NO SUN-SHINE FOR SHAQ

[stevo]

NO SUN-SHINE FOR SHAQ
By PETER VECSEY


February 26, 2008 -- SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Back in the day, three games were enough to decide a first-round playoff series.
The same three games - perused in person for the public good - therefore should be ample ammo to discuss, dissect and, dare I say, disallow Shaquille O'Neal's change of address form.

The Suns dropped two of three games in O'Neal's desert debutante ball, giving up 130 points to the Lakers (who shot 57 percent) and 116 to the Pistons (52 percent), who also out-rebounded their hosts by 16.

Seemingly the one salve on the stench was Friday night's eight-point win over the Celtics, in which Boston's Ray Allen and Paul Pierce shot a combined 5-for-25, arguably the worst regular season game in NBA history involving conference leaders.

"They've become like everybody else!" Phoenix resistant Greg Lambrecht shrieked scornfully.

Suns owner Robert Sarver offered his own take.

"We've become a rough and tough defensive team that won't back down to anybody and nobody will want to watch us," wisecracked the owner, essentially sizing up the victorious evening - except I doubt the Suns had all that much to do with the Celtics' 38.5 percent shooting (23.5 percent from 3-point range).

For his part, O'Neal averaged 29.3 minutes (up a bit from his Miami morass), 8.7 points (10-22 FG), 11.3 rebounds, 10 turnovers and, ahem, 16-of-22 malfunctions from the free throw line of life.

O'Neal is preaching patience as if he'd ordered the invasion of Iraq.

"We have to be realistic about things," he said after the plundering by the Pistons. "We have a lot of figuring out to do. If everybody just sticks to their role, we should be fine."

Easier said than done, Custer.

A closer look at the ledger shows some other ghastly gaffes - and we're not just talking the Suns' last two point totals (85 and 86), the kind of totals Phoenix used to reach in the layup line.

Dominating the association's dish network (11.4 per), Steve Nash had 37 assists in the three games prior to O'Neal's arrival. In his last three, he had 19 (10 turnovers), the first time all season he's gone that long without being a double-digit dime distributor.

Grant Hill on Sunday muddled through just the fourth scoreless game of his career (0-8 in 27 minutes). Raja Bell, averaging 10.8 shots in his first 47 games, went 5-fo7 since O'Neal stormed paradise - and rang Bell's head once.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, the Suns have some issues. Coach Mike D'Antoni's system has gone kablooey.

"The days of me backing down and 50 buckets a game are probably over," O'Neal said after the win over the Celtics. "I'm going to get my easy bucket, and every now and then they'll call a play for me."

O'Neal is down with that. As a 36-year-old, "it'd be idiotic to try and take all the shots" when playing alongside Amare Stoudemire. He readily accepts his role change. "I plan to dominate that role," he declared.

In the meantime, Candy Land has degenerated into a one-dimensional, disjointed venture: Get the ball to Amare Stoudemire 15-20 feet out and hope he never misses.

This is not an identity crisis, it's a conversion from an exhilarating express train that had gone stale, bored with the alleged bitching of Shawn Marion (Sunday's column will address that charge at length) and unable to compete with the elite (6-12 vs. eight Western playoff opponents).

Fewer than eight weeks remain before the playoffs. D'Antoni said everything happening is explainable. Given gained familiarity over the next 10 games he's convinced we'll see considerable improvement in terms of fluidity, continuity and consequence.

That is, if O'Neal gets stronger and more flexible. Is he healthy? Can he stay healthy? The out-and-out success and failure of the O'Neal-Marion swap pivots on those two "Big Ifs."

"We don't think that's as big an 'if' as you do," D'Antoni said before the loss to the Lakers. "We think he is healthy and will stay healthy. Steve supposedly came to us from Dallas an old 31 and now he's a young 34. Maybe it's the sunshine."

Something that was nonexistent in the coach's office. An hour after the 30-point pulverization by the Pistons, Sarver, Mike D'Antoni, Dan D'Antoni and VP of player progress Mark West huddled.

"We've been emotionally charged for two weeks since the trade," Mike D'Antoni said. "We thought we were there when we beat Boston. We thought we were ready for Detroit, but we weren't. We were six down with three minutes left in the half and Amare's drive was blocked [by Jason Maxiell]. Then we panicked."

"The Pistons aren't as good as they looked and we're not as bad as we looked," Dan D'Antoni submitted. "Well, maybe they are as good as they looked."

Minutes before, at the conclusion of a private 30-minute conversation, Sarver had stated: "I think we're better off configured today vs. three weeks ago. In terms of the components - chemistry, toughness, locker room camaraderie and confidence - I think we have a better chance to win a championship."

On that note, West, Dan D'Antoni and I left the coach's office, leaving Mike D'Antoni and Sarver alone with their thoughts.

peter.vecsey@nypost.com

[stevo]

I guess what I'm trying to say is, the Suns have some issues. Coach Mike D'Antoni's system has gone kablooey.



