Amare is a dirty "master of psychology"

itlnsunsfan

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Guys, check this out and give me your thoughts. According to this writer from the Oregonian, Amare has been baiting and roughing up the Blazers, perhaps to the point of genius. What??? To me, it has looked like the exact opposite the entire series. Do I have homer glasses on? Do they? Can homerism really affect perception this much?

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/or...are_stoude.html?utm_source=bleacherreport.com

Canzano: Watch for Amare Stoudemire's next antic and see how the Blazers react

By John Canzano, The Oregonian

April 25, 2010, 9:03PM

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Jamie Francis, The OregonianThe Phoenix Suns' Amar'e Stoudemire argues a call during Game 4 of the NBA playoffs. I suppose the temptation today is to declare the primitive gamesmanship of Amare Stoudemire a simple matter for the Trail Blazers.

If he wins. Then, they will lose.

So don't let him win.

Something like that.

Stoudemire has been lobbing verbal darts at the Blazers throughout the series. And there was the elbow job that whiffed just under LaMarcus Aldridge's chin in Game 3. And also, Stoudemire walked up behind Nicolas Batum as he shot a free-throw late in Game 4 and pushed his left elbow into the back of Batum's already injured right shoulder.

The act set Batum off. It set fans inside the Rose Garden who saw it off, too. Of course, Batum retaliated by shoving Stoudemire and shouting and pointing at him. The game officials saw that and subsequently slapped the Blazers small forward with a technical foul. After the game, Batum was sitting on a stool by his locker still steaming about it.

"Cheap," he said. "He hit me hard enough for me to really feel it." And then Batum rose to his feet, squared his elbows up and performed his best elbow-throwing impression of the Suns 6-foot-10 forward.

What did Stoudemire say about the incident?

"I didn't hit him on purpose. Just fixing my goggles, man."

So yeah. Welcome to the game within the game. It features Stoudemire, who is either a bumbling idiot who doesn't know when to stop or a brilliant tactician who knows exactly what he's doing, depending on who you ask.

The faction of people who believe Stoudemire's act to be woefully ignorant and accidental point out that the Suns routinely station a public relations worker near his locker postgame and eavesdrop on his confusing, and sometimes inflammatory, answers.

Early in the Blazers-Suns playoff series, Stoudemire was asked whether Portland center Marcus Camby, who had 17 rebounds in Game 1, was one of the best centers he'd faced this season. And Stoudemire announced that Camby was not. Then, he proceeded to list all the reasons why the Blazers big man was "just OK," to which the Suns official off to the side offered Stoudemire a nudge, and a quiet suggestion of: "Yes, Camby is one of the best I've faced."

Stoudemire didn't change his answer. But hey, you can't blame the Suns. At the very least, they've decided they're going to do what they can to avoid a Stoudemire-induced storm.

This is the same guy who posed shirtless for an anti-fur PETA advertisement because he loves his dog, and offered this quote: "I wouldn't want to see anything cruel ... happen to any animals just for ... fashion."

Of course not.

Now, the faction of people who believe Stoudemire to be a tactical man who knows exactly what he's doing have watched the big guy shove and bait Aldridge and nudge Batum. Also, after Game 4, the center declared that Brandon Roy's inspiring return from injury was not a difference maker for the opposition.

"He's an OK player, I mean he's an All-Star and stuff, I guess," Stoudemire said. "But he didn't beat us. The only one capable of beating us is us."

Keep in mind, this is a person who suffered a detached retina in 2009 and last July was placed face-down by doctors for 10 consecutive days -- 22 hours a day -- to let the fluid drain from the eye during rehabilitation.

That's a lot of thinking for one individual.

Ask him about it, and Stoudemire will tell you that he thinks about the tedious and painful rehabilitation every time he puts his goggles on. So maybe that explains why he was so rigid and focused when he bumped into Batum from behind. Or when he ripped the ball from Roy's hands after a jump ball was called in the second half.

Or maybe it doesn't explain a thing.

By the way, it was Stoudemire who delivered the harshest physical blow to the recovering Roy on Saturday, knocking the Blazers guard down and blocking his shot on a drive to the basket.

