Suns Basketball » AlvinGentry

At 37, Grant Hill Restarts His Career

Fanhouse NBA Blog - suns — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:58:36 +0000

Filed under: Suns

Grant Hill today is like that low-mileage, late-model used car you bought from the little old lady, who parked it in her garage for 10 years and hardly drove, selling it in surprising good condition for as old as it was.

He is a bargain at this age.

"For an old guy, I'm still low mileage,'' Hill told FanHouse last week. "Limited wear and tear.''

Hill, 37, is the fourth-oldest player in the NBA today, but he has given the resurging Phoenix Suns a big boost as they return to their roots as a high-scoring, quick-shooting team on the run. The Suns (6-1) go into tonight's game in Philadelphia tied with the best record in the Western Conference.

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Rebounding Focus Pays Off for the Suns

Brett Pollakoff — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Filed under: Clippers, Suns

LOS ANGELES -- Rebounding is all that Suns' head coach Alvin Gentry has been talking about during the preseason, and with his team being an undersized bunch who would rather try to run you off the floor than stand toe-to-toe and slug it out, that's completely understandable.

But the emphasis on taking care of the boards had its consequences in the team's season opener on Wednesday, as Phoenix -- yes, the extended remix of the Seven Seconds or Less Suns -- managed just two fast break points in their game against the Clippers.

The ultimate result, however, was a positive one. The Suns' focus on rebounding enabled them to hang with a big and talented Clippers' front line, and pull out a hard-fought, last-second 109-107 road victory in Los Angeles.

"We've got to get out and run more," Gentry said, when discussing his team's lack of points in transition. "We get so conscious right now of trying to guard the boards, you know, the offensive boards -- which I thought we did a good job on -- that sometimes it limits us a little bit as far as getting out on the break.

"We still got 109 points, even though we didn't get any fast break points. And really, some of the things they don't call fast break points .. if we come down and we run a drag, and we get a wide open three-pointer, we consider that a fast break point. So it's really a little bit distorted, but they did do a good job as far as getting back and keeping us from running."

Phoenix held a 22-15 rebounding advantage at the half, thanks to seven from Grant Hill, and five each from Jared Dudley and Earl Clark off the bench. They finished the game with just one more board than L.A., but the fact that they were able to compete at all with guys like Marcus Camby and Chris Kaman down there shows how serious the team is about making the glass work a top priority.

"It's never really easy to rebound against those guys, they're seven-footers," Amar'e Stoudemire said afterwards. "Both guys are great rebounders out there. But I think from a team effort we did a great job, really attacked the boards, really boxed out well. Me and [Channing Frye] were trying to keep the big guys off the boards, and Grant was coming in and getting the rebounds, so from a team standpoint we did a pretty good job."

Stoudemire and Frye combined to grab just nine rebounds, while the aforementioned Clippers' duo came away with a combined 20. But as Amar'e mentioned, as long as someone like Grant Hill can swoop in when he's doing the blocking out, things will turn out okay. Even if the fast break opportunities might not be there because of it.

Hill finished with a team-leading 13 rebounds, which is a huge number for him.

"The year we won 62 games we got out-rebounded on the offensive boards 55 times," Gentry pointed out. "But for this team to be successful, we've got to find a way to rebound the basketball."

The Suns did that on opening night, against a Clippers team that -- at least going in -- appeared to have a significant advantage.

Rebounding Focus Pays Off for the Suns originally appeared on NBA FanHouse on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nash’s ‘Old White Guy’ Shot Leads Suns Past Clippers

Brett Pollakoff — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:03:00 +0000

Filed under: Clippers, Suns

LOS ANGELES -- The Clippers held a seven-point lead over the Suns with about nine minutes remaining in their home opener, in a game that was the season opener for Phoenix.

But Steve Nash made sure that his Suns left with the victory, by scoring 15 of his team's 24 fourth quarter points, including the game-winner in a thrilling 109-107 contest at Staples Center.

The shot that Nash hit to win it came on a tough drive against Baron Davis, who was tightly guarding Nash behind the three-point line, with the game tied and 11.9 seconds left on the clock. Nash made a stop-and-go move, but with Davis all over him, he had no choice but to take the ball to the rack, and finish beautifully with his left hand to carry his team to a 1-0 start on the season.

"Well, I went to the old 'white guy in the YMCA' shot," Nash said. "And I was lucky to make something happen."

Nash took the shot earlier than he wanted to, and actually left the Clippers plenty of time -- 5.5 seconds -- to tie or win the game with a shot of their own. But he and Alvin Gentry talked about it in the timeout before the play, and both understood that it might be necessary to take the shot early if the opportunity were to arise.

"Nash said 'if I get by him initially, I might have to go early, because if I back it up and he gets into me, it would be hard for me to get by him a second time,' " Gentry said. "So he said 'I might have to shoot it early, and if I get by him, I have to go.' "

Talk about a veteran player and an experienced coach knowing the situation -- that's almost exactly how things played out.

