Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

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specialsauce
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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by specialsauce »

The Bobster wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:43 pm
Gawd, I hate it when they stand around and watch Booker go 1-on-1 at crunch time.
He is just God AWFUL at it and I don’t understand why we do it. That is not his game and in general it kills our offense, is so predictable and is not winning basketball.

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carey
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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by carey »

That DA block.... hook it to my veins.

Toronto defended Book on the block better than any team I've seen all year. Still... take that L t-dot.
Go Suns!

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The Bobster
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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by The Bobster »

I don't have a lot of faith in Monty in these close games.
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Flagrant Fowl
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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by Flagrant Fowl »

Ayton did well on Siakam in the last five minutes. He was whistled for a pretty cheap foul and blocked Siakam's shot the next time. Teams will keep going at him in crunch time, so it's good to see him be strong there tonight.

Ayton also had a nice post-hook right when he came in for Dario, but they didn't even try to get him the ball again afterwards. I also thought both Bridges and Crowder should've taken a strong shot near the rim on two of those late possessions. They were content with swinging the ball around for 18 seconds and settling for a Paul or Booker contested jumper.
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specialsauce
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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by specialsauce »

The Bobster wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:50 pm
I don't have a lot of faith in Monty in these close games.
He has got to abandon this iso offense plan. If this is their plan for the playoffs we will be an easy out. Move the ball, play the offense, do what got you there. Man it is so hard to watch the backcourt alternate taking the most difficult possible shots

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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by specialsauce »

Flagrant Fowl wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:55 pm
Ayton did well on Siakam in the last five minutes. He was whistled for a pretty cheap foul and blocked Siakam's shot the next time. Teams will keep going at him in crunch time, so it's good to see him be strong there tonight.

Ayton also had a nice post-hook right when he came in for Dario, but they didn't even try to get him the ball again afterwards. I also thought both Bridges and Crowder should've taken a strong shot near the rim on two of those late possessions. They were content with swinging the ball around for 18 seconds and settling for a Paul or Booker contested jumper.
I missed the first half but DA played solid D in the fourth when he was finally put back in the game (wtf Monty).

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The Bobster
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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by The Bobster »

specialsauce wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:57 pm
Flagrant Fowl wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:55 pm
Ayton did well on Siakam in the last five minutes. He was whistled for a pretty cheap foul and blocked Siakam's shot the next time. Teams will keep going at him in crunch time, so it's good to see him be strong there tonight.

Ayton also had a nice post-hook right when he came in for Dario, but they didn't even try to get him the ball again afterwards. I also thought both Bridges and Crowder should've taken a strong shot near the rim on two of those late possessions. They were content with swinging the ball around for 18 seconds and settling for a Paul or Booker contested jumper.
I missed the first half but DA played solid D in the fourth when he was finally put back in the game (wtf Monty).

Ayton should have had more than 29 minutes tonight, he was playing really well.

Dario, except for a brief stretch, not so much.
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Mori Chu
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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by Mori Chu »

Nice game for Ayton. All of our Big 3 played pretty well tonight. Book's shooting was a bit off, but he still made some big shots.

I thought Craig had a rough game. He chucked up several shots that bricked hard off the rim. Probably shouldn't take open shots just yet; better to swing the ball around or drive. Would rather have seen Kaminsky or Cam Johnson get more minutes instead.

Raptors have a good starting 5 and about 7 guys I would be happy to go to war with. But they lack some size and they don't have a lot of deadeye shooters outside of VanVleet. They're small enough that even a guy like Ayton can bully them. Sad that a team that won the title so recently is such a shell of its former self.

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ShelC
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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by ShelC »

DA was very solid tonight. The energy was there, the focus was mostly there and I really liked the aggression on offense. The late game block was huge, one of his best defensive plays.

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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

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BAMF
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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by BAMF »

Great Game! Book did a little bit of that old Iso ball in the end that always drives me nuts but we came out on top and a great showing for DA. What do 5 fingers say to the BBall?.... Smack!!!!

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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by Superbone »

We were up 1 after the first. Up 2 after the 2nd. Up 6 after the 3rd. Won by 4.

We outperformed the Raptors in every quarter except the last. We stopped running our plays and moving the ball in the 4th. Started jacking threes going for the home run. Fortunately for us, the Raptors also jacked up threes at the end. We need to work on our end of game execution.

A positive was that Ayton helped more than hurt down the stretch. That was a huge block he had on Siakum and a nice little half hook he put in when we needed a basket in the 4th.