Tiana Bardwell, Roy's fiancee and the mother of his two children, was in the Rose Garden for Game 4, holding her breath as Brandon was flattened. She said she saw Roy pummeled by Stoudemire and said, "I just kept saying, 'get up, get up, get up.'"

Roy got up. The Blazers won. And the series is tied. And that's only to say that Portland has played the Suns even in this series, even except for the occasional lapses they've encountered attempting to deal with the Suns forward.

Ignore him?

Hardly.

He had 26 points, six rebounds, knocked down Roy and set off the mild-mannered Batum in Game 4. Earlier in the series, he got under Aldridge's skin. The Blazers are going to have to deal with the guy, and not allow Stoudemire to intimidate them, and while that may mean turning the proverbial other cheek, it does not mean backing down.

Figure him out?

Forget it.

We've got a maximum of three games left in the best-of-seven series and Phoenix fans who have known Stoudemire for years have given up trying to solve him and adopted a "To know Amare is to understand what comes from his mouth" philosophy.

Something tells me if the Blazers keep their poise, watch for flying elbows and stand their ground, refusing to back down but also refusing to let him set them off, Stoudemire will eventually become his own worst enemy. What the Blazers can not do is allow Stoudemire to distract them from the task at hand. That would be winning two more games, and controlling the paint, and dodging the elbows that he throws adjusting his goggles and such.

What do you do with a big guy who keeps taking bites at you?

You let him cannibalize himself.

Stoudemire's impact in this series is up to the Blazers now.
 

82CardsGrad

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Amare and the Suns need to be more concerned about getting the damn ball in the basket more times than the Blazers... period.

:bang:
 

AfroSuns

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That is a stupid article. They put players that are less than 100% on the floor and they want everyone to walk on glasses around them. F**K them, so they are saying don't block Roy's shot because he is recovering or not adjust his goggles when walking by Batum? Blazers are trying everything to bait the Refs, the flopping and acting is not really working anymore and they cant intimidate Amare, so they will resort to any tactics to win now.

I am really beginning to despise this annoying franchise.
 

TucsonDevil

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Boy, and I thought Suns fans were bitter. This guy is giving way too much credit towards Amare's ability to 'strategize'.
 

TheKid_1

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You guys have to know that the guy who wrote this article, Canzano, is hated by everybody in Oregon. Just as a little something to show what I'm talking about... firejohncanzano.blogspot.com and www.facebook.com/pages/Fire-John-Canzano. People just hate him. He just babbles and says crap just for the sake of starting controversy. Nobody, not even Blazer fans, will agree with this crap. Canzano=Douche bag.
 

elindholm

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This writer seems oblivious to the fact that the Blazers have been doing most of the thugging in this series, but I guess that's what you'd expect from an uneducated myopic homer. Ah, what passes for internet journalism.
 

AzStevenCal

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It's all gamesmanship. He's trying to influence public opinion hoping that it will become a groundswell that the refs can't ignore. Aldridge has already participated in this (when he basically suggested he feared for his life when Amare swung the elbow) and it makes me wonder how much of this has been orchestrated by MacMillan. He has them stepping up their physical play while at the same time we're being painted as the bullies.

Steve
 

AzStevenCal

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Nobody, not even Blazer fans, will agree with this crap.

I'm not sure about that. If you've been forced to watch some or most of this series with the Portland announcers you've already heard a lot of this.

Steve
 

Hayduke

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I'm not sure about that. If you've been forced to watch some or most of this series with the Portland announcers you've already heard a lot of this.

Steve

Exactly. Think about when Amare threw the elbow and the announcers just kept talking it up the whole game. It was super annoying. Oh suspension this and that, KG and the celtics, blah blah blah.
 

cly2tw

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Schizofrenic, to say the least.

I wish Amare were such a gamesman this writer makes him be. ;)
 

AfroSuns

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NBA rescinded the flagrant foul on Channing, so much for playing dirty. Stupid Blazers
 

slinslin

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What a tool that guy is

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/or...f/2010/04/canzano_trail_blazers_are_down.html

Roy sat in the locker room after the game, insisting he feels fine. Jerryd Bayless repeated, "We gotta win. Gotta win." And on the home side, the Suns celebrated and swelled with pride over pushing the Blazers to the brink of extinction.

