Suns @ Pacers Saturday game thread 1-9-2021

[WhyAlwaysMe]

Crickets in the thread when DA won the game in the 4th by controlling the defensive end (and glass)?

SHOCKING

 

[AzStevenCal]

+12 and clamped Sabonis and the rim in the 4th. GAME BALL FOR BIG FELLA

Put me down for something in between "biggest wuss ever" and "GAME BALL".

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Looks like it was a franchise low turnovers. They bumped the turnovers to 3 but ESPN still only shows 2.

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It's because one of them was a shot clock violation and that doesn't get pinned on a player, but counts as a team turnover. If you look at the team stats tab on ESPN for the game it will show 3 turnovers.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Book looked a bit more like himself tonight.

Ayton - well I don’t know. I was watching the pacer stream and even they were calling him a wuss.

mikal can do this all the time, and hopefully now that he has done it, it will become more common.

A good game, but Sabonis really exposed our lack of big man depth.

I really like saric. But as our only other big it’s a gaping hole for the team still. Have to really hope smith develops.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

okay... this kinda stuff makes me gets me a little more invested. These guys seem like they really like playing with each other. That can be infectious.

Borg

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

+12 and clamped Sabonis and the rim in the 4th. GAME BALL FOR BIG FELLA

“GAME BALL?” Dude, you have some good takes but your “Ayton is the best player ever” position severely undercuts your credibility.

Ayton finally started moving his feet on defense against Sabonis in the 4th but still either fouled or allowed most of the switches to shoot over him for scores. he also fumbled the ball away twice down the stretch. Did he add to the win? For sure. “GAME BALL?” Only DOMINAYTON would agree with you.

 

[Suns_fan69]

I'm really impressed with Booker's defensive effort this season. He's doing a lot of little things that don't always show up on box scores but it is a marked improvement over his previous years. Nice boxouts, good switches and communication, the occasional steal...

Man, it's too bad there's no (or limited) fans this season, I think the home crowds would enjoy watching this team on the defensive end.

No idea who's going to win the Majerle hustle award though...

 

[82CardsGrad]

Saric had 4 pts and 2 Rebs. Cam Payne didn’t play a second. Ayton with 8 pts. And we beat the Pacers.
The depth and clear potential of this team is extremely inspiring!!

 

[Cheesebeef]

Crickets in the thread when DA won the game in the 4th by controlling the defensive end (and glass)?

SHOCKING

lol.. Bridges won the game with his offense. That’s how they ran away with it.

Was nice to see half of Ayton’s game to show up for at least 1 quarter. By all means, a solid game on one half of the court for 8 minutes def = game ball.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

lol.. Bridges won the game with his offense. That’s how they ran away with it.

Was nice to see half of Ayton’s game to show up for at least 1 quarter. By all means, a solid game on one half of the court for 8 minutes def = game ball.

It’s really just a tease, is what it is.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

“GAME BALL?” Dude, you have some good takes but your “Ayton is the best player ever” position severely undercuts your credibility.

Ayton finally started moving his feet on defense against Sabonis in the 4th but still either fouled or allowed most of the switches to shoot over him for scores. he also fumbled the ball away twice down the stretch. Did he add to the win? For sure. “GAME BALL?” Only DOMINAYTON would agree with you.

If the ALL CAPS didn’t make it clear, I wasn’t saying Ayton played amazing, but he was critical for the win as we were scoring at will but couldn’t stop them (until he stopped DS) or get a rebound (until he closed up shop) and it fascinates me how little credit he gets.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

lol.. Bridges won the game with his offense. That’s how they ran away with it.

Was nice to see half of Ayton’s game to show up for at least 1 quarter. By all means, a solid game on one half of the court for 8 minutes def = game ball.

Our offense was killing them all game. Booker and Paul were dissecting them. They were scoring at will against us until that stretch in the 4th when we pulled away (only change? Ayton stopping DS).

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

If the ALL CAPS didn’t make it clear, I wasn’t saying Ayton played amazing, but he was critical for the win as we were scoring at will but couldn’t stop them (until he stopped DS) or get a rebound (until he closed up shop) and it fascinates me how little credit he gets.

It’s more about failure to meet expectations. Most people here (as well as Eddie Johnson) fully recognize his rebounding and his growth defensively.

 

[Finito]

I'm really impressed with Booker's defensive effort this season. He's doing a lot of little things that don't always show up on box scores but it is a marked improvement over his previous years. Nice boxouts, good switches and communication, the occasional steal...

Man, it's too bad there's no (or limited) fans this season, I think the home crowds would enjoy watching this team on the defensive end.

No idea who's going to win the Majerle hustle award though...

Oh Bridges is winning that award.

I was just having this conversation with my brother. The Suns are good for the first time in forever and I mean really good the Arena has just been updated since it was built almost 30 years ago and I. Can’t go see them.

 

[Cheesebeef]

It’s more about failure to meet expectations. Most people here (as well as Eddie Johnson) fully recognize his rebounding and his growth defensively.

this just isn’t hard to understand.

