# Game Thread: Phoenix Suns @ Detroit Pistons



## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

*[Phoenix Suns]** (49-23)*



*PG * *S. Nash* - *SG* *R. Bell* -* SF* *J. Jones* - *PF* *S. Marion* - *C* *B. Diaw*



*Suns Individual Stats*​









 * @*






















*[Detroit Pistons] * *(58-14) *​

*PG * *C. Billups* - *SG* *R. Hamilton* -* SF* *T. Prince* - *PF* *R. Wallace* - *C* *B. Wallace*


*
Pistons Individual Stats* 









*Sunday, April 2nd - 1PM ET/11AM MT - [ABC] - Palace at Auburn Hills - Detroit, MI*​ 











* Suns Team Stats* 

*Pts Reb Ast * 
*Phoenix* - *[108.4] [41.8] [26.7] * 
*Opponents*- *[102.6] [46.1] [18.8] 
*
*Statistical Leaders*
*[Scoring]* *S. Marion [21.4]* 
* [Rebounds]* *S. Marion [12.1]* 
*[Assists] * *S. Nash [10.6] * 
*[FG%]* *B. Diaw [51.8] * 
*[FT%]* *S.Nash [92.5] * 
*[3PT%] * *L. Barbosa  [45.2]* 
*[Blocks]* *S. Marion [1.8] * 
*[Steals]* *S. Marion [2.0] * 










*Pistons Team Stats  * 

* Pts Reb Ast * 
* Detroit* *[96.9] [40.4] [24.2] * 
* Opponents* *[89.8] [41.1] [18.8] *

*Statistical Leaders*
*[Scoring]**  R. Hamilton [20.6] * 
*[Rebounds* *B. Wallace* *[11.6] * 
*[Assists] * *C. Billups [8.8] * 
*[FG%]* *R. Hamilton [49.3] * 
*[FT%]* *C. Billups * *[90.1]*
*]3PT%]* *R. Hamilton [45.5]* 
*[Blocks]* *B. Wallace [2.2] * 
*[Steals]* *B. Wallace [1.7]*​


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## Seuss (Aug 19, 2005)

Suns can beat the Pistons.

But we'll have to see if they want to play D tomorrow.


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

Even if we don't play D we can stay close to them. Just need to play D in key stretches. People can talk about defense all they want, but we still score most of the time and cause other teams with good defenses to allow more.


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## TheRoc5 (Mar 1, 2005)

please please please beat the pistons


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

TheRoc5 said:


> please please please beat the pistons



lol you want home court haha. I wish we do it. We'll prolly get killed or something.


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## jasonC (Aug 25, 2005)

I dont get off work until after 4 so I wont get to watch this game but Phoenix can definitely beat Detroit.


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

ok I take everything I said back about Barbosa for the last yr.

He's been consistent lately. Hope he can do it in the playoffs.


Suns are playing well. 39-29 in middle of 2nd qrter,


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

Bell with an amazing shot at the buzzer. Suns lead 63-49 at the half.



Man, SO FAR defensively, this is one of the best I've seen us play in a LONG TIME. One of the best efforts all yr too. Pistons have also missed some shots too.

We're also shooting 68%. The ball movement has been excellent. Nash hasn't attempted a shot at all this half. He has a Techincal foul FT though which explains the one point.

Pistons some somewhere around 44 or 45%


I haven't been wanting praise Barbosa for awhile but he's been consistent enough and not so frenetic this yr. I've been waiting to say praise him. He needs to do this come playoff time.


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## Carbo04 (Apr 15, 2005)

Come on, hold 'em off!!


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

ah ****, I was afraid of this. Pistons have come back within 3. 84-81 after 3 now.


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

**** **** **** **** **** ****


I HATE GAMES LIKE THIS



****!



as I've said before on national TV, we either blow a team out or lose a close game. It's VERY ANNOYING.


