Game Day: Knicks (37-29) @ Suns (47-19), Fri 5/7/21

[INFORMER]

Ayton -10/14 FG, 6/6 FT, 15 rebounds, 26 points in 29 only minutes

He was awesome tonight, made up for a total no show by Book. Granted they trapped Book a lot and played him very tight, sending a lot of help. Ayton will need to play like this to keep teams from doing that in the playoffs.

The stat line was awesome, but was he "awesome"? I'm not trying to criticize him, but most of his points came from the Knicks not accounting for him. Whoever was penetrating from the perimeter was getting by his man, the Knicks defense would then collapse on the penetrator, and no one stuck to Ayton. The penetrators did a great job of continuing to find him, but Ayton just moved to an open spot caught the ball and laid it up/dunked it. Pretty simple/basic stuff. KJ to Corie Blount stuff, circa 2000. Then there was the usually gravity of Booker and CP3 drawing attention from the pick and rolll, and Ayton effectively diving. So credit to him for that.

Credit to Ayton for moving and being alert, instead of just standing and staring, but the only time he actually had to make something happen was in the 3rd where he was a few steps inside the the 3 point line, put the ball on the floor, drove past his man, and got the bucket. That was nice.

[INFORMER]

Post game they said Sario was back on the court working on his conditioning. No has said but Sario was out quite a while with Covid. Maybe he is feeling some after effects which I think are breathing related. Just Sayin'

A couple of posters have offered up this explanation, but Dario came back from COVID at the beginning of February, and went on to have a very good month of February and a very good March. So I find it a little hard to believe that, after two months of solid basketball, COVID just started taking its toll on him.

People tend to forget with Dario and Jevon, that for the large majority of last season, they were either mediocre or just not good. I think Dario is going through a bad stretch because he just can't maintain a high level of play, he isn't very durable, and he never is in great shape.

[Split T]

Ayton -10/14 FG, 6/6 FT, 15 rebounds, 26 points in 29 only minutes

He was awesome tonight, made up for a total no show by Book. Granted they trapped Book a lot and played him very tight, sending a lot of help. Ayton will need to play like this to keep teams from doing that in the playoffs.

The stat line was awesome, but was he "awesome"? I'm not trying to criticize him, but most of his points came from the Knicks not accounting for him. Whoever was penetrating from the perimeter was getting by his man, the Knicks defense would then collapse on the penetrator, and no one stuck to Ayton. The penetrators did a great job of continuing to find him, but Ayton just moved to an open spot caught the ball and laid it up/dunked it. Pretty simple/basic stuff. KJ to Corie Blount stuff, circa 2000. Then there was the usually gravity of Booker and CP3 drawing attention from the pick and rolll, and Ayton effectively diving. So credit to him for that.

Credit to Ayton for moving and being alert, instead of just standing and staring, but the only time he actually had to make something happen was in the 3rd where he was a few steps inside the the 3 point line, put the ball on the floor, drove past his man, and got the bucket. That was nice.

I understand what you’re saying, but there are plenty of times when he doesn’t even do the simple/basic thing. I thought his defense was good and he controlled the boards. He was a little more aggressive than usual...you mentioned the drive from the top of the key. He got to the line 6 times. We don’t see that often.

[INFORMER]

Jae Crowder has been a game-changing 3-point shooter that we haven't really seen since Q. But the difference is that Crowder has value on the defensive end, is a factor in advancing the ball in initiating transition offense, and of course the whole cliche veteran presence/leadership. So when he is on, he is on, and it can be a big boost for this team.

Of course, none of this is news to Shel or the other members of the Jae Crowder fan club, but as a critic of the acquisition, I feel compelled to acknowledge this.

[INFORMER]

I understand what you’re saying, but there are plenty of times when he doesn’t even do the simple/basic thing. I thought his defense was good and he controlled the boards. He was a little more aggressive than usual...you mentioned the drive from the top of the key. He got to the line 6 times. We don’t see that often.

Agreed, but man that bar is so low. You're right though, and I don't fault you for giving him kudos. He is just so underwhelming.

[Superbone]

In the first half the Knick fans were chanting MVP every time Randall did anything. Their yaps were real quiet in the 4th quarter but not the Suns Fans.

Yeah, heard the MVP chants once early in the game while Randall was shooting FTs. The Knicks broadcasters commented on it but the Suns fans then could be heard booing over them.

[Superbone]

After the game, the Knicks broadcast showed this sequence from the opposite viewpoint (from behind the basket) and it was so fun to see how pumped Monty was for both of these amazing plays to end the the quarter. I wish there was a tweet of that so you guys could see it.

[ShelC]

I was looking for that footage. I think Olson described it as Monty skipping and pumping his fist.