Yuuuuuuuuuuuuup, and nothing going to change. I wish it would work out but its painful to watch.

[Uncle B]

Originally Posted by stevo

NO SUN-SHINE FOR SHAQ

"I think we're better off configured today vs. three weeks ago. In terms of the components - chemistry, toughness, locker room camaraderie and confidence - I think we have a better chance to win a championship."

keep telling yourself that, dumbass...

[stevo]

Wow I bet they really celebrated last night. They beat Memphis without Miller

As a fan I hope they prove my ass wrong but doubt it.

[stevo]

We get Shaq to get more physical. N.O. has had trouble vs teams that play them physical of late.

Anothe suns loss.

[robin]

in amare and nash, u have the worst defensive point guard and power forward on the league.

throw in that blob of fat shaq, and u have well, a team that isnt going to stop anyone .

newsflash those teams dont win in the playoffs.

they got rid of one of the most versatile exciting players in the league, for a blob of shaqness.

sorry stevo.


they werent gonna win pre-trade either though.

[Uncle B]

Originally Posted by robin

they werent gonna win pre-trade either though.

Probably not, but, they at least at a shot, imo....I think they looks a Hell of a lot stronger before the trade..


Now, ugh... what a shitstorm.

[stevo]

Originally Posted by Uncle B

Probably not, but, they at least at a shot, imo....I think they looks a Hell of a lot stronger before the trade..


Now, ugh... what a shitstorm.

Agree with UNC B and Robin. I think they would of ended up the same place as always. Going cold in playoffs on 3's and they are done for the game. Each playoff game tooo important for that.

But I still prefer the old entertaining team which I think was better. But hell, I'm a fan and I'll just hope.


Prove me wrong Shaq-Fu

[stevo]

Shaq 2 points fh vs Philly after foul trouble.

Jeeezzzzz

[robin]

Originally Posted by stevo

Agree with UNC B and Robin. I think they would of ended up the same place as always. Going cold in playoffs on 3's and they are done for the game. Each playoff game tooo important for that.

But I still prefer the old entertaining team which I think was better. But hell, I'm a fan and I'll just hope.


Prove me wrong Shaq-Fu

they were a lot more exciting to watch, and who knows.

with the old team they could beat anyone but san antonio. If dallas, denver, or houston could have taken timmy out the suns could have def won.

i really thought everyone knew shaq was at least a few years past his prime.

[skilled27]

robin they could beat san antonio with the old team, trust me, this year if the teams had remained the same, phoenix would have beaten SA in a 7 game series. Amare and Marion were 1 year more mature, Nash was the same, and the team had been together for 1 more year. Most of SA's players are simply 1 year older this year.

This is one of the worst trades in NBA history and Shaq is one of the most selfish bastards in the world. He knows he can contribute nothing to the Suns, yet he is trying to make that last dollar. The Suns are now an old team with Hill and Shaq starting. Amare never did play good defense, Shaq is a joke on defense, as is Nash, and Hill is too old to guard anyone. They will get lit up by everyone. All that and they cant score like they use too. Marion was a perenial all star in his prime.

On the other hand Miami has something to really build on with 2 dynamic stars.

[Uncle B]

Has Shaq taken down the Suns… and Steve Nash, too?

After losing to the 76ers at home last night, Phoenix is 2-4 since Shaquille O’Neal first squeezed himself into a burnt orange and purple jersey.

But you probably knew that. Plus, here’s a very good blog summary of the whole rotten development by Arizona Republic beat man Paul Coro, which surprised me with one anecdote:

Coro says that fans in Phoenix (three of the losses in this string have come at home) are getting frustrated with the recent sloppy play of Steve Nash.

Steve Nash? Man, thought he was untouchable in that town. Everybody I’ve ever talked to down there has told me that, basically, Steve is perfect.

I point out his defensive liabilities as much as anybody, and I think he’s slightly over-rated, especially as his bad defense has transformed into zero defense. But I thought he was beyond reproach to Suns fans.

Guess not. That’s how bad it has gotten, and looking at that upcoming schedule, it could get a lot worse. Next up are road games in Portland and Denver (loss and loss) and then a homestand against Utah, San Antonio, Memphis, the Warriors and the Kings.

Yes, this current 2-4 skid could easily turn into something a lot worse… which could turn the Suns from a guaranteed playoff spot to right on the brink.

Look at it this way: I’m typing this before the Warriors-Portland game… Win or lose tonight, if the Warriors get hot, they could go 5-1 up to their March 13 game in Phoenix.

* The Suns have a tough schedule, they could realistically go 1-4 up to that March 13 game.

* You know what that would mean if both of those things happened? Both the Warriors and Suns would be 40-24 at that moment, on March 13, at US Airways Arena in Phoenix, and if the Warriors won, they’d have the tie-breaker, too.

Don’t think it’ll happen like that… but wow.

