Game Day: Suns (8-6) vs Nuggets (8-7), Sat, 1/23/2021

[Superbone]

And now we wait and stew as our next game isn’t until Wednesday. Probably good for Booker’s sake. I think we’re better than a .500 team but we’ll see. We’ve got a ways to go. Denver did go to the WCF last year and we played them very closely in the last two games.

[djy2j]

Can’t play Nader 30 mins. Just can’t.

Frank isn’t a legit 3rd option. Have to find something better. He should have had his name in the G League draft 2 weeks ago.

Seems like Saric is always going to have “something” preventing him from playing consistently.

[ShelC]

[Split T]

He did travel, but we should have fouled. Though Ayton having 5 fouls is a good point.. need someone else to foul.

[Superbone]

Without that extra shuffle, he doesn't have enough room to get the shot over Ayton. Plus, you guys make it sound like it's easy to foul without him getting 3 free throws.

[bajanguy008]

solid game for ma boy and the cramping was tough
it was actually an excellent game for "Off the dribble Cam", nice drives in transition and in half court plus also had a couple dribble pullups so that was great. I've been a lil bummed well more like a frustrated recently tbh tho because I expect him to impact the game every night and his shooting hasn't been there. the wide open misses bug me and Split had made the solid observation that he seemingly shoots better on his quick release than when he has that lil bit more time. either way I checked the numbers and the eye test not lying as he was 6/24 from deep in the previous four games and then only 3/11 last night although some of those were clearly due to dead legs. shot seems flat at times too but again I truly believe that games when he comfortably makes 4 or 5 from deep are on the horizon.

[Superbone]

Hate to say it but the refs cost us both of those games. In both games critical rulings went against us or were ignored (the last travel).

[Drewsprocket]

They took them to 2 OTs without Book, Saric, and with the refs swallowing the whistle for the Suns. Impressive game by the suns. And yes we should add another big.

[bajanguy008]

I still have no issue with the Big Wing starting unit as I felt the size was necessary to help with our switching and on the boards.
Jevon coming in for Mikal wasn't a surprise for me either as he was in to guard Murray. as for Mikal, the refs really took him outta the game with some weak calls smh and credit to him for still showing his new mindset and hitting the zero hesitation 3 and then drive late.
still wished when Nuggets went to Morris n Campazzo that we got Gallo in the game to see if he would heat up. INF said we could have started Jevon then have Gallo first off the bench which might have worked ok. Had to double check this stat but we were outscored 52 - 23 from the bench and man MPJ n Morris are big time but still that's way too big a gap to overcome. not to mention that I can remember Jalen quick 5, Jevon two 3s and I think a basket each from Frank and Nader all in the first half so we probably only got like 5 of those 23 in the 2nd half - No Bueno

part of that for me is ma boy Payne. the bench unit mojo is usually deflections lead to transition or it's Dario and then him who spark ball movement in the half court. he missed couple drives to the rim and then he seemed like he didn't want to attack anymore and I don't think we can afford that, he's one of the few on our team who actually gets into the paint and then when get teams rotating is when we show off the good ball movement. Monty says how good he is in PnR and I think we've all got a glimpse of that so far but he definitely struggled a lil and from the interviews I have seen he's always fairly hard on himself so hopefully he doesn't get in his own head and continues to play free and with the "bubble swagger"

this game dropped me to 1-1 on the season and by no way does this mean I think I am a .500 type previewer and neither do I believe the Suns are a .500 team

[Split T]

Without that extra shuffle, he doesn't have enough room to get the shot over Ayton. Plus, you guys make it sound like it's easy to foul without him getting 3 free throws.

Should have fouled Jokic before he gave the ball to Murray. Jokic dribbled into a dribble handoff with Murray. For a moment, Jokic was inside the 3 point line with 5 seconds to go. It would have meant Ayton fouling out, but would have been worth it. I’ll have to look at the replay, but whoever was guarding Murray and switched onto Jokic probably could have just ran into Jokic and picked up the foul as well. Though it was probably Bridges, who I believe also had 5 fouls.

