Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

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Gladiator
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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by Gladiator »

Superbone wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 12:18 am
Flagrant Fowl wrote:
Wed Nov 17, 2021 10:21 pm
10 in a row for the first time in a decade. I'll drink to that.
It wasn’t easy but I’ll take it. They came up big when they needed to. Book with the tough 26 footer and Paul with the amazing find while falling out of bounds to Ayton. And what about that amazing Book shot earlier where he spins into the lane and then scoops it around Porzingas and up for the 5 foot kiss off the glass.
They were great plays down the stretch. It was nice to see Ayton involved in the 4th as well.

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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

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Last edited by ShelC on Thu Nov 18, 2021 7:08 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by The Bobster »

Ayton's averages in his last 5 games played -

32:21 Min, 19.0 points, 13.8 rebounds, 66.6% FG%
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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by SunsRIt »

We sucked for 3 1/2 quarters and still won. Impressive

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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by The Bobster »

SunsRIt wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 6:58 am
We sucked for 3 1/2 quarters and still won. Impressive
This is the difference between the good teams and the great teams. For so many years the Suns have lost the big game to the Spurs or the Lakers or the Bulls because those teams just knew how to put their best players in the best position to succeed at crunch time.

Just look at how often Booker and Paul get good midrange looks or Ayton gets the ball around the basket or Bridges has an opportunity to make defensive stops or Crowder gets open looks from the perimeter. They rarely are expected to make plays that they aren't normally capable off, and they execute at a high level.

Certainly there will be times when there will be a big play like Booker's 3-pointer that has an element of luck to it, but you have to be good to put yourself i that position.
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The Bobster
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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by The Bobster »

Getting Chris Paul was a brilliant move. He's as competitive as you will find, he knows how to play both ends of the court and how to make his teammates better, and he knows when to assert himself and try to take over a game. Even at 36 his game doesn't have any big holes like so many previous Suns stars did.

Yes, he's that player you hate when he plays for the other team, but he will do whatever he thinks is necessary to get a win.
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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by specialsauce »

Rough game, glad we won. It was ugly. Was at the game sitting by the Suns bench. Never seen someone less engaged than Elfrid Payton on the bench. When the entire bench would stand up, he was sitting alone looking in the stands or at the ground. Never watching the game. Dude is aloof.

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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by Mori Chu »

This was a fun one. Dallas was feisty; a bit of Ewing theory at work with Luka out. I bet a lot of the Mavs players were relieved to actually get the ball more rather than having Luka hold it for 90% of the time. Porzingis in particular looked elated. Hardaway Jr had a nice game for them with 22 pts. Ntilikina revived himself from the dead and chipped in 13 points.

This one was real bumpy for us until the 4th. CP3 had not hit a single shot and we were something like 8-31 on 3s. But we played just well to hang around until crunch time. Ayton had a nice game with 19 and 13; he's looked pretty good since coming back from his injury. Our bench gave us a pretty good lift; McGee was all over the place, and I thought this was one of Shamet's best games as a Sun. That's exactly the sort of punch off the bench I want from Shamet, so I hope he can keep that up.

Booker is the real hero of the game with several big shots down the stretch to put the Mavs away. He's so awesome. Was just checking the box score and somehow Book also got 9 rebounds?! Wow.

And others have mentioned it, but Bridges played stifling defense as usual, especially that one play where he knocked the ball away from Porzingis in a crucial late-game possession. Bridges's shooting has been pretty shaky, but his defense is so reliable that I pretty much always want him out there on the court.

We are so lucky to have a great team like this. I am trying to appreciate it and enjoy every game. I'm glad that the Ayton contract BS and the Sarver investigation BS don't seem to be rattling them. TEN IN A ROW BABY!

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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by djy2j »

specialsauce wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 7:54 am
Rough game, glad we won. It was ugly. Was at the game sitting by the Suns bench. Never seen someone less engaged than Elfrid Payton on the bench. When the entire bench would stand up, he was sitting alone looking in the stands or at the ground. Never watching the game. Dude is aloof.
He'll have plenty of time to chill and look at the ground when he's out of the league by next season.
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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by Indy »

pickle wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 2:31 am
That was a beautiful shot, and I apologize for being a party pooper, but he could've dropped it off for an easy dunk by Ayton... don't think shot clock was an issue. The announcers also commented on another play where he took a short jumper instead of dumping it off to Ayton.
I think I've watched it a dozen times now, and I don't think so. His man was right on him, 7' 3" KP was standing in the paint trying to get him to pass it off, and Tim Hardaway Jr. was just lying in wait for that dump pass to DA. I think the best option was to throw it off the back board and let Ayton go get it. Fortunately it went in.

