Game Day Playoff Edition--1st Round, Game 6--Suns (3-2) @ Lakers, Thursday 6/3/2021

[INFORMER]

Everything from this point on is gravy.

It is. But why stop now?

I get the Laker-hate and feeling good about beating them, and the relatively low expectations going into the season, but look at the NBA landscape: there really isn't a good reason why this should be as far as the Suns go.

[INFORMER]

I know that inf had always liked Schroeder.

Not really. Maybe early in his ATL days when he was playing behind Teague, but once he got into his legal trouble and started getting overpaid, I haven't had any interest in him.

He was great for OKC last year.

[INFORMER]

Are we sure Jeff Bower even exists?

[INFORMER]

DA left his hands in Phoenix apparently.

Ayton needs to wake up.

Ayton not looking tuned in tonight :0

It's going to be so awesome when he is making the max.

[pickle]

I know that inf had always liked Schroeder.

Not really. Maybe early in his ATL days when he was playing behind Teague, but once he got into his legal trouble and started getting overpaid, I haven't had any interest in him.

He was great for OKC last year.

What kind of legal trouble? I have seen people mention him as a knucklehead but what exactly has he done? I guess I just didn’t follow the landscape quite closely enough the last couple of years.

[INFORMER]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/229 ... anta-hawks

[Nodack]

DA left his hands in Phoenix apparently.

Ayton needs to wake up.

Ayton not looking tuned in tonight :0

It's going to be so awesome when he is making the max.

So you guys think Ayton didn’t cut it in the first round?

[INFORMER]

He was great for the majority of the series; he wasn't good in Game 6.

[Split T]

DA left his hands in Phoenix apparently.

Ayton needs to wake up.

Ayton not looking tuned in tonight :0

It's going to be so awesome when he is making the max.

So you guys think Ayton didn’t cut it in the first round?

I think Ayton was great in round 1. He did what we needed him to. But that doesn’t mean he’s a max guy. I think you need to be a #1 option to get the max. He’s still just playing a role and it gets awfully difficult to build a contender if you’re paying a role player the max, no matter how good he is at his role.

The Jazz are doing ok with Rudy, but he’s also the best defensive player in the game…they also have a very expensive roster and Mitchell is still on his rookie deal.

[Nodack]

He was great for the majority of the series; he wasn't good in Game 6.

Which player from any team was stellar in all 6 games? AD sucked game 1. Killed us in game 2-3. Schróder had a couple of great games and had an 0 for game too. Players get hot, cold. Teams change up defenses and shut down players and make adjustments.

[INFORMER]

I think Ayton was great in round 1. He did what we needed him to. But that doesn’t mean he’s a max guy. I think you need to be a #1 option to get the max. He’s still just playing a role and it gets awfully difficult to build a contender if you’re paying a role player the max, no matter how good he is at his role.

Nailed it.

The Jazz are doing ok with Rudy, but he’s also the best defensive player in the game…they also have a very expensive roster and Mitchell is still on his rookie deal.

The Jazz are a classic pretender. There is no way they win a championship this year, and I don't think they can even make it out of the West.

[INFORMER]

He was great for the majority of the series; he wasn't good in Game 6.

Which player from any team was stellar in all 6 games? AD sucked game 1. Killed us in game 2-3. Schróder had a couple of great games and had an 0 for game too. Players get hot, cold. Teams change up defenses and shut down players and make adjustments.

Schroder?! I'm not sure why we're pulling him into this: he is a role player and in general has had a very up and down career.

No one is saying a player can't have a bad game. Davis may have sucked in Game 1, but he also has a body of work that blows Ayton out of the water. And that isn't Ayton's fault, but it is the reality. So I think the comparison doesn't really work.

I can't just look at 3-4 playoff games that Ayton had and say, "Yep, there is a max player," and ignore all the nights during the regular season when he was invisible, or soft, or passive, or just got outworked by lesser players. Nor will ignore him having a combined 16 points and 10 rebounds over the last TWO playoff games.

[Mori Chu]

He had a very "Ayton" playoff series. Times when he looked like he is one of the best bigs in the NBA and a max player, and times when he disappeared or made silly mistakes and you almost forgot he was out there. I still believe in him, but he still has a ways to go.

