Game Day: Suns (29-26) @ Nets (32-21), Tues 2/7/23

[Furlanfufi]

If it makes him play like this game, I would gladly send him prints of the posts... Excluding Jeremy's!

[Drewsprocket]

Ayton reading this board yo

Criticism fuel’s getting better. He probably does or sees it on Twitter. A sure sign of maturity is facing adversity and getting better. There is a lot of value in realizing that people can see things in you that you dont. He is a special talent and can be a top 3 center if he is consistent. I wouldn’t call us haters on here. Twitter def has a wild vibe. We def see our share of D riding.

[Wally_West]

I was just joking that reads this board but I guess you never know! He definitely reads Twitter for sure. Lol

[djy2j]

Big boy game from Ayton tonight. Needed it as the Nets gave them everything they wanted.

Questionable defensive strategy in the first half, especially on Thomas. Glad they decided to let the corpse of Joe Harris win it if he could rather than Thomas.

Damion Lee defense looked extra bad tonight.

Great to see Book back and shoot decently I thought.

[carey]

Great to see Book back and shoot decently I thought.

I think he was 5-14 at one point? Then missed 2 FTs that would have iced the game. I thought he didn't have his legs late & it showed.

[Superbone]

I’m now looking forward to Ayton’s first 40/20 game.

[JeremyG]

Haha let's just get a 30/20 game first. I've been waiting years for that and he's been so close multiple times, including a 29/21 game this season.

[Superbone]

[Superbone]

[JeremyG]

And the only player in the last 30 years.

[JeremyG]

Not only did Ayton tie his career high, but he is now averaging a new career high of 18.4 ppg this season.

[bajanguy008]

Cam Thomas is undoubtedly a talent but if the guys had him as "One of the main focal points" in the pregame meeting, at half-time he definitely was the Only Talking Point

Think kid had 24 at half but then we really got after him. He went 8/12 in the first half but then was 1/9 at one point plus we were making him turnover the ball. He scored like 12pts in the final 1:30 lol but kudos to him for making sure he got our attention

[Flagrant Fowl]

He's impressive and I thought there were a couple of times the Suns lost track of him in the first half and he made the most of it.

He definitely looked a bit fatigued in the second half, which is completely understandable as he just finished carrying the Nets for 6 quarters in under 24 hours. I wonder what the Nets would be willing to take for him because he could be a great bench scorer on a contender for the next couple of years before he really gets paid.

[bajanguy008]

Nice to see Book out there
What's interesting is I've seen the movie before where he starts hot in first game back, Monty says there's a minutes restriction but we see Book staying out there in a close game or cause we struggling

So I'm glad to see that he had what I would deem a "comfortable run out" because DA n Mikal continued their excellent play and he didn't have to try play Savior

Was getting a little concerned in the first few minutes because both DA n Mikal were not getting many touches but I understand going to Book early, it's kinda what we always do anyways. Literally as soon as Book sat, Mikal took his first touch to the rim for and1 like "my time now" lol and that was cool to see.

I'm comfortable with Mikal playing off the attention the others get attacking off the weak side. What I'm hoping to see though is that even when the starters are on that the Besties pick n roll is used. Everyone has noticed how well they are connecting and teams were getting away with over rotating to DA in the middle leaving Craig, Ish, Dario and even D.Lee who is easier to close out on as he doesn't really attack consistently off the dribble

Replacing the weak side and corner shooter with Book n CamJ I think will be a great set for us. Anyways sorry Rambling lol

[bajanguy008]

He's impressive and I thought there were a couple of times the Suns lost track of him in the first half and he made the most of it.

He definitely looked a bit fatigued in the second half, which is completely understandable as he just finished carrying the Nets for 6 quarters in under 24 hours. I wonder what the Nets would be willing to take for him because he could be a great bench scorer on a contender for the next couple of years before he really gets paid.

Yeah no doubt he's legit but he also was getting cooked
So like most young players he has to give more focus to that end of the court especially to be getting burn on a contender

[SunsSince92]

It was great to see Book back. As others have said, he looked rusty at times but that's to be expected after a lengthy layoff.

DA was awesome and it finally feels as though we are getting the level of performance we were expecting when he signed his contract. Consistency, as always, will be key but assuming we don't move him at the deadline, we might just have something if he can deliver on a nightly basis.

[ShelC]

Postgame quotes and videos

Spoiler: show/hide

[specialsauce]

There we go. I was waiting for that post! Give the people what they want Shel! Lol thx

[ShelC]

Ha I was waiting for more postgame videos and quotes but that's all so far. I'll add more if they get posted.

Same takeaways as some others said...Game was closer than we would've liked, a little choppy and lot of runs for both teams but it never felt like the Nets were a real threat. Book looked a little rusty which was to be expected but it's great to see him and the rest of the starters out there. CamJ looks a little hesitant at times and we need to get everyone going at the same time instead of it being Book's turn, then Mikal's turn, then DA's turn. Just seems very formulaic each game.

Glad we're winning games again and have put the tank talk to rest. I think this is almost a training camp/preseason period for us where we really get back on track in the next 2-3 weeks and hopefully hit our stride by the end of the year instead of peaking in December.

[virtual9mm]

Finally got to watch the first half. Ayton looks unstoppable when he goes up for dunks or even jumpers with purpose and conviction.