Originally Posted by SenorRoboto2k5
D'Antoni is talentless. I was a fan of the Suns until the game vs. LA in November. D'Antoni helped with that. Aside from the whining-at-Phil incident (which you shouldn't be mad about, just because your team was), HE DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO COACH. He has a point guard that runs a team so effectively, it makes it look like he knows how. However, if the extent of the 'coaching' that you do peaks at, "run, play fast, take the best shot available in the first 10 seconds of the shot clock," you should not be qualified to coach an NBA team.
Of course, defense is still their biggest problem. However, D'Antoni's other bonehead mistakes (or as he might like to say, style), collectively, do just as much harm to the team. One specific example is his late-game intentional fouling 'tactic' from today's game. He lets the Lakers run down 15-20 seconds of the clock, down to about 26 seconds left in the game, without doing ANYTHING and the deficit 10 or 8. This is OK if he was surrendering the game, although SOME may say it's a bit early. BUT NO. The next Lakers' possession, with less than 20 seconds left, he decides to foul, meaning he HASN'T given up. IDIOT. What's the point? It's too late at that point.
I do agree that the ABC crew was laying it on a bit thick with the Lakers, but it's ABC, so it's expected. Anything ABC/ESPN, they pick the storyline that people want to hear (or that they want people to hear) and run with it. They have and always will nail in Lebron as the GOAT whenever they hit the air. It's mostly those idiots in the studio though (Wilbon's butt-kissing always sickens me), although Mark Jackson isn't exactly Marv Albert.
Anyway, the Lakers are within a game of the Suns in the pacific standings now, which is surprising. I don't think they'll win it in the end (or be the 2nd seed, Bill Walton), but it won't be a division dominated by Phoenix as it has since 2004.
Merry Christmas.