NBA Playoffs WCSF, Game 7: Dallas Mavericks @ Phoenix Suns (3-3), Sunday 15/05/22

[AmareIsGod]

Patrick Beverly was on First Take today talking $h!t about the Suns.

Good for him. The team deserves all the shit talking thrown their way. Played like LOSERS last night.

[JeremyG]

He’s gone

Yep.

Monty should be happy he wanted to stay in and compete.

And there was no reason to pull DA first, when he was one of the only ones still competing in the minutes before he benched him.

The only reasonable explanation is that Sarver, Jones, and Monty (and possibly Paul, who shouldn't be running the org at 38 years old next season), had already decided to sign-and-trade him.

Dude, seriously? You thought Ayton was competing?

I just gave him a 'heart' and moved on. I've given up.

The Ayton hate around here is blinding you guys so bad it's almost funny. There is such a microscope on Ayton, even with Monty and the front office, that it's gotten ridiculous. Hopefully he can thrive in a better environment where he's appreciated, if they're stupid enough to let him go.

If Ayton "quit," then what did the rest of the team do?

https://www.nba.com/game/dal-vs-phx-004 ... ?period=Q3

11:06 Ayton gets to the free throw line. As is well known around here, that doesn't happen often.

10:46 Brunson left open for a wide open 3 because Paul/Crowder didn't rotate. Did they "quit"?

10:10 Ayton jumps out at Doncic to force a tough step-back 3.

9:45 Ayton fought to retain the ball after putting it on the ground with Mavs' hands all around (remember how he usually turns it over in these situations?). He refused to quit and got the turnaround hook shot. Complained to the refs because he thought he was hit. Sure looks like someone who had quit on their team.

9:23 Ayton steals the ball and quickly turns around to find Mikal, throwing him a difficult long assist pass.

9:06 Ayton jumps out at Brunson while putting an arm up in his face, forcing a tough shot over DA.

8:59 Bridges bricks a three before anyone except for Booker can even get back on offense. Nothing to single out Ayton for.

8:44 The "infamous" Brunson three. Ayton may have been a step slow in reacting (but so was the whole team the entire night), but he started running out to him until the ball left his hands, and then stopped.

So yes, live, in real time, I saw Ayton fighting and competing in the minutes preceding the benching, probably more than most of the team. So if Monty has a legit reason to think that he quit on the team, then fine, but I think even Monty has too harsh of a microscope on him. The whole team quit. And not in the third quarter. From the opening possession of the game.

[wpmiller42]

Not going to lie, this one really hit me hard. I just really thought we had it this year. And I really loved this team. I know it's just a game, but I really wanted it this year.

Definitely not sure what happened out there, but the warning signs were there all series. Ayton is not without blame, but I do think he's taking an unfair amount of it. We can be a lot more creative in our offense. I wish we had used Holiday more; I think he can be a really good player for us.

I think we can mostly run it back, but we need to approach the season with an eye on the playoffs (e.g., load management for CP3). And if we keep Ayton, we have to get him more involved offensively.

[Shabazz]

Offensively it was tough to adjust with the version of CP3 we got. I think Dallas figured out Paul wasn’t much of a threat and just started trapping Book. Book has never been great when he gets trapped and we didn’t have an outlet for him. If I recall correctly they started that in game 5, but they over helped on outlets like Crowder and Bridges and that got the ball moving. They stopped helping and Bridges/Crowder just aren’t good enough to score consistently.

Defensively I have no idea why we didn’t try more things. Not sure it would’ve mattered, but why didn’t we trap Luka? The let Luka get his and contain everyone else worked for 3 games, but you’ve got to shut everyone else down. Dinwiddie showing up for game 6 and 7 was killer. I just think Luka was too comfortable the whole series.

Ultimately way too many things went wrong in our 4 losses. Hard to say that any 1 adjustment would’ve mattered. We got trounced in all of them.

This is where all the “we had a bad night” stuff rings hollow. We had 4 bad nights, one of them historically bad. And the formula for the first bad night was basically the same as the 4th and we didn’t make any adjustments.

[Shabazz]

One lasting image for me was a camera shot in game 5, I believe, where Landry had taken over for Cam Payne, and they showed Payne, Elf and Holiday all sitting together on the bench. 3 backup PGs, but not one that Monty could trust. Some bad roster construction there.

[Superbone]

One lasting image for me was a camera shot in game 5, I believe, where Landry had taken over for Cam Payne, and they showed Payne, Elf and Holiday all sitting together on the bench. 3 backup PGs, but not one that Monty could trust. Some bad roster construction there.

I thought Holiday had shown some promise. Trust goes both ways.

[Drewsprocket]

[The Bobster]

Patrick Beverly, bus rider.

[Superbone]

Thanks, Drew. My respect for Barnes just grew.

