Watched the game on NBA TV so I will writeup what I can remember (im not the best at this stuff):
- KT is kicking ass, his knicks jumpshot is back and he is in better shape than last year. Both during this game and during the scrimmages I caught him getting up the floor after the opponents score for an easy basket. This is KT were talking about using his conditioning to outrun the other guys up the floor after a score for an easy suns 3 second counter-score which has usually been marions trick. When KT is out there and he goes up for a rebound, you know he is getting that rebound and nobody even tries to really contest against him or steal the ball from him because he has that ball in deadlock and they aren't getting it away from him. When KT goes out I find myself cringing after every attempt at a rebound because it is up for grabs and dangerous when other guys on our team try to secure it. KT is more then needed out there.
-Marion is beyond great and keeping to his typical game out there.
- I dunno if it is the new ball, and/or the different 3 point line, and/or he just has to get back into the flow but bell is struggling early on with 3 pointers but don't worry because otherwise he is definately Raja bell out there. Annoying his defenders and making them pickup stupid fouls like he did to kobe and his 3 point shooting picks up later on just like in the scrimmage.
- Marcus Banks is a good player but still has some learning and working on his game to do, namely made a few stupid fouls during the game. Otherwise his shooting is crisp. He is a very good but not tenacious defender as you hear from people so don't expect that. He drives to the hoop every now and then even against larger foes, pulls some fancy moves and once he gets better at finishing he could be very flashy and dangerous around the hoop like barbosa. It is hard to put anything in concrete about this guy right now, we will have to watch some games during the season and most likely watch him progress.
- Barbosa is earning his contract easily. Lethal 3 point shooting, super fast and ballhandling. Roma restorted to tripping him up about 5 times to try and get away with fouling him when he was running up the floor or blazing past his guy. Didn't work and the refs called them everytime. He had a Devin Harris like move attack the basket and spin seemingly out of control then lobbed the ball up and swoop the ball went in. He even had 2 freakin monstrous blocks on the man he was defending! DENIED!! He really is a great player right now. I think he could pull of 6th man next year.
-Pike might have looked good in the scrimmages, but when it came to gametime he put up some horrible bricks. As in missing the hoop completley or arcing far to the side.
-On the other hand Sean Marks was impressive. He knows how to attack the basket and he will do it. He is not a Burke like stonehands and he won't catch the ball and put up ridiculous jumpshots. He works to get under the hoop, WILL catch the ball, and WILL dunk it even in somebodys face like he did during the game. If somebody gets injured, Sean Marks won't be a liability. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets 5-10 minutes every game in fact.
- Burke shot a 3, typical ridiculousness.
-Amare didn't play, and that to me is not acceptable.
- Boris Diaw has been kind of a ghost out there on the court. I dunno if it is the contract negotiations or he is just being lazy during these early parts, because we know it takes quite a bit to get Boris Fired up. He had good rebounds and usual decent amount of assists but he is not really trying to do much on offense.
- I dunno if Jumaine Jones will be a Tim Thomas replacement, his 3 point shooting was good don't get me wrong but Tim seemed to be able to do almost everything while Jumaine is your typical player.
-D'antoni was not lying about James Jones, he is over his injurys and has returned to his previous form. He came right in and bam hit a 3. Gets very good rebounds and defends very good. James Jones is back. Him, barbosa, and Banks coming off the bench will mean no more weak suns when the starters rest.
- Steve Nash was Steve Nash and that's a great thing, even better was he got a lot of rest and yet the suns easily held the lead and don't think this won't translate over to the regular season, Roma was a tough opponent they are very adept at double teaming and had a good zone defense, while knocking down a good amount of 3's. If Moscow can hand the clippers their ass, then the suns controlling the whole game against what I believe was the 3rd-4th best team at the fiba is a statement about this season.
This was basically the first real game for the suns and they controlled EVERY QUARTER (that is the kicker as we all know from last season) against a very dangerous and in much better playing form after a short break after FIBA roma team, on their turf, playing their type of international ball which has been the death lately of the USA national team, the sixers, and the clippers.
Once the Suns get back into 100% playing form and, hopefully, Boris decides to start playing full force again this team will be dangerous.
