Suns/CLippers notes and quotes
January 16th, 2008, 12:28 am · Post a Comment · posted by jerrybrown
A few player notes in the wake of a nasty loss Tuesday:
*After turning in his best game of the season Saturday against
Milwaukee (21 points, 11 rebounds) Boris Diaw was back to invisible in his fourth start for the injured Grant Hill. Diaw was 3-for-8 from the field and had as many technical fouls as rebounds in 37 minutes on the floor. The Suns felt they would be OK without Hill because Daiw has lot of experience as a starter and would step up his game to fill the void. Tuesday, the void did in the Suns. *Amare Stoudemire once again scored at will against the Clippers by putting up 29 points – his exact average for the four games against them this season. But Stoudemire was outrebounded 18-8 by Clippers center Chris Kaman and managed only four boards on the defensive glass all night. The Suns were outrebounded 47-36 despite a 17-rebound effort from Shawn Marion.
*Marcus Banks may be out of the rotation again. In four games since his 23-point eruption against
Denver, Banks has 19 points in four games and the Suns were outscored 21-6 in his seven minutes on the floor during the first half on Tuesday. He didn’t get off the bench in the second half and might not again Thursday when the Suns face the Lakers.
A few postgame offerings fromt the locker room
“We needed to score more points than Sam (Cassell) did and we just couldn’t do it. Our offense let us down and we couldn’t stop Sam, so it was a combination of both. Our offense, for whatever reason, just wasn’t clicking at all and we just didn’t play well.”
–
Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni
“We were sloppy. We didn’t play well and they are a tough matchup for us all over the floor. Even when we beat them, it’s not easy. They play the pick and rolls very hard and we never did loosen them up.”
–Steve Nash, who had 14 points and 13 assists but missed nine of 14 shots and had six turnovers.
“Sam had the best short game in the league, those jumpers inside the 3-point line. Once he gets going, it’s hard to stop him.”
–Amare Stoudemire