 

[Yuma]

Saric had 4 pts and 2 Rebs. Cam Payne didn’t play a second. Ayton with 8 pts. And we beat the Pacers.
The depth and clear potential of this team is extremely inspiring!!

Payne was out with an ankle sprain. Wasn't sure if you knew that.

 

[Chaplin]

Ayton did well against Turner, who got some nice blocks but was otherwise neutralized. Jae Crowder was a big failure against Sabonis.

That said, Ayton is such a weird player. Can play monster defense but doesn't seem to want to do anything with the ball on offense. Doesn't want to make any actual basketball moves other than a turnaround and one hook per game. I'd like to know just what, if anything, Monty and CP3 are supposedly telling him. No more speculation, Eddie, when you see him, ASK him if he's actually being coached!

This has Mark Bryant's fingerprints all over it. A decent defender, but no knowledge of what to do on offense. Bring in Hakeem Olajuwon for 2 weeks, and we'll see a different Ayton. But until then, I'm not sure much will change.

 

[Yuma]

Ayton did well against Turner, who got some nice blocks but was otherwise neutralized. Jae Crowder was a big failure against Sabonis.

That said, Ayton is such a weird player. Can play monster defense but doesn't seem to want to do anything with the ball on offense. Doesn't want to make any actual basketball moves other than a turnaround and one hook per game. I'd like to know just what, if anything, Monty and CP3 are supposedly telling him. No more speculation, Eddie, when you see him, ASK him if he's actually being coached!

This has Mark Bryant's fingerprints all over it. A decent defender, but no knowledge of what to do on offense. Bring in Hakeem Olajuwon for 2 weeks, and we'll see a different Ayton. But until then, I'm not sure much will change.

They brought in Kareem to show Brittany Griner how to add a hook shot to her game. I guess some people are just gifted with great moves offensively that don't translate to others.

That said, Ayton reminds me of Bridges a bit. It's all about the attitude with Bridges. When he attacks offensively his skills and length transfer into a pretty hard to stop weapon. I feel like we can see Ayton has the skills. He just doesn't have that attitude to want to be aggressive. I see that light bulb turning on for Bridges. I just hope it will with Ayton, too!

 

[SirStefan32]

What a great game! Three turnovers- that's it! It was also really nice to see Bridges explode on offense for once. I realize he is likely never going to be a big-time scorer, but I like what I am seeing this year. He seems more aggressive, or at least somewhat assertive on offense. I hope he can keep it up. Great job by Cam as well. Booker had a really nice game too.

 

[RockinDaMike]

After owning an English and French Bulldog, Jevon Carter has the perfect nickname. Just a crazy ball of energy, he was just everywhere.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Mainstreet]

Chris Paul with huge accolades for Mikal Bridges defensively and as a teammate.

Also says Mikal is slick and can trash talk. I like it!

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[Mainstreet]

Discussion and video of Bridges 34 point game.

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[WhyAlwaysMe]

It’s more about failure to meet expectations. Most people here (as well as Eddie Johnson) fully recognize his rebounding and his growth defensively.

He’s averaging 13ppg on 61% TS. He has more assists than turnovers. He’s tied for 7th in OREB. Who cares about scoring on this team? Booker has 21ppg. The offense is all about sharing the ball; it’s 4th in ORTG. What this team needs, what all teams need to win, is an elite defensive presence. Ayton is that.

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Very good or merely great defenders don’t do that to a guy like DS. He cooks them. Ayton is elite.

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

this just isn’t hard to understand.

What isn’t hard for me to understand is this:

*Ayton was a bad college defender.
*Bad college defenders almost never become elite NBA defenders
*My expectations for his defense have been vastly exceeded. Any reasonable observer would agree.
*He has been a very good player on offense since he came in the league. He still is very good on defense and our shooters benefit greatly from his rim gravity.
*How can anyone say he hasn’t met expectations under this analysis? Maybe he hasn’t met their expectations that he would score 25ppg and play mediocre defense, but here’s the thing, that hypothetical player is worse than DA is right now!

 

[WhyAlwaysMe]

They brought in Kareem to show Brittany Griner how to add a hook shot to her game. I guess some people are just gifted with great moves offensively that don't translate to others.

That said, Ayton reminds me of Bridges a bit. It's all about the attitude with Bridges. When he attacks offensively his skills and length transfer into a pretty hard to stop weapon. I feel like we can see Ayton has the skills. He just doesn't have that attitude to want to be aggressive. I see that light bulb turning on for Bridges. I just hope it will with Ayton, too!

They brought in Kareem to show Brittany Griner how to add a hook shot to her game. I guess some people are just gifted with great moves offensively that don't translate to others.

That said, Ayton reminds me of Bridges a bit. It's all about the attitude with Bridges. When he attacks offensively his skills and length transfer into a pretty hard to stop weapon. I feel like we can see Ayton has the skills. He just doesn't have that attitude to want to be aggressive. I see that light bulb turning on for Bridges. I just hope it will with Ayton, too!

Bridges is nearly 2 years older than Ayton. Patience! If he can learn defense at the level he’s learned it already, the offense will come. 13 ppg on 61% TS on a top4 offense where he’s 4th in minutes will have to do for now.