Game Day (Play-In): Trail Blazers (8th Seed) @ Suns (7th seed), Tues 4/14/26

[JJ Slim]

The Suns maintained the 7th seed nearly all season but now are playing in the second round of the play in. Fucking embarrassing!!

[Danimal]

I woke up still mad. Guess I know what it’s like to be my wife.

[Split T]

Lots of thoughts and lots of reasons we lost, but biggest reason was the inability to keep Deni from the rim at the end. He killed us down the stretch.

We had two guys sitting on the bench who could have prevented that. However, they are rookies so apparently they are ineligible to play in an important game.

I understand frustration with them not getting minutes down the stretch of the season, but I don’t think you can put them in cold at the end there.

[JustWinBaby]

It is pretty simple what we need to do.
1. I have said that Dunn and or Fleming must get minutes.
2. Williams must get more minutes.
3. Point Book cannot be trusted, especially in the 4th quarter.

Unfortunately, Williams, Dunn and Fleming will have to give their minutes to Greyson Allen when we play GS so we can have 25 shooting guards on the court at the same time.

[O_Gardino]

I woke up still mad. Guess I know what it’s like to be my wife.

The Suns are out here making your marriage stronger. Heroes.

[Mori Chu]

A lot of folks seem to be blaming Booker for this loss. And I was also disappointed with his play. (5 missed FTs, low 2nd half scoring, etc.) But I think this was definitely a winnable basketball game that was lost mostly for other reasons.

We have been asking a ton out of Booker over the last 5 years or so. Asking him to be a "Point Book," asking him to be a better playmaker, a better defender. Asking him to play next to other volume shooters / chuckers (KD, Beal, Green). I think Book has quietly made a bunch of improvements to his game over these years. He is much, much better as a playmaker than he used to be; he's become an above-average starting PG now, purely rated on playmaking, imo. His defense has gotten a lot better; he used to be actively harming us on that end, but now he's pretty serviceable. His scoring and 3-point shooting have taken a minor step back but he's still very effective in those areas. He has become a better overall player and much more versatile and well-rounded. He scores a bit less and may miss a few shots, but he's much more of the type of player we need right now. And I have confidence that if we ever needed him to revert back to a pure SG role (if CG develops into an elite starting PG or we acquire one, etc.), he'd be able to do that.

When Book is out there, the offense just flows much better. You can feel the "gravity" he has; several defenders move toward him, he draws attention. Then he's gotten much better about passing to the now-open man. We get much better looks this way than just having a doofus like Green go one-on-one or let Brooks plow into his man or whatever. Book doesn't have the blazing speed to lose his defender(s) but he runs a much better overall offense than anybody else on the team other than maybe CG on a good night.

I keep reflecting on the game and I think there were several other dumb things that contributed to this loss. At one point in the second half, Jalen Green inexplicably threw a behind-the-back pass near midcourt (??) that got easily picked off and ran back for a layup. Dillon Brooks stupidly clapped at the ref in the 4th and drew an unnecessary tech. And, as others have said, the lineups Coach Ott put out there were very questionable. We had no size, no rim protection, no rebounding. We put an undersized guard on their best scorer (Avdija) and let him cruise to the rim over and over. The Blazers had a few possessions where they got 2-3 offensive boards and it was infuriating. I just don't understand why Oso got so much playing time and Williams / ManMan sat on the bench. I don't know why we didn't double Avdija or throw Fleming on him.

Like I say, I -am- disappointed in some of Booker's flaws in the game. But I just don't think he is the reason we lost. If Coach Ott puts the right guys out there, we win this one and everybody is hailing what a great and balanced game Booker had, how clutch Green's scoring was, how much of a wrecking ball Brooks was out there, etc. Generally our main guys were bad-ass in this game but couldn't overcome the jank ass lineups and horrible interior defense.

[Mori Chu]

This image is pretty nuts:

[Superbone]

This team has to learn how to finish games. They were so much better in the first half of the season.

[TOO]

This team has to learn how to finish games. They were so much better in the first half of the season.

It kinda feels like nobody took them seriously until they had to. Once they started the team started to show it's cracks, it's still just a team full of journeyman role players and Booker.

[ShelC]

This team has to learn how to finish games. They were so much better in the first half of the season.

It kinda feels like nobody took them seriously until they had to. Once they started the team started to show it's cracks, it's still just a team full of journeyman role players and Booker.

