Suns looking good with Shaq so far.

[msc]

And they limited Boston to a season low 77 points.

Did you watch that game?  I did.  Boston couldn't hit a shot to save their lives.  Pierce and Allen combined for 5/25 from the field and most of those 5 makes were at the end of the game.  Boston had an off night offensively, it wasn't Phoenix's D. 

Also, just to add to westkoast's post above.  The Detroit drubbing was in Phoenix.  I know it's one game, but getting your butt kicked by 30 at home is never a good sign. 

Of course ya'll can keep listening to Shaq's same sound bite after each game, "We're still figuring it out, I'm still trying to fit in, blah, blah, blah".  15/7 won't get it done for Phoenix.  They traded a guy that put better numbers up AND played great perimeter D often against the oppositions best scorers. 

Phoenix is toast. 

[Reality]

And they limited Boston to a season low 77 points.

Did you watch that game?  I did. 

Turned it off after 10 minutes.  Boring.

[msc]

And they limited Boston to a season low 77 points.

Did you watch that game?  I did. 

Turned it off after 10 minutes.  Boring.

Really?  Seeing how much you worship Shaq since he's left LA, I figured you'd have been glued to the game taking copious notes. 

[Reality]

   You Lakers are such Shaq haters since he left LaLa.

Naw it's just that too much of a pattern is being read into 5 games.  If the patterns hold, well great.  If they don't, that's great too.

This past week we've seen a lot of topsy turvy games. 
New Orl roasts Dallas and Phx, and in between gets roasted by Houston 100-80.
Utah loses to MN, then on a b2b the next night wins @ Detroit.
Boston gets beat badly several times, then rebounds and wins 3 straight against medium teams.
Det punked Phx, then got beat by Utah.  (well maybe that supports your point.)
Spurs need SuperManu at the buzzer to beat MN, then handle New Orleans by 15 at one point.

At this point the two solids to me are of course the Spurs, and the Collusionists especially when Bynum returns.

[westkoast]

  You Lakers are such Shaq haters since he left LaLa.

Naw it's just that too much of a pattern is being read into 5 games.  If the patterns hold, well great.  If they don't, that's great too.

This past week we've seen a lot of topsy turvy games. 
New Orl roasts Dallas and Phx, and in between gets roasted by Houston 100-80.
Utah loses to MN, then on a b2b the next night wins @ Detroit.
Boston gets beat badly several times, then rebounds and wins 3 straight against medium teams.
Det punked Phx, then got beat by Utah.  (well maybe that supports your point.)
Spurs need SuperManu at the buzzer to beat MN, then handle New Orleans by 15 at one point.

At this point the two solids to me are of course the Spurs, and the Collusionists especially when Bynum returns.

Actually I didn't like him while he was still here...use the search feature.  After the first championship he started to really bother me with his attitude and conditioning.  It got really bad the year the Spurs bounced them in the 2nd round 4-2.

[Laker Fan]

Utah loses to MN, then on a b2b the next night wins @ Detroit.

That game was played in Salt Lake City, not Detroit
No point here except that this is a microcosm of how he mistates facts to suit his spin but of course we are all the spinmeisters right?

[Laker Fan]

And they limited Boston to a season low 77 points.

Phoenix is toast. 

Couldn't agree more, I have been saying this since the trade went down an dLurkers numbers thus fa verify what I suspected would happen, defense on a terrible defensive team just got worse, SA, LA, and Utah are all capable of taking these boys down.

[Reality]

Utah loses to MN, then on a b2b the next night wins @ Detroit.

That game was played in Salt Lake City, not Detroit
No point here except that this is a microcosm of how he mistates facts to suit his spin but of course we are all the spinmeisters right?

Yeah it really changes the context.
Don be hatin.

[msc]

And they limited Boston to a season low 77 points.

Phoenix is toast. 

Couldn't agree more, I have been saying this since the trade went down an dLurkers numbers thus fa verify what I suspected would happen, defense on a terrible defensive team just got worse, SA, LA, and Utah are all capable of taking these boys down.

Agreed, and don't forget NO who owns the season series 4-0.  Apparently they have Phoenix's number.

