Game Day: Suns (20-28) @ Bucks (41-7), Sun 2/2/20

[Superbone]

Ayton won't get calls if when he goes to the rim he tries a layup with finesse maneuvering. Such move will get contact from defenders, but refs will not give you anything. Instead, just take one hard dribble, go up strong as high as you can with the ball grabbed you your two hands and try to dunk on people.

In other words, risk your face and your body and you will get the calls.

Did he not just see Giannis do that repeatedly? Wake up!

[3rdside]

9 blocks for Lopez?! My God!

it was block party, with Ayton and Oubre the stars of the show getting blocked 5 times each:

- Kelly, drive left into the lane with Lopez inside, blocked, repeat, repeat, repeat...lesson there bud.
- Ayton, under the basket finesse, blocked, repeat, repeat, repeat...lesson there too bud.

[3rdside]

Bridges 2 for 9 with 7 points. Way to put the ball in the basket! At least he's a stud defender.

I'd be prepared to say he'll never be even a decent shooter and he's a bust.

[3rdside]

I wonder in these types of games with no bench, on the road against the best team in the league if it's a deliberate strategy to just mail it in; I'd be okay with that, in which case take the following with that in mind:

- Ayton wtf soft and just settling for outside jumpers really worrying. He got stripped for a rebound by de Vicenzo purely on effort, or straight lack of it. Dunk the ball, seriously, no-one's stopping you, and at least 5 of his rebounds came from his own finesse misses. Possibly the most who cares 20-14 game ever.
- Why would we ever start Okobo over Carter?
- Was Kelly smoking pot? How many times do you have to drive left and get blocked by Lopez before you realise it's not working?
- Owens and Harper what on earth are they doing on an NBA court.
- Lecque looked great, but good luck trying to convince anyone his .415, .247, .577% g-league splits are surmountable any time soon.

[ShelC]

I was surprised throughout the game at the number of Ayton FGAs because it just didn't feel like he had that many shot, but yea, a bunch of them were tips/ORs that counted as FGAs.

And as much as we hate him taking so many jumpers, those are the shots he's getting within the offense. A bulk of our offense turns into "penetrate-and-kick", and sometimes that kickout out is to Ayton at the FT line where his only shot can be a jumper because the lane is too crowded due to the dribbler attracting multiple defenders to the paint. We never clear out and tell him to get on the block and sit in the post. At this point in the year, Monty needs to start adding that to the offense especially when our depth takes a hit and we need to take pressure off the perimeter players.

[azsportsfan]

Ayton created no gravity at all in this game - or even for most games he has played this season. Hard to create/execute offense around that.

[Mori Chu]

I like Ayton a lot, but if there's a KAT trade on the table at all, you absolutely have to do it.

[Nodack]

Overreact.net

They got beat by the best team in the NBA in their own place where they lost three games all year and we were down to playing scrubs from the D League because half the team is out. Of course they lost.

Ayton shouldn’t shoot jumpers because he misses? He also just played a game right before this one where he couldn’t miss. Yes they triple towers embarrassed him in Milwaukee. It should be a learning experience for him, not a let’s trade him because he had a bad game.

Overreact.net

[Nodack]

Overreact.net

They got beat by the best team in the NBA in their own place where they lost three games all year and we were down to playing scrubs from the D League because half the team is out. Of course they lost. It reminds me of rookie stock market players. OMG! My stock went down today, I better sell it. OMG! My stock went up today. It’s on a roll!

Ayton shouldn’t shoot jumpers because he misses? He also just played a game right before this one where he couldn’t miss. Yes they triple towers embarrassed him in Milwaukee. It should be a learning experience for him, not a let’s trade him because he had a bad game.

Overreact.net

[Superbone]

Overreact.net

They got beat by the best team in the NBA in their own place where they lost three games all year and we were down to playing scrubs from the D League because half the team is out. Of course they lost.

Ayton shouldn’t shoot jumpers because he misses? He also just played a game right before this one where he couldn’t miss. Yes they triple towers embarrassed him in Milwaukee. It should be a learning experience for him, not a let’s trade him because he had a bad game.

Overreact.net

Relax. Nobody expected us to win. It's just frustrating seeing Giannis' aggressiveness next to Ayton's passiveness.

[virtual9mm]

Overreact.net

They got beat by the best team in the NBA in their own place where they lost three games all year and we were down to playing scrubs from the D League because half the team is out. Of course they lost.

Ayton shouldn’t shoot jumpers because he misses? He also just played a game right before this one where he couldn’t miss. Yes they triple towers embarrassed him in Milwaukee. It should be a learning experience for him, not a let’s trade him because he had a bad game.

Overreact.net

Relax. Nobody expected us to win. It's just frustrating seeing Giannis' aggressiveness next to Ayton's passiveness.

We should expect inconsistency and note that he still got dominant stats except for FG% even when he wasn't playing at his best. Hope that the light bulb clicks on for him again. At this point I expect 50% aggressive and 50% passive. He does have a problem with big, physical front lines...as I've mentioned before, he still has what amounts to a boy's body even if it looks impressive to the rest of us.

