Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

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Split T
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Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by Split T »

Last Week's Games
vs. San Antonio WIN! 115-111 :D
vs. Cleveland WIN! 120-115 :D
vs. New York WIN! 118-97 :D
vs. Brooklyn WIN! 113-107 :D

This Week's Games
Tuesday, November 30th vs. Golden State 10:00PM EST TNT
Thursday, December 2nd vs. Detroit 9:00PM EST NBALP
Friday, December 3rd vs. Golden State 10:00pm EST NBALP

Suns extend streak to 16 games:
https://arizonasports.com/story/2913482 ... ak-intact/

ESPN Power Rankings: Two matchups of #1 and #2 this week:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/p ... ek-meeting

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Split T
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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by Split T »

Suns and Warriors, then everybody else:
After a 1-3 start, the Suns continued their streak over the weekend by polishing off the Knicks and Nets with relative ease in a Big Apple back-to-back. It’s amazing a team can be this good without having a real MVP candidate, and it speaks to how deep and talented the club is from top to bottom. Everyone can run and shoot, there are no glaring defensive liabilities, and all the pieces fit.

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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by Nodack »

It’s going to be a must watch game for the NBA. The top two teams meeting head to head in a game where the Suns could tie a franchise winning record for consecutive games won. Damnnnn!

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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by Indy »

Split T wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 6:21 am
Suns and Warriors, then everybody else:
After a 1-3 start, the Suns continued their streak over the weekend by polishing off the Knicks and Nets with relative ease in a Big Apple back-to-back. It’s amazing a team can be this good without having a real MVP candidate, and it speaks to how deep and talented the club is from top to bottom. Everyone can run and shoot, there are no glaring defensive liabilities, and all the pieces fit.
Paul was 5th in voting last year, and I think his stock is going up. Also, Book has taken a leap the last couple of weeks. Book is at 41% from 3 for the year, and considering where he was after the first 10 games (<35%), that is huge. He is shooting over 49% from three the last 9 games.

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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by BKinSJC »

Indy wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 9:12 am
Book is at 41% from 3 for the year, and considering where he was after the first 10 games (<35%), that is huge. He is shooting over 49% from three the last 9 games.
His numbers for the last week (the 4 game road trip that started on Monday and ended Saturday) are even better - an even 30 points a game on 53/56/90 shooting splits. I'd fully expect Booker to be named the Western Conference player of the week when that announcement goes out later today.

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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by ShelC »

BKinSJC wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 10:32 am
Indy wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 9:12 am
Book is at 41% from 3 for the year, and considering where he was after the first 10 games (<35%), that is huge. He is shooting over 49% from three the last 9 games.
His numbers for the last week (the 4 game road trip that started on Monday and ended Saturday) are even better - an even 30 points a game on 53/56/90 shooting splits. I'd fully expect Booker to be named the Western Conference player of the week when that announcement goes out later today.
I'm fully expecting to be disappointed and pissed when someone like Curry or Paul George wins it instead.

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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

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I fully expect Curry to be named Western Conference Player of the Week. I don't even know his numbers, but I know there were a big game or two there.
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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by In2ition »

Image
vs.
Image
Last edited by In2ition on Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by Suns_Dave »

https://puck.news/bob-iger-would-love-t ... uns-be-it/#

No idea how credible the source of this report is, but Bob Iger apparently has indicated interest in buying the Phoenix Suns.

Didn't 100% love his tenure at Disney (though he was an improvement over Eisner), but he seems like a decent enough guy. Pretty sure he is not a billionaire, so he'd need to assemble an elite group of investors to make this happen.

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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

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Suns_Dave wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:08 am
https://puck.news/bob-iger-would-love-t ... uns-be-it/#

No idea how credible the source of this report is, but Bob Iger apparently has indicated interest in buying the Phoenix Suns.

Didn't 100% love his tenure at Disney (though he was an improvement over Eisner), but he seems like a decent enough guy. Pretty sure he is not a billionaire, so he'd need to assemble an elite group of investors to make this happen.
Would it include Paul and LBJ?
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann
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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by BKinSJC »

Curry also averaged 30 points a game for the week, on higher volume but somewhat less efficiency (52/49/71). The Suns played four road games in six days against one bad team, a pretty decent up-and-comer in Cleveland, and then blew out a playoff-level team in the Knicks and outlasted the best team in the East on a back-to-back the next night. The Warriors played three games on the week, winning home games against a critically wounded Philadelphia (no Embiid or Harris), then a Portland team that is somehow among the worst in the NBA on the road at 1-9. Their win at the Clippers was solid and a good effort against a playoff-level team.

I think that Booker and the Suns had a more impressive week overall, and the winning streak should be creating media interest. I guess I should have said that in a reasonable world, Booker would win the award.

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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by Suns_Dave »

In2ition wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:09 am
Suns_Dave wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 11:08 am
https://puck.news/bob-iger-would-love-t ... uns-be-it/#

No idea how credible the source of this report is, but Bob Iger apparently has indicated interest in buying the Phoenix Suns.

Didn't 100% love his tenure at Disney (though he was an improvement over Eisner), but he seems like a decent enough guy. Pretty sure he is not a billionaire, so he'd need to assemble an elite group of investors to make this happen.
Would it include Paul and LBJ?
Sounds like he considers Paul a good friend. Obviously would have tons of connections throughout the NBA and the greater sports world in general via ESPN, ABC, the bubble in Orlando, relationships with various franchises (Magic, Ducks, etc). He seems to be well-liked, which would be another major departure from Sarver, who--other than a few friends, partners and confidants--seems to be pretty widely hated.