"Baron was playing me so tight, and I wanted to take the last shot, but he was playing me too tight, and once I got a little step on him, I had to take it," Nash said. "It was a little early, but when I got to the paint I kept going when I saw a little daylight."

As far as winning the game with a left-handed shot, Nash admitted it's something he hasn't done or even thought about in quite some time.

"It's been a while, you know, I don't play much basketball in the summer, so the left has been a little dormant," Nash said. "I made a few with the right earlier in the game and in the preseason, but luckily it woke up for me."

The Clippers did have a final crack at it, but a long three-point attempt from Eric Gordon wasn't close -- thanks to Amar'e Stoudemire stepping out to contest -- and the Suns came away with the win. And since Phoenix isn't a team that's exactly known for their defense, you can bet the part about the game ending with them holding defensively didn't go unnoticed by their head coach.

"Nobody's talking about it, but we won the game with a defensive stop, okay?" Gentry said. "That, in itself right there, is progress."

Nash's 'Old White Guy' Shot Leads Suns Past Clippers originally appeared on NBA FanHouse on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:03:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FanHouse Preview: Suns

Brett Pollakoff — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Filed under: Suns, NBA Preseason, NBA Previews

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

The 2009-10 Phoenix Suns are caught somewhere between the past and the future. But just because they don't know where they're going, and have one foot stuck in a place where they've already been, doesn't mean that the team can't win this season, while playing an entertaining style of basketball along the way.

The Suns had more turmoil than most teams a year ago, yet, through it all, still almost managed to make the playoffs, finishing just two games behind the Jazz for the final spot in the Western Conference postseason picture.

This season, everyone from the players to the coaching staff to the general manager all seem to think that the continuity and the positive atmosphere that the team was lacking in the Terry Porter/Shaquille O'Neal era will translate to a year that, at the very least, will be enjoyable for all involved.

With head coach Alvin Gentry firmly installed, and his system being the same one employed by former fan favorite and current Knicks' head man Mike D'Antoni, there's a strong chance that this team will once again be among the league's elite, at least on the offensive side of the floor.

But defensively, can the Suns improve just enough to get some key stops down the stretch of games against the top teams in the league? Once again, that will be the all-important question.

Meanwhile, with Shaquille O'Neal having departed for Cleveland, and Amar'e Stoudemire returning from last year's season-ending eye surgery, the Suns will rely on Amar'e more than ever for their interior scoring. That's because the team's starting center, the newly-acquired Channing Frye, will be expected to stretch the defense by knocking down shots on the perimeter -- including from three-point land.

But again, scoring isn't going to be an issue. What will determine the Suns' fate this season, both as a regular season winner and as a playoff contender, is going to be the team's ability to get stops when games are on the line.

This was definitely a point of emphasis for Gentry's coaching staff when he took over in the middle of the season last year. We'll see if a full training camp to install his line of thinking, along with his end-of-game defensive sets, will be enough to make this team a legitimate playoff threat as the season unfolds.

Whether they are or they aren't, don't sleep on the Suns: with players like Steve Nash, Grant Hill, and Stoudemire playing in that uptempo system, win or lose, they're once again going to be a joy to watch.

Last Season By the Numbers

Record: 46-36. Finished second in the Pacific Division, 9th in the Western Conference -- just two games out of the playoffs.

Offense: 113.6 points per 100 possessions, 2nd in the NBA. 1st in shooting, 26th in turnover rate, 11th in offensive rebounding, 8th in free throw rate.

Defense: 111.6 points per 100 possessions, 26th in the NBA. 23rd in shooting defense, 21st in opponent turnover rate, 22nd in defensive rebounding, 14th in opponent free throw rate.

Top Performers: Amar'e Stoudemire led the team in scoring with 21.4 points per game, but appeared in only 53 of them due to the season-ending eye injury. The Suns had seven players average double digits in the scoring column, due to their elite offense. Stoudemire also was second on the team in rebounding with 8.1 per game, but the team was led last season by Shaquille O'Neal's average of 8.4. Shaq and Amar'e led the team in blocked shots with 1.4 and 1.1 per game respectively, while the team assist title belonged to Steve Nash, with a more-than-solid 9.7 dimes per game.

All statistics via Basketball-Reference.com.

Player to Watch

FanHouse's Matt Moore and Tom Ziller preview one player to watch from each team. Here's a snippet of Ziller's post on Suns guard Leandro Barbosa.

Barbosa was the most efficient among the Suns' top five backcourt players under [Terry] Porter's slower system last year, scoring roughly 105 points per 100 individual possessions. If Porter + Shaq hurt anyone the most, it was [Steve] Nash. Barbosa's style and on-court persona is so tied to D'Antoni's Suns that we conflate Nash's struggles to be shared by Barbosa. But that just wasn't the case under Porter. Nash suffered, but Barbosa held out fine.

See Ziller's full post on Barbosa.

Offseason Tracker

IN: Earl Clark (draft), Taylor Griffin (draft), Channing Frye (free agency).

OUT: Shaquille O'Neal (trade), Matt Barnes (free agency).

FanHouse Preview: Suns originally appeared on NBA FanHouse on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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