Suns vs. Jazz Retro Diary

Welcome to the Phoenix Suns vs. Utah Jazz retro diary for the November 30, 2013 matchup. The Phoenix Suns attempted to sweep the home-and-home series against the Utah Jazz tonight from US Airways Center in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona. At 9-7, the Suns stand alone in second place in the Pacific Division and could very easily have a much better record. They host the horrible Utah Jazz (RIP Stockton to Malone) and

exciting

pretty good

rookie Trey Burke. Did the Suns move to 10-7, despite Tom Zinner’s negative influence?

7:05 – To the photographer who just walked in front of the Marine who was singing the National Anthem…it’s too bad he didn’t put you in the camel clutch. Humble you Iron Sheik style.

7:13 – UTA 4, PHX 0, 10:54, 1Q. Trey Burke has missed a shot. We can finally begin. Seriously though, seeing him out there against Goran Dragic makes him look like a kid.

Plumlee has been much better than expected. Sure, he’s still raw, but we basically got him for nothing. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports

7:16 – PHX 7, UTA 6, 8:20, 1Q. Miles Plumlee with a nice right-handed hook shot over Derrick Favors. He seems to have quite the limited moveset (read: one move), but he can get that shot off against pretty much anyone.

7:19 – PHX 17. UTA 12, 5:29, 1Q. Dragic is feeling it right now. Three points, two assists and a steal early. With a healthy Eric Bledsoe, I’ll be quite interested to see how well Dragic plays. Marvin Williams (con mask) is off to a quick start with six.

7:24 – PHX 18, UTA 16, 3:45, 1Q.  I like Channing Frye a lot. His story is something special and I’m really rooting for him. With that said…that man avoids contact like the plague. It’s really, really bad.

7:33 – UTA 28, PHX 23, End of 1Q. P.J. Tucker and Channing Frye with eight points each, Dragic leads with four assists. The Suns got awfully sloppy at the end of the quarter, turning the ball over and giving up transition points. The Jazz were led by Marvin Williams nine points, with Derrick Favors adding seven points, four rebounds, one steal and a block.

7:37 – UTA 30, PHX 26, 10:07, 2Q. The Suns continue the sloppy play and Jeff Hornacek ends up cutting Dragic’s rest short to get a ball handler back in there. It might take Bledsoe a minute to get back into things after all of his time off.

7:43 – UTA 32, PHX 30, 7:31, 2Q. Jeremy Evans just hit a jumper over Markieff Morris and a wry smile was shared between the two as if to say, “told you I could shoot!” Markieff has six rebounds already, with three of them offensive. Side note: the scouts next to me are charting Jazz plays…maybe they’re worrying about playoff matchups…SPOILER: They’re not worried.

7:49 – UTA 38, PHX 33, 5:57, 2Q. The nasty (no, not Pop’s nasty) continues. The Suns are playing mediocre defense and worse offense. They’re only down five, but are getting out-shot .517 to .419 right now.

Not the man I expected to start knocking down 3’s. Mandatory Credit: Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

7:55 – UTA 45, PHX 41, 3:00, 2Q. “Trey Burke for three” – something I didn’t expect to hear and something that caused me to almost break my neck as I jerked it up to look at the court to see what actually happened.

8:01 – PHX 49, UTA 48, 1:15, 2Q. Now I am more familiar with “P.J. Tucker for three”. I wonder how he’d fare on a team like the San Antonio Spurs. Could he develop into a Bruce Bowen-type guy?

8:07 – PHX 53, UTA 49, Halftime. The Suns tried to let Bledsoe run the offense on his own but he was sloppy (as was the rest of the team). He’ll start the second half, so we’ll see if he’s hurting or just trying to get back into some sort of rhythm.

8:15 – This is my first full year covering the Suns (covered the last few months last season) and I just now found out we get snacks in the media room. No wonder everyone goes down there at the half.

8:28 – UTA 59, PHX 55, 7:55, 3Q. The Suns are falling into the trap of taking too many jumpers in the halfcourt. They’re shooting 38.3 percent right now. Miles Plumlee still doing well, with nine points, seven rebounds and three blocks.

8:34 – UTA 68, PHX 64, 5:00, 3Q. (self editing of Paul Walker death mention and how we should pay the same respect to normal people)

8:38 – UTA 72, PHX 70, 2:47, 3Q. One thing I love about this Suns team is how they seem to take it personally when they’re doing poorly. They get chippy and fight back instead of roll over. Suns fighting back and now have 10 offensive rebounds.

8:46 – UTA 78, PHX 77, End of 3Q. Trey Burke has actually been impressing me. He took it to Bledsoe a few times that quarter and looked like he was gaining a lot of confidence. The Suns need to get back to creating turnovers and getting out in transition if they want to close this one out. Burke scored nine to Bledsoe’s eight in the third.

Bledsoe is truly a bulldog. He hounds opposing players, no matter the size. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports

8:50 – UTA 82, PHX 80, 8:58, 4Q. Almost on cue, Bledsoe shuts down penetration by Burke and then draws a nice charge against Alec Burks. Bledsoe is the difference for this team and everyone knows it.

8:57 – UTA 86, PHX 86, 7:52, 4Q. Gerald Green has caught fire and now has made three of his last four 3-point attempts. He’s got 14 points in just under 17 minutes of action.

9:02 – UTA 95, PHX 91, 5:28, 4Q. The Suns are getting back to going to the basket, but they can’t seem to rotate quickly enough on the other end. Jazz continue to get (and make) open looks. Jazz shooting 51.4 percent.

9:06 – UTA 102, PHX 97, 3:14, 4Q. Suns just rotating much too slowly again, this time it’s Burke nailing a three before Dragic can get out to him. Suns now in the penalty and need to be careful or this one could slip away.

9:13 – UTA 105, PHX 97, 1:13, 4Q. Marcus Morris misses a layup, then Trey Burke sends the fans for the exits with his fourth three of the game (4-for-6). Burke is looking the part of a young, exciting rookie for once. I may have to redact my earlier statements.

9:18 – UTA 112, PHX 104, Final. In the end, Burke and the Jazz knocked down open jumpers while the Suns couldn’t get it going. The second night of a back-to-back would be an excuse…if the other team didn’t have the exact same situation. Certainly shows the inexperience of this team losing a game like this. Playoff teams take care of business at home.