From ESPN Sun's board (has to do with DAntoni's comments)

[MaverickFFL]

It was just one game, but Mike D was seriously outcoached by Avery, and in every conceivable aspect.

AJ's gameplan shut down or severely limited every one of our strengths. Fast breaks? Gone. Pick-n-roll to Amare? Smothered. Spurtablility? Quick timeout. Perimeter shooting? Harrassed. Nash as catalyst? Castrated.

In addition to addressing our strengths, AJ was able to expoit all of our weaknesses. Defensive rebounding? Mav putback points. Short bench? Foul trouble. Defense? 119 points, most of them easy.

AJ also addressed his own team's shortcomings. Dirk weak in the post? AJ lets him return to doing what he's good at. Damp on the bench with fouls? AJ keeps him on the floor, fouls or no. Stagnant offense? AJ has them moving the ball fluidly, Nash-like.

What's really mind boggling is how D'Antoni refused to acknowledge any merit in Avery's approach to the game, and seems to imply that no adjustments are necessary for us! Unbelievable!

[kyptonite]

wow, great post

[Simon2]

Suns only play one style of basketball. What adjustments can they really do?

[Steve13]

Originally posted by: Simon2
Suns only play one style of basketball. What adjustments can they really do?

So do dallas and they still made adjustments...you can always make them no matter how you play.

[Thespiralgoeson]

Originally posted by: Steve13

So do dallas and they still made adjustments...you can always make them no matter how you play.

Anyone and everyone can adjust.. Adjustments are more about playing which players at what position, not necessarily style. The Mavs have much more freedom to to so because the roster is much deeper than the Suns'. But that has nothing to do with the style of basketball. However, I don't think that the Mavs only play one style of basketball, and I'm not sure that's a good thing. Maybe I'm wrong, but the Mavs haven't seemed to found a real basketball identity that the Suns, Pistons and Spurs have for example. The Suns run and gun, the Spurs and Pistons lock down, and it works for them. The Mavs on the other hand, seem to try to do a bit of everything, and more often than not it works, but sometimes it costs us. We're still a high-scoring team, but we're not the kind of team that just buries you with 3's like Phoenix does. And we're a decent defensive team, but we certainly don't suffocate opponents like San Antonio or Detroit does. I'd like for us to be more like San Antonio. Not that I mean we should focus entirely on defense, but merely to emphasize it and improve. We're always going to score a lot of points as long as we have the roster to do so. San Antonio is a defensive team, but they're still capable of putting up a crapload of points and beat you offensively. In the Denver series, Denver in the last couple of games tried to run and gun and beat San Antonio by outscoring, and the Spurs ended up beating them at their own game. I'd like to see the Mavs do that, but the opposite I guess. Be an offensive, high-scoring team, yet still be capable of locking down defensively every now and then.

[Chiwas]

Originally posted by: Steve13

So do dallas and they still made adjustments...you can always make them no matter how you play.

It's not the impossibility of making changes which makes simon's post a good one, but the impossibility in D'Antoni's mind to make them.

Already D'Antoni denied the need of adjustments, and the Phoenix fan accurately points it out, in saying that their coach is unable to recognize Avery's merit, which makes him look as an unidimentional coach and unable for self criticism.

For our convenience, hopefully he doesn't change.

[greensborohill]

Originally posted by: MaverickFFL

That's basically what I've been saying . . .

[bernardos70]

Wow. That's a great post, thanks for sharing MaverickFFL.

[Pirate]

The Mavs are a well rounded, versatile team. As such, they can utilize several different ways to beat you, no matter what YOUR preferred style is.

That is good, not bad.

[Thespiralgoeson]

Originally posted by: Pirate
The Mavs are a well rounded, versatile team. As such, they can utilize several different ways to beat you, no matter what YOUR preferred style is.

That is good, not bad.

Yeah we're well rounded, but c'mon, we've given up way too many points in this entire playoffs, especially this series. Well rounded, sure. But we're only an average defensive team. I think we could stand to improve. "no matter what YOUR preferred style is." What MY preferred style is? I prefer that we win games.

[kingrex]

Avery and his coaching staff has done well in adjusting to what Phoenix likes to do. Phoenix will take what the defense gives them, but D'Antoni needs to do more than that. He needs to tell his team to set screens to free Stoudemire for Nash-assists. The perimeter players still need to crash the offensive boards and dive cut when Amare is double-teamed.

There are adjustments that need to be made for the Suns to beat the Mavs. Make no mistake, the Mavs are still the underdogs, but if D'Antoni doesn't adjust, then he kiss this series goodbye.

[LRB]

Originally posted by: Thespiralgoeson

Yeah we're well rounded, but c'mon, we've given up way too many points in this entire playoffs, especially this series. Well rounded, sure. But we're only an average defensive team. I think we could stand to improve. "no matter what YOUR preferred style is." What MY preferred style is? I prefer that we win games.

It's not about holding your opponents under a certain score or your team scoring a certain number of points. It's about having a larger number of points under your teams name than your opponents name when the final buzzer sounds. For all I care the Suns can score 200 points this game so long as we score 201 or we can score only 30 so long as the suns only score 29. Just so long as we win, that's what's key.

As for D'Antoni, I only hope that what he's saying is true and he doesn't make any adjustments at all. That would be fantastic. However that's not what I expect to happen. And he wouldn't even be close to the 1st coach to try and mislead his opponents via the media.

[Thespiralgoeson]

All I'm saying is, we've lost plenty of games this year as a result of sub-par defense, and that we could stand to improve.

[mavsman55]

Originally posted by: Thespiralgoeson
All I'm saying is, we've lost plenty of games this year as a result of sub-par defense, and that we could stand to improve.

I agree. Although we're Eons ahead of where we were last year.

On Sunday, we won because of our offense, NOT because of our defense. We played "good defense" in the respect that we limited Nash to a one-dimensional player (a very good one at that), but Phoenix shot over 50% from the floor and scored 109 points. It wouldn't be safe to rely on scoring 119 points and shooting 55% to win these next couple of games. We have to continue to make adjustments and crack down on defense if we want any chance of keeping ourselves alive.

[MFFL41]

It's not the impossibility of making changes which makes simon's post a good one, but the impossibility in D'Antoni's mind to make them.

Already D'Antoni denied the need of adjustments, and the Phoenix fan accurately points it out, in saying that their coach is unable to recognize Avery's merit, which makes him look as an unidimentional coach and unable for self criticism.

For our convenience, hopefully he doesn't change.

D'Antoni is the COY, he has something up his sleeve. Or Not.

ButOT, how good is Avery? I mean he just started being a coach, but man he is gonna be a great coach.