Bobcats in the Sun: The Phoenix Suns - IT'S OVER

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Roster:
C: Andrea Bargnani (81) | Robin Lopez (77)
PF: Amare' Stoudamire (90) | Lamar Odom (87) | Josh Smith (84)
SF: Shawn Marion (85) | Jared Dudley (75) | Brent Petway (74)
SG: Joe Johnson (87) | Rudy Fernandez (79)
PG: Steve Nash (93) | Goran Dragic (77)
IR (cycled in often): Derek Anderson (71) | Hassan Adams (71) | James White (67)


Note: This is one half of a 2003 franchise that includes the Charlotte Bobcats and the Phoenix Suns.

BAD NEWS: THIS FRANCHISE IS OVER. See my post on the fourth page.

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Info:
Game: NBA Live 2003 with TRU09 mod that updates rosters for 2009.
Time: Usually 6-9 minute quarters
Device: Keyboard
Fouls: Medium; 9 & you're out.
Playoffs: 5-7-7-7
Simulating length: 12 minute quarters
Difficulty: ****superstar****

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Start of 2009-2010 season


Phoenix started the season with several player transactions:


TRANSACTIONS:
-Traded Jason Richardson to Charlotte for Raja Bell and Nazr Mohammed
-Traded Raja Bell, Alando Tucker, and Leandro Barbosa to Cleveland for Anderson Varejao, Daniel Gibson, and Jermario Moon.
-Traded Nazr Mohammed, Anderson Varejao, and Ben Wallace to Cleveland for Shaquille O'Neal and Raja Bell.
-Traded Aleksander Pavlovovic, Raja Bell, and Channing Frye to Dallas for Shawn Marion, Eric Dampier, and Rodrigue Beaubois.
-Signed Hassan Adams.
-Traded Grant Hill, J.R. Gidden, and Jermario Moon to Boston for Ray Allen, Tony Allen, and Bill Walker.
-Traded Jared Dudley, Goran Dragic, and Tony Allen to Portland for Martell Webster, Rudy Fernandez, and Nicolas Batum.

*Raja Bell was traded four times in one day and finally said that he had definitely had enough of Phoenix constantly trading him and said he would refuse to sign with Phoenix.
*Celtics fans were so shocked to find out that Ray Allen had been traded for Grant Hill that there were riots in Boston today. Then they remembered game 3 of the 2010 playoff finals and stopped rioting.
*Trading Raja Bell to Dallas would hurt Phoenix in the first game of the season because Raja Bell scored more than thirty points against Phoenix and also scored a buzzer beater to give the Mavericks the win over Phoenix.
*Anderson Varejao was angry when he was traded back to Cleveland after getting his hopes up over the fact that he might play for Phoenix. It never happened.
*Dragic was disappointed to leave Phoenix but left without a fuss. Phoenix would play against Dragic in their second game and Dragic would put some points on the board for Portland but he was mainly shut down by Steve Nash.

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Phoenix cannot overcome Raja Bell, Josh Howard and Dallas.

Even behind Steve Nash's 48-point performance, a triple-double from Amare Stoudamire, and 20+ point games from Ray Allen, Rudy Fernandez, Shawn Marion, and Amare Stoudamire, Phoenix was unable to clinch a victory over the Dallas Mavericks. Raja Bell, still seething from his tough day of trades, took out his frustration on Phoenix by putting up 36 points, including two for a layup that broke a tie with 0.4 seconds left to clinch the victory for Dallas. Juwan Howard was able to put up 37 points. Dirk Nowitzki struggled early on, but was able to hit 27 points by the end of the game. 22 of these points came out of a very high scoring third quarter in which Dallas scored 73 points and Phoenix only put up 52. Raja Bell also played big in this quarter, scoring 17 and pulling down all four of his rebounds, all in the six minutes that he played in this quarter.
Overall, Dallas played the better game, outstealing the Suns 24-15 and they shot better (64.4% vs. 49.6%) from the field. Phoenix only made one free throw out of eight, which may have kept them from getting the win. Also, Phoenix relied heavily on three point shooting, scoring 32 in the game, but this didn't work out at times.
This became apparent in the beginning of the second quarter, in which the Mavericks took off. Lead by Raja Bell and Josh Howard, Dallas went on a 17-0 run. Phoenix called two time-outs in this period, but nothing seemed to work. Eventually, their momentum came back and somehow lead at halftime 87-79. The game seemed impossible for Phoenix by the time the fourth quarter started. At one point, the Suns had been down by 26. But they came back strong and almost won. With ten seconds left the score was tied at 159, however, Josh Howard surprising blocked a shot from Robin Lopez with less than ten seconds left, and passed to Raja Bell, who sprinted downcourt and laid it up for two points with less than a second left. The Suns were unable to get a shot off, and lost 161-159.

