Game Day: Suns (22-11) @ Lakers (24-11), Tues 3/2/21

[Ring_Wanted]

Yo what is happening???

Everyone seems to love DA’s chain

haha ngl that was cool af

[Shabazz]

Love Mikal. We should run some more offense through him. 10 shots a night should be the norm.

[Ring_Wanted]

Love Mikal. We should run some more offense through him. 10 shots a night should be the norm.

dude you beat me to using that image as my avatar (was editing it with the thug life glasses and joint haha)!!

[Shabazz]

Love Mikal. We should run some more offense through him. 10 shots a night should be the norm.

dude you beat me to using that image as my avatar (was editing it with the thug life glasses and joint haha)!!

It needs no photoshop.

[Ring_Wanted]

Love Mikal. We should run some more offense through him. 10 shots a night should be the norm.

dude you beat me to using that image as my avatar (was editing it with the thug life glasses and joint haha)!!

It needs no photoshop.

haha yeah you are right, love it!

[rhylek]

Bridges with 19/6/5 on 10 shots.

He's taking Ayton's money.

I can't see Ayton getting the max straight from the Suns. Matching an offer sheet maybe, because in the end he is still a key piece and losing him for nothing would be terrible. But he clearly is not a max player and Bridges is indeed making his way to a 20M+ contract. I'll say that to be honest, I don't think Ayton will be adamant over the max, regardless of those 'next contract' comments; he seems too laid back to let that break what seems an ideal situation for him, as long as he ends up with a relevant figure.

Now, Paul has a player option for next year at 44M so maybe he could decline it to arrange something like a 4 year contract starting at a around $25M, which would 'free' ~$20M per season for the team while Paul gets more than $110M in his las contract.

Agree on Ayton's laid back attitude with his contract, I think the problem would be his entourage. I remember reading he started backetball because his mom basically told him "you're big, go play basketball, you can earn good money doing it". Suns have to manage that well, and avoid the McDyess scenario too.

About the refs, I never complained because it seems not to be welcome here, but man... it's been years of bad officiating. Sometimes, I watch NBA wondering if it's WWE. Maybe that's a cultural thing, but the simple fact that you automatically get fined if you criticize officiating or NBA is shocking to me. For years I watched more soccer than basketball, they also had problems with officials (corruption, betting or just bad officiating) and they took measures. I know I might sound like a big homer to you, but I don't want them to screw my team like they did in 2007.

[bajanguy008]

LeBron does this kinda thing so often. Always wanna plead the fifth when something controversial happens and ppl believe him, it's so annoying.



Riiiiight
His reaction is literally Hey, y'all gonna let him say that ?!

[ShelC]

[ShelC]

Get Nader out.

Okay, I can’t be the only one wondering why the fuck Nader is a regular in the rotation when we’re not decimated with injuries???!!! Dude fucking sucks.

Man, you guys look so bad in hindsight.

I don't get the Nader hate. I said it a few weeks back and nothing's changed. He's a bench player and his peak is probably the 7th man on a good team. He's basically been the 8th-9th man on the Suns when everyone is healthy. If anything, he's outplayed that role.

Ya he’s fine...kind of a jack of all trades. He can shoot a little, drive a little, and defend a little. He gets caught occasionally trying to do too much, but he’s not a zero on offense. You have to respect his shot and if you run him off the line, he can get into the paint. He’s not a great finisher, but he’s ok. Had 3 blocks and a steal tonight. He’s just like a C+ at everything. Would be nice if he had one skill to count on.

Can be frustrating on offense but he's a player. I like his game, just don't love him in extended minutes. Thought it was interesting Monty went with him but I guess with the Lakers using their swings he made sense. Got time over Moore (and Frank and Gallo) in the 2nd half when Book was ejected and hit some big shots. He's also a chippy defender, looks like he gets under guys' skin.

[carey]

That post about Nader from an OKC fan in the trade thread when we acquired him was exactly right. You watch him sometimes and think hey he’s alright! But if he’s out there for extended minutes the illusion kind of shatters and you realize he’s not quite replacement level.

