Barbosa starting tonight....

Louis · March 20th, 2007, 05:40 AM

Quote:

Suns look to Barbosa

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 20, 2007 12:00 AM

One way to make sure the Suns play faster offensively than they did in their past two games, both blowout losses, is to put perhaps the league's fastest player on the court.

For tonight's home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Suns will give combo guard Leandro Barbosa his first start since a Feb. 28 loss at Philadelphia. Barbosa takes forward Boris Diaw's spot in the lineup.

"I'm going to do what I like to do - play a lot of defense and just play like I've been playing and have fun," Barbosa said. "I like to bring the energy for the team, because this is really important. I'm going to try to speed the game up, because this is the way we like to play and the way Coach (Mike D'Antoni) wants us to play. We are not doing it right now, because we've been a little bit tired."

It is one way Phoenix will try to get back to being the NBA's fast and the furious. With an emotional letdown in the wake of Wednesday's victory at Dallas and a physical beat-down from three games in four nights, the Suns rarely were in front of the defense for easy shots Friday and Saturday. They lost by 22 to Detroit and by 24 to Denver. The Nuggets led by as much as 40.

"We're going to do a couple things to speed us up and try to get back to our identity," D'Antoni said. "We can't lose who we are. Whether that's good enough to win a championship, we'll see. We think it is, but we can't lose our speed and ball movement. A lot of times, our defense really plays off playing well offensively. We'll get back to that."

The Suns still are on pace to tie the franchise record of 62 victories. They still appear headed for the West's No. 2 playoff seed. Nothing was lost last week, but it still concerns the Suns that a lack of energy so easily took them out of sync.

Detroit and Denver clogged the lane and created pick-and-roll traffic jams. D'Antoni believes the Suns did not take advantage of open three-point opportunities enough and that the shooters grew frustrated.

"We have to fight through it and make ourselves play to our potential," said point guard Steve Nash, who had three assists and seven turnovers in the first halves of the past two games. "Teams sometimes are going to put three guys on the pick-and-roll, but we still have to find a way to make them pay. It's a good lesson for us. We've got to get the ball moving, and when the ball moves, we've got to do things with it and be decisive. I think it's good for us to face some of that before the playoffs.

"We haven't been sharp. We haven't run into our pick-and-rolls. We haven't moved the ball as well as we should. We haven't been decisive. There are a lot of components that add up to us being a little bit stagnant."

The Suns are going extra small. Fortunately Minnesota doesn't have a huge starting lineup with Hudson, Jaric, Davis, KG, and Blount.

dreamcastrocks · March 20th, 2007, 06:00 AM

Well, this should silence the "hang Diaw" crowd.

I don't see how a lineup of Nash, Bell, Barbosa, Marion, Amare is going to help on defense, or crashing the boards, the two biggest problems that we have had these past few games.

Louis · March 20th, 2007, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamcastrocks

Well, this should silence the "hang Diaw" crowd.

I don't see how a lineup of Nash, Bell, Barbosa, Marion, Amare is going to help on defense, or crashing the boards, the two biggest problems that we have had these past few games.

exactly.

I would've liked to have seen KT put into the lineup in Diaw's place. And if Antoni was adamant about Barbosa, sit Bell.

elindholm · March 20th, 2007, 06:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Louis

exactly.

I would've liked to have seen KT put into the lineup in Diaw's place. And if Antoni was adamant about Barbosa, sit Bell.

Yep. D'Antoni is one stubborn son-of-a-gun. And if the Suns fall short, he can always blame injuries, bad luck, or "we just didn't hit our shots."

While we're at it, Marion may still be a little bit hurt, so let's sit him for Banks.

DarenG · March 20th, 2007, 07:01 AM

This is not the answer. Basically he is saying that running the ball is more important then getting rebounds or playing defense. Running the ball helps our offense which I am not exatly worried about.

Doesn't defense help the fast break? Doesn't getting turnovers help the fast break? Why not make a move that will bolster some more rebounding and defense? What is the coach thinking?

dreamcastrocks · March 20th, 2007, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteelDog

This is not the answer. Basically he is saying that running the ball is more important then getting rebounds or playing defense. Running the ball helps our offense which I am not exatly worried about.

Doesn't defense help the fast break? Doesn't getting turnovers help the fast break? Why not make a move that will bolster some more rebounding and defense? What is the coach thinking?

I'm with you on this one too. It reminds me of the Cards vs. Vikings last year when the Cards ran the ball a grand total of 5 times. (someone can correct me I am wrong with the total)

When we (people that have posted in this thread) saw during these losses was a complete lack of effort on the defensive side of the ball, especially rebounding. D 'Antoni saw that we were not running at all.

Hey coach, you can't run without the ball.

TucsonDevil · March 20th, 2007, 07:29 AM

I can see D'Antoni's point. He believes that when we have an effective offense...scoring quickly, dunking, fast breaks, three pointers... opposing teams feel the need to do the same to keep up. When other teams do this, they have a higher propensity in turning the ball over, missing shots, making poor decisions that lead to offensive fouls (charges), etc... That translates to effective defense.

HOWEVER, what I am disturbed about is this... D'Antoni's system doesn't work everytime. When he finds himself in games where the opponent is dictating tempo - what is his fallback plan? He hasn't developed one! If teams have effectively slowed our running, and are tripple teaming the P&R - we had better be making our 3-ptrs or we can kiss the wins goodbye. Unfortunately, in those situations, it would be nice for Marion, Amare, Diaw, and KT to crash the offensive glass and defensive glass - getting us a win.

