It's late, few incites.
I'm looking forward to the game flow in the morning, but after tying the game in the 4th, Skiles made a major misstep in trying to go extra-small (Duh/Hinrich/Gordon/Noc/Deng?), getting destroyed by Marion and Diaw.
Even at their best it's tough to beat the Suns in their house, so mistakes like that loom large.
As does the great 'spark' experiment:
Nocioni: 41m -14
Thomas: 23m +12
With ideas like these, maybe Skiles should just sit out a few plays.
Overall the team played well and there were enough decent performances to go around, including Deng and Wallace (who wasn't spectacular or anything, but better). And even Nocioni didn't play terrible, he just shouldn't be starting and getting over 40 minutes. Gordon and Hinrich have yet to permanently get their heads out of their asses, so this season's a tough sell until that happens.
This was the toughest game of the trip, so best it's out of the way now. I sure wish these lineup shennigans weren't looming to quell any optimism of a quick turnaround, as I can't help but feel we'll be waiting a few weeks just to undo whatever damage that causes, even after everyone's game returns to normal.