While I'm confident I'm right about the Shaq trade, I'm thinking I might have to eat my words on the Kidd trade.  After a sub par first game, he's looked pretty darn solid.  Tonight will add some more perspective as the games he's looked good in have been against sub par opponents (Chicago, Memphis and Minny).

[Lurker]

BTW..Someone up at ESPN is a huge Shaq fan as they fudged up stats about wins and losses since he joined the Suns.

They said they have won 2 games and lost 3 but I could have sworn the only team they've beat is Boston with losses coming from LA, Detroit, and NO.  They also said since trading Marion the Suns have gone 5-5 but from my count it's 5-7 after last nights loss.

Phoenix schedule since Marion trade...


 Wed 06  vs New Orleans   L 130-132
 Fri 08  vs Seattle   W 103-99
 Sun 10  vs Washington   W 108-107
 Wed 13  @ Golden State   L 118-120
 Thu 14  vs Dallas   W 109-97
 Wed 20  vs LA Lakers   L 124-130
 Fri 22  vs Boston   W 85-77
 Sun 24  vs Detroit   L 86-116
 Tue 26  @ Memphis   W 127-113
 Wed 27  @ New Orleans   L 103-120


So the Suns are 5-5.  But the wins are close wins against some of the NBA worse teams...Seattle +4, Wizards (Butler & Arenas out) +1, Dallas +12 (Dallas w/o Harris, Howard, Stack), Boston +8, Memphis +14 (Suns +1 after 3rd - Shaq spends entire 4th on bench)

EDIT:  The most telling stat IMO...day of trade #1 seed in the west.  10 games later...#5 seed (at least they would still get home court vs Jazz).

[Reality]

Do accountants calculate how much of their drink is left?  I wonder what you and zig would be like going to a game or at coffee break.

I have 42% left of this cup of coffee.  If i drink it at 1.2 oz's per 90 seconds i will finish it by the time break is over.

My beer is 72% full.  If the Spurs do not foul too much in this 2nd qtr, i will have 14% of the beer left by haltime.  This will allow me to swig the last gulps as i walk to the consession booth.

(You Suns Shaq stats are all viable Lurker, I'm just asking).

[westkoast]

Do accountants calculate how much of their drink is left?  I wonder what you and zig would be like going to a game or at coffee break.

I have 42% left of this cup of coffee.  If i drink it at 1.2 oz's per 90 seconds i will finish it by the time break is over.

My beer is 72% full.  If the Spurs do not foul too much in this 2nd qtr, i will have 14% of the beer left by haltime.  This will allow me to swig the last gulps as i walk to the consession booth.

(You Suns Shaq stats are all viable Lurker, I'm just asking).

I think normally they just wait to look at the case of alcohol after the fact then tell you EXACTLY what happened to the beers from there.  Sorta like a box score.

[Laker Fan]

Utah loses to MN, then on a b2b the next night wins @ Detroit.

That game was played in Salt Lake City, not Detroit
No point here except that this is a microcosm of how he mistates facts to suit his spin but of course we are all the spinmeisters right?

Yeah it really changes the context.
Don be hatin.

Context is relevent, a win against a defensive juggernaut like Detroit in the second half of a b2b sounds waaaay more impressive if you do it on the road as opposed to the cozy confines of your home court, where the Jazz have been virtually unbeatable.

[Reality]

Context is relevent, a win against a defensive juggernaut like Detroit in the second half of a b2b sounds waaaay more impressive if you do it on the road as opposed to the cozy confines of your home court, where the Jazz have been virtually unbeatable.

Context of my post was the NBA still has a measure of parity amoung the title chasers, especially the never had chasers.  A win at home by the Jazz is less impressive then the Jazz beating Det at Detroit.  Still, it was the 2nd of a b2b and the Jazz did beat Det @ Det earlier this season.  Context also was the night before the Jazz lost to MN.  While the Jazz are in a coma at home and lousy on the road, MN is horrible at both home and away, 10-42 overall.

[westkoast]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=Suns-080307&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnba%2finsider%2fcolumns%2fstory%3fcolumnist%3dhollinger_john%26page%3dSuns-080307

Good article breaking a bunch of things down in regards to the trade.