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Screenshots from the season opener:

[cavs4872]

*Raja Bell was traded four times in one day

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Well, he's found a home now... depending on whether the CPU-controlled Dallas trades him or not.

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Portland Blazes the Suns

Portland gave Phoenix a stunning loss behind an army of big dunkers. They led for most of the game, quickly regaining the lead whenever the Suns tried to take over. It was close, with no team ever down more than ten points and was one of Portland's most competitive games. Portland broke away late in the fourth for a 10-0 run, which put them seven points ahead with just under two minutes remaining. The Suns retaliated with a run of their own, but it wasn't enough. The Suns fell short by two.
Brandon Roy, Travis Outlaw, Jared Dudley, and Greg Oden all scored big on fastbreak dunks. Outlaw led his team with 29 points and 7 rebounds, while Oden grabbed 11 rebounds and Aldridge brought down 14 boards. Andre Miller had a game-high 13 assists, but had eight turnovers. Portland's turnovers could have cost them the game, but their offensive was too strong for Phoenix at times.
Steve Nash fell short of 50 points again. One short. His 49 points and 10 assists gave him a very respectable double-double- the only double-double in Phoenix. Shaq and Amare Stoudamire both rebounded double digits, but neither of them got out of single digits on scoring. Ray Allen had a disappointing game, scoring only 2 out of 14 from the 3-point line and scoring just 10 points. Shawn Marion had another big night with 23 points and 7 rebounds.

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Box Scores:

Player of the Game:
Steve Nash
49 pts, 10 ast, 4 stl, 1 blk, 1 reb.

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Screenshots:

[Dee.]

You Should do the game in one post,everything combined,and maybe more organized.
just a tip though.

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Yeah, I think I should. Thanks! I'm posting one in like five minutes.

[Cleveland wins]

Good job in getting Daniel Gibson, he can still develop.

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Good job in getting Daniel Gibson, he can still develop.

Thanks, yes he can develop-he's got one amazing three point shot that I've used before. It just hasn't happened yet. Posting another game very soon... within minutes...

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The Suns Jazz Up Their Game And Beat Utah

The Suns finally got their first win and for the third straight game, Phoenix point guard Steve Nash scored more than 45 points. The game was played quite erratically on both sides; both teams turned the ball over more than 30 times. Phoenix started the game very strong, defensively and offensively. It was more than five minutes into the game that the Jazz finally scored their first points. The Suns were leading 17-0 and suddenly the Suns saw their huge lead almost disappeared completely. The Jazz led at halftime 62-56. In the third quarter, both teams abandoned defense and turned up their offensive strategies several notches. Mehmet Okur scored four threes in two minutes and Kyle Korver scored all 12 of his points in this period. Steve Nash was the deciding factor in this. He made up for his weak 11 points in the first half by scoring 27 points in the third alone. At the end of the third quarter, the teams were tied at 121. The Suns had scored 65 points in just nine minutes of play. Then, the strategies reversed in the fourth and both teams played tight defense. Both teams scored exactly 20 points and the game went into OT. There, the Suns immediately pulled ahead, got an eleven-point lead, and played super-tight defense. The Utah Jazz were held down and lost by six. 154-148. The Suns earned their first win of the season.