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## Carbo04 (Apr 15, 2005)

I think we lost.


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## TM (Jun 30, 2003)

the suns forgot to come out of the locker room at halftime :sad:


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## Seuss (Aug 19, 2005)

Suns love to do this.

Hammer a team in the first half and then open the door and let them back in.

But not much you can do when the Pistons are so random.

30ft 3-pointers? Only against us.........


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

SunsFan57 said:


> 30ft 3-pointers? Only against us.........



yeah, no ****. lol

Billups hit all these contested shots as well. Some we didn't close out on. That pisses me off too.


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

D'Antoni lost the game for us this time. Yes, I blame him. 

When Billups shot the lights out in 3rd quarter, our bench players got frustrated. Bell looked so confused out there and Diaw became cotton again. We DID NOT make any defense adjustments when Billiups shot so well. We basically lost the game THE SAME WAY twice and thanks to D'Antoni. Our players weren't mentally prepared and besides Marion/Nash who were up the challenge, other guys were scared in the 2nd half because they are not getting their open shots they got in the first half. 

We need plan B when the opponent shot down our open shots. Our ball movement got shut down and everybody didn't know what to do besides "I want to pass the ball out!" It's unfortunate that we don't have a healthy Amare who can draw fouls for us but we need plan B to go into the playoffs and D'Antoni has to figure that out.

We've played quite a few games for the past week. Time to rest a bit.


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

dissonance19 said:


> yeah, no ****. lol
> 
> Billups hit all these contested shots as well. Some we didn't close out on. That pisses me off too.


There is NO secret that Pistons rely on Billiups in tight situations. Everybody knows that and D'Antoni made no adjustments. As much I love Nash, Billiups can shoot over him and Barbosa any time he wants. We need a much bigger guy to block his visions = Marion. Those long 3pt gave Pistons the energy to come back and they did.


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

yeah, we don't play again till Weds against the Clippers on ESPN. Last time we played them we kicked their butts


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

dissonance19 said:


> yeah, we don't play again till Weds against the Clippers on ESPN. Last time we played them we kicked their butts


Yeah... technically, we need to worry about Spurs first before Pistons! lol


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## Dissonance (Jul 21, 2004)

jibikao said:


> There is NO secret that Pistons rely on Billiups in tight situations. Everybody knows that and D'Antoni made no adjustments. As much I love Nash, Billiups can shoot over him and Barbosa any time he wants. We need a much bigger guy to block his visions = Marion. Those long 3pt gave Pistons the energy to come back and they did.



yeah that's *definitely * true. 

we also let Ben get those alley oops and garbage points.



we didn't shoot to well from FT line either. which is unlike us.


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

dissonance19 said:


> yeah that's *definitely * true.
> 
> we also let Ben get those alley oops and garbage points.
> 
> ...


I just think we need to make some changes if Billiups shoot the lights out again. We just need plan B and even though D'Antoni is not the kind of coach that sets plays all the time, it's time for him to come up something in situation like this. Obviously Billiups is the point guard and if you take away his visions by putting a bigger guy on him, then it's up to the other Pistons players to show up. We won't know the result until we've made some changes because obviously what we had did not work.

I also don't think Billiups is going to shoot the lights out every time. He's had two great shooting games against us but there is no way he can bail his team out like this every time. I am not too worried about it. It's just very annoying to lose to Pistons or any other Eastern team. I still think we match well against them... with a healthy Amare of course.


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

So many posts... but I also want to add that besides Nash/Marion, other guys need to learn how to take pressures. We did not have the same team in the 2nd half. Our ball movement was bad (partly due to much tighter defense) and our guys were frustrated. Bell was one of them and he was like that in the first matchup. 

Diaw just needs to take it inside. If he doesn't, I don't know who else can. Maybe it's not in his nature but for us to win big games, he has to go inside. We are already on the pace to beat the LOWEST FT attempt in NBA history. He needs to watch some of Amare's old tapes and see how Amare did it. In case you haven't read this: 
---------

By David Aldridge 
Inquirer Columnist 

Thursday, Steve Nash did something you might think very un-Nashian. 

