Positives
- Good shooting: 30-58 on two-pointers, 6-17 on three-pointers (including the requisite 0-2 from beyond the arc by Josh Smith)
- 19 points (3-5 on three-pointers), 6 rebounds, and 4 assists from the necessary man, Marvin Williams.
- The bench could be more than Maurice Evans. Acie Law IV and Zaza Pachulia played well again. Flip Murray had a nice game. (13 points on 8 shots--duly noted) Solomon Jones hit the glass again with 4 boards in 9 minutes.
Negatives
- Solomon Jones hit the Suns, too. 4 fouls in 9 minutes.
- Josh Smith took 10 shots and 5 of them were jump shots. He made 1 jump shot. He didn't miss any of the five shots he took at the hoop.
- Mario West played 17 minutes, scored 2 points, grabbed 1 rebound, blocked 1 shot, and committed 4 fouls but made an impression on Marvin Williams and Sekou Smith. EDIT: This isn't fair criticism. See Bronn's comment below.
Sekou Smith (also from his post-game blog):
While not nearly as spectacular as he was in Monday’s win over Orlando, Law was solid against the Suns, finishing with 10 clutch points, three rebounds, two assists and some fantastic decision-making down the stretch. Murray added 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting and finally went to work in the post, where he’ll be able to manufacture baskets against opponents at will.
Zaza Pachulia gave another solid effort with eight points and second rebounds and Mo Evans was on his way to rebounding from a wobbly shooting performance early before taking an elbow to the head late in the third quarter and needing stitches to close the gash (Hawks coach Mike Woodson said that Williams assumed some of those minutes Evans might have played and that Evans is healed up, will be ready for practice Thursday and good to go for Friday’s game against the Blazers).
Brett Edwards of FanHouse spoke with Mike Woodson after the game:
BE: How about Acie Law, do you see him getting more minutes this season? He looked pretty good out there.
MW: Yeah, the thing is, everybody thinks we took Acie's minutes away from him. Last year, Acie was hurt so much, you know, it was hard to even find some kind of rhythm with him, and I didn't have the luxury of waiting. So, he's healthy, and we'll continue to push him and Bibby at the one [point guard spot], and then fill in with Flip [Ronald Murray] somewhat. The luxury is, we got some luxury this year, being able to shuffle guys around, we're a little bit deeper than we were last season.
Ahem.
Paul Coro, The Arizona Republic:
The Suns lost 100-96 to the Atlanta Hawks, but what mattered was how they adapted to the changes that new coach Terry Porter installed during eight days of practice.
They were apparent when Steve Nash still recorded nine assists in a new motion offense, when no starter was on the floor as the lead grew over nine first-half minutes and when a defense under construction looked good.
"We're just pouring the concrete," Nash said.
Phoenix Stan at Bright Side of the Sun makes some predictions about the Suns after watching their first exhibition game.
The Hawks return to action Friday night when they play Portland in Kansas City.