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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by Split T »

I was saying earlier in another thread how we haven’t really beaten anyone good yet, but I remembered how last year we seemed to have more of a problem with the bad teams, not the good teams. So consistently running off win after win against teams we should beat is sometimes pretty tough, so glad to see we are doing it! Believe we have a GS game coming up soon, pretty excited for that one, but gotta take care of Dallas again Friday!

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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by ShelC »

specialsauce wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 7:54 am
Rough game, glad we won. It was ugly. Was at the game sitting by the Suns bench. Never seen someone less engaged than Elfrid Payton on the bench. When the entire bench would stand up, he was sitting alone looking in the stands or at the ground. Never watching the game. Dude is aloof.
This is why you don't take guys like Frank and Jevon for granted. People complained about the money we gave Jevon and he was just a 3rd stringer, but those kinds of guys go a long way towards the culture. Elf was pulling this act at the end of the Knicks season and in the playoffs. I'm sure the coaches and teammates are noticing.

In terms of the game, I'm not worried about our offense but I feel like we're playing with fire a bit letting these teams have the lead or hang around while we miss shot after shot. Maybe we're playing to the level of the comp and are good enough to tighten up late in games - maybe that's some strategy we have to get reps in close games? All I know is we can't shoot the way we did against the Wolves, Rockets and Mavs and expect to beat the more talented teams. Our defense has been ridiculous tho, and maybe we know we can win that way most nights. Again, it's very Spurs-like. We're not 48 minutes of dunks and 35ft threes. We grind away the whole game and pick our spots. CP especially seems to be playing in slow motion, just coasting while controlling the game and then turning it on in a flash. It's too easy for him at this point. Same with Book. He can almost control the game without scoring now.

Good to see Shamet knock down his shots. His minutes and opps will be limited, so he's gotta make them when he gets them. The rest of the bench was solid and really, all the guys are interchangeable thru the first 9. Monty even rolled out a CP, Payne, Shamet trio in the 4th I think.

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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by Split T »

Dallas shot 50% from 3 and we beat them on a bad shooting night for us. That’s pretty impressive

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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by Superbone »

pickle wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 2:31 am
That was a beautiful shot, and I apologize for being a party pooper, but he could've dropped it off for an easy dunk by Ayton... don't think shot clock was an issue. The announcers also commented on another play where he took a short jumper instead of dumping it off to Ayton.
He wanted to pass to Ayton but Porzingas was in his way so he had to improvise.
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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by LazarusLong »

The Bobster wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 7:49 am
Getting Chris Paul was a brilliant move. He's as competitive as you will find, he knows how to play both ends of the court and how to make his teammates better, and he knows when to assert himself and try to take over a game. Even at 36 his game doesn't have any big holes like so many previous Suns stars did.

Yes, he's that player you hate when he plays for the other team, but he will do whatever he thinks is necessary to get a win.
Chris Paul is a coach on the floor, the adult in the room. The Suns have had some great players during the history of the franchise, but very few that had Paul’s level of gravitas. A few that come to mind were Paul Westphal, Dennis Johnson and Steve Nash. Westphal and DJ were hampered by their coach, who was a bit too controlling at the wrong times. Nash played very little defense, which detracted from his impact as a leader.
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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by Superbone »

LazarusLong wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 11:35 am
The Bobster wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 7:49 am
Getting Chris Paul was a brilliant move. He's as competitive as you will find, he knows how to play both ends of the court and how to make his teammates better, and he knows when to assert himself and try to take over a game. Even at 36 his game doesn't have any big holes like so many previous Suns stars did.

