Yikes.
Well, if there was any concern about the team being overconfident and not buying into the underdog theme being sold by Steve Nash and Alvin Gentry, tonight's game should take care of that.
There were plenty of excuses -- second of the back to back this early in the season, losing Jason Richardson in the first quarter to a shoulder injury, no Channing Frye (baby birth), Grant Hill getting ejected by his old pal Billy Kennedy and a 55 to 33 disparity in free throw attempts.
But you can toss that all aside when you look at one stat: 32 turnovers, which led to 37 Raptors points. Unbelievable that you could turn the ball over 32 times in a 48 minutes game. That's now a total of 55 turnovers in two games.
Sure, go ahead and pick on Garret Siler fouling out after 10 minutes or Gani Lawal shooting 5-for-12 from the line, but none of that matters when you give the ball up 32 times.
Every single Suns player had at least one turnover in the game and Earl Clark and Gani Lawal had four each and Robin Lopez led the way with five. Guess he was tired after playing 31 minutes last night.
Jared Dudley "led" the Suns scoring with 10, the only Phoenix player in double figures. Linas Kleiza had 20 to pace Toronto.
All you can do is look at this as a positive.
It will motivate the team to work harder in practice and remind everyone to be Nash-like in their humility and fully embrace their inner underdog.
The Suns return to Phoenix and were scheduled to have Thursday off before a light workout Friday morning, followed by a shoot-around in Palm Springs Friday evening. We'll see if Gentry sticks to that plan.
Links:
- azcentral.com blogs | PaulCoro: Dampier visiting Phoenix "We're going to meet with him," Babby said. "We've got to do our due diligence."
- Suns Trounced by Raptors in Vancouver, 129-78 - Bright Side Of The Sun *editors note: This writer fell asleep during the second quarter and woke up some time during the fourth at which time he decided to forgoe the conlcusion of the contest in order to purchase alcohol, and in doing so locked himeslf out of his home and spent 30 minutes attempting to break in with the help of a screwdriver. All ended well with little to no property damage to said home.
- Tip-In: Raptors' Crush Suns in First Pre-Season Match - Raptors HQ For starters, let's talk D. The Raps forced Phoenix into an ungodly 30 turnovers, and saw Triano's new defensive philosophies early and often; full-court D pick-ups, baseline forces, players getting into passing lanes...hell...even in extra extra garbage time, there was Marcus Banks making life miserable for Chucky Atkins and Goran Dragic. It was an absolute joy to see after last season's MC Lyte D..."Paper Thin."
- Suns’ pulse continues to beat with Nash - NBA - Yahoo! Sports "He’s the sun, the moon and the stars of the Phoenix Suns’ franchise," new Suns president of basketball operations Lon Babby said of Nash.
- Raptors spank the Suns by 51 in Vancouver | Valley of the Suns The Suns are expected to be bad defensively, but 129 points to this team is flat-out ugly. Not to mention that the Raptors shot 55 free throws on the night, further proving Phoenix’s awful defense.
- SUNS: First Impressions of the 2010-11 Suns "We continue to struggle in the turnover department," Head Coach Alvin Gentry said after Wednesday’s game against the Raptors in Vancouver. "We have to get better defensively and we have to stop turning the ball over. Those are the two main areas of concern right now."
- Raptors begin preseason with 129-78 win over Suns - thestar.com Just as Triano expected, the backups went on a 12-0 run when the substitution patterns began and it changed the tenor of the game. "When Leandro and Jarrett are on the floor and then you throw Sonny Weems out there with Amir Johnson, it’s a very, very quick lineup," said Triano. "That’s the speed that we like to have. We have to out-work teams, we have to try to out-quick some teams and that’s a very quick lineup."
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