Lakers @ Suns Sunday game thread 2-25-2024

[Covert Rain]

98.7 is preaching the play in. Get the 7 or 8 and play the Thunder or T Wolves rather than Denver / Clippers.

Such a bad idea for this team just because we are so dependent on health. More games is not good.

 

[Dback Jon]

98.7 is preaching the play in. Get the 7 or 8 and play the Thunder or T Wolves rather than Denver / Clippers.

While that would be a better match-up, also very risky. What if Book/Beal/KD are out for one game.

If we are going to get to the finals, we have to play Denver or the Clippers at some point.

 

[Dback Jon]

@Covert Rain - how does the phrase go?

BORG!!!

 

[ajcardfan]

98.7 is preaching the play in. Get the 7 or 8 and play the Thunder or T Wolves rather than Denver / Clippers.

There are 20+ games left. Great chance one or both of Minn and OKC are passed by the Nuggets and/or Clippers.

 

[Dback Jon]

There are 20+ games left. Great chance one or both of Minn and OKC are passed by the Nuggets and/or Clippers.

great point

 

[Cheesebeef]

Jockeying for the play-in where we might have to start with Dallas, who owns us, wouldn’t be very smart. Especially because assuming a loss, the next game would be do or die against either the Lakers or Warriors, both of whom the NBA would be salivating to get into the playoffs over us.

 

[ajcardfan]

great point

I can see thinking about it with 3 or 4 games left and the top two seeds locked in. But this is way too early.

 

[Dback Jon]

I can see thinking about it with 3 or 4 games left and the top two seeds locked in. But this is way too early.

Correct. Way too much time left.

And who knows, if one or more of the four top teams have injuries themselves, they could plummet

 

[Mainstreet]

I love it. The Lakers are complaining about the lack of foul calls. Welcome to the rest of the NBA.

Maybe the Lakers didn't whine enough... oh wait, they did.


By Dave McMenamin, ESPN Staff Writer:


While James was exasperated, his coach, Darvin Ham, was angered.

"I'm not one to use referees as an excuse," Ham said. "But it's becoming increasingly tough because of the inconsistency. I'm seeing our guys get the same contact on them as we're supposedly committing. And the whistle is not being blown."

--------------------------------------------

"We live on getting to the line. We attack the basket," Davis said. "Especially how much we struggle from the 3, we're kind of up and down, so we try to live in the paint and get to the line. I'm not sure if it was just the refs missing it or they weren't fouling. I felt I got fouled a couple of times. But that's part of our identity, our DNA, is getting to the line and guys catching rhythms like that and then playing from there."

Lakers vent at refs' 'inconsistency' after Suns loss

Phoenix shot 19 free throws as compared to just eight for Los Angeles on Sunday, representing a season low for the Lakers and tying the fewest free throw attempts in any game for L.A. since LeBron James joined the franchise in 2018.

www.espn.com

 

[Mainstreet]

The Suns should play hard, try to win every game and stay healthy. The key is peaking going into the playoffs.

The rest will take care of itself.

 

[1982baskets]

I rather play the best playoff proven team, even in the first round, because it would give us a good idea of where this team is vs them. We need to think longterm. There's no route to a title without having to go through some elite proven playoff teams.

That said, only the Nuggets are that team. In the West, Clippers/Thunder/Wolves are all teams that have not been to the Finals, or won the West. The one team you probably want to avoid in round 1 is Denver. They have the championship experience. They have the Denver altitude advantage. Homecourt.

My hopes for this team this season were not beyond making the playoffs. There just has been way too many injuries and inconsistencies for a first year formation of Beal, with KD/Book. We're hoping to catch fire at the right time in April. Overall as a season, we just haven't been one of the the best teams in the league. We're more like top 6 in the West, top 10 in the league.

 

[Superbone]

Can the Suns put four quarters together? We shall see.

Well, not quite. The first and last were really good but we still got the win.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

I love it. The Lakers are complaining about the lack of foul calls. Welcome to the rest of the NBA.

Ironic since the Suns are among the teams who take more foul shots per game than the Lakers and are also known to whine about free throw disparity quite a bit.

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[Mainstreet]

Well, not quite. The first and last were really good but we still got the win.

Although, the Suns improving in the 4th quarter is quite an accomplishment.

 

[Superbone]

KD repeating the word "leadership" multiple times in the interview. Hmmmmm.

This was in response to Charles Barkley's comments. KD can be thin skinned at times.

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[Superbone]

Although, the Suns improving in the 4th quarter is quite an accomplishment.

Yes! More of that, please.

 

[Covert Rain]

Ironic since the Suns are among the teams who take more foul shots per game than the Lakers and are also known to whine about free throw disparity quite a bit.

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It wasn't that long ago, this forum would light up every game with Monty's teams not getting any FT attempts in a half or the FT disparity being huge. That all changed after getting Durant. We skyrocketed up the latter for FT attempts. I think it also carries over to other players once fouls start coming your way. We have zero to complain about here most nights.

 

[Cheesebeef]

It wasn't that long ago, this forum would light up every game with Monty's teams not getting any FT attempts in a half or the FT disparity being huge. That all changed after getting Durant. We skyrocketed up the latter for FT attempts. I think it also carries over to other players once fouls start coming your way. We have zero to complain about here most nights.

That hasn’t really changed on this board. We have plenty of folks complaining here most nights about the league hating the suns/referees.

 

[Mainstreet]

Ironic since the Suns are among the teams who take more foul shots per game than the Lakers and are also known to whine about free throw disparity quite a bit.

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I don't think anyone draws more attention to himself about a foul than Lebron. It's about time the Suns get some calls.

 

[Covert Rain]

That hasn’t really changed on this board. We have plenty of folks complaining here most nights about the league hating the suns/referees.

Yeah I call bull on that. Most nights it's the Suns beating themselves now, no matter how valid the Ref thing USED to be.

 

[Suns_fan69]

I don't think anyone draws more attention to himself about a foul than Lebron. It's about time the Suns get some calls.

Oh I don't know... Luka can give him a pretty good run for his money.

 

[Mainstreet]

Oh I don't know... Luka can give him a pretty good run for his money.

Yeah, but Lebron has refined it to an art.

Also, I didn't want to detract from my focal point with @Brian in Mesa.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

I don't think anyone draws more attention to himself about a foul than Lebron. It's about time the Suns get some calls.

LeBron is gonna LeBron. The craziest stat was that it was the first time ever in AD's career (rookie season was 2012) that he played 40+ minutes in an NBA game and did not earn a single trip to the foul line.

 

[Dback Jon]

LeBron is gonna LeBron. The craziest stat was that it was the first time ever in AD's career (rookie season was 2012) that he played 40+ minutes in an NBA game and did not earn a single trip to the foul line.

So other times he was just GIVEN trips to the foul line...

 

[Brian in Mesa]

So other times he was just GIVEN trips to the foul line...

Not what I am saying. He's a huge guy who drives to the rim a lot and usually gets hacked along the way. Obviously, not every foul is called, but his entire career at least one call has been made each game where he's played extended minutes. He isn't a flopper like LBJ.