Game Day: Suns (22-18) @ Pelicans (25-17), Fri 1/19/24

[Split T]

I wouldn’t be watching late if it was a loss haha…What a Book masterpiece scoring in that 1st Q

[Mori Chu]

Maybe I overfocus on this, but for me the barometer of this team is, are they just falling back into that bad offense where Book or KD slowly gets across the midcourt line at :16, stands near halfcourt dribbling until :8, then makes a quick move and usually attempts a contested leaning long 2? That's our clogged toilet offense, and when we're playing like that, we're probably losing. Last night they mostly didn't do that. They moved the ball, got into their plays quicker, passed more, set good screens, and just generally played more intelligent offense.

I also mentioned that I liked the defense, including the way we guarded Zion with smaller but strong players like Beal, which actually mostly seemed to work. I have mostly been disappointed with Vogel and his staff since I hoped/expected them to have great defensive schemes; but clever strategies like this show me that he does have tricks up his sleeve. KD was also great on defense; he has set a tone and honestly has given us just as much on that end as he has with his scoring.

These past few games you can see the hints of what this team is capable of being.

[Split T]

Zion doesn’t have a ton to his game as far as skill…he’s just quick and strong…really hard to match his strength(especially for us), but we chose to match his quickness. Didn’t always work, but he’s not a post up guy. He’s a face up and get past you guy and then use his strength when you are out of position. We just decided to make sure he couldn’t get our defenders out of position. Nice to have Nurkic waiting for him in the paint as well.

[Split T]

Some bad calls in this 2nd Q…I’d be a little upset if I didn’t already know we won

[Split T]

Just an awfully reffed quarter both ways, my goodness

[bajanguy008]

Yeah
As 'Bone also likes to do

Only thing left now is to watch it over later on the opponent's broadcast

[Nodack]

Replay

Spoiler: show/hide

https://fishkernba.com/phoenix-suns-vs- ... me-replay/

Awesome, thanks!

[Split T]

Josh hits the corner 3…what I would give if he could just make that semi-consistently

[Nodack]

He kind of goes through stretches where he can hit it pretty consistently and then goes through stretches where he couldn’t hit the ocean sitting in a row boat in the middle of the ocean. They all go through hot and cold streaks. Booker goes through small droughts like he was in this past week and then kills it. Allen is on a serious tear. It wouldn’t surprise me if he went cold for a couple of games just because it’s basketball.

[Split T]

True to an extent, but Josh is almost always cold…he’s not really comparable to those other guys. He had one stretch last year where he was hitting consistently, but that went away for the playoffs and never came back.

[Kryptonic]

We've strung along some pretty solid wins lately and against winning teams. We win Sunday, I'm sold that we're back

[Superbone]

Safe to start watching yet?

If you didn't watch last night, you're missing out. Plus, you have to watch the bad with the good to enjoy the good that much more.

[Superbone]

Zion doesn’t have a ton to his game as far as skill…he’s just quick and strong…really hard to match his strength(especially for us), but we chose to match his quickness. Didn’t always work, but he’s not a post up guy. He’s a face up and get past you guy and then use his strength when you are out of position. We just decided to make sure he couldn’t get our defenders out of position. Nice to have Nurkic waiting for him in the paint as well.

It was the quietest 26 points I can remember. Of course our guy had twice as many.

[Split T]

Ya he scored fairly easy at times…but I think we were just scoring more so it never felt like a problem

[ShelC]

Unless Zion is being used like Giannis, he can ineffective and somewhat neutralized. He's not an off-ball player, isn't a dominant rebounder or defender/shotblocker. His numbers for the most part are down across the board this year.

[Split T]

He doesn’t feel the same…maybe just not as aggressive or has he lost some explosion? Or is it just they took the ball out of his hands a bit? He’s still a good scorer, but just doesn’t bring a lot else to the table. His hyper efficient scoring made him a major problem. Now he’s just a good scorer who’s a liability elsewhere. I still don’t think Zion/Ingram works long term. Neither are good off ball.

[ShelC]

They've definitely taken the ball out of his hands some this year. Maybe everyone's ready to move on? Or maybe they're just pacing him to get him thru the season and then turn him loose in the playoffs? I tend to think he's on his way out.

[Split T]

He stayed healthy which is a surprise

[LazarusLong]

Zion had three (3) rebounds in 33 minutes.
He's averaging less than 6 pg this season.
How can somebody who is 6-6 and 280 not get around 10 boards a game?

Some compare Zion to Barkley, but Charles averaged almost 12 boards a game for his career.
Zion rebounds like a perimeter player...

[JeremyG]

You all can thank me. I literally forgot to place a bet on Booker to score 40+ last night.