# GT #23: Utah Jazz (13-9) @ Phoenix Suns (16-6) - 12/12



## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

*Phoenix Suns (16-6) vs Utah Jazz (13-9)*

*When: Friday, 10:30EST/7:30PST/8:30AZ
TV: ESPN*









*Suns Projected Starters:*






































*[PG] Steve Nash [SG] Raja Bell [SF] Grant Hill [PF] Shawn Marion [C] Amare Stoudemire*

*Jazz Projected Starters:*






































*[PG] Deron Williams [SG] Ronnie Brewer [SF] Andrei Kirilenko[PF] Carlos Boozer [C] Mehmet Okur*

*Suns last 10*, (6-4) [insert down arrow] 









*Suns have been placed on SEVERE*​


----------



## MeirToTheWise (Nov 9, 2005)

*Re: GT #23: Utah Jazz (13-8) @ Phoenix Suns (16-6) - 12/12*

Time to see what the Suns are made of at this point in time of the season. I don't expect them to come out flat at all considering this is the first of four significant games against the top West teams. I'd be very suprised if they don't come out with a lot of intensity and put a lot of effort in making a statement to the rest of the league.


----------



## Seuss (Aug 19, 2005)

*Re: GT #23: Utah Jazz (13-8) @ Phoenix Suns (16-6) - 12/12*

No defense, will result in another loss. You cannot come out against the Jazz half-assed. If the Suns come to play tomorrow, I expect a solid win. But they will need some strong interior defense. I don't know if they have that.


----------



## Sedd (Sep 1, 2003)

*Re: GT #23: Utah Jazz (13-8) @ Phoenix Suns (16-6) - 12/12*

I'll be at the game tonight. I think the vibe will be a lil weird tonight.

I want the Suns to get Amare the ball early and often. I know Nash will shoot much better tonight and I hope we run away with this thing, but I don't know.


----------



## Hyperion (Dec 5, 2006)

*Re: GT #23: Utah Jazz (13-8) @ Phoenix Suns (16-6) - 12/12*

Maybe they'll play a full game now that their competition has a record of over 0.500. That's why I didn't like this schedule, too many games went by and bad habits ensued because the competition was so much weaker than the Suns. Hopefully they'll step it up and rebound.


----------



## 604flat_line (May 26, 2006)

*Re: GT #23: Utah Jazz (13-8) @ Phoenix Suns (16-6) - 12/12*

They need to pound the ball down low with Amare and Diaw, and get Grant Hill to cut and draw some fouls. We need to get to the FT line to put a hurt on the opposition's bigs. 

Overall I just find it dumb that a) we don't get Amare the ball much and b) we don't go to the FT line. Those 2 things have to be corrected to put more pressure on the bigs.


----------



## Seuss (Aug 19, 2005)

*Re: GT #23: Utah Jazz (13-8) @ Phoenix Suns (16-6) - 12/12*

The Jazz lost to the Blazers last night. They have been kind of in a slump ever since their hot start. So both teams will come out with some motivation.


----------



## WeatherGuy (May 29, 2007)

*Re: GT #23: Utah Jazz (13-8) @ Phoenix Suns (16-6) - 12/12*



Dr. Seuss said:


> No defense, will result in another loss. You cannot come out against the Jazz half-assed. If the Suns come to play tomorrow, I expect a solid win. But they will need some strong interior defense. I don't know if they have that.


The Jazz have to lead the league in weak interior D. I see the Jazz loosing by 10+ tonight. Not only are they in a four game funk, they're lost right now and I can't see them snapping out of it on the 2ND of a back-to-back on the road against the Suns. 

Scouting report on the Jazz:
1) The lane will be uncontested all night long, at least while Okur & Boozer are on the floor.
2) Identify your hot-3PT-shooting-players early and attack because Sloan will NOT defend the three. Okur will be camped out on the 3-PT line launching a bunch of threes but not making many/any and he won't ever take it to the hole.
3) When you see the starting Jazz players hanging their heads and Sloan cusing the Refs, go for the kill-- their done, mentally beat.


----------



## MeirToTheWise (Nov 9, 2005)

Suns up 24-22 after the first quarter. They definitely have much better energy on the defensive end to start this game. Lol, this team is so much different when it comes to play against the top teams. Only reason Suns don't have a bigger lead right now is because of careless turnovers. Think they had about 5-6 already, yet so did the Jazz. Suns have missed some open looks as well. Good game to watch so far. Marion has 3 blocks already, lol.