[LazarusLong]

It was a chippy game, which seemed to suit Nader.
He's not an elegant player, but he does grind well.
Anybody notice that he had three blocked shots?

[LazarusLong]

Here’s what the nba said...which tells us basically nothing




Edit: They deleted the tweet, so here’s the new one

Did he say that with a straight face?
As mentioned earlier, James bitches every time he takes it to the hoop.
He blasts into people, and then complains he was fouled.

This was one of the worst crews I've seen in some time.
The one ref looked like he was still in high school ... greener than me after eating poorly cooked mystery meat ....

[LazarusLong]

From the L.A. Times game recap:

"Later in the game, though, Booker was quickly hit with a pair of technical fouls, a puzzling ejection without any obvious reason..."

[ShelC]

I remember 2 of them, did he catch LeBron on one near the rim?

I don't know exactly how it got so chippy or why the refs were so jumpy about things. I missed the start of the 2nd half so I might've missed something there but it felt like out of nowhere they were replaying everything, huddling over fouls, giving out Ts. I'd say it was equally physical in the 1st half, maybe they just wanted to change it up in the 2nd half?

[azsportsfan]

I remember 2 of them, did he catch LeBron on one near the rim?

I don't know exactly how it got so chippy or why the refs were so jumpy about things. I missed the start of the 2nd half so I might've missed something there but it felt like out of nowhere they were replaying everything, huddling over fouls, giving out Ts. I'd say it was equally physical in the 1st half, maybe they just wanted to change it up in the 2nd half?

To me it seemed to start with Jones intentionally tripping Booker on that screen (no call), and Booker went mental and grabbed KCP's foot for the foul (should have been a flagrant 1). Then KCP hit Booker on the breakaway, pulling his arm down on his follow through and causing a pretty hard fall. Then it was on, back and forth, after stewing over it during halftime.... Of course, it is Lakers v Suns and the Suns are good once again, so it really started before the game.

[specialsauce]

Get Nader out.

Okay, I can’t be the only one wondering why the fuck Nader is a regular in the rotation when we’re not decimated with injuries???!!! Dude fucking sucks.

Man, you guys look so bad in hindsight.

I don't get the Nader hate. I said it a few weeks back and nothing's changed. He's a bench player and his peak is probably the 7th man on a good team. He's basically been the 8th-9th man on the Suns when everyone is healthy. If anything, he's outplayed that role.

Ya he’s fine...kind of a jack of all trades. He can shoot a little, drive a little, and defend a little. He gets caught occasionally trying to do too much, but he’s not a zero on offense. You have to respect his shot and if you run him off the line, he can get into the paint. He’s not a great finisher, but he’s ok. Had 3 blocks and a steal tonight. He’s just like a C+ at everything. Would be nice if he had one skill to count on.

Can be frustrating on offense but he's a player. I like his game, just don't love him in extended minutes. Thought it was interesting Monty went with him but I guess with the Lakers using their swings he made sense. Got time over Moore (and Frank and Gallo) in the 2nd half when Book was ejected and hit some big shots. He's also a chippy defender, looks like he gets under guys' skin.

He shouldn’t sniff the court unless we are down 2 swings

[In2ition]

Yo what is happening???

Everyone seems to love DA’s chain

I'm not a fan of Robert inserting himself into the spotlight when the Suns are winning. The formula was working, stay on the sidelines, in the shadows and out of the spotlight, Mr. Sarver.

[djy2j]

Not sure there’s anything Sarver could do to make me like him or even not hate him. Put up with over 10 years of his bullshit. I guess the glass half full approach would be it’s nice that the team appears at least tolerate him.

[jonh]

Im actually really annoyed at seeing Sarver pop up at all here. We have 10+ years of evidence that suggests the team's success is negatively correlated to Sarver's involvement (even superficially). This feels like the 2021 version of the foam finger.

[Pips]

It was against Lakers so we can forgive him.