Yes, he's that player you hate when he plays for the other team, but he will do whatever he thinks is necessary to get a win.
Chris Paul is a coach on the floor, the adult in the room. The Suns have had some great players during the history of the franchise, but very few that had Paul’s level of gravitas. A few that come to mind were Paul Westphal, Dennis Johnson and Steve Nash. Westphal and DJ were hampered by their coach, who was a bit too controlling at the wrong times. Nash played very little defense, which detracted from his impact as a leader.
Yeah, I don't know if we've ever had anybody that can control a game quite like Paul. Especially the end of quarters and games.
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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by Indy »

LazarusLong wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 11:35 am
The Bobster wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 7:49 am
Getting Chris Paul was a brilliant move. He's as competitive as you will find, he knows how to play both ends of the court and how to make his teammates better, and he knows when to assert himself and try to take over a game. Even at 36 his game doesn't have any big holes like so many previous Suns stars did.

Yes, he's that player you hate when he plays for the other team, but he will do whatever he thinks is necessary to get a win.
Chris Paul is a coach on the floor, the adult in the room. The Suns have had some great players during the history of the franchise, but very few that had Paul’s level of gravitas. A few that come to mind were Paul Westphal, Dennis Johnson and Steve Nash. Westphal and DJ were hampered by their coach, who was a bit too controlling at the wrong times. Nash played very little defense, which detracted from his impact as a leader.
I've never seen a player command that much respect when he hasn't won at the highest level of the sport.

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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by Split T »

Where do we think Chris Paul ends up all time as a suns player? Right now I’d say the tiers go:

Tier 1: Barkley and Nash

Tier 2: Marion, Davis, Westphal, Stoudemire, Booker, KJ

Tier 3: Kidd, Adams, Majerle, Chambers, Nance…(plus more I wont go through)


Booker feels headed for tier 1 at some point, though I don’t imagine he’ll ever win an mvp. Could CP3 get to tier 1? I think he does for sure if we win a title during his time here. Can he surpass Nash? Probably not without a title, but maybe if we make the finals a few times over a 4-5 year stretch.

Crazy to think we added a 35 year old pg to the team who might end up the best pg in franchise history, especially with our legacy of great PG’s.

It does feel like we finally have a real suns era again…starting with KJ/Barkley because I’m not old enough for stuff before then, we went:

KJ/Barkley era to the
Kidd era to the
Marbury era(not sure this counts, but had its moments) to the
Nash/7SOL era to the
WORST ERA IN PHOENIX SUNS FRANCHISE HISTORY to the
Booker/CP3 era

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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by bajanguy008 »

Really is becoming a constant theme and ideally we would like more complete games but as others have said it is still a testament to our quality that we play our best stuff late.

So another "On Brand" win for the team with the best Clutch Net rating
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Re: Game Day: Suns (10-3) vs Mavericks (9-4), Wed 17-NOV-2021

Post by LazarusLong »

Split T wrote:
Thu Nov 18, 2021 12:03 pm
Where do we think Chris Paul ends up all time as a suns player? Right now I’d say the tiers go:

Tier 1: Barkley and Nash

Tier 2: Marion, Davis, Westphal, Stoudemire, Booker, KJ

Tier 3: Kidd, Adams, Majerle, Chambers, Nance…(plus more I wont go through)


Booker feels headed for tier 1 at some point, though I don’t imagine he’ll ever win an mvp. Could CP3 get to tier 1? I think he does for sure if we win a title during his time here. Can he surpass Nash? Probably not without a title, but maybe if we make the finals a few times over a 4-5 year stretch.

Crazy to think we added a 35 year old pg to the team who might end up the best pg in franchise history, especially with our legacy of great PG’s.

It does feel like we finally have a real suns era again…starting with KJ/Barkley because I’m not old enough for stuff before then, we went:

KJ/Barkley era to the
Kidd era to the
Marbury era(not sure this counts, but had its moments) to the
Nash/7SOL era to the
WORST ERA IN PHOENIX SUNS FRANCHISE HISTORY to the
Booker/CP3 era
Could add Dennis Johnson into at least Tier 3.
DJ got traded because of his difficulties with John MacLeod's game management.
(Paul Westphal got traded for essentially the same reason).
While some called DJ "difficult" it's interesting to note Larry Bird said DJ was the best teammate he ever had...
Window is open again ... blue skies ahead?

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