Playoffs: Suns @ Clippers Saturday game thread 4-22-2023 - Game 4

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Or he can't play with an ouchie

Damn skippy! Kahwi can’t play with me! He can’t hold me!

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Ouchie and Kawhi would be the worst Batman/Robin duo in NBA history.

Shut your piehole you no conscience chucker!

 

[Cheesebeef]

The funniest thing about all of us hemming and hawing about how shaky we look, watching the post-game on NBATV and all three guys still pick us to come out of the West.

 

[Hoop Head]

You're so right. The margin needed to be 140 points, not 14.

You clearly didn't watch the game and are speaking from the POV of someone who browsed the box score. Game 2 didn't see any score separation until the final 3 minutes. The Clippers cut the lead to 6 with 3 minutes to go and the Suns had to play their starters virtually the entire game.

A 14 point win doesn't mean much, not in today's NBA. Leads evaporate quicker than ever before with the rise of 3pt shooting. 3 offensive possessions is all it takes for a 9 point swing, that's 2 defensive stops and a lead is now no longer comfortable. It happens frequently.

Not a single game in this series was anyone's running away. Each game came down to the final 2-3 minutes. For a team with title aspirations to struggle and have to exert so much effort for a 2-1 series lead, it hasn't exactly made any one believers that they're going all the way or caused anyone to take notice of what the Suns are doing in a positive way. I'm not saying they're doomed, I think this series will go their way but it'll probably go 6, maybe even 7 games. I don't think Denver or their fanbase are all that worried about the Suns this year though.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

To be fair, they had a damn good roster around Book and Paul the last couple years and just couldn't get over the hump in the finals. They had to trade some of the players that made that roster really good to get KD.

Correct. But the clippers also had to make trades to land their duo, and they still have more talent around them than do we.

 

[Covert Rain]

His knee is gone. He’ll never be able to sustain his ability for more than a couple games.

Yeah…it sure sounds like it. That’s why I said I don’t buy the sprain thing. It’s bone on bone, it probably swells up with a ton of pain from time to time. That would make more sense why he can’t go.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Correct. But the clippers also had to make trades to land their duo, and they still have more talent around them than do we.

They signed Kawhi and traded for PG. We rightfully had to give up quite a bit more to get Durant than they did to get PG. We also had to trade to get CP which involved trading some of the accumulated talent and a first round pick.

 

[GatorAZ]

Kawhi’s career is basically over. It’s sad considering he was one of the true 2-way juggernauts this league has ever seen.

 

[zett]

Correct. But the clippers also had to make trades to land their duo, and they still have more talent around them than do we.

well to be fair they have had their 2 studs for a couple of years to build around. we have had Durant for only a hand full of games. you can't pull a rabbit out of your hat if you have no hat!

 

[zett]

I thought last game, we didn't play with the intensity we did while Leonard was playing. It looked sloppy, and more like a pick up game. we need to keep focused and take care of the ball. if Booker has a bad game we will be in trouble.
I'm not sure how many free throws Biz gets up during practice, but it needs to be 10 times what it is now. his D has been great, but he is such a liability on offense. Lue will not allow him to not be fouled. because its as good as a turn over, that's the advantage of having a deeper bench. do we really have no shooting coach that can help with free throws?
we had over a week off so I'm not overly concerned about the min. as long as we win we will get rest between series. Booker has absolutely been legendary!

 

[nashman]

The Suns need to play better than game 3.

Oh yeah you think Westbrick puts up 30+ again or Powel 42 lol they played out their asses and still lost. If we show up and play the same as yesterday it could be the first blowout of the series…

 

[Germz249]

I HOPE Kawai is back.
He will be gimpy, maybe his shot will be off and he's slower on D. Anything to keep the ball out of Powells hands.

I don’t see Powell dropping those kind of numbers every night.

 

[Germz249]

Kawhi’s career is basically over. It’s sad considering he was one of the true 2-way juggernauts this league has ever seen.

I think he has a decent year or 2 left in him. Not at the high level we seen from him but serviceable.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

They signed Kawhi and traded for PG. We rightfully had to give up quite a bit more to get Durant than they did to get PG. We also had to trade to get CP which involved trading some of the accumulated talent and a first round pick.

