Game Day: Suns (8-25) @ Nets (15-19), Sun 12/23/18

[pagielak]

Ayton is a monster on offense

[Wally_West]

Ayton - 20pts, 12rbs with 10mins left in the 3rd.

[Xylus]

Booker and Warren have nothing right now. Their shots are way off target.

[Xylus]

Ayton has 22 and 13 however

[Wally_West]

One of the Nets commentators sound like Paul Giamatti.

[JeremyG]

Would you say that this is the third straight game that Ayton has had the best game of his career? That in itself is pretty impressive!

But why take him out 4 1/2 minutes into the second half? He only played 38 minutes last night.

[EDC]

Bookers body language isn't too great. He barely got back down the court for defense that possession. He was just standing there.

He really hurts us when he starts complaining to the refs. He starts to force shots and doesn't really give any effort on the defensive end.

Really wish he would realize how much he hurts us when he ignores the defensive end. Also he needs to save his attempts to carry the team for the end of the game or when he is unable to get others involved.

[EDC]

Would you say that this is the third straight game that Ayton has had the best game of his career? That in itself is pretty impressive!

But why take him out 4 1/2 minutes into the second half? He only played 38 minutes last night.

At this point I would feel a lot more comfortable getting him the ball down low when we really need points rather than running the pick and roll.

I'm really looking forward to see what his offensive game looks like next year after an off season of work. I'm not too worried about his defense either. It is definitely lacking at times and I'm not sure he will ever be great but I think his timing will get a lot better and he will be at least solid defensively.

[EDC]

Ayton should have been put in the game when they took Booker out. We are too far behind to run a lineup without Booker, TJ or Ayton. Need at least one scorer in the game.

[Xylus]

Our guys are wasted. Nothing left in the tank after last night’s game.

[JeremyG]

Ayton a +3, Holmes -15.

[EDC]

Our defensive rebounding when Ayton has to challenge a shot is just horrendous.

[JeremyG]

Ayton plays the whole 4th quarter. Horrible substitutions by Igor. He sits Ayton for the last 7:28 of the third quarter and the game gets out of hand. Ayton with a +7 for the game, Holmes -15.

Ayton ties his career high in both points (26) and rebounds (18), with 3 blocks and 2 steals, in only 32 minutes.

[The Bobster]

Ayton's last 5 games -

31.4 Min, 67.1 FG%, 84.2 FT%, 15.6 Reb, 1.0 Ast, 0.8 Stl, 1.0 Blk, 22.8 Pts

[Xylus]

Ayton’s blossoming into a rebounding force at both ends and the team is starting to running more offense through him. They HAVE to start using him more in the 2nd half. Booker hero ball isn’t cutting it.

[ShelC]

Also, where do we rank as a team for charges taken? I feel like none of our guys are ever in position to take a charge.

[LazarusLong]

But why take him out 4 1/2 minutes into the second half? He only played 38 minutes last night.

Noticed that also.'
He had just blocked a shot, got two steals and hit a soft jumper -- then he gets subbed.
At that point, Suns started clanking trey attempts and the offense broke down.
I get the feeling Coach K sometimes is a slave to his substitution pattern.

[specialsauce]

Ayton's last 5 games -

31.4 Min, 67.1 FG%, 84.2 FT%, 15.6 Reb, 1.0 Ast, 0.8 Stl, 1.0 Blk, 22.8 Pts

Total Beast Mode.

[Indy]

Ayton's last 5 games -

31.4 Min, 67.1 FG%, 84.2 FT%, 15.6 Reb, 1.0 Ast, 0.8 Stl, 1.0 Blk, 22.8 Pts

Total Beast Mode.

Even if you use his full year numbers of 16/10/2, Ayton and Griffen are the only guys currently in the league to do that their rookie seasons. And only 23 guys have EVER done that. 14 of those 23 are already in the HOF.

By the way, Ayton has the highest FG%/eFG%/TS% of any of those 23.

[Mori Chu]

I don't mind the loss. But why is our supposedly young team so tired with nothing left in the tank on a back-to-back? Don't we start 3 rookies? Isn't our best player under 25? Shouldn't they all be able to run two games in a row if they need to? Oh well. At least Ayton had big numbers.