonehead plays early.

Nice game by Barbosa, who I thought was fairly much toast. Still has a few bullets left.

Warriors' AI was surprisingly underwhelming on offense.

[Ring_Wanted]

I think Iggy won't thrive in that 6th man role. He is used best when surrounded by better offensive players so he can focus on defense, spot up shooting, facilitation and fastbreak finishing.

[djy2j]

Pretty much a terrible game for us until the 4th. I was sitting there prepping for another loss and then we stumbled into a win. Thank God for IT3 and Green. That's why we pay them the bug bucks...oh wait that's Bledsoe who did nothing...again. I guess the thing I'm disappointed most in with Bledsoe so far is his lack of leadership. I can handle an off night but I don't feel we have any leadership from him.

[Xylus]

I know it's very, very early in the season, but I'm encouraged that we already have wins over Golden State and San Antonio, 2 of the best teams in the league. The loss against the Jazz makes total sense (back-to-back against a young up-and-coming team, letdown game after the Spurs victory), the loss against Memphis was expected, and the Kings are playing above their heads right now.

Last year it seemed like we'd compete hard against the best teams but end up with tight losses. This year, I think the scales have tipped a little in our favor, where we can start beating +.500 teams regularly.

Hornacek and his players are clearly still trying to figure everything out. I can live with a 4-3 record if it means we start putting the pieces together in the next few weeks.

[Mori Chu]

I think I'd rather have the way we are right now, where we beat some of the league's giants and still lose to some of the crappy teams. A record like that just means we are inconsistent and still figuring things out. I think it shows that we still have a long way to go, but we have a high ceiling.

I think the current Sun who I was most wrong about is Marcus Morris. He's averaging 11 ppg and 4 rpg. I had thought of him as a dud, but he's a serviceable player. Not sure if he's a starting SF in the NBA but at least he's not a total loss. And Kieff is having a great season so far: 16 ppg, 6.6 rpg.

http://espn.go.com/nba/player/_/id/6462/marcus-morris

[ShelC]

You have to beat the teams you're supposed to. Memphis was a good test and we couldn't handle their frontcourt. Need Plumlee to be a badass and he hasn't been.

[JCSunsfan]

You have to beat the teams you're supposed to. Memphis was a good test and we couldn't handle their frontcourt. Need Plumlee to be a badass and he hasn't been.

plumlee seems to be improving.

[INFORMER]

The loss against the Jazz makes total sense (back-to-back against a young up-and-coming team, letdown game after the Spurs victory)

If you're going to dismiss that loss, then you can't really trumpet the win against the Warriors.

the Kings are playing above their heads right now.

They just lost to the OKC Infirmary.

[da_suns_fan]

This game just proved the Suns really dont know who they are yet. I mean its great that our bench won the game but is that our game plan going forward?

They kind of remind me of the post Barkley team that started 0-13 (obviously theyre much better) but that team also had identity issues until they traded Finley and others for Jason Kidd.