Anyway, I don’t want to get into a deep, heavy analysis of what’s wrong with Phoenix, so I’ll just repeat my criticism of the Shaq trade back when it was made:

* Shawn Marion might’ve been a moody fellow, but he was far more valuable to the Suns than anybody on that team except Nash, and maybe more than Nash when the Suns played a prime-time scorer.

If you didn’t know that, you’ve just been proven wrong.

* Trading Marion for O’Neal was stupid. Flat-out stupid.


I don’t know why the Suns–and many, many league observers, including many Warriors observers–thought that a slow, tired, fat Shaq would immediately become not slow, not tired and not fat once he went into the desert…

He showed up. He put on a Suns jersey. He’s slow, fat, tired and hasn’t been a factor at all.

It was dumb. He can’t run with them and if you slow it down just for him… well, Shaq can’t really do that any more, either. Were the Suns not watching the Heat play the last few years?

* Not only does the absence of Marion kill the Suns defense, because Raja Bell isn’t up to defending the tough wings (Andre Iguoadala lit him up) and because Grant Hill and Boris Diaw shouldn’t even be asked to, but Shaq is a lousy defensive player these days, too.

Interestingly, the Suns went 3-2 in the limbo period after the deal (and without Marion) but before Shaq was ready to go. It wasn’t a brutal stretch, but the Suns did get a home win over Dallas right before Shaq’s re-activity.

With Shaq: 2-4.

With the same team, only without Shaq: 3-2.

Interesting.

* Now it’s Nash (horrendous defender), Shaq (bad defender), Hill (bad defender), Amare Stoudemire (bad defender) and Bell (OK-to-good defender) all in the starting lineup, with nobody else coming off that bench to help out.

I know they’ve had a tough schedule of late (home losses to Lakers, Pistons and Philly, home victory over Celtics, road loss to New Orleans, road win over Memphis), but still.

Just a few days ago, I tried to predict the West playoff race. I actually toyed with the idea of arguing that the Suns were good candidates to miss out, despite a 39-19 record at the time.

You know, it’s very, very hard to miss the playoffs, even in a stacked conference, if, at any point, you’re 20 games above .500.

I just couldn’t say that the Suns were likely to miss the playoffs. I had them falling off a bit, but still getting to 47 or 48 victories. Now?

The loss to Philly last night changes things. Changes a lot of things. If it gets Steve Nash into some trouble with Suns fans, then, my my my, I could’ve never imagined the changes in store.

Nice trade, Phoenix.

[stevo]

Nice trade, Phoenix.

Thx Unc. There are still talking heads out there who are scared to say anything bad about Shaq or they really believe they can still do something

I'd like nothing better but let me sum up the Shaq I see.

Two feet wide open to right of basket. WIDE OPEN. going to be an easy dunk. The player who is passing can spot it a mile away and FIRES the ball to Shaq.

Unfortunately when Shaq turned around he started to lose his balance and was moving back toward out of bounds line. The pass gets to him and knocks him out of bounds.

Sums it up for me.

[Juice]

Before the trade and inside the western conference only they only had the 10th best record out of 15 teams. There so called good record came courtesy of the eastern conference.

They had to make a trade or do something because it was obvious they were going nowhere.

Bottom line. There internal defense sucks. They cant stop anyone.

[Uncle B]

Originally Posted by stevo

Nice trade, Phoenix.

Thx Unc. There are still talking heads out there who are scared to say anything bad about Shaq or they really believe they can still do something

I'd like nothing better but let me sum up the Shaq I see.

Two feet wide open to right of basket. WIDE OPEN. going to be an easy dunk. The player who is passing can spot it a mile away and FIRES the ball to Shaq.

Unfortunately when Shaq turned around he started to lose his balance and was moving back toward out of bounds line. The pass gets to him and knocks him out of bounds.

Sums it up for me.

it sucks man.... i just can't imagine wtf they were thinking in the first place.

[Uncle B]

Shaquille O'Neal passes Moses Malone on All-Time Scorer List

Shaquille O'Neal scored 13 in the Phoenix Suns' 128-96 victory over Washington on Saturday night to pass Moses Malone as the No. 5 scorer in NBA history with 27,411 points.

Shaquille O'Neal appreciates his place among the greats of the NBA. He just thinks he should have done more.

O'Neal scored 13 in the Phoenix Suns' 128-96 victory over Washington on Saturday night to pass Moses Malone as the No. 5 scorer in NBA history with 27,411 points. Since No. 4 Wilt Chamberlain is 4,008 points ahead of him, O'Neal seems to have risen as far as he'll go.



"It was good, but I'm still kind of disappointed in myself," O'Neal said. "Mathematically, I've missed three years worth of games and I missed 5,000 free throws. If I was there, I'd probably be No. 2 or No. 3 right now."


Then he added, "It shows I've been consistent at what I've been doing and the next guy is my illegitimate father — Wilt Chamberlain — so just like in Star Wars, hopefully I can catch up to my father."