Game Day: Rockets (14-39) @ Suns (37-15), Mon 4/12/21

[Wally_West]

[Superbone]

This team can be so frustrating. If they really let the rockets back in ...

Man, when it got down to 5... I was going to be SO pissed if they blew this one.

[Superbone]

Feels like we should be up 40, "only" up 23. Crowder 8-9 from three and a career high 26pts. Everyone playing and shooting well, the bench helped extend things with Jevon gonig 3-4 from three and Payne and Dario getting some baskets. Hopefully we can keep the lead up and rest the starters again.

Olynyk seems a tough matchup for us and Wood was drawing DA out with his 3pt shot. Wall can get to the basket whenever he wants and Porter's always a threat. Can't let them back in, plus Utah is losing to the Wizards so we can hopefully make up some ground.

81 point (should have been 83) at the half was incredible.

But only 45 points in the 2nd half for a total of 126.

[Mori Chu]

Crowder was the story, obviously. But I thought Ayton had a great game. He shot 9-13 and finished a bunch of nice oops and P&R dunks/layups. I thought Cam Johnson also have us some nice minutes off the bench. He's had a good run of games lately. Cam Payne is also giving us good backup PG production.

Who is the guy on Houston with the weird hair braid thing? Porter Jr? I have to admit that I hadn't even heard of him before tonight. But he looked really impressive.

[bajanguy008]

I called it from the 1st quarter. Book came out casual and played a sloppy game right down to the last minute when he got the ball stolen wanting to be the one to dribble out the clock
Guys played a great half and EJ likes to joke around in blowouts that Book probably gonna look to score his points here in the 3rd cause he knows he might not play the 4th

That's exactly how it looked in the 3rd smh, some ridiculous shot selection more than one long 2pter early in the shot clock and like I said he literally looked like a guy hunting numbers
It was immature on his part and infuriating to watch. Stat line reads 24, 7 and 7 but I think this is another instance of the box score not telling the full story

It's a testament to his talent yes but surely not focus tonight cause imo he looked like he was out there fcukin around playing pick-up ball

[JeremyG]

We are now in control of our own destiny for the #1 seed.

[Superbone]

I called it from the 1st quarter. Book came out casual and played a sloppy game right down to the last minute when he got the ball stolen wanting to be the one to dribble out the clock
Guys played a great half and EJ likes to joke around in blowouts that Book probably gonna look to score his points here in the 3rd cause he knows he might not play the 4th

That's exactly how it looked in the 3rd smh, some ridiculous shot selection more than one long 2pter early in the shot clock and like I said he literally looked like a guy hunting numbers
It was immature on his part and infuriating to watch. Stat line reads 24, 7 and 7 but I think this is another instance of the box score not telling the full story

It's a testament to his talent yes but surely not focus tonight cause imo he looked like he was out there fcukin around playing pick-up ball

Hmm. I really didn’t notice that.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I definitely noticed in the third quarter. It wasn't just Booker, but he took some risks that he usually wouldn't.

I wasn't that mad at it because I trust Booker now, and if he wants to screw around for a bit against the Rockets, it's because he knows they can beat them in the end.

[ShelC]

[O_Gardino]

I'm really glad I went to bed at halftime.

[Indy]

I called it from the 1st quarter. Book came out casual and played a sloppy game right down to the last minute when he got the ball stolen wanting to be the one to dribble out the clock
Guys played a great half and EJ likes to joke around in blowouts that Book probably gonna look to score his points here in the 3rd cause he knows he might not play the 4th

That's exactly how it looked in the 3rd smh, some ridiculous shot selection more than one long 2pter early in the shot clock and like I said he literally looked like a guy hunting numbers
It was immature on his part and infuriating to watch. Stat line reads 24, 7 and 7 but I think this is another instance of the box score not telling the full story

It's a testament to his talent yes but surely not focus tonight cause imo he looked like he was out there fcukin around playing pick-up ball

all of this

[ShelC]

I think we also lost DA during the game, as he was getting lay-ins pretty much any time he wanted against their smaller frontline. Instead, we decided to make it a 3pt shooting contest.

[Indy]

I think we also lost DA during the game, as he was getting lay-ins pretty much any time he wanted against their smaller frontline. Instead, we decided to make it a 3pt shooting contest.

Yes but you have to let guys keep shooting it when you are hitting over 60% of your 3s. And it isn't like they were contested 3s. Both teams were leaving guys wide open behind the line.

[bajanguy008]

I definitely noticed in the third quarter. It wasn't just Booker, but he took some risks that he usually wouldn't.

I wasn't that mad at it because I trust Booker now, and if he wants to screw around for a bit against the Rockets, it's because he knows they can beat them in the end.

I get you but that was probably y I was annoyed too. Never felt they would lose when the starters came back in but having the Heat tonight and the way the 1st half went
That should have definitely been a clear the bench night

My thing is I've been happy with Book especially post All Star break I've noticed how he always seems to be game face on and ready to impose his will on teams (good or bad teams). Don't think it's a coincidence how he scores alot in the 1st quarter but it comes in the flow. Anyways is what it is, I just watched over the Jazz game on Sunday so it was hard for me to ignore the difference in (effort on D) and his focus last night

Guess to be fair, it's only one game lol but I just haven't seen him do that in forever.