[Superbone]

WTF!!! I was just looking for it came across this. I couldn't stop watching. Like, WTF?!

[AmareIsGod]

WTF!!! I was just looking for it came across this. I couldn't stop watching. Like, WTF?!

She needs to work on her dictation. Sounds very robotic to me. Very weird.

[JeremyG]

WTF!!! I was just looking for it came across this. I couldn't stop watching. Like, WTF?!

What? You're not used to seeing a mountain goat in your NBA recap videos?

[JeremyG]

I still don't see how Payne could tip the ball to himself, grab it, and shoot it, all within 0.8 seconds. Are we sure that was a legal basket?

[Superbone]

She needs to work on her dictation. Sounds very robotic to me. Very weird.

That's auto generated using her voice samples. I work with this stuff at my work for temporary stand in content.

[Superbone]

I still don't see how Payne could tip the ball to himself, grab it, and shoot it, all within 0.8 seconds. Are we sure that was a legal basket?

I wondered about that myself. We probably got a little home town clock benefit, but maybe it was legal. Just need .3 seconds to get off a shot so needed 0.5 or less between the deflection and the shot. Either way, I'm not sweating it! It made for an unbelievable finish to the quarter and got me to jump out of my chair.

[JeremyG]

I still don't see how Payne could tip the ball to himself, grab it, and shoot it, all within 0.8 seconds. Are we sure that was a legal basket?

I wondered about that myself. We probably got a little home town clock benefit, but maybe it was legal. Just need .3 seconds to get off a shot so needed 0.5 or less between the deflection and the shot. Either way, I'm not sweating it! It made for an unbelievable finish to the quarter and got me to jump out of my chair.

I just downloaded the official NBA highlights video and analyzed it and it was 1.0 seconds from when he first touched it to when it left his hand. It's obviously impossible for a clock operator to always start the clock at the exact tenth of a second that the ball is touched, although in this case it looks like it was started 0.4 seconds late. I guess the instant replay review does not second-guess the clock operator, they just look at whether the ball was shot before the buzzer sounded.

Payne also stepped out of bounds in between his two touches of the ball, which makes the play even more amazing.

[Superbone]

I still don't see how Payne could tip the ball to himself, grab it, and shoot it, all within 0.8 seconds. Are we sure that was a legal basket?

I wondered about that myself. We probably got a little home town clock benefit, but maybe it was legal. Just need .3 seconds to get off a shot so needed 0.5 or less between the deflection and the shot. Either way, I'm not sweating it! It made for an unbelievable finish to the quarter and got me to jump out of my chair.

I just downloaded the official NBA highlights video and analyzed it and it was 1.0 seconds from when he first touched it to when it left his hand. It's obviously impossible for a clock operator to always start the clock at the exact tenth of a second that the ball is touched, although in this case it looks like it was started 0.4 seconds late. I guess the instant replay review does not second-guess the clock operator, they just look at whether the ball was shot before the buzzer sounded.

Payne also stepped out of bounds in between his two touches of the ball, which makes the play even more amazing.

I always wondered about that. Got to leave room for human reaction times.

Yeah, in fact Payne fell out of bounds before the inbounds and had to pick himself up from the court in time to recover and deflect the ball. An amazing display of intensity from him.

[Flagrant Fowl]

He was great yesterday. There's no other way to put it. The challenge for him is consistency.

There was an dead ball situation very early in the game and the camera was on Ayton talking to Paul. It was just my imagination, but it seemed like Paul was telling Ayton that this was going to be his game because of the Knicks defensive strategy. Ayton seemed highly engaged and fired up at the time. He really needs to have that focus every game, not just when the opponent is gifting him the opportunity.

[ShelC]

Here's the angle where you can see Monty. Love the reaction from him and the rest of the team. Total game changer

[INFORMER]

I'll go ahead and file that away with this:

Last season (Eric Bledsoe) became one of just three players in league history to average at least 14 points, five rebounds, five assists, two steals and one block per 36 minutes while actually appearing in 20 or more minutes per game.

...

As for Bledsoe, he was pitted against The King well before he joined the Suns, and Mini LeBron isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/175 ... bron-james

[Nodack]

That was an interesting game. As was said already, Rose torched us in the first half and was shut down in the second half by zone defense. Rose isn’t the only guy who likes to take over games offensively who torches us. Hopefully they can learn from that and maybe bust out the zone defense a little sooner when that happens instead of waiting till the second half.

I didn’t see it as Booker as sucking in that game. I saw the Knicks deciding to double Booker anytime he got anywhere near the ball. They made a decision that Booker wasn’t going to beat them. Booker will be doubled a lot in the playoffs. It was another teaching moment. Ayton had a monster game. Take something away and you have to give up something.