Suns @ Trail Blazers Saturday game thread 10-23-2021

AzStevenCal

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Book already has the dirty player label. He’s going to take a shot one of these days.
I didn't think it was justified in the past but he's been a real jerk the past 2 games. Showboating (rocking the baby or whatever it's called) after traveling to earn some free throws and then hitting Nurkic in the face today followed quickly by grabbing and pulling him to the floor.

I probably wouldn't have thought the hit to the head was intentional except he immediately went to the pull down, causing Nurkic to bang his head on the floor.

And Booker has already taken a shot, last year in the Clippers series. That head butt that broke his nose was as dirty as it comes IMO.
 

Chaplin

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I didn't think it was justified in the past but he's been a real jerk the past 2 games. Showboating (rocking the baby or whatever it's called) after traveling to earn some free throws and then hitting Nurkic in the face today followed quickly by grabbing and pulling him to the floor.

I probably wouldn't have thought the hit to the head was intentional except he immediately went to the pull down, causing Nurkic to bang his head on the floor.

And Booker has already taken a shot, last year in the Clippers series. That head butt that broke his nose was as dirty as it comes IMO.
I thought the Nurkic thing was uncalled for, but you think the rock a baby thing was bad?
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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I didn't think it was justified in the past but he's been a real jerk the past 2 games. Showboating (rocking the baby or whatever it's called) after traveling to earn some free throws and then hitting Nurkic in the face today followed quickly by grabbing and pulling him to the floor.

I probably wouldn't have thought the hit to the head was intentional except he immediately went to the pull down, causing Nurkic to bang his head on the floor.

And Booker has already taken a shot, last year in the Clippers series. That head butt that broke his nose was as dirty as it comes IMO.
He did the rock the baby after Westbrook did it earlier.
 

AzStevenCal

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You make it sound like he’s Bill Lambeer. I’d like to know what you think his reputation is. Especially sonce nobody knew about him until the playoffs last year.
Well, there's a lot of places I don't go on the web and a lot of sports shows I don't watch or listen to so I'm not suggesting this is indisputable but from what I have read, I'd say prior to last year Booker was one of the 2 or 3 most disliked players in the NBA by non-Suns fans.
 
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Mainstreet

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I thought Booker doing the "rock-the-baby" was pay back for Westbrook doing it. The Lakers players tend to bring out the worst in players by some of their antics.

In regard to Nurkic, I thought that was a flagrant foul because Booker caught him in the face. I'm not sure about anything beyond that.

Actually I thought Booker had toned things down at least in regard to complaining to the referees.
 
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Mainstreet

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Norman Powell may have avoided serious injury.

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Mainstreet

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This aged poorly. He was awful on both ends of the court. He mainly jogged from the top of the key to the top of the key. Maybe he got a little cardio tonight bc he sure didn’t play basketball. And man was his defense putrid.

Ayton usually starts the game with energy but he doesn't seem to know what to do with it. He should be forcing things inside more and drawing fouls. When he did draw fouls he only shot 2-4 from the free throw line.
 

AzStevenCal

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I thought Booker doing the "rock-the-baby" was pay back for Westbrook doing it. The Lakers players tend to bring out the worst in players by some of their antics.

In regard to Nurkic, I thought that was a flagrant foul because Booker caught him in the face. I'm not sure about anything beyond that.

Actually I thought Booker had toned things down at least in regard to complaining to the referees.

I'm sure it was, Ouchie pointed it out earlier today. Either the Lakers broadcast that I watched didn't show it or I just wasn't paying attention to Westbrook's antics (probably the latter).

And yes, the slap to the face should have been a flagrant even if it was accidental. But grabbing and pulling him down immediately after suggests to me it wasn't accidental. Either move probably warranted a flagrant but since no call of any kind was made on the play the refs couldn't review it.
 
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Mainstreet

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I'm sure it was, Ouchie pointed it out earlier today. Either the Lakers broadcast that I watched didn't show it or I just wasn't paying attention to Westbrook's antics (probably the latter).

And yes, the slap to the face should have been a flagrant even if it was accidental. But grabbing and pulling him down immediately after suggests to me it wasn't accidental. Either move probably warranted a flagrant but since no call of any kind was made on the play the refs couldn't review it.

I would need the benefit of replay to comment further. We agree, the hand to the face should have been a flagrant foul.
 

AzStevenCal

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I would need the benefit of replay to comment further. We agree, the hand to the face should have been a flagrant foul.
Understood. The Portland announcers mentioned it as it happened, I thought they were wrong and rewound it to verify. It's clear, Booker pulled him down. It's nowhere near the worst pulldown I've seen but it was especially bad coming right after the face swipe.
 

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Well, there's a lot of places I don't go on the web and a lot of sports shows I don't watch or listen to so I'm not suggesting this is indisputable but from what I have read, I'd say prior to last year Booker was one of the 2 or 3 most disliked players in the NBA by non-Suns fans.
Oh I think you’re overestimating the dislike other fans have for book. I think he was mainly a nonentity to most of them prior to last year.
 

AzStevenCal

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Oh I think you’re overestimating the dislike other fans have for book. I think he was mainly a nonentity to most of them prior to last year.
Maybe, I don't get around much but my limited experience including reading the General board on RGM suggests he was very unpopular. And I'm talking prior to last season.
 

Covert Rain

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I was busy and didn’t see this until this morning. Wow. Jekyll & Hyde so far. Also, the starters have been out scored by opposing lineups by almost 40 points.
 
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Booker is essentially this generations Chris Paul. A very good player who is known who frequently antagonizes the other team. He's not nearly as subtle as Paul though. It can be called gamesmanship for the most part unless he starts dishing out more shots like the Nurkic one, which shouldn't happen.

He had an attitude before Paul got here but I think the negative to Paul mentoring him is he takes more cheap shots now. Whether they're warranted or not is a different discussion.
 
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Mainstreet

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I wouldn't be surprised to find Nurkic and Booker had an earlier incident in the game.
 

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I wouldn't be surprised to find Nurkic and Booker had an earlier incident in the game.

I vaguely remember a previous incident from last season. I could be wrong. I know Booker has tussled with quite a few bigs. Enes Kanter, Dieng, Gobert, and Jokic for sure. I'm pretty sure there are others, those come to mind without searching though. Booker is an instigator, for sure. I'd probably hate him if he weren't a Sun.
 

AzStevenCal

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I vaguely remember a previous incident from last season. I could be wrong. I know Booker has tussled with quite a few bigs. Enes Kanter, Dieng, Gobert, and Jokic for sure. I'm pretty sure there are others, those come to mind without searching though. Booker is an instigator, for sure. I'd probably hate him if he weren't a Sun.

Is he though? I've heard that before elsewhere and maybe it's my purple and orange glasses but I've never really noticed it (much). That's why I was surprised and disappointed to see him cheap shot Nurkic.
 

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Is he though? I've heard that but maybe it's my purple and orange glasses, I've never really noticed it (much). That's why I was surprised and disappointed to see him cheap shot Nurkic.

I think he is. He takes shots and immediately pops up to fight when most everyone else would shrug them off. It can be viewed as standing up for himself but it happens far too often to not be a Booker problem rather than he's the constant recipient of cheap shots.

I started noticing it more last year. Not that I fault him for it, so long as he doesn't let it cost us games, I like the chippy sort of play. I got t'd up a lot in high school games for similar stuff. More often than not he's on the receiving end of incidental contact that he views as deliberate and will overreact.
 
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