Phx-Suns.Net

Looks like you guys saw what I saw in the arena. Refs just give Giannis every call…he also wanted a challenge on the one time they called him for a foul.

Ayton made some nice shots in the first half, but as others have said, Milwaukee gave them to him. He did have some bogus falls called on him. I was pretty frustrated how many times it seemed he was in position and Brook still got an o-board. His hands just suck. Fumbled and dropped a few passes too.

Fun game, just wish we could’ve pulled out a win.

Postgame Quotes and Videos

I’m glad Monty is finally speaking out about the unfair officiating. Nobody can beat that. There’s no way to guard Giannis if he’s allowed to plow into you and it’s a foul on you.

This team's biggest problem is that that if Ayton is out or in foul trouble or taking one of his naps they have zero dependable big men.

Zero.

And we've all been saying that they needed to address it for a couple of years now. And yet..... nothing but crickets.

The Bobster wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 15, 2023 7:30 am

This team's biggest problem is that that if Ayton is out or in foul trouble or taking one of his naps they have zero dependable big men.

Zero.

And we've all been saying that they needed to address it for a couple of years now. And yet..... nothing but crickets.

I don't know if I agree that is our biggest problem. I worry that we don't have enough 3-point shooting. As much as this particular game was about Giannis being allowed to bulldoze our entire team, most of our losses to me feel like we are shooting a lot of mid-range fadeaways and jumpers while the other team is shooting 3s and layups. The other night against GSW we shot 4-21 (19%) from 3 while they shot 19-39 (49%). I'm concerned both with the poor percentage and also with the low 3pt FGA. We should be bombing 3s out there, bunch of 3-and-D wing assassins waiting for a great pass from an attention-grabber like Book or KD. But we don't have dependable shooters. Cam Johnson was one, Jae Crowder was (mostly) another. You can't really trust Craig or Okogie every night. Payne is hit or miss. T Ross is pretty dependable from 3 but is a horrendous defender so he's hard to leave out there. Wainwright is okay but has some really bad misses and bricks. I just don't see guys I trust in a tight playoff game. I'm concerned.

Superbone wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 15, 2023 2:40 am

I’m glad Monty is finally speaking out about the unfair officiating. Nobody can beat that. There’s no way to guard Giannis if he’s allowed to plow into you and it’s a foul on you.

He's been speaking out the last 2-3 years tho and nothing's changed. I don't expect anything to be done now. Giannis and Luka initiate the contact and get the calls. The refs officiate them differently. Book should be getting more foul calls but he doesn't. No one else, except maybe KD now, is going to draw fouls. Okogie's shown some flashes of driving at his man, initiating the contact and getting the call, but he's no where near consistent with it and shouldn't be the guy we're relying on. It's just the way we're build and the offense we run.

The Bobster wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 15, 2023 7:30 am

This team's biggest problem is that that if Ayton is out or in foul trouble or taking one of his naps they have zero dependable big men.

Zero.

And we've all been saying that they needed to address it for a couple of years now. And yet..... nothing but crickets.

It's easier said than done finding a versatile defensive big who can guard 4s and 5s, not get in foul trouble and be a threat offensively. We brought in Javale after the Finals, added Biz. Had Dario and Frank, then brought in Jock. Our biggest problem heading into the season, the one everyone was knocking Jones for, was not adding a 2nd star We got KD. The Bucks just have a great collection of bigs with Giannis, Brook and Portis.

Jock was good tonight, we didn’t lose for lack of big men

I suppose my silver lining in all this is that I think we win the last 3 games if we have KD.

wpmiller42 wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 15, 2023 8:56 am

I suppose my silver lining in all this is that I think we win the last 3 games if we have KD.

I do agree but what bothers me is how reliant we are now on a guy who is so injury prone to win games, let alone a championship.

Our starting lineup minus KD is a significant downgrade on what we had going into the playoffs last year. Okogie has made great strides over the past couple of months but is offensively where Bridges was 2-3 years ago. Craig provides some of the toughness of Crowder but just isn't as consistent from 3. Paul is a year older and has regressed massively and DA hasn't improved at all.

Ya it’s hard to keep the same roster and add a top 10 player all time. We have a health risk that we didn’t really have before, but we have a ceiling that we didn’t have before either. If we make no trade at all we probably do catch Sacramento and/or Memphis and probably are a good bet to go to the WCF. I doubt we could’ve beat Denver though. I also think we would’ve been in trouble against a smart vet team like GS or LAC…and would’ve had the same issue with Dallas. Love Mikal and love what he’s doing and I think it’s real, but I’m not sure I’d have wanted to rest our chances on him. Teams would’ve continued to double Book and we would’ve lived and died on how Mikal performed. I like the version we have now where KD gets doubled and we live and die on how Book performs…also KD can beat a double better than Book.

