Game Day: Suns (17-24) @ Celtics (27-13), Sat 1/18/20

[Cap]

I kinda like this starting lineup.

I’m fond of it too. Wish Kelly would accept a 6th man role but I doubt it.

Ya just gotta figure out how to spin it.

“Mikal, ya know, he sucks coming off the bench. He just can’t figure out how to work with the second unit. We need you, Kell. Only you can do it.”

I dunno, that’s my guess. I’m not exactly a spin expert.

[O_Gardino]

Really satisfying win. The last 3 games feels like games the Suns can build on. DA is starting to play like a real scoring option, and the role players look much better playing in their roles. When Book and DA are scoring, it doesn't matter if that 3rd scorer is Kelly or Ricky or Mikal.

I'll defend Vlad by pointing out that Ayton's timing was off all night. He bobbled passes and was a step early or late on rim runs. So yeah, this counts as an off night for him. It's nice to see that the off night didn't hurt his energy and he stayed in his role and was able to be very productive. Bravo, DA.

This is the true Bridges. I didn't notice the hitch in his shot until that last miss. He's just got to let it fly and not think about it too much.

Nice game for Dario, as well.

We've won a couple with only 4ish players playing well. Good job, Monty.

WTF happened to Tyler Johnson? I can only assume he is sick, too. Otherwise he should be our backup PF.

[Superbone]

I don't know about that. I mean, he's made 11 of them...

I do. He jacked up 2 ill advised ones during winning time. Hit the last couple after the game was decided.

I don’t think the game was decided until Book hit that 2nd free throw to put us up 4

The point is he took two bad shots in the name of the record when they needed a score. I stand by my statement.

I’m not sure they were bad. He hit 1 of them. Plus he already had the record at that point. Dude went 11/21 from 3. Him firing away was their best offense

No, he missed these two and they were forced. You can keep talking about it but I’m done. My comment was during the action. You’re trying to recall after the fact. And no, he didn’t have the record at that point but he made sure he did which contributed to the loss.

[Superbone]

Forgot to post this last game so be sure to watch it twice.

Done.

[phatmike]

Any win on the road is a good one. Great games by Book, DA and Bridges who was able to offset that craziness by Smart.

Book would have had that triple double if he and DA could have executed those lobs better. Those will get better with time and experience.

Really curious how DA will look when Kelly returns. If he regresses... suns management is gonna need to hopefully figure out how to get Kelly to buy into 6th man role. As others have mentioned it’s definitely starting to look like a good option especially given our lack of bench production.

[Superbone]

I'll defend Vlad by pointing out that Ayton's timing was off all night. He bobbled passes and was a step early or late on rim runs. So yeah, this counts as an off night for him. It's nice to see that the off night didn't hurt his energy and he stayed in his role and was able to be very productive. Bravo, DA.

You can defend VT but he already said he meant Baynes. So you’re the only one that thought he had an off night. Pretty good off night if you ask me with 26/15/2.

[JeremyG]

I'll defend Vlad by pointing out that Ayton's timing was off all night. He bobbled passes and was a step early or late on rim runs. So yeah, this counts as an off night for him. It's nice to see that the off night didn't hurt his energy and he stayed in his role and was able to be very productive. Bravo, DA.

You can defend VT but he already said he meant Baynes. So you’re the only one that thought he had an off night. Pretty good off night if you ask me with 26/15/2.

He had an off-night shooting percentage-wise. If he shot like he normally does, he could easily have scored 40.

[Wally_West]

Really satisfying win. The last 3 games feels like games the Suns can build on. DA is starting to play like a real scoring option, and the role players look much better playing in their roles. When Book and DA are scoring, it doesn't matter if that 3rd scorer is Kelly or Ricky or Mikal.

I'll defend Vlad by pointing out that Ayton's timing was off all night. He bobbled passes and was a step early or late on rim runs. So yeah, this counts as an off night for him. It's nice to see that the off night didn't hurt his energy and he stayed in his role and was able to be very productive. Bravo, DA.

This is the true Bridges. I didn't notice the hitch in his shot until that last miss. He's just got to let it fly and not think about it too much.

Nice game for Dario, as well.

We've won a couple with only 4ish players playing well. Good job, Monty.

WTF happened to Tyler Johnson? I can only assume he is sick, too. Otherwise he should be our backup PF.

I don’t know, man. He seems really small to be our back up PF but he’s been a Shitty PG/SG so far this season so maybe a change of position would be a welcome change for him.

