Phx-Suns.Net

Superbone wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 18, 2021 12:24 am

Flagrant Fowl wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 17, 2021 7:53 pm

It was a fun season and I'm happy with their accomplishments.

They just got beat by the better team with the best player.

You too? Wow. A bunch of sad sacks around here. You know the Bucks haven't won 4 games yet, right?

Good on you for being an everlasting optimist.

I just don't see it happening for this team. They haven't played a complete team game since Game 1.

It's time to see if they have more in their hearts than we've seen so far. Do or die time.

I honestly don't think Game 5 had much to do with heart or effort. They were out played and out coached in the second and third quarters.

The Suns shot 55% from the field, including 60% from 3-point range. No team in Finals history has ever lost while shooting that well. The Bucks were invincible in this game.

Flip the roles for a second and ask yourself if you think the Suns would lose Game 6 coming home while on the same streak we're seeing from the Bucks right now.

I always try to watch games from an objective standpoint and I'll try to not sound so negative. I certainly don't have anything bad to say about the team or the guys as individuals. They've fought their asses off and vastly exceeded my expectations.

I just feel we lost it when we started jacking 3's and bad misses whilst we couldn't get a stop in the second... and from there we just didn't get guys involved... we need to look for Cam more .. he's shooting unbelievably but not getting the touches.

Flagrant Fowl wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 18, 2021 1:59 am

I honestly don't think Game 5 had much to do with heart or effort. They were out played and out coached in the second and third quarters.

The Suns shot 55% from the field, including 60% from 3-point range. No team in Finals history has ever lost while shooting that well. The Bucks were invincible in this game.

Flip the roles for a second and ask yourself if you think the Suns would lose Game 6 coming home while on the same streak we're seeing from the Bucks right now.

I always try to watch games from an objective standpoint and I'll try to not sound so negative. I certainly don't have anything bad to say about the team or the guys as individuals. They've fought their asses off and vastly exceeded my expectations.

Thank you. Each game is its own entity. If the Bucks can do it again, hats off to them. I can accept that. But we felt the same way about the Suns after the first 2 games.

Thanks Shel. I couldn't sleep, so upset I am with this loss.

Reading this board after a game like this is cathartic. It's the only way I can process a game like this and move on.

And let me tell you, that really helps especially since I am in Croatia on vacation and the Suns losing games really messes up my free time

Was going to splurge and come to the game Saturday, and some things dictated it was just too much $...now, I'm just...really sad. I would love to be really upbeat right now, but that game was an emotional a$$beating. Seeing this slip like this really....just...wow...

The shooting stats from this game are just crazy

All post season we've been making comments that the team is so Spurs-like in it's execution and stuff. Now seems like this awful Deja Vu of the last time Suns were relevant which is SSOL

Those teams, we would be doing our thing on O but it would always feel like to get that one stop or defensive rebound would be the difference back then. We all know the number of times that was the case with the D'antoni squads.

They were breakdowns at times yes but Bucks were just hitting everything. Middleton has proven to be formidable but Jrue was playing out of his mind and Giannis out there hitting turnarounds n pullups. Then on the occasional miss can't secure the rebound, just a super tough loss especially after all that have it end in a turnover.

The Bottom Line is that there's been hardly any separation between the two teams for the whole series. I don't expect us to go get blown out, we been resilient all year and should have our chances again on Tuesday with probably another game being decided in the last 4mins

Well that sucked. I always knew it would come down to a relatively close win game 6 in Milwaukee followed by a comfortable win in game 7 at home. Still didn't make that loss any easier to digest.

I haven't given up yet. Suns in 7!

Don’t worry. Things are going to go surprisingly great.

If you can’t trust some guy hawking insurance, whom can you trust?

Come on SUNS!!!!

I don't think winning in Milwaukee is impossible by any stretch. It'll be hard but we're still capable of beating the Bucks.

Chris Paul is hurt but still showing flashes of his usual self. He was great to start and was better towards the end of the game but otherwise played flat. We should be looking for ways to get him going as a scorer to keep the pressure on Holiday. We never really attacked Holiday after the 2 quick fouls. It's just odd how Paul can look done in one quarter and look more like himself in the next one.

Book definitely kept us in this one and played his ass off on both sides of the ball - and also really hurt us with some of those ISOs that led to poor shots or TOs. Both things can be true. Hopefully it's just another learning experience and understanding when to go score and when to move the ball. I think his defense has taken a big step forward and I really want him or Cam on Middleton for Game 6.

Monty hasn't really adjusted to Point Middleton all series and Mikal and DA play the same PnR defense almost every time which lets Middleton step into that jumper. Book and Johnson both defended him better and I like Mikal pressuring Holiday on the ball up top. This is the kind of adjustment that can change a game and the series if we scheme it properly and throw the Bucks off their game. Last night it was the Big 3 and Connaughton. Lopez and Portis didn't go off but were still effective with their size. We've got to get their main guys off balance, uncomfortable and in spots they don't want to operate out of.

Offensively the switches Paul and Book get on Connaughton have been working, it's just a shame DA can't post effectively to score inside when he gets that same switch. It'd also be nice not to lose Connaughton on offense tho and let him knock down those 3s.

We lost by 4 and were down 1 with 20 seconds left so it's not like we're getting blown out of the water. Just gotta remember every possession counts.

This is just silly

They got better with tighter defense…sometimes you just get beat…that’s kinda what happened last night. Sure, some stuff we can improve, but we win any other game this series with how we played last night. Just took the Bucks biggest punch I think.

All three of the Bucks stars had great games and couldn’t miss. Were they great or was our defense not so great? Hard to tell sometimes. We had one star with a great game.

The Suns are going to have to play better defense, get some turnovers, get the Bucks second guessing themselves. Once they lock in and get in a rhythm it’s too late.

It’s not over until the fat lady sings. Hopefully she gets Covid for a game or two.

I'm trying to find some positives here. My thoughts:

- We saw the Bucks play an almost perfect game. All three of Giannis, Middleton, and Holiday played amazing games, and almost all their role players had very good games, too. And despite that, we were down 1 in the closing seconds and had a great chance to win until we lost the ball. Can the Bucks repeat that performance in Game 6? Maybe not.

- We can play better. Sure, Book was incredible, and Ayton and Paul put up pretty good numbers, and our shooting was great percentage-wise. But we didn't move the ball very well, didn't assist on many of our baskets, and didn't generally execute our "0.5" offense properly. And we didn't consistently get stops or box out for rebounds. We can work to improve these things in Game 6; this is under our control.

- There is some chance that wear and tear or other factors could tilt in our favor in Game 6. For one, Giannis seemed so exhausted and overworked at the end of Game 5 that he cramped up and couldn't even do his normal post-game interviews. He had to leave the podium, get worked on, and return. That could affect Game 6. I also wonder whether Giannis might be placed into COVID protocol. His brother, who shares a trainer with Giannis, is in the protocol. Wouldn't Giannis have been around his own brother during those days, and wouldn't that come out during contact tracing? Would the league ask Giannis to sit out Game 6 due to COVID protocol? I'll be interested to see.

- The Suns have been one of the best road teams all season, and especially in the playoffs. It is absolutely possible to go into Milwaukee and win a game. It can be done.

- If we beat them in Game 6, we absolutely have the edge going home for a Game 7. We just need to get that one win in Game 6 and then we are in the driver's seat to win the series.

THIS IS NOT OVER. I STILL BELIEVE!

I don’t think they do contact tracing for vaccinated players anymore. So if Giannis is vaccinated, think he’s only getting placed in the protocols if he has a positive test.