Posted: December 6, 2012
Coming into Thursday night’s contest against the visiting Mavs on TNT, the Suns are looking to snap a four-game losing skid. Tonight's matchup is one of only two TNT appearances the Suns will have during the regular season, so check out some interesting notes from shootaround about tonight's game.
Telfair Expected to Play Suns backup point guard Sebastian Telfair is expected to suit up tonight after a cross-country flight from New York. Telfair left the team in Memphis on Tuesday morning to head back home after receiving word that his father passed away.
One would think that fatigue would be a factor after the flight and an 8:30 p.m. Arizona tip-off, but Suns Head Coach Alvin Gentry doesn’t believe that will be a concern.
“I’ll ask him how he is,” Gentry said. “But you know how that guy is. I never worry about his energy.”
Satisfaction Guaranteed Night On Thursday night, the Suns are offering “Good times guaranteed, or your money back” to anyone who purchases a ticket for the team’s matchup with the Mavs.
Whether the Suns win or lose, the organization is guaranteeing that fans will enjoy their experience at US Airways Center.
Those who aren’t completely satisfied can redeem their ticket stub for a rebate equal to the purchase price of their December 6 ticket, not to exceed the face value of the ticket.
“I know we are going to play hard and I know we’re going to compete like crazy, but we would do that on any night,” Gentry said. “We’re a team that plays hard and we’re a team that’s very competitive. That, right there, should be satisfaction for the fans and I think they’ll appreciate these guys for the effort that they play with.”
Possible Lineup ChangeAfter a 1-5 road trip, Gentry is thinking about tinkering with the rotation once again. The first major move of the season was taking power forward Luis Scola and shooting guard Jared Dudley out of the starting lineup and replacing them with power forward Markieff Morris and shooting guard Shannon Brown.
“We’re at a point now where we have to find something that’s going to work and work consistently," Gentry said.
The Suns head coach said that he’s “open” for making a change even tonight. More to come on this story…
Road Trip Recap
The Suns are one of six NBA teams whose schedule included a road trip of six games or more. After returning from the road, Gentry was asked about the most positive aspect to come out of the trip.
“Other than the debacle at Detroit, I thought that we competed and played hard every single game,” Gentry said. “We played great and we were very competitive with the team that had the best record in the league on the sixth game of a road trip, so hopefully that’s something we can build on. We played well enough to win the game, but didn’t make enough plays down the stretch to win the game.”
Now where do the Suns need to improve?
“We have to get a little bit better and a little more precise in our execution,” Gentry said.
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