[Flagrant Fowl]

The Ayton hate around here is blinding you guys so bad it's almost funny. There is such a microscope on Ayton, even with Monty and the front office, that it's gotten ridiculous. Hopefully he can thrive in a better environment where he's appreciated, if they're stupid enough to let him go.

If Ayton "quit," then what did the rest of the team do?

The thing I find funny is your conviction on paying the guy a max contract for being a role playing Center.

No one would be singling out Ayton for this stuff if he didn't have such inflated demands. He wants to be paid like his "peers" from his draft class? Well Luka Doncic just torched his ass this series, and Giannis did it in the Finals. Sure, those guys did it to the whole Suns team as well, but if Ayton is really a "max player" why didn't we see him try to do the same to the Mavs and Bucks? I don't want to hear about touches when the Mavs could get away with Spencer Dinwiddie defending him in the paint.

Ayton clearly quit on that Brunson close out and it's just not something he has the clout to do in a Game 7. That was egregious and in plain sight for everyone to see. Not even Chris Paul did that in the 4th quarter and he's allegedly playing on one leg. Yeah, both Mavs still hit the shot, but at that point it's about having the pride to make an effort in your worst moment.

He's a young guy and everyone was pissed off about the situation, so I'm not going to hold this singular game against him. But the series as a whole? Yeah, he didn't show up, and again, "max players" show up in that situation.

[Split T]

Yep, Ayton for instance gets scrutinized moreso than Bridges because Bridges signed for 90 million and Ayton wanted 180 million. He won’t be eligible for that, but he still wants 150 million or whatever his max is. If he signed for 100 million, we’d let a lot more go.

[Furlanfufi]

Mikal is a bargain even if he does not improve.

Ayton on the other hand...

[ShelC]

Bridges also wasn't drafted #1 overall or projected to be a dominant, franchise player. Expectations are just different for DA. Consider how we might've been evaluating Bridges today if he had signed for 120 over 4 instead of 90.

[Drewsprocket]

Ayton wants a max when he’s the definition of a fake max player. Could he get more buckets? Sure if he was born 25 years earlier.
My $ is that unless he gets his bag under a very focused playoff team, he will disappear into the boxscores of being another empty stats big like he was coming into the league.

[iLLmatic]

Patrick Beverly was on First Take today talking $h!t about the Suns.

We beat his teams ass last year so bad he pushed CP in the back before the series was over.

This year we beat his new teams ass in a game that was meaningless for us but they were still fighting for a playoff spot. Fuck pat Beverly.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Here we go with a smoking gun...



I watched the third quarter again last night because I'm a sick person who enjoys self torture, and that moment when Booker was at the free throw line was definitely when the whole situation blew up in front of everyone. TNT had the camera focused on Booker but his expression made it pretty clear that there was something said between Ayton and the Suns bench. He kept looking between the two before shooting his first free throw.

Mark Bryant surely didn't appreciate the comment from Ayton and even McGee was giving him an elbow as to say like, "Com'on man, now's not the time for that stuff".

[JeremyG]

Hmm...I'm not good at reading lips but I saw that video before and honestly I thought it had to be something way worse than that from DA for Mark Bryant to look that shocked haha.

[JeremyG]

The Ayton hate around here is blinding you guys so bad it's almost funny. There is such a microscope on Ayton, even with Monty and the front office, that it's gotten ridiculous. Hopefully he can thrive in a better environment where he's appreciated, if they're stupid enough to let him go.

If Ayton "quit," then what did the rest of the team do?

The thing I find funny is your conviction on paying the guy a max contract for being a role playing Center.

No one would be singling out Ayton for this stuff if he didn't have such inflated demands. He wants to be paid like his "peers" from his draft class? Well Luka Doncic just torched his ass this series, and Giannis did it in the Finals. Sure, those guys did it to the whole Suns team as well, but if Ayton is really a "max player" why didn't we see him try to do the same to the Mavs and Bucks? I don't want to hear about touches when the Mavs could get away with Spencer Dinwiddie defending him in the paint.

Ayton clearly quit on that Brunson close out and it's just not something he has the clout to do in a Game 7. That was egregious and in plain sight for everyone to see. Not even Chris Paul did that in the 4th quarter and he's allegedly playing on one leg. Yeah, both Mavs still hit the shot, but at that point it's about having the pride to make an effort in your worst moment.

He's a young guy and everyone was pissed off about the situation, so I'm not going to hold this singular game against him. But the series as a whole? Yeah, he didn't show up, and again, "max players" show up in that situation.

I don't want to pay him the max for being a role playing center.

I want them to use him as more than a role playing center.

But Monty is too stupid to do that. He actually got the same criticism for his handling of Anthony Davis.

[Flagrant Fowl]

OK, so sign Ayton to a max contract and fire Monty Williams. Got it.

[JeremyG]

OK, so sign Ayton to a max contract and fire Monty Williams. Got it.

That would be a whole lot better than keeping a coach who doesn't know how to coach in the playoffs and getting rid of your first ever #1 pick and first legit center.