Game Day: Suns (19-3) @ Warriors (18-3) , Friday 12/3/21

[LazarusLong]

"...as a player, you need to be paying attention to your surroundings..."

Exactly. The real special players have court awareness and are a move or two ahead of the opposition.
Ayton still has a tendency to disengage a bit, at times.

I like Ayton, and hope parties can arrive at acceptable new contract for him. His skills benefit the team.
But he is still a work in progress and needs to keep working at it.

[Mori Chu]

After a couple of days to reflect on this game, I am no longer upset about the loss. I basically expected us to lose given the way the deck was stacked against us. Warriors are a really good team, and going into their home court on a back-to-back without Devin Booker, while they're on rested legs and hungry to get revenge on us, the chance of us taking the win was always slim. That's okay. As the game went on, I realized that my goal had shifted; no longer was I hoping for us to come back and win the game, but rather, I just wanted us to escape the game with no injuries. The fact that Mikal is not seriously injured is a real blessing and a close call. I worry that CP3 or Book will get a major injury (partly due to the long previous season and minimal offseason) and it'll mess up our season and hopes for a long playoff run. I just want our coaching staff and training staff to keep everybody healthy and rested and limit people's minutes and do everything we can to get ready for the playoffs.

[Mori Chu]

Some folks have been criticizing Cam Payne's play. Sure, he didn't have a great game. And he's the one player on the team who is a true ball-hog, who doesn't look to pass when he should, who chucks up bad shots routinely. I don't like that about him. But I guess he's on our roster to give us bench scoring and to attack the basket. That's his role. I wish he would look around and see that his great drives to the basket have often left a teammate open, but I guess that isn't his game. Payne has limitations but he's really useful when you have a bench that needs some scoring and attacking. I don't blame Payne for the loss; we just didn't have the firepower.

I have also seen some criticism of the way Ayton played. Honestly I don't get it. He was easily the best one on the floor for us the whole game. Golden State mostly couldn't stop him; if anything we just couldn't lean on him for the whole game. Sure, there were a few plays where Ayton went up for a layup but could have dunked it. But he gave us 23 points and continued to show that Golden State has a very hard time stopping him. I have been on the Reddit NBA and Warriors areas and the GSW fans are scared of Ayton. They are definitely worried about that matchup. We should continue to exploit our advantage at the center position. Ayton did not lose us this game, unless you think he should have scored 50, because that's about what it would have taken.

I felt that CP3 didn't really give us much in this one. He had 12 and 8, but it was a very quiet output for him. I think GSW schemed their defense around stopping him and making others create. And unfortunately without Booker we don't really have much other shot creation in our lineup. Bridges, Crowder, and Ayton can't really get their own shot very effectively, so if you shut down Paul's passing our offense is pretty much stalled.

Hopefully our coaching staff learned a lot on Friday about things they need to work on to be able to beat the Warriors in the playoffs.

[LazarusLong]

Loss didn't bother me. Suns were without Booker and Bridges was playing with a hurt hand.

CP3 may not have had a heroic game, but he played well enough.
Remember, he's 36 -- Paul Westphal, Kevin Johnson and Dennis Johnson all were out of the league by that age -- KJ and Westy for several years.
I'd like to have CP3 have something in the tank for the playoffs.

Payne is a quick change of pace off the bench. I can live with his faults.
He's not a great distributor, but he can carve up the opposing second unit on a good night.

I think Suns' brain trust may have one more roster move during the season...

[Superbone]

I have also seen some criticism of the way Ayton played. Honestly I don't get it. He was easily the best one on the floor for us the whole game. Golden State mostly couldn't stop him; if anything we just couldn't lean on him for the whole game. Sure, there were a few plays where Ayton went up for a layup but could have dunked it. But he gave us 23 points and continued to show that Golden State has a very hard time stopping him. I have been on the Reddit NBA and Warriors areas and the GSW fans are scared of Ayton. They are definitely worried about that matchup. We should continue to exploit our advantage at the center position. Ayton did not lose us this game, unless you think he should have scored 50, because that's about what it would have taken.

Really? You don't get it? It's really very simple.

We want the most for him and our Suns. It would behoove him and the team for him to be a little more aggressive. If he were to dunk those little bunnies, he might not have as many rebounds from rebounding his own misses but he'd have more points and the possibility for more "and ones." We love him to death but see the potential for even more. It's as simple as that.

[Nodack]

He must be programmed from a lo g time ago to finesse it. Old habits die hard? Me, if I was that big and could dunk the ball I would be trying to always dunk it just because I could.

[SunsRIt]

He must be programmed from a lo g time ago to finesse it. Old habits die hard? Me, if I was that big and could dunk the ball I would be trying to always dunk it just because I could.

I’ve said that too and thought about it a lot. It is no big deal for him too dunk it. He can almost touch the rim just standing there. For me it’s way up there and was a big deal when I could dunk. It’s not a big deal for someone that big.

[Furlanfufi]

He must be programmed from a lo g time ago to finesse it. Old habits die hard? Me, if I was that big and could dunk the ball I would be trying to always dunk it just because I could.

Being 5'4", I share this sentiment.