Not really. Green and Williams are young vets, just 24yrs old who are on their 2nd team. Allen's a solid vet who's been traded because he's got a skill and contract teams value. Brooks maybe fits the description but he still being value because of his attitude and hustle. CG is only in his first full season getting real minutes. Dunn, Fleming, Oso and Khaman are 1st and 2nd yr players.

Goodie and Royce are the only ones I'd classify as journeymen.

[Shabazz]

Williams' second half of the season has been a real bummer. It's almost like he's 2 different players. He just stopped playing big and became soft. Maybe he was worn down from the career high in games, but he's invisible most nights.

I also think it was a huge mistake not to let him get up a few 3s this season. He has a good stroke, took one earlier in the season, made it, and then never shot another one. He can't dribble, he's not a great post-up player, and he won't shoot outside the paint, so he's entirely reliant on others to create offense for him. Without a willingness to shoot 3s, what that leaves is a player who kills the spacing on offense, and who lately hasn't been providing much on the other end. Earlier in the season he offset that by playing with force on D and beating his man in transition. "Clint Capela without the rebounding or rim protection" just doesn't have much function out there.

[JustWinBaby]

A lot of folks seem to be blaming Booker for this loss. And I was also disappointed with his play. (5 missed FTs, low 2nd half scoring, etc.) But I think this was definitely a winnable basketball game that was lost mostly for other reasons.

We have been asking a ton out of Booker over the last 5 years or so. Asking him to be a "Point Book," asking him to be a better playmaker, a better defender. Asking him to play next to other volume shooters / chuckers (KD, Beal, Green). I think Book has quietly made a bunch of improvements to his game over these years. He is much, much better as a playmaker than he used to be; he's become an above-average starting PG now, purely rated on playmaking, imo. His defense has gotten a lot better; he used to be actively harming us on that end, but now he's pretty serviceable. His scoring and 3-point shooting have taken a minor step back but he's still very effective in those areas. He has become a better overall player and much more versatile and well-rounded. He scores a bit less and may miss a few shots, but he's much more of the type of player we need right now. And I have confidence that if we ever needed him to revert back to a pure SG role (if CG develops into an elite starting PG or we acquire one, etc.), he'd be able to do that.

When Book is out there, the offense just flows much better. You can feel the "gravity" he has; several defenders move toward him, he draws attention. Then he's gotten much better about passing to the now-open man. We get much better looks this way than just having a doofus like Green go one-on-one or let Brooks plow into his man or whatever. Book doesn't have the blazing speed to lose his defender(s) but he runs a much better overall offense than anybody else on the team other than maybe CG on a good night.

I keep reflecting on the game and I think there were several other dumb things that contributed to this loss. At one point in the second half, Jalen Green inexplicably threw a behind-the-back pass near midcourt (??) that got easily picked off and ran back for a layup. Dillon Brooks stupidly clapped at the ref in the 4th and drew an unnecessary tech. And, as others have said, the lineups Coach Ott put out there were very questionable. We had no size, no rim protection, no rebounding. We put an undersized guard on their best scorer (Avdija) and let him cruise to the rim over and over. The Blazers had a few possessions where they got 2-3 offensive boards and it was infuriating. I just don't understand why Oso got so much playing time and Williams / ManMan sat on the bench. I don't know why we didn't double Avdija or throw Fleming on him.

Like I say, I -am- disappointed in some of Booker's flaws in the game. But I just don't think he is the reason we lost. If Coach Ott puts the right guys out there, we win this one and everybody is hailing what a great and balanced game Booker had, how clutch Green's scoring was, how much of a wrecking ball Brooks was out there, etc. Generally our main guys were bad-ass in this game but couldn't overcome the jank ass lineups and horrible interior defense.

My biggest issue with Book is when he just pounds the ball for almost all of the shot clock and either he or a teammate is forced to take a bad shot. He does that a lot. I do not know the stats, but we seem to be much better with Gillespie on the floor. Both Book and Green are capable scorers but less than efficient playmakers.

Book and Ott need to face facts. When Book's given the opportunity to be a shooting guard and not pound the ball to slow down the offense, he can be lethal. That is who he was when CP3 was on the team. It would seem like that is the way to go.

The question this off season. Can a Green and Book back court win games when it counts? If Ott continues to add 2 more shooting guards with them I cannot see it working. This is not a 6/5 and under league. I repeat Dunn and Fleming need minutes. Not everyone needs to be a great scorer. I would prefer Man Man to Oso at this point, but Oso may be our best passer.