Game Day: Cavs (3-3) @ Suns (1-3), Sat 10/30/21

[ShelC]

Shitty close to the 3rd. Suns had a 24 pt lead and were rolling, then we started throwing possessions away. Bench unit still isn't great.

[Superbone]

Someone's gettin some birthday magic cooking.

Called it!

[Superbone]

Wow, I’m a little behind the broadcast but from 14 down to 24 up! I went from here we go again to wow!

[The Bobster]

Ayton is +30 tonight and they've only played him 24 minutes.

WTF?

[ShelC]

[The Bobster]

Still not a very impressive performance except for that one stretch.

This should have been a 20+ point win after they took that huge lead.

[ShelC]

Got the W but nowhere near close to playing a full 48 minutes of good basketball. 10 missed FTs, CP 2-6 from the line which is nuts. The bench still a negative. Payton and Shamet no real impact and we may need to lean on JaVale if DA is missing some games. Good stuff from Stix tho and he may get a jump in minutes if he's backing up JaVale.

[carey]

I hope Shamet starts fitting in soon. I hope Cam & Jae's jumpers come back soon. Something is off with Paul. He doesn't miss that many FTs often. Glad we can get a W. Cavs are going to have a lot of games like that where they claw their way back just to lose. They are eventually going to be pretty decent.

[carey]

Got the W but nowhere near close to playing a full 48 minutes of good basketball. 10 missed FTs, CP 2-6 from the line which is nuts. The bench still a negative. Payton and Shamet no real impact and we may need to lean on JaVale if DA is missing some games. Good stuff from Stix tho and he may get a dump in minutes if he's backing up JaVale.

I thought he looked pretty bad & I'm generally pro-Smith. I think we have to decide on his 3rd year option tonight.

[AmareIsGod]

Got the W but nowhere near close to playing a full 48 minutes of good basketball. 10 missed FTs, CP 2-6 from the line which is nuts. The bench still a negative. Payton and Shamet no real impact and we may need to lean on JaVale if DA is missing some games. Good stuff from Stix tho and he may get a dump in minutes if he's backing up JaVale.

I thought he looked pretty bad & I'm generally pro-Smith. I think we have to decide on his 3rd year option tonight.

I thought he looked pretty decent other than the sequence when he tried doing too much and got blocked.

[Flagrant Fowl]

This was a pretty clear schedule loss for the Cavs. Not saying they would've beat the Suns otherwise, but they had no legs after halftime.

Extremely small anecdotal sample, but I think the change to how shooting fouls are called on jump shots is helping Booker. In recent years he'd often try to contort his body in an attempt to draw the foul, but he would rarely get the same whistle as a guy like Harden. This year he seems to just be going straight up, not trying to draw contact, and his shot looks much smoother and more consistent.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Got the W but nowhere near close to playing a full 48 minutes of good basketball. 10 missed FTs, CP 2-6 from the line which is nuts. The bench still a negative. Payton and Shamet no real impact and we may need to lean on JaVale if DA is missing some games. Good stuff from Stix tho and he may get a dump in minutes if he's backing up JaVale.

Payton had two atrocious FTA's in the second half. Like rookie season Markelle Fultz bad.

I can kind of understand how a big man would struggle with free throws. Big hands, long limbs, etc. But a guy like Payton really doesn't have an excuse to miss so badly.

[Superbone]

Got the W but nowhere near close to playing a full 48 minutes of good basketball. 10 missed FTs, CP 2-6 from the line which is nuts. The bench still a negative. Payton and Shamet no real impact and we may need to lean on JaVale if DA is missing some games. Good stuff from Stix tho and he may get a dump in minutes if he's backing up JaVale.

Payton had two atrocious FTA's in the second half. Like rookie season Markelle Fultz bad.

I can kind of understand how a big man would struggle with free throws. Big hands, long limbs, etc. But a guy like Payton really doesn't have an excuse to miss so badly.

Yeah, I noticed one was way to the left. No excuse for not being close to on target.

[ShelC]

This should be DA's go-to, bread and butter move. If he can do this 3-4 times a game when our 3s aren't falling or we need a basket late, it puts him at a different level offensively. Shades of Pat Ewing here.




Better awareness here of the defender and better timing on the headfake to draw the foul. Isn't headfaking just to headfake

[Superbone]

That was an amazing half court lob Book threw to Mikal.

Also, the significance of this just hit me:

The Suns have officially won their first game at Footprint Center

They changed the name of the arena halfway through the Finals and then we never won again there. Does OGW work for Footprint?

[Indy]

So I share a birthday with Book, and I got to take my son to the game last night. It was the first game my son has seen in person that the Suns won in the last 6 years.

[Shabazz]

Everyone should note the reaction of Book and Paul after Ayton puts the ball on the floor and beasts in the post to get an and-1. Pretty sure Paul is saying “every freaking time.” Neither player is upset they didn’t get the ball back to shoot.

[AmareIsGod]

Everyone AIG should note the reaction of Book and Paul after Ayton puts the ball on the floor and beasts in the post to get an and-1. Pretty sure Paul is saying “every freaking time.” Neither player is upset they didn’t get the ball back to shoot.

FTFY.

[BlaCkAdDa]

Love the end to end slam by McGee

[Superbone]

Love the end to end slam by McGee

That’s the kind of aggression I’d love to see from Ayton. Sometimes Ayton isn’t even thinking, or paying attention, to whether he could rim run if he wanted to.