Maybe letting Amare go wasn't such a bad idea

[cly2tw]

Underachieving Amare? He got molested by the "lucky" Odom that entire series and looked like he never played defense in his life. It was pretty obvious that was the end, the final rush to a championship trophy.

And you do realize how pathetic Dragic was after that season right? And the fact that Robin Lopez continues to suck? Flashes in the pan aren't enough...

That team had a unique camaraderie for Lopez and Dragic to feel comfortable to perform to their potential. Say Amare was a big reason that their jobs on the court was easier? In fact, the great promises like Lopez/Dragic failed after the retooling of the team was another piece of convincing evidence what a good thing we had going before losing Amare.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Who is the Nash hater between the two of us!

Well, I thought it was you based on the several thousand negative comments you've made about the guy but maybe my 6 or 7 negative comments about Nash make me the winner in the Nash hater sweepstakes.

Steve

 

[cly2tw]

Well, I thought it was you based on the several thousand negative comments you've made about the guy but maybe my 6 or 7 negative comments about Nash make me the winner in the Nash hater sweepstakes.

Steve

But you now realize that I was giving Nash props by referring to that fact that he was not healthy for an effective Nash/Amare PnR in that 6-game WCF loss, right? Would you agree that a hypothetically healthy Nash would have made a huge difference in that series or you want to keep bashing on him by saying no?

 

[AzStevenCal]

But you now realize that I was giving Nash props by referring to that fact that he was not healthy for an effective Nash/Amare PnR in that 6-game WCF loss, right? Would you agree that a hypothetically healthy Nash would have made a huge difference in that series or you want to keep bashing on him by saying no?

I thought he had a pretty good series and don't remember him struggling at all due to injury or exhaustion. He had some problems as the season closed out and at the start of the playoffs but he only had one bad game against the Lakers and his numbers and play were solid. He shot above .500 for the series and put up 71 assists in 6 games, how is that failing at the pick and roll. The pick and roll was not up to par but it fell apart at the Amare end not the Nash end. You may not have agreed with what many of us believed we saw but Amare's difficulties during the Lakers series was discussed often on this board.

And to answer your question, no, I don't think a healthier Nash would have had any bearing on the outcome of the series. The better team won and IMO they were underrating and almost toying with us.

Steve

 

[Lorenzo]

the lakers were better than the suns that year(by a stretch)...and that wasn't nash's fault. I actually thought that suns team overachieved by making it that far in that season. I expected dallas to be there to lose to LAL, but they flopped against the spurs that year.

as far as the knicks and this scoreboard thing. attendance is not a problem for NYK. it never will be. MSG is probably the best place in the NBA to watch a game and the knicks will always be a huge market NBA team. that doesn't change the fact that what they put on the court over the last decade has been crap. their fans are extremely enthusiastic right now because of lin, but their record is still below average and they are underachieving and have for years based on their payroll. I wouldn't compare the suns current situation right now with the knicks. I mean seriously think about this. the knicks just won 5 games in a row, which is not that great of an accomplishment if you ask me(how many times in recent years have the suns, mavs, SA, etc won 10+ straight games an no one talks about it)

the knicks fanbase is doing what the cowboys fans did when romo took over for bledsoe. what you have is a starving fan base that has been put to sleep for years. but the knicks have a strong fan base in new york that is still stronger than most NBA cities outside of LA.

if you want to look at facts, from a neautral perspective I would rather be a suns fan now than a knicks fan. the knicks have been terrible for a long time and I don't see this current group getting them to a championship. the suns have been good for a long time and have began to decline only in the last couple of years. there is no reason to think that they can't get back to the top if they just get back to what they were doing before. they won a lot of games for a lot of years. trust me, those years in the 90's when the mavericks sucked a#$ it wears on you as a fan. you can't even watch. I would much rather my team do what phx or dallas has done the last decade(even without rings) than be a team that is mediocre at best. phoenix is not new york, so naturally they are going to struggle to sell tickets if they are not winning consistently. d'antoni is going to get fired eventually and the knicks will not enjoy the success that phx did.