He got all up in Boris Diaw's grill. 

"I had to yell a couple of times at Boris tonight," he said. "I don't like to be a screamer, but I think it's important this time of year, when we haven't played well, to be a little more self-critical of our team. I'm always supportive, but sometimes I think you've got to be a little more determined." 

See, you all think that Nash is this pacifist/granola guy who would never hurt a fly, because he's soft-spoken and thoughtful. But make no mistake, Canadian Bacon is a competitor. And he knows that the Phoenix Suns' margin for error in the playoffs without Amare Stoudemire is razor-thin. 

Which is why Nash is urging the Suns to tighten things up. 

And why he jumped nasty with Diaw, even though the Suns were well into the process of routing the Pacers on Reggie Miller jersey retirement night. 

"He gets pretty lackadaisical sometimes," Nash said of Diaw, whom he loves, most of the time. 

"You try to beat that out of him once in a while," Nash said. "He passes up a dunk and jogs back. It [ticked] me off. It doesn't matter if we're on a four- or five-game win streak. But we'd lost two in a row, and a 14-point lead for our team is like a four-point lead, the way we play. Whereas I live and die the whole game with anxiety over the outcome, he kind of looks like 'Ehh, we're fine. I think we'll win it in the end or something.' Knock that [stuff] off."


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## Q8i (Oct 23, 2004)

Wow! Nash!


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## Seuss (Aug 19, 2005)

I completely agree with Nash.

Diaw has to be more assertive if he wants to become a better player.

Also, D'Antoni definately screwed things up. He put Eddie in when the game was close.

Eddie doesn't know how to slow things down and control the game. He took alot of stupid shots which allowed Detroit to get back in the game.


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## MeirToTheWise (Nov 9, 2005)

It was a painful loss... I saw the whole game... Games like these... Now you know why we were excited when we thought Amare had come back for sure


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## Lukasbmw (Jul 30, 2004)

No one is at fault for this game.

The Pistons locked down on defense in the second half AND had more composure.

When Billups makes 30 foot 3 pointers with a hand in his face, there is not much you can do.

The Suns actually got stops down the stretch, we just could not convert on offense. Here is where we miss an inside presence to either get to the hole OR draw a double/triple team and kick it out for an open shot. Do we have anyone on this team who we can isolate with their back to the basket?

If we have KT, this game could have been different. A few rebounds here and there would have meant a victory.

Detroit is a great team. We have a shot against them this year with KT back BUT having Amare or a bigger inside player may be needed to defeat them. Time will tell.


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## DetroitDiesel (Nov 14, 2005)

Good game. Hope amare comes back fully healthy next year and then we can see the real matchup. 

Sorry roc5. When you root against us we always win. hc is ours.


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

A few things that are positive after this game: 

1.) We are BACK. We can score big and offense means EVERYTHING to this team. This is a much better sign when we are heading to the playoffs. We don't want losing streaks before the playoffs. We are also playing without much distractions (Amare). Yes, I call Amare a distraction because he was/is not ready. 

2.) We need to worry about Spurs first before Pistons. 

3.) Pistons can't really slow us down. We shot pretty well for both games. Pistons also can't shut down Marion the way Spurs can. If anything, we don't have Amare to put their defense guys in foul trouble. He was the king of that. We couldn't slow down the game and maintain our lead. 

4.) Eddie House should never be used to maintain leads. He can't. House should only play when we need some quick scoring. His inconsistency in shooting was killing us last night. Yes, he has had a few games where he was on fire but I dare say on AVERAGE, his contribution is NEGATIVE. 

5.) Brian Grant played some heavy mins. At least D'Antoni is willing to use him and looks like Grant will see much more playing time in the playoffs.


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