[Split T]

Both these losses were tough...and the Friday one especially was the toughest for me in the moment. There are some positives to take from the games though.

1. This is 4 straight games where DOMINAYTON has shown up. He’s been fantastic and he makes us very dangerous if we figure out our other problems.
2. It hurts more to lose close games, but it’s much better than getting blown out. We need these close games, we need the practice, as we’ve been pretty bad in closing time this year and need to get better.
3. I think these games show that we are at least on par with the Nuggets this year. Every win counts and we need the wins for positioning, but we can play with Denver in a series.
4. We’ve got 3 days off now to get rested, get Booker healthy, and get prepared to play the Thunder. The Thunder are under talented, but they play hard, we absolutely need to come out and beat them from the start. Get us back on track in the win column.

[Drewsprocket]

[Wally_West]

[Superbone]

No duh.

[Mori Chu]

I was pretty frustrated by this loss when I shut off the TV last night. But after sleeping on it, I feel more positively about the long-term view here.

It really sucks to lose two close games to a potential playoff rival like this, especially when we made mistakes and it feels like we could have won each game. And it sucks to see some of our guys not quite hitting their stride or playing their best. But I'm quite encouraged by Ayton's great play in the past 4-5 games. And Bridges is having an awesome season. Those are both big deals for us. I think this team can survive Booker and CP3 playing less than their best, because they're veterans who will figure it out. But we really need Ayton to make progress, and having Bridges turn into such a force is really helpful.

This is still such a young team that has very little experience at playing close games that actually matter. You don't just become awesome at closing out games without having lots of practice and, yes, blowing some close big games. The guys can learn from this and work to get better. They played their asses off, especially in the second game without Booker, and I was proud of their effort overall. Not trying to spin this into a moral victory, but I think there are lots of things going well for us as a team right now. Assuming Booker's injury won't be a long-term one, I like the overall trajectory of the season so far.

I saw a tweet that made a lot of sense to me. It said something like, how would you feel if we'd barely won these games in OT despite the Nuggets missing Murray, Jokic fouling out, and some shady calls by the refs? Would you feel like the Suns were a juggernaut team? Probably not. These two teams are really close, and the Nuggets were in the Western Finals this past year. That is pretty impressive. I'd like to focus on the positive. On to the next.

[In2ition]

And the Suns fans are panned for complaining about the refs.

[JeremyG]

He did travel, but we should have fouled. Though Ayton having 5 fouls is a good point.. need someone else to foul.

Who cares if you foul out, if you win the game?

[ShelC]

Hard to feel good about these close losses this season with fewer games and less room for error. Won't complain about Frank because he's a 3rd stringer and shouldn't be playing anyway. Dario would've helped and most 3rd stringers aren't going to do much against Jokic. I might've tried Smith out there for a different look but he's a rook who hasn't played so it might not have made much of a difference. We just gotta get healthy and get on the same page sooner than later. We've looked better for stretches the past few games but need to put it all together.

[Danimal]

Glad Monty is calling out bad officiating at the end of games. I hope they continue to do so if refs continue to fuck things up. Imagine if that was a big market playoff game. Refs would probably be stood down for a few games for their own safety

Probably could try to do more in games when the free throw differential has been like 2:1 at times. I think it’s only a matter of time before ones of our coaches gets tossed for going at the refs since we haven’t had any games gone our way because of whistles so far. Monty needs to fix what he can fix though.
Not sure I by into the out guys were tired thing, the other team played exactly the same number of minutes.

[Danimal]

Also I don’t get why the refs side with the nuggets so much. Jokic has a terrible relationship with some refs and literally screamed fuck you in the face of one previously. Can Monty just say he will be speaking to the fbi regarding recent refereeing so the refs can shit their pants a little and maybe just maybe doing their jobs properly in future.