But - we are forced to accept D'Antoni's system. Here is my first 'call-out' to the coach... If you can't get us the championship with a full healthy squad THIS YEAR, you need to be fired. We only have another 2 years after this year, with a healthy Nash... IMO.

Griffin · March 20th, 2007, 07:57 AM

Yeah, if we can't dictate the tempo, we are usually in trouble. When we are running and scoring on fast-breaks, the opponent is reluctant to crash the boards and instead opts to get back on defense to prevent more easy points. Those games we usually win. But that requires our players to play with high energy and intensity pretty much all the time, not to mention shoot a high percentage, which is hard to accomplish. There are times when we cannot score and need to rely on our defense to change the momentum, and it's not there. But I don't know what goes on at practice and at team meetings, so I don't know if it's a matter of D'Antoni not putting enough emphasis on defense and rebounding, of relying too much on offense to carry us and get us back into games, or is it a matter of players not executing, so D'Antoni is forced to go with the only thing that works.

dreamcastrocks · March 20th, 2007, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Griffin

Yeah, if we can't dictate the tempo, we are usually in trouble. When we are running and scoring on fast-breaks, the opponent is reluctant to crash the boards and instead opts to get back on defense to prevent more easy points. Those games we usually win. But that requires our players to play with high energy and intensity pretty much all the time, not to mention shoot a high percentage, which is hard to accomplish. There are times when we cannot score and need to rely on our defense to change the momentum, and it's not there. But I don't know what goes on at practice and at team meetings, so I don't know if it's a matter of D'Antoni not putting enough emphasis on defense and rebounding, of relying too much on offense to carry us and get us back into games, or is it a matter of players not executing, so D'Antoni is forced to go with the only thing that works.

The thing is, Detroit did not crash the boards, they were hurrying back on defense and not allowing the Suns to run at all.

sly fly · March 20th, 2007, 08:13 AM

This move was made for 2 reasons:

- Set the tone early. Mike D wants his starting line-up running early and often.

- Light a fire under Diaw's ass. We'll see if he has enough confidence to respond.

DarenG · March 20th, 2007, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TucsonDevil

I can see D'Antoni's point. He believes that when we have an effective offense...scoring quickly, dunking, fast breaks, three pointers... opposing teams feel the need to do the same to keep up. When other teams do this, they have a higher propensity in turning the ball over, missing shots, making poor decisions that lead to offensive fouls (charges), etc... That translates to effective defense.

No it doesn't. It translates into putting dependency on the fact that you THINK the other team can't handle the ball. That doesn't always happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TucsonDevil

D'Antoni's system doesn't work everytime. When he finds himself in games where the opponent is dictating tempo - what is his fallback plan? He hasn't developed one!

I agree. People tend to forget this but D'Antoni was heavily criticised that last 2 playoff runs for his lack of adjustments. There were times that many people said he may of made it harder on this team by not make adjustments quick enough. I tend to agree with that take. I think he is slow to make adjustments if at all sometimes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Griffin

Yeah, if we can't dictate the tempo, we are usually in trouble. When we are running and scoring on fast-breaks, the opponent is reluctant to crash the boards and instead opts to get back on defense to prevent more easy points.

That goes back to adjustments to me. We can't possibly think we can dictate tempo for 100% of the games. In those instances I would like to see more minutes go to some of our guys that can play in half court sets. Hopefully, using Jalen will help out in that department.

HooverDam · March 20th, 2007, 08:49 AM

Interesting move, its probably more to light a fire under Diaw than anything. I much prefer LB coming off the bench, because he provides such a spark midway through the 1st quarter. When the Suns are playing well, they run the hell early, then sub Barbosa in midway through the first as if to say "hey- you thought that was fast, watch this" and zip- its off to the races.

With two slower players (Diaw and KT) being the first two off the bench, that won't work.

Sunshooter · March 20th, 2007, 09:02 AM

I could see Ricky Davis can score 40 or more in this game.

Did D'Antoni still think Suns can win just scoring more than the opponents only?

msdundee · March 20th, 2007, 09:07 AM

The Suns are at #2 in the WC, 4 games ahead of the Spurs and should hold that position barring some kind of meltdown. One whole month left in the regular season, 16 games, practices between those games, all that. I've read his earlier comments about playing the reserves and still don't see a problem with D'Antoni waiting for this time to start shuffling the cards a little.

From all reports the bench players have worked hard to stay in shape and be ready. This was in Coro's column yesterday: "... another veteran who deserves credit for continuing to work is Jumaine Jones, who was shooting 2 1/2 hours before the game in Denver when nobody else was on the court ..." The Suns have proven vets on the bench, and professional athletes with the right attitude will stay ready. JJ's seen very little court time this year but he put in an extra 2-1/2 hours of practice, a good example.

Rose is promised playing time tonight and that's good. Most likely we'll see the other reserves in for some serious minutes over the course of the next month. It's not like they don't know how to play with the starters -- they do that in practices all year long and just need to carry what they learn over to the real games. I can see the logic in working the bench into the rotation at this time, in fact it might be a very smart move -- kind of like training camp for the playoffs.

ma_falaa_50 · March 20th, 2007, 09:35 AM

I dnt agree with starting barbosa, he is the main scorer off the bench. If u think diaw has enuff heart to start playing now? ye right. he got punked by kwame brown last yr u guys remember that.

the reason we won that series is because of tim thomas.

we will continue this problems until dantoni relaizes that he needs to play his bench more earlier in the season, teach these guys to rebound, and challenge everyshot.

If they challenge evry shot they dont need a shot blocker. all they need is to alter the shot.