The biggest problem to me is CP3 and Ayton have regressed from 2021. If they were at 2021 levels, we’d cakewalk through the west and be a very strong contender against Milwaukee in the Finals. A bench guy or two stepping up would be great, but we mostly need Ayton to step up and for CP3 to be able to be 36 year old CP3 for small stretches at least.

And of course stay healthy. This current team without KD isn’t winning a round in the playoffs

Ayton hasn't been listening to Coach and has gotten happy on the farm.

I guess I'm still scarred from last season
I just finding it hard to get caught up in seeding and all that stuff at the moment

The West been a coin flip all year
You're gonna have to win on the road so I just want us to be as healthy as possible and let the chips fall where they may

I'm not stressing these 3 losses
Most expected us to get blown out at least once and honestly I even felt like we would struggle to hang

My main issue in the last two games was energy, we were so flat against Warriors and got in a hole and last night for a home game the first half again just seemed very going through the motions
Don't know if the whistle got to them that early or if even as players they are looking over their shoulder for KD's return

Tomorrow night is a bigger deal for me cause of the same energy
Do they come out n punk Magic because they're frustrated with the losing streak or do they still look flat

We've done some decent things in these games
Would have beaten Warriors if Monty went Jock instead of Biz, ppl even called that live in the game thread
Good to see Payne show some life so hopefully that's also something to build on
Ish still doing well and if there was a better whistle he might have even gotten a little success against Giannis

TOO wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 14, 2023 7:22 pm

djy2j wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 14, 2023 7:19 pm

Same bullshit officiating advantage for Giannis. Just hand them the chip cowards. Sick of this shit

There isn't anything Ayton can do, he's probably the best Giannis defender in the league and he's screwed because you can't touch anyone.

Really?!

Superbone wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 14, 2023 8:07 pm

Giannis leads with his elbow into Craig and Craig is called for the foul.

That was awful. A blocking foul is when the defender moves in the path of the offensive player after the offensive player has discontinued his dribble.

Giannis was still dribbling with Craig moving with him and Giannis adjusted his path to gather into Craig to go through him. If you don't want to call it offensive foul, fine. Just do no call. But penalizing the defender for playing legal defense is ridiculous.

Wally_West wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:09 pm

So many mistakes adding up.

Yeah, the game was there for the Suns to win.

TOO wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:11 pm

Wally_West wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:10 pm

Maybe we should’ve kept cam Payne in

Yep, he was shooting well, Monty doing Monty things.

I was fine with giving Payne a breather, but EJ immediately talked about going back to Payne after a couple of minutes. And that's what Monty should have done. I think EJ was thinking put Payne in the backcourt with Paul, but I think that would have put the Suns at too much of a defensive disadvantage. Should have just brought Payne back in for Paul.

djy2j wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:29 pm

Monty going to close with CP and Ayton no matter how bad they are in the 4th

I don't blame Monty for going back to Ayton. He was playing well before he went to the bench, and I don't know if you want to stay with Landale for long stretches at a time.

I get the excuse of coming in cold or being taken out of rhythm, but come on, Ayton. This isn't your first rodeo. You're a self-proclaimed M-A-X guy. You gotta be able to rise above that stuff.

Flagrant Fowl wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:29 pm

The offensive rebound by Ayton late in the game was infuriating. Great hustle by him, but he instantly panicked and looked for someone to pass it too. He didn't even realize that no one is trying to get open because he has the best chance to score and instead he nearly turned it over on the pass. To make matters worse, he then couldn't catch the pass right at his chest because he didn't sense the defender behind him.

That was such a brutal play. He would rather risk turning it over than just attacking his man after the offensive rebound. His man was even sagging off of him. Just make a play dude.

INFORMER wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:40 am

TOO wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 14, 2023 7:22 pm

djy2j wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 14, 2023 7:19 pm

Same bullshit officiating advantage for Giannis. Just hand them the chip cowards. Sick of this shit

There isn't anything Ayton can do, he's probably the best Giannis defender in the league and he's screwed because you can't touch anyone.

Really?!

Ayton historically has moved well with him and gotten tall when needed to make Giannis shoot a tougher than normal shot. So yes, was he good last night? Nope, he was garbage, biting on head fakes he had no reason doing so. I am no Ayton fan, but he does have a few things he does well.