----------



## DuMa (Dec 25, 2004)

boozer hit nash on a rebound comin down and nash chipped his tooth. he looks even goofier now LOL


----------



## Seuss (Aug 19, 2005)

LOL

That interview was priceless. I can't believe he actually chipped his tooth. I wonder if it was already chipped and he just had a fake piece there....that's pretty hard to chip a tooth with just sheer elbow.


----------



## MeirToTheWise (Nov 9, 2005)

Suns up 49-45 at halftime. Nash's got 16 pts and 8 asts already. I've been pleased with our energy on the defensive end. They're making the effort this game. Lol, honestly, it's almost night and day difference between how this team plays with energy when up against a good team instead of a bad team. Suns would be up by more if they could hit some open looks, but it's still all good. Hope the Suns keep up the intensity going in the second half.


----------



## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

Dr. Seuss said:


> LOL
> 
> That interview was priceless. I can't believe he actually chipped his tooth. I wonder if it was already chipped and he just had a fake piece there....that's pretty hard to chip a tooth with just sheer elbow.


lol that was hilarious.

Yeah, that's what I was just thinking. That it was just a cap or a piece after seeing it. 


Like the energy tonight. Others have to step it up a little bit though in order to get a victory. 

Nash needs 6 more assists for 8 straight games of 14 or more.


----------



## Ghetto Anthony (Mar 20, 2007)

LOL @ Steve Nash's tooth. What the hell happened?


----------



## Seuss (Aug 19, 2005)

Ghetto Anthony said:


> LOL @ Steve Nash's tooth. What the hell happened?



Boozer caught him with his elbow on the way down, and I guess knocked it loose.


----------



## All Net (Nov 28, 2007)

Grant hill is cold on shooting, Nash on the other hand is on fire...


----------



## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

*Suns 103, Jazz 98*

Nash 29 pts, 11 assists, 6 rebs

Marion 26 pts, 15 rebs, 2 stls, 5 blks


----------



## Seuss (Aug 19, 2005)

Marion and Nash come up huge for the Suns. That was a very solid win. All started with their more focused attention on defense. They were hustling and scrapping for loose balls and consistently challenging jump shots. I was very happy with the effort. 

We'll see where they stand when the face Mavs and Spurs.


----------



## All Net (Nov 28, 2007)

Its funny cuz the other day i was saying how nashs shooting was poor in the last few games, and then tonight he goes 10-12 from the field.


----------



## MeirToTheWise (Nov 9, 2005)

Man was this game enjoyable to watch. Suns came out with energy on both sides of the ball for most of the game and it paid dividends. Like I said earlier in this thread, this team comes to play against the top teams. It's just when they play the teams that are average or below-average that they decide to play lackadaisacal. Could be that they're just a bit cocky and feel that they can just turn a switch on and pull out a win, which they manage to do most of the time, but then as we see there are games where it just doesn't work out for them because they can't get into a rhythm and so lose. Anyways, Marion was a beast tonight and all over the place. I really hope we don't get rid of him. He just does so many little things for us that don't show up on the stat sheet. And wow, I was impressed with Boris' aggressiveness for most of the game, especially in the 4th when he had those back-to-back 3-point plays. Could be a sign of him finally finding his role on this year's team.

Honestly, for the next 2 weeks or so, we're going to see an energized team on both sides of the ball, since we'll be playing teams with winning records. After those games though, we'll see them face some below-average teams and then they'll play below maximum level again, lol.


----------



## Hyperion (Dec 5, 2006)

Where were Bell and Barbosa tonight? They were TERRIBLE offensively(combined 3-14). At least the team hustled on both ends tonight. That's all you can ask for is for them to hustle on both ends of the court. Diaw had some flashes of two years ago (I guess getting minutes cut will motivate you). But let's not get ahead of ourselves here, he did only score 8 points on 7 shots, 2 assists, and 6 rebounds in 22 minutes. Not very good but he did have a two nice looking plays.

Nash is a bad *** as usual. 10-12 from the field and 1 tooth. He also shut down Williams more than a few times one on one. I was also glad to see that the team was at least going for rebounds tonight.


----------



## roninpenguin (Oct 31, 2007)

IceMan23and3 said:


> Where were Bell and Barbosa tonight? They were TERRIBLE offensively(combined 3-14).


That is the biggest strength of this team, when you have a couple of players having an off night, others can step up and cover them. Thats why when everyone is hitting on all cylinders this team is near unstoppable.


----------



## Seuss (Aug 19, 2005)

I don't like the rotations Mike had. Hill, Bell, LB, Skinner and Diaw is not a very smart combination. Also, get Amare the ****ing ball! When Nash isn't in, play some post game for petesake.


----------

