Game Day: Suns (16-24) @ Knicks (11-30), Thurs 1/16/20

[Shabazz]

[INFORMER]

I hope everyone can stop hatin' on Ayton (hayton?) now.

Yes. This one game should absolve him of any criticism for the rest of his career.

[Superbone]

That's what I'm talking about, Ayton!!!

Great games from Rubio and Booker as well. Rubio just 2 boards shy of a big triple double.

[Superbone]

Baynes should not take any more corner threes.
This season.
Ever.

The next one he makes will be the first one he makes as a Phoenix Sun.

[Superbone]

Perhaps we might Lecque tonight?

Yeah, we finally get him out there and then Carter just starts jacking shots.

[Superbone]

Okobo was trying to hold the ball and run out the clock, but one of the Knicks wouldn't leave him alone and ended up pushing him out of bounds. Okobo then got the inbounds pass.

That's not how I saw it.

Your right, the ball was inbounded to Randle who then threw it at Okobe, but Okobo did get pushed out of bounds by Robinson. Thats why the Knicks had the ball out-of-bounds.

Weird s*** for sure. I started paying attention when I saw Robinson crowding Elie and then things got weird. Randles head is full of rocks anyway. That’s why he’s in his 3rd s*** team.

I was watching Lecque honestly. Glad he got to make his NBA debut in MSG. Really wanted him to hit that layup.

Just rewatched...Okobo drove on Ntilikina...looked like he was trying to draw a foul...clearly I’m sure just having fun with his countryman. He passed it out to Carter who was pressured by Robinson..Robinson kinda pushed him, but carter mostly just walked out of bounds. Suns broadcast didn’t show the ensuing inbound or what Okobo did. Maybe Knicks broadcast caught it.

Knicks broadcast caught the whole thing. That's what I watched tonight.

[Shabazz]

That's not how I saw it.

Your right, the ball was inbounded to Randle who then threw it at Okobe, but Okobo did get pushed out of bounds by Robinson. Thats why the Knicks had the ball out-of-bounds.

Weird s*** for sure. I started paying attention when I saw Robinson crowding Elie and then things got weird. Randles head is full of rocks anyway. That’s why he’s in his 3rd s*** team.

I was watching Lecque honestly. Glad he got to make his NBA debut in MSG. Really wanted him to hit that layup.

Just rewatched...Okobo drove on Ntilikina...looked like he was trying to draw a foul...clearly I’m sure just having fun with his countryman. He passed it out to Carter who was pressured by Robinson..Robinson kinda pushed him, but carter mostly just walked out of bounds. Suns broadcast didn’t show the ensuing inbound or what Okobo did. Maybe Knicks broadcast caught it.

Knicks broadcast caught the whole thing. That's what I watched tonight.

I had the choice and went with the Breen-Clyde. KRay is terrible. Listen to his reaction to Ricky throwing a 60-foot alley oop to Ayton.

[Superbone]

Your right, the ball was inbounded to Randle who then threw it at Okobe, but Okobo did get pushed out of bounds by Robinson. Thats why the Knicks had the ball out-of-bounds.

Weird s*** for sure. I started paying attention when I saw Robinson crowding Elie and then things got weird. Randles head is full of rocks anyway. That’s why he’s in his 3rd s*** team.

I was watching Lecque honestly. Glad he got to make his NBA debut in MSG. Really wanted him to hit that layup.

Just rewatched...Okobo drove on Ntilikina...looked like he was trying to draw a foul...clearly I’m sure just having fun with his countryman. He passed it out to Carter who was pressured by Robinson..Robinson kinda pushed him, but carter mostly just walked out of bounds. Suns broadcast didn’t show the ensuing inbound or what Okobo did. Maybe Knicks broadcast caught it.

Knicks broadcast caught the whole thing. That's what I watched tonight.

I had the choice and went with the Breen-Clyde. KRay is terrible. Listen to his reaction to Ricky throwing a 60-foot alley oop to Ayton.

I recorded them both. Breen went on and on (in a good way) about how incredible that pass was. Haven't listened to the KRay broadcast yet. I will at least watch that part of it. I assume it was Annie with him tonight?

[SDC]

i know this was the knicks, but my preferred starting 5 on opening night last year was ayton, saric, bridges, rubio, booker.

[Shabazz]

Weird s*** for sure. I started paying attention when I saw Robinson crowding Elie and then things got weird. Randles head is full of rocks anyway. That’s why he’s in his 3rd s*** team.

I was watching Lecque honestly. Glad he got to make his NBA debut in MSG. Really wanted him to hit that layup.

Just rewatched...Okobo drove on Ntilikina...looked like he was trying to draw a foul...clearly I’m sure just having fun with his countryman. He passed it out to Carter who was pressured by Robinson..Robinson kinda pushed him, but carter mostly just walked out of bounds. Suns broadcast didn’t show the ensuing inbound or what Okobo did. Maybe Knicks broadcast caught it.

Knicks broadcast caught the whole thing. That's what I watched tonight.

I had the choice and went with the Breen-Clyde. KRay is terrible. Listen to his reaction to Ricky throwing a 60-foot alley oop to Ayton.

I recorded them both. Breen went on and on (in a good way) about how incredible that pass was. Haven't listened to the KRay broadcast yet. I will at least watch that part of it. I assume it was Annie with him tonight?

Skip to the end of the Ayton highlight video I posted above. Classic K-Ray. Amazing play. He doesn't say anything for a beat and then "... DA adding to it." Huh? Tom Leander sucked, but at least he showed enthusiasm.

