Johann

Hawks Head Coach Mike Woodson: “Joe Johnson did not have good shooting night but was in all other aspects of the game. Josh Smith did a great job of drawing the double team and dishing the ball to Marvin. Marvin did a great job of making the shots. The defense, their play tonight was really good against the Phoenix Suns. To hold them under 100 points is exceptional. "As for the two losses on the road, we had too many turnovers so we need to take better care of the ball. As for (Al) Horford and (Acie) Law they came in the league ready to play. They are not panicky kids and they played a lot of big college games, even though Law missed some free throws he comes right back on the next play.” (On the team running more) “We plan to run more, but we need to take better care of the ball. We also have to get back on defense so we can keep the other team from scoring. I need a guy like Josh (Childress) to be a good spark off the bench and he’s doing a great job so far.” link

Suns Head Coach Mike D'Antoni: “They played well tonight. They’re long and athletic. We just couldn’t find a combination that worked, and once we got close, we would miss shots that we should have knocked down. The second chance points were just too much, which is why we need a guy like Amare (Stoudemire) playing tonight. Boris (Diaw) tried to box out, but their guards are just as big as he is. But we can’t take anything away from them, because they played hard.” They made some unbelievable shots in the lane. I don’t know how many times Josh Smith just threw it in, and Marvin Williams just didn’t miss. Once again you just have to give them credit for playing well. We just weren’t good enough to beat them.” link

Grant Hill and the Suns dropped to 1-1 on the road trip with a loss to the Hawks in Atlanta on Wednesday night. By Jerry Brown eastvalleytribune.com, Nov. 8, 2007 ATLANTA - The nights when the Suns could rely on being the quickest, most-athletic team on the floor have been whittled significantly since the days Joe Johnson wore a Phoenix uniform and opponents cringed at the thought of the track meet ahead. Wednesday, still without Amaré Stoudemire and with many of their shooters still searching for the range, the Suns could only watch as the young, swift Atlanta Hawks that now surround Johnson made all the big plays late and earned a 105-96 win — handing Phoenix its first road loss of the season. The Hawks overcame a 34-point, 11-assist effort from Steve Nash with a 56-40 rebounding edge and 29 second-chance points. The last three points fittingly came on a Josh Smith putback and foul with 1:47 left that put Atlanta up by 10 and snuffed out the last in a series of Suns rally attempts. Phoenix shot 40 percent from the field as Leandro Barbosa, Raja Bell, Boris Diaw and Grant Hill were a combined 13-for-42 from the field. Johnson also had a poor shooting night (3-for-17), but his 10 assists wound up in the hands of Smith (22 points) Marvin Williams (20) and Josh Childress (19). “Usually shot-making overcomes a lot of ills for us,” said Nash, who made 12 of 19 from the field, including seven of 10 3-pointers. “We ran into a more athletic team … Amaré is a helpful presence for us against a team like that.” You need only go back to last season, when Stoudemire had season-highs of 43 points and six assists to go with 16 rebounds at Philips Arena when the Suns won — as they had five straight times here before Wednesday. But Stoudemire decided to delay his return from knee stiffness for a third game as the Atlanta greyhounds took advantage. He said he expects to play Friday in Miami, but he said Tuesday he planned to play against the Hawks. “They got all the loose balls and made all the hustle plays,” Bell said. “We scrapped, we tried to come back, but they wanted it more than we did. We were boxing out, trying to put bodies on people but they kept swooping in. They got to rebounds and bothered a few shots, so give them credit.” COPYRIGHT 2007, EAST VALLEY TRIBUNE. Used with permission. link

Quote: I want to see some of these all knowing sports columnists who hammered us after making the trade for JJ when Diaw came out that season and looked like an all-star. most of them gave him a pass last year when he came in fat while still calling us hopeless. If we make the playoffs this year I wonder if we'll get any hindsight retractions? Sportswriters (and pundits in general) have no memory.* It's actually quite a blessing. *(unless they luck out and got something right)

Phil

You have gotten over my head as far as Torre's strategy with the Yanks. To me, the Yankees represent the symbol of what is wrong with baseball, hence I don't watch them much, and when I do it is only to wish disaster on them. I haven't stepped back and even looked at their tactics. But it seems that what you mention is an indictment of the American League in general. You are hoping for National League style baseball. I agree with you - far more interesting. My absolute favorite play is the suicide squeeze. How many times do you see that in the AL? As I ranted before, baseball is in trouble. I will add now that the AL doesn't even play baseball.

Thanks, man.

