SUNS NEWS: 2021 FINALS EDITION SUNS vs BUCKS

[Flagrant Fowl]

Cam Payne has a hard time with Zach Zarba.

[Split T]

FWIW

[ShelC]

[Wally_West]

Maybe Flex does have sources

[Flagrant Fowl]

Seems about right to me. It's a small miracle he didn't require surgery after the way that injury looked when it happened.

I want Giannis to play because I think it's worse for the Bucks right now, but I fear he'll more seriously injure himself if he pushes it too soon.

[Superbone]

I don't know. They seem to play pretty well without him too and cause different issues. It makes Holiday and Lopez a lot more aggressive.

[Nodack]

I think they play better without him. Maybe a 65% Giannis would be good for us. Paul playing with a bum shoulder hurt us. AD trying to play hurt him and his team. I would think they hold him out for at least the first two games to see where they stand, which gives him several more days to mend before risking his health. They have been playing well without him. I would plan mostly for him not playing in game one at least.

[pickle]

I don't know. They seem to play pretty well without him too and cause different issues. It makes Holiday and Lopez a lot more aggressive.

Without him, the offense is a lot more egalitarian, and Lopez playing in the post is something that caught Atlanta by surprise for sure. I also think it takes the pressure off of Holiday and Middleton, neither of whom is agnostic to the environment type of scorer but both quite talented. But it does hurt their defense to have one fewer 7 footer with massive wingspan, and hurts their already precarious depth situation even more, and takes the pressure off Ayton in terms of foul trouble.

Ayton should be able to handle Lopez in the paint, and protect the boards in the process, though Portis crashing the offensive rebounds is something we need to be very mindful of. I don't think Lopez can put up anywhere near his ECF G5 numbers with Ayton in the paint, and we just need to keep Middleton and Holiday to the mid 20s and keep the role players at bay -- as in, don't give Portis 22 pts or Forbes 17 on 5/6 from 3...

[Furlanfufi]

I fear the Bucks more without Giannis. He's a beast going downhill, but Middleton is harder to guard.
And we always can let Giannis shoot every 3 available and foul him if needed.

[virtual9mm]

Seems about right to me. It's a small miracle he didn't require surgery after the way that injury looked when it happened.

I want Giannis to play because I think it's worse for the Bucks right now, but I fear he'll more seriously injure himself if he pushes it too soon.

I want the man to play because (a) the Suns would probably beat them either way; (b) he deserves his time in the spotlight; and (c) I like the kid and I'd be rooting for him if he weren't playing the Suns.

That being said, MIL should hold him out if there's a non-insignificant risk of further injury. Although I also agree that the Bucks would be weaker with a 65% Giannis than no Giannis at all.

[JeremyG]

What's this about Lopez's rebounding? He literally averaged 4.0 rebounds in the ECF, and is averaging 6.1 for the playoffs.

[Split T]

Just gotta say, for all the crap we give our medical team, we’ve pretty easily been the most healthy team this season, right?

[Flagrant Fowl]

I've also thought about the medical/training staff in recent weeks. Gotta give them a ton of credit.

But ZoomCare and WebMD jokes are still fun to make.

[MightyMoog]

Probably the most underrated move James Jones made was to let Aaron Nelson go to the Pelicans. Nelson was great for many many years. But I think his time had come. I think we have a much more up to date medical staff now because of it. Add on top of it the new practice facility and there's the reason we're as healthy as we are. I remember listening to a podcast about James Jones even before he became our GM about how he read the technology section of the paper everyday. That's why I found it interesting when he let Nelson go. I think he wanted to incorporate newer ideas and technology into our training and that was probably easier to do with some fresher minds.

[Cap]

And a little movement in the betting lines.

Game 1:

 -250 (67.8%) Suns
 +195 (32.2%) Bucks

Championship:

 -190 (63.5%) Suns
 +165 (36.5%) Bucks

[Mori Chu]

I've also thought about the medical/training staff in recent weeks. Gotta give them a ton of credit.

But ZoomCare and WebMD jokes are still fun to make.

We also have one of the youngest teams in the league. And unlike any other contender, we didn't play any playoff games last year, so our young legs are fresher.

[Indy]

Since Bridges struggles guarding Middleton, maybe we could put Crowder on Middleton, Ayton on Giannis, and Bridges on Lopez.

I would keep Ayton on Lopez, to avoid foul problems and keep him as defensive anchor in general, instead of first line of defense against Giannis. Let him face Crowder and mix it up with some Craig, specially while he still on a gimpy leg. For Middleton you can throw Bridges, CamJ, Nader and also some Craig as well. We can put size, length, speed or fundamentals on Middleton to keep him from getting confortable.

I don't remember Mikal struggling with Middleton. I looked up their stats. Pretty good, but Jae was better, but in much more limited minutes. Jae only guarded him for 2 minutes on those 6 shots, where Mikal was over 8 minutes for his 9 shots.

Against/FG%
Mikal 44% (4-9)
Book 83% (5-6)
Paul 50% (3-6)
Jae 17% (1-6)
Rest 50% (4-8)

[JeremyG]

Since Bridges struggles guarding Middleton, maybe we could put Crowder on Middleton, Ayton on Giannis, and Bridges on Lopez.

I would keep Ayton on Lopez, to avoid foul problems and keep him as defensive anchor in general, instead of first line of defense against Giannis. Let him face Crowder and mix it up with some Craig, specially while he still on a gimpy leg. For Middleton you can throw Bridges, CamJ, Nader and also some Craig as well. We can put size, length, speed or fundamentals on Middleton to keep him from getting confortable.

I don't remember Mikal struggling with Middleton. I looked up their stats. Pretty good, but Jae was better, but in much more limited minutes. Jae only guarded him for 2 minutes on those 6 shots, where Mikal was over 8 minutes for his 9 shots.

Against/FG%
Mikal 44% (4-9)
Book 83% (5-6)
Paul 50% (3-6)
Jae 17% (1-6)
Rest 50% (4-8)

I was referring to this tweet that was posted:

[Indy]

What’s so bad about Zarba? Honestly I don’t buy into almost all of the ref stuff. They have tendencies, sure, but I think most are trying to be as fair as possible.

Foster though…he clearly has an issue with Paul. He may even believe that he’s able to call those games fair, but the evidence seems to point otherwise, even if he’s not aware he’s being biased.

Yeah, Foster and Marc Davis are the ones I think have a vendetta. Zarba doesn't seem to bother me much.

[Indy]

Since Bridges struggles guarding Middleton, maybe we could put Crowder on Middleton, Ayton on Giannis, and Bridges on Lopez.

I would keep Ayton on Lopez, to avoid foul problems and keep him as defensive anchor in general, instead of first line of defense against Giannis. Let him face Crowder and mix it up with some Craig, specially while he still on a gimpy leg. For Middleton you can throw Bridges, CamJ, Nader and also some Craig as well. We can put size, length, speed or fundamentals on Middleton to keep him from getting confortable.

I don't remember Mikal struggling with Middleton. I looked up their stats. Pretty good, but Jae was better, but in much more limited minutes. Jae only guarded him for 2 minutes on those 6 shots, where Mikal was over 8 minutes for his 9 shots.

Against/FG%
Mikal 44% (4-9)
Book 83% (5-6)
Paul 50% (3-6)
Jae 17% (1-6)
Rest 50% (4-8)

I was referring to this tweet that was posted:

...

Ah the numbers I had above are just from this year.