Steve Nash has scored 48, 49, and 49 points in his first three games of the season. He said after the game that his goal is to maintain 40 points per game and to lead the Suns to the NBA Finals. Amare Stoudamire earned his triple-double and hit five or more in all five categories. He finished with 11 points, 19 rebounds, 10 blocks, six assists, and five steals. Amare and Shaq both shot a 100% field goal percentage. Hassan Adams made his season debut, wearing #64, and played six minutes, scoring two points with a fast break layup. Ray Allen scored 33 points, including hitting eight of 24 from behind the three-point line. Steve Nash was named player of the game because of his 49 points and 15 assists. Both were game-high stats.

Center Mehmet Okur was Utah's biggest factor. Playing the entire game except for three minutes in the third quarter, he sank 9 three-pointers and grabbed 13 rebounds. Allen Iverson, who was traded to Utah the day before, scored an additional 29. Utah was outrebounded and outblocked throughout the game. Deron Williams was in foul trouble from the beginning and backup point guard E. Maynor took over very nicely for him, scoring sixteen and dishing thirteen. Kyle Korver only scored 12 on 4-11 shooting. The Jazz were good at drawing fouls throughout the game and Shawn Marion and Steve Nash both racked up seven fouls, mainly due to picks set by AI, Okur, and Boozer.


Player of the Game:
Steve Nash
49 pts, 15 ast, 3 stl, 3 reb, 1 blk.

Screenshots:

[Murat]

Good luck with Suns, but why did not you use Photoshop?

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I don't have Photoshop. I use MS Paint and for attempts at patching I use Pixelformer, which I think is similar to Photoshop. btw, HUGE game coming up. Absolutely ridiculous!!!

[Murat]

Hmm OK.

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Still Not Enough???

Forget 48 and 49 points: Steve Nash absolutely dominated tonight and scored 76 points! But it STILL was not enough to get Phoenix the win against Toronto. After two overtimes, and a ton of points (there were 332 total points) it came down to Hedo Turkoglu's eight foot jumper to stop the game from a third overtime. At the expense of Suns victory. Amare Stoudamire finally played a very big game with 25 points, 12 rebounds, and six blocks. Turkoglu led Toronto to their victory with 34 points, including 8 clutch points in the second overtime. Toronto's sharpshooting center, Andrea Bargnani knocked down all five of the outside shots that he attempted and finished with 12-12 field goals and 29 points. Jose Calderon had stats in the 20s in two areas: 26 points and 23 assists. Shawn Marion took the blame for the loss. Only scoring 8 points and playing for 20 minutes, he said, "I couldn't possibly ask any more of Steve Nash. He's the leader of this team without a question. I can't help but think that if I'd made one of those stupid threes I missed, we would've won this thing." He was referring to the five outside shots he took and missed. But the player of the game was uncontested. Nash's 76-point, 8-steal, and 11-assist game was enough to give the player of the game award even if the Suns lost.

Box Scores:


Screenshots:

[Axel The Great]

Why don't you try playing less minutes every quarter that way you don't get near-Chamberlain player scores?

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I'd rather not keep things totally realistic, b/c I would have to play 3-5 minute quarters to do that. Too short

[Axel The Great]

Well that gives you more time in your day to play more games and be able to get to the post-season faster.

[Murat]

Well that gives you more time in your day to play more games and be able to get to the post-season faster.

Yah man.

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Right now I'm playing 9/10 min. quarters (Raptors game was 11min.) but I might start shortening the games a little. Not down to 4 min or anything, but shorter by a minute or two. Keep scores down to the 130s instead of 170s.

Well that gives you more time in your day to play more games and be able to get to the post-season faster.

the way this stupid CPU plays, I may not even get to the post-season even though it says I have the best lineup in the league.

[Martti.]

Just play 6-7 minutes and reduce the game speed.