[Split T]

I do. He jacked up 2 ill advised ones during winning time. Hit the last couple after the game was decided.

I don’t think the game was decided until Book hit that 2nd free throw to put us up 4

The point is he took two bad shots in the name of the record when they needed a score. I stand by my statement.

I’m not sure they were bad. He hit 1 of them. Plus he already had the record at that point. Dude went 11/21 from 3. Him firing away was their best offense

No, he missed these two and they were forced. You can keep talking about it but I’m done. My comment was during the action. You’re trying to recall after the fact. And no, he didn’t have the record at that point but he made sure he did which contributed to the loss.

He took and missed badly on one with like 5 minutes left. Maybe that’s what you’re talking about. I think Boston will live with it. He was the only one hitting anything for them. He made a lot of shots he probably shouldn’t have been taking tonight.

[carey]

Great win. Boston is a good team. We are 6-4 in our last 10. 6 games under .500 sadly but only 2 games back of the 8th spot.

[carey]

He took and missed badly on one with like 5 minutes left. Maybe that’s what you’re talking about. I think Boston will live with it. He was the only one hitting anything for them. He made a lot of shots he probably shouldn’t have been taking tonight.

Yeah, I honestly can't believe a guy shooting 37% from the field hit 11 three pointers. Crazy to me.

[The Bobster]

Ayton's averages -

2018-19 - 30.7 min, .585 FG%, .746 FT%, 10.3 reb, 1.8 ast, 0.9 blk, 16.3 pts
2019-20 - 31.3 min, .534 FG%, .821 FG%, 12.2 reb, 1.8 ast, 1.7 blk, 17.6 pts
Career - 30.8 min, .576 FG%, .756 FT%, 10.6 Reb, 1.8 ast, 1.0 blk, 16.5 pts
Last 2 GP - 35.5 min, .513 FG%, .933 FT%, 18.0 reb, 2.0 ast, 2.0 blk, 26.0 pts

Most encouraging stat from tonight's game - 10/11 FT.

[iLLmatic]

Good win. That Atlanta loss is going to hurt.

[JeremyG]

Since the merger, the only Suns player besides Ayton to average over 12 rebounds per game in a season is Charles Barkley (1992-93).

[Superbone]

Nice to end the road trip 2-1. Spurs on Monday at home. We owe them one.

[SDC]

I kinda like this starting lineup.

I’m fond of it too. Wish Kelly would accept a 6th man role but I doubt it.

Ya just gotta figure out how to spin it.

“Mikal, ya know, he sucks coming off the bench. He just can’t figure out how to work with the second unit. We need you, Kell. Only you can do it.”

I dunno, that’s my guess. I’m not exactly a spin expert.

i know the celtics were playing without kemba and jaylen, but i dont think bridges will relinquish his starting spot to kelly when he comes back.

[The Bobster]

Since the merger, the only Suns player besides Ayton to average over 12 rebounds per game in a season is Charles Barkley (1992-93).

Since the team started only Barkley and Silas have higher rebounding averages as Suns.

[SDC]

I kinda like this starting lineup.

I’m fond of it too. Wish Kelly would accept a 6th man role but I doubt it.

Ya just gotta figure out how to spin it.

“Mikal, ya know, he sucks coming off the bench. He just can’t figure out how to work with the second unit. We need you, Kell. Only you can do it.”

I dunno, that’s my guess. I’m not exactly a spin expert.

here's how:

1) tell him he will still average 30+ minutes a night off the bench.
2) that the team expects him to take the 3rd most shot attempts per game on the team.
3) that he will be part of the "closing 5" along with mikal, rubio, booker, ayton in the 4th of close games.

[3rdside]

Wasn't it just a few days ago that people were talking about how horrible our record is since our 7-4 start? Guess what, we are now 7-4 in our last 11 games.

If you ignore the 7-4 start and the 7-4 recent run, we’re 4-16. If you ignore the 4-16 run, we’re 14-8.

I see your 7-4’s and raise you 7-3 ... when Rubio, Booker and Ayton all play together.

[Nodack]

Suns Win!

Ayton is getting solid. 15 boards, 26 pts, 2 blocks, 10-11 free throws! Yes, 11 free throws in one game! Ayton is quickly going from being a complete disaster dud to stud. Just sayin.

Smart was completely on fire. A guy that hot from 3pt land can take as many bad shots as he wants. Take Smart out of the game and Boston loses much worse imo.