Game Day: Suns (51-12) @ Bucks (39-25), Sunday 3/6/2022

[Split T]

There was one play, I didn’t bring it up at the time because the shot went in, but it was a free throw attempt for Milwaukee. Ayton was lined up next to Jrue and Jrue completely pushed him under the basket. If the shot had missed, Jrue would have snagged the board easily. Just a little thing like that where Ayton takes the play off assuming Jrue won’t challenge the board. Ayton just takes plays off and right now he seems to be taking rebounding off. Last year he stopped taking plays off in the playoffs, so hopefully that’s the case again, but I’d like to get to the point where he doesn’t take plays off at all. That’s an absolute must for me if he wants to be a max player that doesn’t create offense on his own.

[bajanguy008]

Oh right
Forgot to shout out Jae, he's basically taking the leadership role and keeps making plays

[ShelC]

I don't think Jae's gotten enough credit as a steady hand out there with CP and Book out. He's not flashy and isn't an impactful on the ball guy, but he's the guy who makes the pass that leads to the pass that leads to the assist. And he's still super clutch when the game is close that helps kill the other team's momentum, not mention switching around and guarding anyone who's in front of him. Just a winning player.

[SunsRIt]

There was one play, I didn’t bring it up at the time because the shot went in, but it was a free throw attempt for Milwaukee. Ayton was lined up next to Jrue and Jrue completely pushed him under the basket. If the shot had missed, Jrue would have snagged the board easily. Just a little thing like that where Ayton takes the play off assuming Jrue won’t challenge the board. Ayton just takes plays off and right now he seems to be taking rebounding off. Last year he stopped taking plays off in the playoffs, so hopefully that’s the case again, but I’d like to get to the point where he doesn’t take plays off at all. That’s an absolute must for me if he wants to be a max player that doesn’t create offense on his own.

He stopped taking plays off at the beginning of the playoffs. It seemed like late he reverted back.

[ShelC]

I wonder if CP (and maybe Book) not being out on the court to stay on him and keep his focus is allowing him to slip. And if that's the case...

[Split T]

There was one play, I didn’t bring it up at the time because the shot went in, but it was a free throw attempt for Milwaukee. Ayton was lined up next to Jrue and Jrue completely pushed him under the basket. If the shot had missed, Jrue would have snagged the board easily. Just a little thing like that where Ayton takes the play off assuming Jrue won’t challenge the board. Ayton just takes plays off and right now he seems to be taking rebounding off. Last year he stopped taking plays off in the playoffs, so hopefully that’s the case again, but I’d like to get to the point where he doesn’t take plays off at all. That’s an absolute must for me if he wants to be a max player that doesn’t create offense on his own.

He stopped taking plays off at the beginning of the playoffs. It seemed like late he reverted back.

Ya I think he was just spent in that Milwaukee series. We played him like 40 minutes a game and he had to defend Giannis most of it. He wore down.

[Shabazz]

I think Giannis was one of the key motivations behind signing Biz.

The spacing in the 2-big lineups was rough yesterday, but you put CP-Book-Cam with Biz and DA and it looks much better. Nice little wrinkle to be able to throw at the Bucks.

[Indy]

I think Giannis was one of the key motivations behind signing Biz.

The spacing in the 2-big lineups was rough yesterday, but you put CP-Book-Cam with Biz and DA and it looks much better. Nice little wrinkle to be able to throw at the Bucks.

Makes sense considering we were talking to him about coming here in August and we lost the finals ~2 weeks earlier.

[Superbone]

I think Giannis was one of the key motivations behind signing Biz.

The spacing in the 2-big lineups was rough yesterday, but you put CP-Book-Cam with Biz and DA and it looks much better. Nice little wrinkle to be able to throw at the Bucks.

Agreed. It feels like maybe both McGee and Biz were brought on specifically for the Bucks. I feel prepared to play them now when we've got our full complement.

[Mori Chu]

I don't think Jae's gotten enough credit as a steady hand out there with CP and Book out. He's not flashy and isn't an impactful on the ball guy, but he's the guy who makes the pass that leads to the pass that leads to the assist. And he's still super clutch when the game is close that helps kill the other team's momentum, not mention switching around and guarding anyone who's in front of him. Just a winning player.

Strongly agree. Jae brings such great toughness and poise in high-pressure games. During the 4th quarter the other night, Jae made some big shots and never seemed rattled. You need guys you can count on to take big shots and make the right plays in close games. Crowder has been a great signing for us; another win for James Jones.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Jae Crowder gets a lot of flack in the online Suns community to the point that it's become a litmus for me to identify if a random person on the Internet actually knows basketball. He's obviously always been a role player, but the "he sucks" and "he hurts the Suns" takes are ridiculous.

[Bucktastic365]

I think Giannis was one of the key motivations behind signing Biz.

The spacing in the 2-big lineups was rough yesterday, but you put CP-Book-Cam with Biz and DA and it looks much better. Nice little wrinkle to be able to throw at the Bucks.

Agreed. It feels like maybe both McGee and Biz were brought on specifically for the Bucks. I feel prepared to play them now when we've got our full complement.

For as dangerous as Giannis is against us, it's Jrue and Middleton that are the players that consistently kill us.

Do we have a stopper for them?

[Split T]

You would think Bridges would be able to…but he’s struggled with both. Middleton is mostly a shooter and is pretty long himself. Bridges doesn’t impact his shot as much as he usually does. As for Jrue, he’s a little too physical and bullies Bridges a bit. Those two are an issue because we do have to commit a lot of resources to Giannis…would be helpful if Bridges could shut one of them down.

[Mori Chu]

You would think Bridges would be able to…but he’s struggled with both. Middleton is mostly a shooter and is pretty long himself. Bridges doesn’t impact his shot as much as he usually does. As for Jrue, he’s a little too physical and bullies Bridges a bit. Those two are an issue because we do have to commit a lot of resources to Giannis…would be helpful if Bridges could shut one of them down.

They seem to like putting Bridges on Middleton. But I think he'd be better on Jrue. Jrue is strong, but Bridges's length could bother Jrue more. Bridges isn't very effective against Middleton since Middleton is both bigger and stronger. He can just shoot over Bridges's outstretched arms, or shove him for position closer to the basket. At least against Jrue, Bridges has a size advantage and can utilize his athleticism and quickness. As for Middleton, well, we can't really stop him but maybe putting guys like Crowder and Craig on him would work better due to their size and strength.

[Split T]

Middleton is one of those guys that’s tough to defend. Not much you can do with 6’8 jump shooters who can dribble. Just gotta contest as much as you can and hope they miss. Crowder would be interesting…also a smaller guy that could get into his body on the perimeter and slide with him…maybe Payne or Holiday…but I’m pretty sure he’d make his way into the post and hit those turnaround shots.

We’ll see if we have to face them again this year.