Phx-Suns.Net

Too many turnovers and very little rhythm to the offense. The Nuggets had the Suns defense scrambling the entire second half that I saw. Give them credit, they wanted this game badly and they took it.

Barton’s 3. That’s all folks.

Booker was not himself condition wise, and several pf his shots fell short. Hopefully he gets in game shape soon. Jae Crowder was ice cold, they should have left Cam in to close the game.

Shots just not falling tonight. Book's been off all game, Payne's floaters rimmed out all night. Nugs have done a pretty good job defensively not letting us get into a rhythm aide from the 2nd qtr. Kind of a weird one, felt like one of those early games from last season. Denver may have just wanted it more, things were chippy all night. Message sent.

Jae Crowder shot has been horribly off all preseason and now this game. Something to keep an eye on.

I’ll have to put an asterisk on this Nuggets win as Dario Saric wasn’t healthy.

I watched enough of this game and the plan appears clear -- give Bridges the green light to grow into a star. The problem is that Ayton is not locked into a long term deal and won't get enough shots to justify a max deal. Perhaps the Suns are thinking of moving him after all, which would likely be a mistake.

Let's keep an eye on the situation. If you need a rim running and defending big rather than a true showpiece, they come cheaper than Ayton.

I think Monty wasted a hot hand in Shamet. Especially with Book struggling with everything. Seems like he and CP were the only ones with a feel for their shot. Love everything that Shamet brings to this team

Flagrant Fowl wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:41 pm

JeremyG wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 20, 2021 7:34 pm

Ball handling, driving, creating his own shot, quick decisive actions….isn’t that what everyone said Ayton couldn’t do? Too bad he’s not worth a max…

Are you going to do this all season? I don't mute anyone here, but if this is all you're planning to bring to the discussion then I think you're going to start to piss off some people.

Lol, just some obvious things I noticed in the first quarter (which James Jones would have known he had worked on coming into this season). As always, though, he barely gets any touches in the second half.

Bummer.

Book was super rusty tonight.

Book and Crowder both shot horribly. Hard to win without those two. Nugs blew it open in the 3rd and we never caught up. They needed to get revenge for the sweep in last year's playoffs. Oh well, on to the next.

Crowder with one of THOSE games offensively.

Damn. Saw some things I liked. Others I did not. A few things made me feel indifferent and others made me feel nothing at all. Here's to a great season ahead.

Flagrant Fowl wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:55 pm

I'm all for Mikal doing more with the ball, but I don't think he should be leading the team in shot attempts.

It’ll come. I think it’s an important adjustment they need to make on offense and to get him rolling early this season. Bridges needs to make a jump this year, Ayton needs to take it to the cup, and CP3 needs to drain his 3s.

Flagrant Fowl wrote: ↑

Wed Oct 20, 2021 9:20 pm

Too many turnovers and very little rhythm to the offense. The Nuggets had the Suns defense scrambling the entire second half that I saw. Give them credit, they wanted this game badly and they took it.

The team is going to have to get used to that this year. We made the WCF last season so there's no flying under the radar now - we're going to have to be better to have the same kind of record again, as we're going to get teams at their best against us more often than not.

I think Monty may have to decide how much he leans on his bench early on. He probably should've stuck with Shamet and CamJ last night at times over Book and Jae. Book's going to need some games to work himself back up to speed and I think Jae is a guy we should be pulling back a bit on regardless because of all the games and minutes he's seen over the past two years. CP looks great but you also don't want to burn him out early. Payne needs to prove he can consistently keep the group together running the offense.

ShelC wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:13 am

I think Monty may have to decide how much he leans on his bench early on. He probably should've stuck with Shamet and CamJ last night at times over Book and Jae. Book's going to need some games to work himself back up to speed and I think Jae is a guy we should be pulling back a bit on regardless because of all the games and minutes he's seen over the past two years. CP looks great but you also don't want to burn him out early. Payne needs to prove he can consistently keep the group together running the offense.

Book was missing a ton of shots during his normal warm up routines, too. His 3s during that were falling pretty good, but not closer in.

Side note--DA's threes during his pre-game routines were going in a lot. He has this really slow, mechanical motion, where he grabs the ball, rotates it a bit in his hand (and brings it down a bit before bringing it up to shoot), but they were falling. I think he rushes it during games so it looks flatter and not as likely to go in. He just needs to keep practicing it if he isn't going to be that force in the paint.

DA's got a very hard, flat shot he kind of pushes from his face/forehead. It's definitely not a broken shot, might just be a matter of reps and getting more and more comfortable in games. And I think he's better from the top of the key than the corner because of that form.

Have any of you ever had one of those days where you just don't want to read any of the hundreds of unread posts because of the game the night before? That's me today.