Phoenix Suns fan reaction to Marcin Gortat comments

How accurate are the criticisms of Suns center Marcin Gortat of the Phoenix offense?

Suns coach Alvin Gentry responds to Marcin Gortat's comments

Phoenix Suns head coach Alvin Gentry responded to critical remarks from center Marcin Gortat.

Alvin Gentry Channels His Inner LeBron James Talking About Changes

With the Phoenix Suns playing at stale level right now, losing three in a row and four of five overall, the team is ready to make some changes to the line-ups to try and spark some form of change to the season early on. Change will be coming from the opening tip.

Suns vs. Heat: Phoenix loses to an ailing Miami team

The Suns can't take advantage of a weakened Heat team, and the Bright Side of the Sun gives their two cents on potential changes.

Suns Lose To Heat 97-88 Bringing Winds Of Change On The Horizon

When Alvin Gentry came to address the media after the game he looked like a coach on his last thread of patience. His team, for what feels like the 100^th time, dug themselves a hole, not another double-digit hole, but a hole nonetheless. These were his first words:

"We got to stop having the starts we're having and the only way we can deal with that is that we are going to have to change the line-ups. So the next game we play it won't be the same line-up that you've seen. I haven't decided exactly what I am going to do there, but we'll do something. We'll do something."

That is about the gist of it as the starters missed easy lay-up after uncontested jump-shot to dig a 0-9 hole that they managed to remedy themselves, but once again they had to exert so much energy to get back to even with the Heat that they didn't have the energy late in the game.

Goran Dragic's intense full-court defense allowed the Suns to comeback and break even after one.

"It is hard for me because I see those guys, Sebastian (Telfair) and those guys do such a great job of just digging in and competing. I think (P.J.) Tucker did a great job on LeBron, as good a job as you can do. I thought Jermaine (O'Neal) did a great job and that Markieff (Morris) did a great job. We just got to get everybody on the same page and the same goals. That is the way I see it."

The coach has a point.

The Heat were minus Dwyane Wade and featured a LeBron James that was under the weather and clearly not himself. When you have a team with three All-Stars show up in your building with one and a half All-Stars you have to jump them early and the Suns just didn't do that.

When the bench came in they had an answer for Chris Bosh and James in the form of unrelenting energy and an insatiable heart to battle the defending NBA Champions.

Tonight the bench finished with 51 points (the starters, 37), three players in double figures (only two starters did that), 17 rebounds (22 for the starters), and they forced 5 turnovers (8 for the starters). All of that spells a clear lack of a sense of urgency from the starters and that maybe the bench is just hungrier.

Those four did a great job as Markieff Morris is beginning to play consistent on both ends of the floor, Jermaine O'Neal adds a presence in the paint, Sebastian Telfair brings the energy, and P.J. Tucker is the glue.

When you have Shannon Brown scoring the way he has been over the past two weeks those four are able to come in and just play hard, all out every minute to really put pressure on their opponent.

All of that adds up to the Suns seventh loss of the season and continuing their tailspin to three games overall. Granted all three of those losses came to playoff caliber teams, the Suns seem to be a team looking for some changes to spark a new result next week.

The team has three days off to figure that out and may need all 72 of those hours to find the answer.

Suns Vs. Heat: Starting Line-Ups, Coaches Quotes, Etc

Earlier in the season, when the Miami Heat were playing at a high level and the Phoenix Suns were still trying to figure it out, the lost their most lopsided game of the season. That loss dropped them to 1-3 on the season, but seemed to spark resurgence as the Suns then went 3-1 to get back to .500 on the season.

Tonight the team is in a tailspin and could use signs of resurgence.

In the last meeting the team surrendered 15 made threes to the Heat as the bench stepped up and connected on 8 themselves. Those deep balls freed up the lane for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to attack the rim as duel threat offensive weapons. "You have to pick your poison with them," said Coach Gentry before the game.

That poison is less potent with the subtraction of Wade, but could be a different brand of lethal bane. Those shooters are now going to have more time to gain their rhythm from behind the arc. They still have James creating offense attacking the rim against the suspect Suns dribble penetration containment.

James took a much worse team than this to the Finals so the loss of Wade is bigger for headlines than basketball.

The key for the Suns is defending the three-point line and containing James to the best of their ability. He is playing ill so they have a very minor advantage, but that is still no easy task. This is a game where there could be major minutes for the bench, especially P.J. Tucker, to try and contain the reigning MVP.

Starting Line-Ups

PG - Goran Dragic v. Mario Chalmers (AKA The Sexiest Man Alive... From Alaska)

SG - Jared Dudley v. Mike Miller

SF - Michael Beasley v. LeBron James

PF - Luis Scola v. Shane Battier

C - Marcin Gortat v. Chris Bosh

Suns In-actives: Diante Garrett (coaches decision)

Heat In-actives: Dwyane Wade (foot) and Dexter Pittman (right quad strain)

Eric Spolestra on facing teams a second time:

"They will have the comfort of playing at home and you know we have been on the road for a week. Other than that both teams are familiar with each other. We are trying to play as consistently to our identity as we can, something we haven't done as well as we can on this road trip. When you play on the road it doesn't matter who, you have to expect a lot of ups and downs, you have to stay the course and weather all the storms. That is what we are looking forward to tonight."

Spolestra on Udonis Haslem potentially breaking Alonzo Mourning's franchise rebounding record (he is 7 away entering tonight):

"If you want to talk about the core values of the Miami Heat are, we can list them for you, or we can show you a picture of Udonis Haslem. He embodies all of the characteristics of a Miami Heat player and what we want in a player, the leadership, the toughness, the durability, and the consistency. To see a player that was quote unquote undersized that might have been the reason he was undrafted to be able to have the success he has had in the paint -- that speaks to his heart."

Interesting Stat: 25

Last time these two met (in Miami) the Heat routed the Suns in a laugher 124-99 (25 points) earlier in the season. This meeting will be minus Dwyane Wade, but the Heat are still the Heat.

Suns vs. Heat: Miami visits Phoenix without Wade, possibly LeBron as well

The Phoenix Suns will face a Miami Heat team lacking Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James may also be on the sidelines.

Phoenix Suns face Miami Heat for last time this season

Can Phoenix play better than a 25-point loss?