Re: Game Day Playoff Edition — WCF, Game 1 — Los Angeles Clippers @ Phoenix Suns, Sunday 6/20/2021
Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2021 11:01 pm
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Kinda crazy that we’ve said that like 2-3 times this post season? He is built for this.Sunsfan4life wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 10:05 pmI think this is the best game I've ever seen Booker play. It was complete in every way possible. Clippers aren't going anywhere, but I am more confident in my prediction going into the series. Suns in 6.
Dack, as a soccer fan from Brazil: none of that is good for stopping fights. Here we can't sell beer at stadiums, fans were kept separated (and before Covid, we were having games with only the home team fans) and still we have fights.Nodack wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 10:07 pmThe fighting thing is stupid. Seen it before anywhere there are drunk fans from apposing teams interacting. Playoffs increase the risk of fights exponentially. Their security better be tight for game two. Maybe cut off beer sales after the third quarter starts. Keep the different fans separate somehow, especially right after the game ends when most of this crap happens.
L.A. is a mean town. I would watch my back as a Suns fan when they go back to L.A. I told that story of a Raiders fan putting a Steelers fan in a coma at a game in L.A. many years back after the Steelers fan taunted the crowd. A Suns fan saying shit at a Clippers game could be unhealthy.
I was thinking the exactly same thing yesterday about how all the time point Book was a thing and how it likely was the difference between us winning and losing that game yesterday. Funny how things work out.Nodack wrote: ↑Sun Jun 20, 2021 9:40 pmI was just thinking of point Book today. Remember when Booker was forced to play point Book early on in his career. We hated it. We didn’t win many games back then but, Booker got a heavy dose of playing point because we had no competent PG. Some thought it was a bad idea. I thought in my optimistic thinking that then that it would be good for Booker in the long run and maybe make him a better passer since we were obviously not going to win a Championship that year. Passing is a skill all BBall players need and Booker playing point forced him to get better.
Today all that hard work playing point Book paid off for him and the Suns. He commanded a double and made them pay for it in assists because of his passing skills. We used to say Bookers weakness was his defense. Not anymore.He’s been great. He makes 3 pointers, mid range shots, posts up or drives to the basket from any hand k which makes him unstoppable. Double him and he finds the open guy.
Legendary
Yes, we definitely need to defend the 3 point line better. We'll win a 2 point shooting contest most nights.pickle wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 8:59 amBut back to the game. Thrilling victory. Got a little iffy at the end but we pulled it out. So many things I liked about it but since I’m typing on a phone I really don’t want to get too deep into it.
One thing that worried me a little. Team shot something like 55% from the field and had a net positive turnover margin but only won by 6. Hopefully we can do a little better in our gang rebounding and 3 point line defense next game.
Cousins won't go off like that in Game 2 if Ayton is defending him. Also, our defense (especially 3-point defense) can definitely improve.Mori Chu wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 12:47 pmI'm trying to decide what the takeaway is from Game 1. We won, which is the biggest thing, and I felt like we got good shots and made them when it mattered. But we did seem to have lots of guys have good games all at once. Book had his first-ever triple-double and had 40 points (and played about 44 minutes I believe). Most of our wings had good shooting nights. Ayton had 20 and 9. You can easily imagine some of these guys regressing in the next game. Paul George had a great first 3 quarters but then hardly scored in the 4th.
I guess I'm slightly worried that we beat them playing above-average and shouldn't assume that average-level play is going to cut it. It may be harder to beat them if our wings have trouble with their shooting, or if we realize we can't play Booker 44 minutes a night, and so on. We also kind of dodged a bullet given that DeMarcus Cousins and Paul George going off but then cooled as the game went on.
Thankfully we haven't playing average much if any at all during this postseason.Mori Chu wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 12:47 pmI'm trying to decide what the takeaway is from Game 1. We won, which is the biggest thing, and I felt like we got good shots and made them when it mattered. But we did seem to have lots of guys have good games all at once. Book had his first-ever triple-double and had 40 points (and played about 44 minutes I believe). Most of our wings had good shooting nights. Ayton had 20 and 9. You can easily imagine some of these guys regressing in the next game. Paul George had a great first 3 quarters but then hardly scored in the 4th.
I guess I'm slightly worried that we beat them playing above-average and shouldn't assume that average-level play is going to cut it. It may be harder to beat them if our wings have trouble with their shooting, or if we realize we can't play Booker 44 minutes a night, and so on. We also kind of dodged a bullet given that DeMarcus Cousins and Paul George going off but then cooled as the game went on.
Other than Booker I wouldn’t say anybody played a particularly above average game besides the whole team’s general efficiency being good. Bridges Crowder and Payne are all capable of putting up high teens to low twenties, and Cam Johnson could’ve done more too. Ayton’s efficiency and output is not an isolated instance based on the first two rounds and in fact almost to be expected given how small the clippers are. Booker is the one I worry about because he scored for himself and Paul this game. And the high fg% on a whole isn’t something I expect seeing next game.Mori Chu wrote: ↑Mon Jun 21, 2021 12:47 pmI'm trying to decide what the takeaway is from Game 1. We won, which is the biggest thing, and I felt like we got good shots and made them when it mattered. But we did seem to have lots of guys have good games all at once. Book had his first-ever triple-double and had 40 points (and played about 44 minutes I believe). Most of our wings had good shooting nights. Ayton had 20 and 9. You can easily imagine some of these guys regressing in the next game. Paul George had a great first 3 quarters but then hardly scored in the 4th.
I guess I'm slightly worried that we beat them playing above-average and shouldn't assume that average-level play is going to cut it. It may be harder to beat them if our wings have trouble with their shooting, or if we realize we can't play Booker 44 minutes a night, and so on. We also kind of dodged a bullet given that DeMarcus Cousins and Paul George going off but then cooled as the game went on.