[bajanguy008]

I nitpick at Book because no casuals or any of my friends who gonna be seeing him more this season can come telling me anything lol.

So I'm always looking for bad habits, as others have said I would also like Monty to talk to him about the 30fters trying for the 2 for 1 cause playoffs really have to maximize possessions and it's such a low % play
My other one is when teams make a big play, he usually tries to come back with a quick response and more often than not he goes to the drive hard left and swing his arms up in to the defenders chest trying to get the And1. Sometimes it works and he scores or gets the 2 FTs to stop the other team's run or whatever.

When he doesn't get that call though and it looks like he just threw up a bad shot, team scores again we probably call timeout and he's complaining to the refs about the call and then I'm crossing my fingers that he let's it go smh lol

Anyways that's my dude
Just want him to be Great and Silence the Hate

[ShelC]

I think we also lost DA during the game, as he was getting lay-ins pretty much any time he wanted against their smaller frontline. Instead, we decided to make it a 3pt shooting contest.

Yes but you have to let guys keep shooting it when you are hitting over 60% of your 3s. And it isn't like they were contested 3s. Both teams were leaving guys wide open behind the line.

Yea but that level of shooting usually isn't sustainable and more often than not lets the other team creep back in. We have a reliable low post scorer, we should use him to settle the offense down when things get a little crazy.

[Mori Chu]

I am not sure how to feel about this team. On one hand, I'm ecstatic; we have one of the best records in the league, and we have so many players I like, and we're so much better than we've been for years. On the other hand, this doesn't "feel" like a true title contender to me. It feels to me like we'll get bumped in the 2nd round or something like that. But why? What exactly feels off about them?

I think inconsistency from the frontcourt worries me a lot. Much has been made of Ayton's inconsistency, but I also worry a lot about how I never know what I'm going to get from Bridges night to night. Bridges always plays great D, and I love him for that. But on a lot of nights he just disappears on offense and doesn't put up very many points. I wish his 3-point shot were more consistent or that he attacked the basket with more consistency. Having Cam Johnson as a backup helps a lot, since you can just kind of swap one guy out for the other when they are having an off night. But I worry about production from the 3 spot.

You can make a similar argument about the 4 spot. I like Crowder and feel like he's delivering what I want from him. But you don't always know what you'll get from him in a given game. And our backup 4s are pretty bumpy; either we're playing a guy like Kaminsky or we're trying to cheat with an undersized 4 like Cam Johnson or Craig. Ultimately I have no idea whether the 4 spot will give us 6 points a game or 26. And that's tough.

So yeah, Ayton is a flawed player and sometimes disappoints. But I do feel like I usually know what he'll give me. A typical Ayton game, you'll get about 15-18 points and about 10-12 rebounds. He doesn't usually stray too far from those numbers. I never expect Ayton to score 30, and I never worry that he'll score 5. He's actually pretty consistent compared to our other forwards, imo. And you don't have to tailor your whole offense around him. I can work with what he provides.

Since the Nuggets may have lost Murray for the season, that does change the playoff landscape. You can come up with scenarios where we could squeak into the WCF and have a puncher's chance. I am not afraid of the Jazz; I think we'd beat the Clips; and I think we would beat the Nugs if Murray is absent. That means that only the Lakers would truly scare me. And their health has been a bit questionable, too. I know they're resting for the playoffs, but if Lebron and Davis aren't both close to 100%, the Lakers would be very beatable. I still don't feel like this is the best team in the West, but I suppose if the dominos all fall in the right way, anything could happen.

Hmm. Am I talking myself into this team, or out of it?

[Indy]

I think we also lost DA during the game, as he was getting lay-ins pretty much any time he wanted against their smaller frontline. Instead, we decided to make it a 3pt shooting contest.

Yes but you have to let guys keep shooting it when you are hitting over 60% of your 3s. And it isn't like they were contested 3s. Both teams were leaving guys wide open behind the line.

Yea but that level of shooting usually isn't sustainable and more often than not lets the other team creep back in. We have a reliable low post scorer, we should use him to settle the offense down when things get a little crazy.

I think the complete lack of defense is what allowed them to creep back in. We still hit 33% of our threes in the 2nd half. Not great, but just as effective at hitting 50% on 2s.

But I do agree that we should have done more to punish them down low. Ayton dominated them last game. We should have let him do that to start the 2nd half.

[Cap]

Since the Nuggets may have lost Murray for the season, that does change the playoff landscape. You can come up with scenarios where we could squeak into the WCF and have a puncher's chance. I am not afraid of the Jazz; I think we'd beat the Clips; and I think we would beat the Nugs if Murray is absent. That means that only the Lakers would truly scare me.

If your attitude is “championship or bust,” the Nets are really damn scary too. If you’re happy just to be in the Finals, they’re not a problem.

[Indy]

Since the Nuggets may have lost Murray for the season, that does change the playoff landscape. You can come up with scenarios where we could squeak into the WCF and have a puncher's chance. I am not afraid of the Jazz; I think we'd beat the Clips; and I think we would beat the Nugs if Murray is absent. That means that only the Lakers would truly scare me.

If your attitude is “championship or bust,” the Nets are really damn scary too. If you’re happy just to be in the Finals, they’re not a problem.

They certainly are. I am not sure how their chemistry will be once they are challenged in the playoffs, but they may never be.

I would absolutely like our chances better against a Nets team than a fully healthy Lakers team.