 

[Lorenzo]

I want to see nash when a ring, but I think the suns should keep nash, and try to build around him. they need another star player there and obviously need to add some depth. they have to make phoenix a place that stars want to play for again. they made a mistake by allowing amare to walk, but that move might turn out to be a blessing in disguise...

the clippers rebuilt their team in a matter of 1-3 seasons and now look at them. it can be done. they really need to hit the lottery on a draft pick which is the hardest part.

 

[Phrazbit]

But you now realize that I was giving Nash props by referring to that fact that he was not healthy for an effective Nash/Amare PnR in that 6-game WCF loss, right? Would you agree that a hypothetically healthy Nash would have made a huge difference in that series or you want to keep bashing on him by saying no?

Nash played fine in that series, he didnt play at a level where he could put the entire team on his back like he did in 2005 but he certainly did his share of the heavy lifting. To pretend it was Amare making guys like Dragic and Lopez play better is absurd, especially when their highlights came with Amare riding the pine.

The Lakers were the better team, but you seem hell bent on placing blame for that defeat on someone on the Suns then it HAS to be Amare, who got bent over in that series. The only other Suns player who had a steep drop off from previous levels of play that season was Frye, and if we were supposed to rely on Frye to guide us to victory then we were doomed.

I still cant get past that you seem to think if Nash had been running "PnR" better then we would have won... is Nash supposed to hoist Amare up on his back so he can rebound? Should Nash be covering Amare's man on defense? Should Nash be dribbling it for Amare so he doesnt constantly get stripped in the lane?

 

[cly2tw]

I thought he had a pretty good series and don't remember him struggling at all due to injury or exhaustion. He had some problems as the season closed out and at the start of the playoffs but he only had one bad game against the Lakers and his numbers and play were solid. He shot above .500 for the series and put up 71 assists in 6 games, how is that failing at the pick and roll. The pick and roll was not up to par but it fell apart at the Amare end not the Nash end. You may not have agreed with what many of us believed we saw but Amare's difficulties during the Lakers series was discussed often on this board.

And to answer your question, no, I don't think a healthier Nash would have had any bearing on the outcome of the series. The better team won and IMO they were underrating and almost toying with us.

Steve

You don't want to tell me that the Suns went all Amare in game 6 because they were so convinced that Amare was the reincarnation of Olajuwan on ISO plays. Amare was driving by his first defender (mostly Gasol) at ease but couldn't finish against the collapse onto him around the basket. So, which part of Amare's task at a successful PnR would have been missing. Not quick enough to dunk the ball without 3 defenders parked under the hoop, which normally never happens if the PG did his part?

Because Nash was banged up, Lakers could really give Nash the space knowing they could recover in time to block his layups or jumpers. Watch the tape and you'll see.The great thing about Nash is that he never forces things, so that his stats never would look bad.

 

[Lorenzo]

You don't want to tell me that the Suns went all Amare in game 6 because they were so convinced that Amare was the reincarnation of Olajuwan on ISO plays. Amare was driving by his first defender (mostly Gasol) at ease but couldn't finish against the collapse onto him around the basket. So, which part of Amare's task at a successful PnR would have been missing. Not quick enough to dunk the ball without 3 defenders parked under the hoop, which normally never happens if the PG did his part?

Because Nash was banged up, Lakers could really give Nash the space knowing they could recover in time to block his layups or jumpers. Watch the tape and you'll see.The great thing about Nash is that he never forces things, so that his stats never would look bad.

three defenders collapsing at the rim shows that the lakers knew which player they had to stop to beat the suns. my guess was amare and steve. they took the approach to make other guys like dragic(or however you spell it) beat them. and in the end it didn't happen. the way to win in the nba playoffs is with depth. when teams make a effort to take away your star players your depth has to make shots consistently. the mavs were able to win a championship with the model. when teams covered dirk one on one he killed them. when they double or tripled him he kicked it to open guys like peja, terry, barea, etc, and they killed it every time. that's how you win. when the suns had depth they were close, but they fell a little short to the spurs. that series vs. the lakers was a lost cause, little chance to win. you can blame your stars if you want, but you have to look at facts. in the years when dirk's help was not there he lost and looked bad and took a lot of heat. in the years when his depth was on point he looked a lot stronger.