[Superbone]

Just rewatched...Okobo drove on Ntilikina...looked like he was trying to draw a foul...clearly I’m sure just having fun with his countryman. He passed it out to Carter who was pressured by Robinson..Robinson kinda pushed him, but carter mostly just walked out of bounds. Suns broadcast didn’t show the ensuing inbound or what Okobo did. Maybe Knicks broadcast caught it.

Knicks broadcast caught the whole thing. That's what I watched tonight.

I had the choice and went with the Breen-Clyde. KRay is terrible. Listen to his reaction to Ricky throwing a 60-foot alley oop to Ayton.

I recorded them both. Breen went on and on (in a good way) about how incredible that pass was. Haven't listened to the KRay broadcast yet. I will at least watch that part of it. I assume it was Annie with him tonight?

Skip to the end of the Ayton highlight video I posted above. Classic K-Ray. Amazing play. He doesn't say anything for a beat and then "... DA adding to it." Huh? Tom Leander sucked, but at least he showed enthusiasm.

Wow. The difference in how they called that play is staggering. To KRay it was ordinary and barely got a mention. To Breen and the Knicks crew, it was the play of the game and something to marvel at.

[JeremyG]

Maybe he wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see the pass? Lol.

[Flagrant Fowl]

That pass was insane. It was easily 50 feet, possibly close to 55. On a dime. Even Steve Nash had to change his pants.

[iLLmatic]

I hope everyone can stop hatin' on Ayton (hayton?) now.

Yes. This one game should absolve him of any criticism for the rest of his career.

Hahahaha

[Danimal]

Perhaps we might Lecque tonight?

Yeah, we finally get him out there and then Carter just starts jacking shots.

When the end of bench lineup was in it was just diallo and everyone else was a pg. all I could think was why do we have this many 3rd tier pgs on our roster? Surely there are guys we can sign to minimum deals like Faried or stauskas who could contribute something. 4 3rd tier pgs plus one on a two way makes no sense

Happy they gave Owens the 2nd two way though

[Indy]

I hope everyone can stop hatin' on Ayton (hayton?) now.

Yes. This one game should absolve him of any criticism for the rest of his career.

Exactly. He is capable of doing this (or close to it) every freakin game. That is the reason he was taken #1. If he were playing this way each night, nobody here would be complaining or expecting more. We also would be competing for home court advantage in the playoffs.

[Split T]

Ayton was great and I think it’s important to remember that this was only like his 10th game and 2nd time starting without Baynes. He was also very impressive in game 1. He needs to start. Baynes needs to stay on the bench. Honestly I’d trade Baynes if anyone was offering anything of value.

We’ve had minor quibbles with Ayton..almost all of those were not apparent last night. He was attacking the rim, he was attacking the glass. I think he’s earned some credit here. Let’s keep him in the starting lineup, keep him playing with Rubio/Booker and maybe we can find some rhythm and go on a run after that 8 seed. It’s still sitting there for the taking.

One thing I’d like to point out. Ayton has two blocks last night that were very impressive. He seems to be understanding how big he is on defense. In both cases it looked like he was beat a little by the ball handler. He stayed tall against Barrett, blocked the shot, and more importantly, recovered his own block. Payton got past Ayton and Ayton just stayed tall, arms up and instead of attacking Payton, just covered up the rim. He knew Payton would have to throw the ball up towards the rim, Ayton stood tall, both arms blocking any pathway towards the rim. He’s figuring some stuff out defensively and it’s really nice to see.

He also pump faked at least once

[The Bobster]

Ayton was great and I think it’s important to remember that this was only like his 10th game and 2nd time starting without Baynes. He was also very impressive in game 1. He needs to start. Baynes needs to stay on the bench. Honestly I’d trade Baynes if anyone was offering anything of value.

We’ve had minor quibbles with Ayton..almost all of those were not apparent last night. He was attacking the rim, he was attacking the glass. I think he’s earned some credit here. Let’s keep him in the starting lineup, keep him playing with Rubio/Booker and maybe we can find some rhythm and go on a run after that 8 seed. It’s still sitting there for the taking.

One thing I’d like to point out. Ayton has two blocks last night that were very impressive. He seems to be understanding how big he is on defense. In both cases it looked like he was beat a little by the ball handler. He stayed tall against Barrett, blocked the shot, and more importantly, recovered his own block. Payton got past Ayton and Ayton just stayed tall, arms up and instead of attacking Payton, just covered up the rim. He knew Payton would have to throw the ball up towards the rim, Ayton stood tall, both arms blocking any pathway towards the rim. He’s figuring some stuff out defensively and it’s really nice to see.

Yes, I like I he blocked the shots but kept them inbounds so he could recover them. Blocking them out of bounds isn;t nearly as valuable since there's no change in possession. I wish they all could understand this.

[LazarusLong]

"I like I he blocked the shots but kept them inbounds so he could recover them. Blocking them out of bounds isn;t nearly as valuable since there's no change in possession. I wish they all could understand this."

The Art of Blocking Shots: Bill Russell

[phatmike]

Watched the game finally... sweet game by DA and Rubio had the new dad strength thing going on. Haha. Honestly, I think Oubre being out benefited DA quite a bit - ball seemed to find him easier. I love Oubre, but the ball tends to stick to him once he gets it.

Team hit that 30 assist mark that Monty likes but still had 19 turnovers... that needs to come down because better teams will take advantage of that.

Looking forward to seeing how the team and DA take this win and build on it. It really does appear that the team and Ayton himself are starting to realize what he can do out there. Was gonna comment on the keeping the blocks inbounds but that was already mentioned. It doesn't get the oohs and ahhs of sending it into the tenth row, but it's a beautiful thing to see executed. Really smart basketball.