The Suns aren't a likeable bunch.

They talk trash. They act tough. Center Amare Stoudemire fashions himself the baddest dude in a series that could be titled, "No Country for Old Men."

On Monday, Portland gathered the 4,000 tickets it had available for Game 6, put them on sale to the public, and closed up shop 15 minutes later. Meanwhile, the Phoenix fans show up late to games, leave early, and didn't bother to sell out Game 5. Which is only to say, I'm not sure they can understand why you'd still believe the Blazers can force a Game 7.

They're not like you. When it comes to dreams, you own. And they rent.

We'd all love nothing more than to see a winner-take-all finale to this series. A one-game toss-up back in Phoenix. To see what the Suns might do, pushed to the brink of elimination by an undermanned team that, for months, has refused to allow the season to end.
 

jagu

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It's funny how the Blazers are crippled. Injuries happen, I don't need to hear about that over and over. If you lose your out, shutup and wait till next year.
 

slinslin

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This is hilarious:
Audio commentary by the savvy Jason King from the Oregonian.

Note it isn't Amare and it isn't a foul.
 

leclerc

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Both teams are scrapping so I have no problem with it. I'm not missing any "finesse" on the Suns part.

Amaré has kept his cool for the most part and for that I am happy.
 

AzStevenCal

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Amaré has kept his cool for the most part and for that I am happy.

I agree. He's had ample opportunities to blow up and for the most part he's kept his cool. His flagrant foul was risky knowing how much the refs tend to focus on him but he's taken a lot of cheap shots and just kept playing.

Steve
 

eastcoastSUN

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Does anyone notice while the Suns are on D, when the whistle blows for a dead ball, and a Blazer attempts a shot, Amare is ALWAYS near the rim and blocks it? This is the same tactic that KG employs to prevent a 'practice' shot of going in.

Do you think it affects the psyche of any of the young Blazer players or just gets under their skin?
 

elindholm

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Does anyone notice while the Suns are on D, when the whistle blows for a dead ball, and a Blazer attempts a shot, Amare is ALWAYS near the rim and blocks it? This is the same tactic that KG employs to prevent a 'practice' shot of going in.

Do you think it affects the psyche of any of the young Blazer players or just gets under their skin?

I think they ignore it, but you're right that Stoudemire learned the habit from Garnett. It's kind of funny to me that Stoudemire can sky to block a meaningless shot during a dead ball, but still can't get off the ground to grab a defensive rebound. Apparently he missed that part of Garnett's formula.
 

Cheesewater

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Does anyone notice while the Suns are on D, when the whistle blows for a dead ball, and a Blazer attempts a shot, Amare is ALWAYS near the rim and blocks it? This is the same tactic that KG employs to prevent a 'practice' shot of going in.

Do you think it affects the psyche of any of the young Blazer players or just gets under their skin?

It's not just Stoudemire. I've seen Hill, Amundson, and Richardson do it as well. I think it's a team spirit tactic. Don't let ANYTHING in the hoop. Its psychological effect is directed at your own team, not to intimidate the other team.
 

Billy Bob

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The writer forgot to mention why Amare' was adjusting his goggles, because the blazers were hacking at his goggles trying to provoke him. watched the games on TNT and the announcers said the same thing.
 

SirStefan32

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I think they ignore it, but you're right that Stoudemire learned the habit from Garnett. It's kind of funny to me that Stoudemire can sky to block a meaningless shot during a dead ball, but still can't get off the ground to grab a defensive rebound. Apparently he missed that part of Garnett's formula.

Nice! :raccoon:
 

Chaplin

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I think they ignore it, but you're right that Stoudemire learned the habit from Garnett. It's kind of funny to me that Stoudemire can sky to block a meaningless shot during a dead ball, but still can't get off the ground to grab a defensive rebound. Apparently he missed that part of Garnett's formula.

That's about positioning, not jumping.
 

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