Game Day: Suns (11-14) @ Mavericks (13-11), Mon 12/14/15

[specialsauce]

Every minute Price is on the floor is a minute taken away from Booker/Goodwin. His D is vastly overrated IMO. He's just aggressive (overly).

[Shabazz]

The Knight-Price-Tucker-Leuer-Chandler lineup should never see the light of day again either. Actually, no lineup with Price-Tucker-Chandler should.

[Wally_West]

I don't understand how anyone can defend Jeff Hornacek at this point. He needs to go.

[Cap]

I don't understand how anyone can defend Jeff Hornacek at this point.

He's not as quick as he used to be.

[AmareIsGod]

I'd like to see Bledsoe, Knight, Leuer, Len and Chandler out there at the same time. Shake it up and put Booker in for Leuer at stretches. That lineup can score, rebound and defend.

[Shabazz]

Watching this game, I remember thinking PJ had one of his best games in a while. I finally looked at the box score. 6-6-3 in 24 minutes on 3-9 shooting. -18. Blech.

[Shabazz]

It was also important we had Price as first man off the bench to shut down world beaters JJ Barea and Ray Felton. -20 in 17 minutes. Barf.

[Superbone]

I don't understand how anyone can defend Jeff Hornacek at this point.

He's not as quick as he used to be.

[Superbone]

Booker sure didn't get much time tonight.

[ShelC]

I think Hornacek is falling into the trap of feeling the pressure to win games and make the playoffs rather than develop the young guys.

[OE32]

I think Hornacek is falling into the trap of feeling the pressure to win games and make the playoffs rather than develop the young guys.

Yeah that's the thing - if you play your vets and sit your young players in order to win games, you better win. Otherwise the fan gets doubly screwed.

My Jeff Hornacek voodoo doll has had it pretty easy since Len's started getting the ball on offense. But he recently said that Chandler will probably return to the starting lineup at some point. Watching Price, Tucker and Chandler play is not what I want. Winning makes it tolerable, but we're not winning.

[Indy]

Speaking of Len, I couldn't watch the game yesterday. I saw before halftime he had 3 TOs. What the hell? Was he just dropping passes left and right, or offensive fouls? Or was it bad passes?

[AmareIsGod]

Speaking of Len, I couldn't watch the game yesterday. I saw before halftime he had 3 TOs. What the hell? Was he just dropping passes left and right, or offensive fouls? Or was it bad passes?

With Knight and Bledsoe as our PG's, I'm pretty sure the passes were right on point. Likely dropping passes.

[Indy]

Speaking of Len, I couldn't watch the game yesterday. I saw before halftime he had 3 TOs. What the hell? Was he just dropping passes left and right, or offensive fouls? Or was it bad passes?

With Knight and Bledsoe as our PG's, I'm pretty sure the passes were right on point. Likely dropping passes.

Why haven't you changed your name to "KnightIsGod" yet?

[Cap]

Or KnightIsAlmostAnAllStar.

[Indy]

Or KnightIsAlmostAnAllStar.

Same difference. Pretty sure god was never an all-star either.

[Cap]

Good point.

[pickle]

I like Price's effort on defense. He isn't a big guy and cannot really affect shots once the offensive player gets his feet set and rises to shoot, but Price certainly does a good job of staying in front of his man and act as a deterrent to whatever the offensive player tries to do. I appreciate his effort very much. Having said that, I'm still not sure why we get so much of him, since as everyone has already pointed out, we have a fairly capable young sg with size in Booker.

Knight was yanked fairly early in this game, I presume since he couldn't defend. He is fast enough to play the passing lanes, but his lack of stance and poor stance makes him a tremendous vulnerability in one-on-one defense.

Dallas is a real match up problem for the Suns I think, since their guards are all of the bulky type. Deron neutralizes Bledsoe's strength advantage, Matthews and JJ Barea are built like bulls, and Felton is also a stout guy. When they bring in Devin Harris, his speed is enough of a change of pace and our guards mentally so unfocused that he matched his career high in steals despite playing as a backup. Amazing.

Len wasn't very aggressive tonight compared to the last couple of games. I think Pachulia's strength bothered him. There was one drive in particular where he started from the free throw line and went right, cradling the ball and forcing up an ugly bank shot. The Dallas announcers commented that he never goes left, which is fairly true. I wish Len could be more creative with his footwork, even if he doesn't have a good feel with his left hand. Thought there was some report that he did a fair bit of work with Duncan over the summer. What did he learn there?

Teletovic couldn't hit the broad side of the barn tonight. PJ was aggressive but also his lack of mental focus and lift hurt as much as his aggression helped. Leuer continues to be a pleasure to watch, though I wish he was more decisive with the open threes.

I appreciated the defensive intensity that Weems and Goodwin brought in the fourth. Too little too late, but at least they both make a solid effort to keep their guys in front.

I've noticed that our pick and roll defense switches way too much; in certain instances there is still space for the guard to try and squeeze through and maintain their match ups, but instead they just automatically get behind the big guy go into a mismatch. I don't get that, feels too passive and almost lazy.

[Indy]

I've noticed that our pick and roll defense switches way too much; in certain instances there is still space for the guard to try and squeeze through and maintain their match ups, but instead they just automatically get behind the big guy go into a mismatch. I don't get that, feels too passive and almost lazy.

I think that really depends on who is guarding the guard. For some reason our two starters regularly go under and then switch, where our first two off the bench (Booker, Price) fight through it. To me that seems strange because I doubt we have a different approach on guarding the PnR based on starter vs bench. So they can't all be following the team philosophy on it. So that begs the question, are the players ignoring the plan, or is there no plan?

[OE32]

I think Dallas highlights our lack of a long perimeter defender, a la MKG.

Speaking of MKG, who here thinks he could be a 4 for us, if the Hornets were prepared to move on?