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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by Split T »

The rest of the suns stuff in that athletic article:
One unexpected plus has been the Suns’ massive production from the backup center position, a spot that plagued them in the 2021 Finals. Frank Kaminsky unexpectedly delivered a 31-point game and three other double-digit efforts before exiting with a stress reaction, but the real story has been JaVale McGee. I had the temerity to question his fit before the season, but he has been a monstrous two-way presence as a rim-runner and shot-blocker.

The 33-year-old is arguably playing the best basketball of his career, in fact, with a massive 23.0 rebound rate while shooting 66.2 percent from the floor on a steady diet of dunks and short hooks. He’s excised the crazy shots and Globetrotter dribble sequences from last year’s stint as a reserve in Cleveland and Denver, sticking to his knitting as a dunker and letting the Suns’ guards find him roaming the defense’s gaps.

McGee’s production helped the Suns win all six games Deandre Ayton was out of the lineup; in fact, Phoenix has a whopping plus-14.1 points per 100 differential with him on the floor, the best of any Sun.

That said, McGee is a backup. There’s another, less discussed piece of Phoenix’s early-season dominance: I don’t think people have fully caught on to what an absolute terror Mikal Bridges has become on defense. He’s the best fourth-best player in the league, and it’s not a particularly close competition.

Take Saturday’s win over Brooklyn, for instance, when he was credited with seven steals and appeared to have about 30. Nearly all of them become instant points, given the Suns’ blazing transition speed (something I’d still like to see them weaponize more; Chris Paul is awesome, but he can be frustratingly content to slow things down).

Here’s another stat for you: The Suns are outscored this season when Bridges doesn’t play by 3.0 points per 100 possessions. Every other Phoenix player is plus-4.6 or better. His 14.8 on-off difference is one of the league’s largest margins.

The eye test shows you why. In addition to being a knockdown shooter and a virtually automatic transition finisher, Bridges is taking his defense into elite territory, the key to a unit that ranks third overall thus far.

Watch here as he sizes up Kevin Durant, pounces at the exact right moment and then turns it into a Cam Johnson poster dunk at the other end.


Or watch here as McGee and Bridges play a perfect drop scheme to squeeze the life out of an initially promising Alec Burks-Nerlens Noel pick-and-roll. Burks’ only options are trying to squeeze a pull-up over a closing 7-footer while a pterodactyl trails or eating the ball and starting over, which he does. (Not shown here: Bonus points for Devin Booker doing the same work and blocking RJ Barrett’s shot on a “rear contest” when the ball is swung to the weak side.)




Phoenix has a bevy of weapons besides Bridges, obviously, but his excellence alongside Booker, Paul and Ayton underlines the Suns’ real strength — they just never have weak players on the court and often have four of near-All-Star caliber playing at the same time. They don’t overwhelm you with fireworks as much as steadily and methodically expose your weaknesses over 48 minutes while showing few vulnerabilities of their own.

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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by Suns_Dave »

Nice to see Hollinger (or any national media figure) admit he was wrong with his take on the Suns' offseason moves

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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by In2ition »

Whoo Hoo
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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

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Gotta love Shawn responding on Twitter about a discussion of him vs Mikal


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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

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LOL, that post from Matrix is so petty and thin-skinned. Insecure to the very last. He would look so much better if he just wrote some post about how awesome Bridges is and how he's rooting for him, or whatever. The other people in that thread are going out of their way to say that Marion is better, but they have the audacity to say that Bridges has better dribbling and handles (which seems true to me) so Marion throws a hissy fit. Oh, Shawn. Miss you, buddy.

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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by The Bobster »

Mori Chu wrote:
Mon Nov 29, 2021 2:38 pm
LOL, that post from Matrix is so petty and thin-skinned. Insecure to the very last. He would look so much better if he just wrote some post about how awesome Bridges is and how he's rooting for him, or whatever. The other people in that thread are going out of their way to say that Marion is better, but they have the audacity to say that Bridges has better dribbling and handles (which seems true to me) so Marion throws a hissy fit. Oh, Shawn. Miss you, buddy.
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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

Post by Mori Chu »

Matrix is undeniably better than Bridges, though. I love me some Mikal Bridges, maybe my favorite current Sun, but Marion was a way better overall player. Marion would not only guard the other team's best player, but he'd also end up with 20 points and 8-10 rebounds, he'd run the floor like a gazelle, fly through the sky for alley-oops and dunks, and had a really nice game around the rim with a variety of little flip shots, hooks, floaters, and putbacks. He did a great job in "garbage" plays where he'd jump up for an offensive rebound, grab it, land, and jump again to lay it back in before the other players had even finished jumping. Got a ton of points on little shots like that.

I do agree with the tweeters that Bridges probably has better dribbling handles than Marion, and that Bridges has a smoother overall shooting form. If Marion had become able to create his own shots and dribble a bit more smoothly, he would have been almost unstoppable. As he was, he was an extremely valuable player and arguably more important to the SSOL Suns than Amare Stoudemire, second only to Steve Nash. And he's been criminally underrated, both in his own era and still today.

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Re: Suns News: Week 7(11/29 - 12/5)

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I'd expect nothing less from 'Trix.
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