[djy2j]

Overreact.net

They got beat by the best team in the NBA in their own place where they lost three games all year and we were down to playing scrubs from the D League because half the team is out. Of course they lost.

Ayton shouldn’t shoot jumpers because he misses? He also just played a game right before this one where he couldn’t miss. Yes they triple towers embarrassed him in Milwaukee. It should be a learning experience for him, not a let’s trade him because he had a bad game.

Overreact.net

I agree with we shouldn't overreact because we were shorthanded against the best team. I personally didn't go in thinking we were going to win. I actually thought they were competitive longer than I expected.

What I think the frustration is for me is that if Ayton is such an elite talent that amid his struggle to be consistent he should start to show more of these flashes against the other top talents like Giannis and the Bucks. He should start to play better against guys that are really good. But he doesn't. He just dips his toes into the water and hopes for the best. No aggression. No real sense of urgency.

The argument of "well it's only his 19th game" is fine and all but he's play 80 some games now in his career. That's a big enough sample size to figure a lot out about a player. This league doesn't have much room for immaturity. You have to grow up and you have to do it quickly else you're on the outside looking in. Phoenix is pretty poor at developing players. So to have players with motivational issues on this particular team is going to really hinder a rebuild

[In2ition]

Here is what I'm a little disappointed in. We should all be surprised when Ayton misses from the midrange. He's practically wide open and it's a relatively short shot and should be automatic, yet I'm more surprised when it actually goes in. He is shooting a gawd awful 20% on this shot(purely anecdotal evidence). You punish teams and defenders from not guarding you there, but instead it's hurting the team rn.

[AmareIsGod]

I like Ayton a lot, but if there's a KAT trade on the table at all, you absolutely have to do it.

I still wouldn't make that trade. KAT has no defensive upside and has always been a pretty terrible defender. Ayton has shown, even if not consistently, that he can be pretty dominant defensively.

[Nodack]

Ayton has a lot to learn, no doubt. He is a little passive, which is frustrating because he is the biggest baddest dude on the court most of the time and should be dominating. I think it’s good that he got humiliated around the basket by their bigs. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I can see the overall improvement in him. He only wanted to shoot jumpers to start and never went to the free throw line. Now he is at least attempting to go inside more and is getting to the line a little more. They rejected a lot of his shots around the hoop because he is soft around the basket. Hopefully he learns from that eventually and starts tearing the rim down like we know he is capable of.

Like I mentioned before, this reminds me of the stock market. You can’t judge the product by one or two days. You have to see the overall trends over time. Patience grasshoppers.

[ShelC]

You also need to know when to sell and take profits.

[SunsRIt]

Overreact.net

They got beat by the best team in the NBA in their own place where they lost three games all year and we were down to playing scrubs from the D League because half the team is out. Of course they lost.

Ayton shouldn’t shoot jumpers because he misses? He also just played a game right before this one where he couldn’t miss. Yes they triple towers embarrassed him in Milwaukee. It should be a learning experience for him, not a let’s trade him because he had a bad game.

Overreact.net

Relax. Nobody expected us to win. It's just frustrating seeing Giannis' aggressiveness next to Ayton's passiveness.

We should expect inconsistency and note that he still got dominant stats except for FG% even when he wasn't playing at his best. Hope that the light bulb clicks on for him again. At this point I expect 50% aggressive and 50% passive. He does have a problem with big, physical front lines...as I've mentioned before, he still has what amounts to a boy's body even if it looks impressive to the rest of us.

Of course he had a problem with the big physical line last night, he was our only big man.

[3rdside]

I was surprised throughout the game at the number of Ayton FGAs because it just didn't feel like he had that many shot, but yea, a bunch of them were tips/ORs that counted as FGAs.

And as much as we hate him taking so many jumpers, those are the shots he's getting within the offense. A bulk of our offense turns into "penetrate-and-kick", and sometimes that kickout out is to Ayton at the FT line where his only shot can be a jumper because the lane is too crowded due to the dribbler attracting multiple defenders to the paint. We never clear out and tell him to get on the block and sit in the post. At this point in the year, Monty needs to start adding that to the offense especially when our depth takes a hit and we need to take pressure off the perimeter players.

They were good looks, not like he had three guys on him or anything. It's just when you see it not working over and over, with a different option available - taking it inside - it looks a little boneheaded.

[3rdside]

Overreact.net

They got beat by the best team in the NBA in their own place where they lost three games all year and we were down to playing scrubs from the D League because half the team is out. Of course they lost.

Ayton shouldn’t shoot jumpers because he misses? He also just played a game right before this one where he couldn’t miss. Yes they triple towers embarrassed him in Milwaukee. It should be a learning experience for him, not a let’s trade him because he had a bad game.

Overreact.net

It's what we do! Put it down as a learning experience.

That being said, his stats are worse than last year considering his shooting %'s ... who regresses like that? Small sample size sure but that, to me, seems like he's just coasting. And I dare say his general demeanour on and off the court - vague comment as that is - isn't exactly saying otherwise.

[Shabazz]

His percentage has decreased because he's still way too reliant on the mid-range shot and he's not hitting it at a good rate.

I'm highly encouraged by his defensive improvements, though.