The good news is we don’t lose two games in a row. We are guaranteed to win every playoff series that we have home court advantage in. ;)
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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by ShelC »




















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ShelC
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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by ShelC »

Like Monty said, ugly win but you gotta win those games too. This game and the Orlando one could've gone either way as both turned into ugly games after good 1st qtrs and were close down the stretch. Could've just easily been B2B losses or wins. I'm not sure why we regress back to stagnant, ISO offense later in games when things flow so well to start. It's similar to how we played earlier in the year when we were struggling - we're walking the ball up, Book or CP are dribbling for too long, the defense is set and ready to react and other Suns are standing and watching. I understand wanting the ball in the hands of your best players and running some clock down but that's how we get burned, especially if we're playing for 2s and the other team is bombing 3s.

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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by Danimal »

ShelC wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 4:49 am
Like Monty said, ugly win but you gotta win those games too. This game and the Orlando one could've gone either way as both turned into ugly games after good 1st qtrs and were close down the stretch. Could've just easily been B2B losses or wins. I'm not sure why we regress back to stagnant, ISO offense later in games when things flow so well to start. It's similar to how we played earlier in the year when we were struggling - we're walking the ball up, Book or CP are dribbling for too long, the defense is set and ready to react and other Suns are standing and watching. I understand wanting the ball in the hands of your best players and running some clock down but that's how we get burned, especially if we're playing for 2s and the other team is bombing 3s.
we regress into it because of....coaching. If monty had a different plan or the stones to tell his stars its not working then I guess we'd do that.
But he seems happy to live and die with paul and booker iso at the end. We havent had a losing steak so it hasnt got to a point where teammates might voice their displeasure. Going to have to show up in the playoffs unfortunately. I'd much prefer we simply go to ayton. it would at least put a little more pressure on the defence. Oh well.

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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by bajanguy008 »

Might seem like a crazy take especially to those who had to peep the box score or catch highlights but I thought Cam J had an awesome game

Luv to see it 😊
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ShelC
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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by ShelC »

Danimal wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 5:20 am
ShelC wrote:
Sat Mar 27, 2021 4:49 am
Like Monty said, ugly win but you gotta win those games too. This game and the Orlando one could've gone either way as both turned into ugly games after good 1st qtrs and were close down the stretch. Could've just easily been B2B losses or wins. I'm not sure why we regress back to stagnant, ISO offense later in games when things flow so well to start. It's similar to how we played earlier in the year when we were struggling - we're walking the ball up, Book or CP are dribbling for too long, the defense is set and ready to react and other Suns are standing and watching. I understand wanting the ball in the hands of your best players and running some clock down but that's how we get burned, especially if we're playing for 2s and the other team is bombing 3s.
we regress into it because of....coaching. If monty had a different plan or the stones to tell his stars its not working then I guess we'd do that.
But he seems happy to live and die with paul and booker iso at the end. We havent had a losing steak so it hasnt got to a point where teammates might voice their displeasure. Going to have to show up in the playoffs unfortunately. I'd much prefer we simply go to ayton. it would at least put a little more pressure on the defence. Oh well.
Maybe, but Monty's done a great job regardless and really, I'd rather have CP or Book making decisions and plays than DA at this point. Just wish they'd operate more quickly. DA was again decisive with the ball and making positive plays, so last night might've been a good opportunity to let him work in the post those last 5 minutes.

And yea Baja, I really liked Cam Johnson's game last night. He such a smooth, smart player who's fun to watch. He picks his spots, doesn't force things. I hope he continues to get better. If he could become more comfortable handling the ball, he could take a big step for us.

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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by INFORMER »

JeremyG wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:28 pm
It seems like whenever Ayton defends a shot, the other players never box out for the rebound. So frustrating.
It's the price you pay when you play Ayton with 4 smalls, especially when the smalls don't play big. Crowder is tough and knows how to play team D, but sometimes that just isn't enough.
Trendon Watford. Please and thank you.

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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by INFORMER »

LazarusLong wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:26 pm
Somebody please explain why Ayton, who is 8-11 from the field, is still sitting while Dario is out there?
One of Monty's faults. He can be loyal to a fault and at the same time, doesn't stick with the hot hand (or what is working in-game).
Trendon Watford. Please and thank you.

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Re: Game Day: Suns (29-14) @ Raptors (18-26), Fri 3/26/21

Post by INFORMER »

Flagrant Fowl wrote:
Fri Mar 26, 2021 6:55 pm
Ayton also had a nice post-hook right when he came in for Dario, but they didn't even try to get him the ball again afterwards.
Ayton's shortcomings this season are primarily on him, but sometimes I wonder if we have constructed a team/system that marginalizes him more than it maximizes his ability. Monty and Paul say the right things in terms of pushing Ayton, but I don't feel that the way Paul plays or the way Monty schemes actually puts Ayton in the best position to thrive.
Trendon Watford. Please and thank you.

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