Missed the game lol so can't really throw in anything except about the post game interviews which I saw. What I like about Al is he's funny. He's relaxed, and he's got a devilish grin. We need that. Everyone else is so dang serious (except maybe Lue).

Catchers can make fine managers. Note: Torre is one himself.

Yeah. True. Not giving him Lebron's place quite yet. But the kid is good. Fun to watch.

The crowd will be into it. Homecourt advantage for the first time in a long time. The website says the game is sold out.

The kid is damn good.

Quote: He is reasonably quick but I attribute it more to savvy and length. His wingspan is something like 7 feet so he can play off of smaller player a bit and still challenge their shot and can get his hands up to challenge larger players as well. Yeah. I guess I meant extreme quickness relative to his notable length. That he can stop quick guards is like a walking-stick mantis staying with a waterbug.

Quote: How does a skinny guy like TP play such great defense? He is skinnier than Durant. It has got to be extreme quickness and savvy (which I attribute to his own hard work, and to his college coaching).

If last night is any indication Durant is going to be hard to beat. He does not look like a rook.

Hmmm. What you are telling me is pretty amazing, and you are no Smith-worshipper. This year could be interesting, with a few if's.

Quote: The timing of Prince's block is what made it special. The block itself is something that Smith does all the time. The amazing thing was that TP was nowhere in the picture as Reggie got to the basket. Reggie (nor anyone else) had any clue that anyone could get there. It was Tay's speed and sheer will that was and is amazing.

Quote: I am not sure about who will be happy about this but Horford reported that Taureen Green and Corey Brewer were the guys who played the video games while Noah and Horford would try to instigate to keep themselves entertained. It's going to take us a lot of threads to sort out all of the implications for trades and development provided by this new tidbit.

Quote: Marvin has a long way to go defensively to be in the same frame as Prince, but he is already just about there offensively. Tayshaun is a better passer at this point and has a little more range but Marvin is very close offensively overall. Tayshaun is absolutely one of a handful of my favorite players, and always has been. I have never seen a greater play, and likely never will, than the block on Reggie in game 6. Reggie racing to the basket all by himself to lay it in and tie the game; didn't even hear him coming. A blur comes out of nowhere and stuffs the shot to save the game; the blur disappears like a rocket into the stands, to his apparent death at that velocity ;the crowd is silent. What seems like an eternity later a gaunt figure slowly pulls himself to his feet from under the chairs. Tayshaun!

Quote: It's nothing but a paper champion full of check collectors. That wasn't torre's fault. If you're going to blame someone, blame the GM and owner, the guys who call the shots on personel. I blame the Commissioner and the owners for being pansies. The league is so boring now. All you need is the cash, and you can purchase an All-Star team. Sure podunk market teams can luck up and get hot at the right time, and fluke their way deep into the playoffs. But the high-dollar teams will win it 80 percent of the time. The game is going downhill fast. It needs a commish with backbone, and a cap/free agency policy similar to the NBA. It may take a lockout to get that, but the commish/owners don't have the stiffness to stand up to the players, and the big market teams have no incentive to change the system. But as it stands, the game is getting more and more irrelevant every year.

Quote: I'm sorry but what universe do you originate from??? You have asked a touchy question. Dr. Z has been lost in space for four decades.

Thanks for your opinion Bus, going to be very interesting watching your FL boys, especially one of them. Do you think he can play much minutes at the 5 alongside Josh Smith and Marvin?

Thanks for the explanation. Don't blame you for being a Kentucky basketball fan, growing up in the Bluegrass.

The Florida games I saw were mostly at the end of the season, the SEC tourney and the dance. It seemed FLA would fall behind in games, even through the whole first half. Then Brewer would take over. He looked as quick or quicker, relative to his length, than anyone I can remember. He would shut down the other team's best guard, and thus disrupt their offense. On his own offensive end, he would use his length and quickness to get to the basket at will against the other guards. Part of this was probably Donovin's offense, as sophisticated as you'll see in college, and the passing ability of Horford and Noah. The ball didn't touch the floor that much, so Brewer didn't need to dribble. Most of his shots were cuts to the basket, or floaters in the paint. But he also seemed to hit big shots from outside in crunch time in big games. In the pros, I expect he is going to guard the other team's best guard, and he will give most of them a hard time. On offense, he will be as quick and longer than most of the guys trying to guard him, and he can finish. He can really move without the ball. I am going to be surprised if he is not good, right from the beginning, even though he is not particularly a shooter or ballhandler.

Quote: I love his passion and he's the ultimate guy you want to go into battle with, but he's got issues. I know, LOL. He's as volatile as gasoline fumes.