And they had to trade to get Norman and Covington. And we had a head start of sorts having draft one of our two studs. Regardless of how built, they still have two studs the equivalent of ours (if healthy) and a much better roster around those two.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

well to be fair they have had their 2 studs for a couple of years to build around. we have had Durant for only a hand full of games. you can't pull a rabbit out of your hat if you have no hat!

Fair point

 

[Chaplin]

Missing two straight games in the playoffs isn’t load management. Something is seriously wrong with his knee.

 

[elindholm]

G4 should be an easy time for the Suns. I can imagine the Clipper bench getting fired up for G3: If they can give everything and pull off a miracle, they have a chance to be heroes and set the stage for when the star comes back. It's like when the undermanned Suns almost won the Stoudemire/Diaw suspension game. But trying to win the series this way is a whole other matter.

 

[Dr. Jones]

All this Kawhi's career is over talk but if we don't win tonight its a three game series and he will be coming back from basically a week off. This situation is a bit more tenuous than we think.

 

[JCSunsfan]

All this Kawhi's career is over talk but if we don't win tonight its a three game series and he will be coming back from basically a week off. This situation is a bit more tenuous than we think.

I seriously doubt he's coming back. When is the last time Kahwi was out for just a few games. Never. Once he is out, it is for a good long while. There is more of a chance of PG coming back.

 

[Hoop Head]

I thought Leonard missing game 3 was load management mixed with gamesmanship. Keeps the Suns from properly preparing for the team they'll face since at the 11th hour news came out about Kawhi missing game 3. Then he decides he's nor playing in game 4, although I was surprised he wasn't listed as doubtful or questionable on their injury report to sort of keep the Suns on their toes but since news came out at a decent time he'd be a no go for game 4 also, I'm definitely in the he's hiding something serious camp. He looked great in games 1 and 2 and those were away games. They go home having split and he can't suit up? Somethings amiss.

 

[Dr. Jones]

I seriously doubt he's coming back. When is the last time Kahwi was out for just a few games. Never. Once he is out, it is for a good long while. There is more of a chance of PG coming back.

I thought Leonard missing game 3 was load management mixed with gamesmanship. Keeps the Suns from properly preparing for the team they'll face since at the 11th hour news came out about Kawhi missing game 3. Then he decides he's nor playing in game 4, although I was surprised he wasn't listed as doubtful or questionable on their injury report to sort of keep the Suns on their toes but since news came out at a decent time he'd be a no go for game 4 also, I'm definitely in the he's hiding something serious camp. He looked great in games 1 and 2 and those were away games. They go home having split and he can't suit up? Somethings amiss.

I'm not buying it yet.

The turnaround between games 3 and 4 was less than 36 hours. That's super tight in the playoffs.

If he's out in game 5 then you may be on to something, but right now...... I'm expecting he plays after a week of rest.

 

[Dr. Jones]

I will add though...... Ruling him out yesterday instead of making him a GTD was pretty telling.

Time will tell I guess.

Meanwhile, the Nuggets may have a week off if we don't win today. We have to treat this like a closeout game.

 

[GatorAZ]

G4 should be an easy time for the Suns. I can imagine the Clipper bench getting fired up for G3: If they can give everything and pull off a miracle, they have a chance to be heroes and set the stage for when the star comes back. It's like when the undermanned Suns almost won the Stoudemire/Diaw suspension game. But trying to win the series this way is a whole other matter.

Every time I think about that game I get pissed off. So close to being the most important win in franchise history.

 

[Dr. Jones]

Also..... What is our record this year in 12:30 starts on the road? I bet it's not great.

 

[GatorAZ]

I thought Leonard missing game 3 was load management mixed with gamesmanship. Keeps the Suns from properly preparing for the team they'll face since at the 11th hour news came out about Kawhi missing game 3. Then he decides he's nor playing in game 4, although I was surprised he wasn't listed as doubtful or questionable on their injury report to sort of keep the Suns on their toes but since news came out at a decent time he'd be a no go for game 4 also, I'm definitely in the he's hiding something serious camp. He looked great in games 1 and 2 and those were away games. They go home having split and he can't suit up? Somethings amiss.

When you have degenerative knee problems it doesn’t take anything to aggravate/inflame it. I feel better about KD aging b/c while injury-prone, they’ve always been bad luck type bends/sprains due to long legs.