Playoffs Round 1, Game 3: Phoenix Suns (1-1) @ New Orleans Pelicans, Fri 4/22/22

[Split T]

Let me just give Ayton some props…I said these were the two biggest games of his career and he dropped 28/17 for a team high +18 in the first 1. That’s exactly what we need from him.

Glad 4th Q CP3 showed up, might need him to do that earlier.

[Wally_West]

That was an ugly win but a win is a motherfucking win!!!

[dragickingdom]

That was an ugly win but a win is a motherfucking win!!!

I do prefer ugly wins over ugly losses.

[iLLmatic]

I thought shamet played ok, we absolutely cannot shoot 4 and whatever next game. Would be great to see the lid come off the hoop

[BlaCkAdDa]

We ain't gonna shoot 3s that bad every game... Good to get a win despite that

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[Flagrant Fowl]

Shamet was huge in the first half. He's the only bench guard/wing who brought some juice to the game. His hustle and aggressiveness caught the Pels off guard.

Unfortunately he couldn't get his laser shot to go down in the second half.

[specialsauce]

Shamet was huge in the first half. He's the only bench guard/wing who brought some juice to the game. His hustle and aggressiveness caught the Pels off guard.

Unfortunately he couldn't get his laser shot to go down in the second half.

He had one good play, a dunk. Not sure that qualifies as huge.

[Split T]

Had 2 dunks, no?

[Split T]

4-51 when teams shoot as poorly from 3 as the suns did

[AmareIsGod]

In what universe did anyone imagine Landry Shamet would be known for his dunks and not his shooting?

[Split T]

Was checking the clutch stats for the playoffs(todays game isn’t in them yet) but some interesting things. First it’s been a very small sample size but suns and Pels have the highest offensive ratings at 189 and 188…which is bonkers and both teams scored well again in the clutch tonight, so it’ll be curious to see how that changes.

My question though, I know clutch minutes are defined as within 5 points and under 5 minutes. The under 5 minutes is easy, but within 5 points is tricky. The suns had a 5 point lead and pushed it to 7 a couple times. Do those baskets count as clutch baskets? Similarly, the Pels made baskets to cut the lead from 7 to 5, do those count?

We traded off baskets for a bit and if we’re sticking to what the score was when the shot was taken, before it went in or not, the suns are going to be credited with more clutch baskets and even though we only outscored them 20-18 in the final 5 minutes the clutch numbers will be more like 15-3 because almost all the pelicans baskets brought the score back to within 4 or 5 from 6 or 7 and most of our scores pushed it from 4/5 to 6/7.

[Split T]

I take it back, the numbers are counted from tonight’s game…forgot game 1 never made it to clutch time.

Interesting fact, the Pelicans have zero clutch rebounds. We’ve rebounded every shot we’ve missed and they’ve missed in clutch time…of course they haven’t missed much as they have a 106.3 TS%…dwarfing our 73.5%…although we’ve also yet to turn the ball over in the clutch. Pels are making a ridiculous amount of shots in the clutch though.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I almost forgot..

2 down, 14 to go.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Had 2 dunks, no?

2 dunks and one of them was on Hayes who's previously blocked both Mikal and Cam J at the rim.

But no big deal. He sucks.

[bajanguy008]

[ShelC]

1

[Mori Chu]

Everybody is (rightfully) crediting CP3 and Ayton for this win. And yes, they were the standouts; exceptional work by both of them. But I was also really pleased with some other guys' play:

Mikal Bridges had 17 points and worked his ass off on defense. He's everywhere, a total pest, and he is guarding both McCollum and at times Ingram; what versatility. He can't quite contain Ingram, but you can basically put him on anybody and he'll slow that player down.

Also JaVale McGee shot 7-8 for 15 points. There was a stretch in the 1st half where they were basically going to McGee on every play, and he was using a variety of post moves, spins, screen rolls, putbacks, etc. and scoring almost at will. He even had one play where he started dribbling near the 3-point line, got all the way to the rim, spun, and laid it in (then fell on his ass). Without that stretch from McGee we would have had no real offense and probably would have lost the game.

Jae Crowder shot 0-5 on 3s, which is still a huge problem. But he worked hard on defense and took it to the basket and managed to still shoot 4-10 and give us 10 points. He found other ways to contribute.

Guys who I want to see more from: Cam Payne had a few nice layups but is still struggling big-time overall; he ended up with 3 points on 1-5 shooting and only 2 assists. Cam Johnson could have given us more in a starting role; he had just 8 points and didn't make a huge impact. Torrey Craig scored 0 points and had a few boneheaded plays, such as a 1-on-3 drive where he got tied up for a jump ball that lost us the possession. He doesn't need to be a big scorer for us, but he needs to play within himself and make smart decisions. Landry Shamet, well, I have pretty low expectations for him, but shooting 0-5 on 3s hurts us. Several of them were pretty wide open, too. At least he is doing better at taking it to the hoop and had a couple of nice dunks. (Those were his ONLY made baskets; he shot 2-7.)

Overall our 3-point shooting needs to be much better. I hope they spend all of practice Saturday just chucking up 3s and finding their rhythm.

[Sunsfan4life]

I agree with most of Mori's Review. I think Bridges was good in the 2nd half but I was expecting a faster and more aggressive start in the first half from him. His D is underappreciated still...I agree. McGee was huge. He was that 2nd scorer we needed in the 1st half...that role I expected from Cam or Bridges.

Cam Payne has been bad. He gets the offense set up but we desperately need his scoring on that 2nd unit.

[djy2j]

What an emotional rollercoaster. Stats didn't reflect it but just seemed like Ingram and McCollum weren't missing anything. Then dudes like Alvarado and Jones were hitting all these offbalance shots at the rim while on the other side Crowder and CamJ were missing wide open shots.

DA was so focused out there last night. Good for him for stepping up.

I watched at a bar so I couldn't hear Doris Burkes stupid takes and probably her attempts to talk about Steph Curry and the Warriors. I've grown to hate her on the mic.

Oh and fuck Jaxson Hayes. Saw that coming a mile away. Knew he'd get baited to do something dumb. Glad no one was hurt.

[Split T]

I got jazz fans telling me Rudy is just as good offensively as Ayton…asked them to tell me how many of these plays Rudy could make…think the answer is 2 out of 10