[Split T]

I think Ayton was great in round 1. He did what we needed him to. But that doesn’t mean he’s a max guy. I think you need to be a #1 option to get the max. He’s still just playing a role and it gets awfully difficult to build a contender if you’re paying a role player the max, no matter how good he is at his role.

Nailed it.

The Jazz are doing ok with Rudy, but he’s also the best defensive player in the game…they also have a very expensive roster and Mitchell is still on his rookie deal.

The Jazz are a classic pretender. There is no way they win a championship this year, and I don't think they can even make it out of the West.

Ya agreed on the Jazz. Think they’re a regular season team. I think they can beat Dallas, but if they play the clippers, I think they’re out in round 2. And I think we definitely beat them in the WCF if it gets there.

[jonh]

I want the mavs to beat the Clippers, because I feel so much more confident in beating the jazz/mavs than the Clippers.

[Split T]

I want the mavs to beat the Clippers, because I feel so much more confident in beating the jazz/mavs than the Clippers.

Ya the way I see it, I’d have us favored over Denver, Utah, and Dallas. I think the clippers series would be pretty 50/50.

Now if we got to the finals…I’d have us as big underdogs to Brooklyn and slight underdogs to Milwaukee. Favored over Philly or Atlanta.

[Nodack]

He was great for the majority of the series; he wasn't good in Game 6.

Which player from any team was stellar in all 6 games? AD sucked game 1. Killed us in game 2-3. Schróder had a couple of great games and had an 0 for game too. Players get hot, cold. Teams change up defenses and shut down players and make adjustments.

Schroder?! I'm not sure why we're pulling him into this: he is a role player and in general has had a very up and down career.

No one is saying a player can't have a bad game. Davis may have sucked in Game 1, but he also has a body of work that blows Ayton out of the water. And that isn't Ayton's fault, but it is the reality. So I think the comparison doesn't really work.

I can't just look at 3-4 playoff games that Ayton had and say, "Yep, there is a max player," and ignore all the nights during the regular season when he was invisible, or soft, or passive, or just got outworked by lesser players. Nor will ignore him having a combined 16 points and 10 rebounds over the last TWO playoff games.

I believe there are a lot of teams that would be willing to give Ayton a max contract based on his performance so far, his improvement over time, his attitude on constructive criticism and his unlimited ceiling. Jokić just claimed Ayton defends him better than anyone else in the NBA. I don’t think he is quite a max player yet. I think he is getting closer by the minute and if I am Sarver, I was already resigned to paying him the max on draft night. If I am Sarver I don’t worry about a paying him a max contract and I instead focus on making sure I do everything in my power to make sure Ayton becomes worth a max contract.

[AmareIsGod]

DA left his hands in Phoenix apparently.

Ayton needs to wake up.

Ayton not looking tuned in tonight :0

It's going to be so awesome when he is making the max.

I know you're talking about game 6 but stuff like this tends to go unnoticed since there's nothing in the box score that is awarded to Ayton. Most of this occurs if you re-watch the tape closely.

[Cap]

DA left his hands in Phoenix apparently.

Ayton needs to wake up.

Ayton not looking tuned in tonight :0

It's going to be so awesome when he is making the max.

I know you're talking about game 6 but stuff like this tends to go unnoticed since there's nothing in the box score that is awarded to Ayton. Most of this occurs if you re-watch the tape closely.

From AZSF:

So I took that as an indirect challenge to rewatch Game 6 and see how Ayton played. I only watched the first quarter, but here are my notes:

Played 9:27 minutes

Wins tip

2 solid Screen Assists but multiple solid screens. Also looked open twice on both S&R opportunities.

2 Contested Shots on Lebron James, he missed both badly.
Only once was he scored on: Kuzma with nice running hook with DA perfectly extended to contest.
His man probably had the ball 10 times and passed on 7 of them. DS even got a TO because he didn't want to try to shoot over him. IOW they wanted no part of shooting over him.

2 Rebounds. Was in position for a defensive rebound 4 out of 5 opportunites. (didn't have a lot of opportunites because he's defending AD and Gasol on the perimeter). The one miss was Harrell beat him to the spot late in the quarter (3:29) He subbed out 1 minute later (2:33). Offensively he had zero opportunities due to two excellent box outs by AD and Gasol.

Only touched the ball 2 times(!) on O. Once when he was in his baseline position to crash boards (this is when he isn't part of the play and looks only to get OR), Book shouldn't have passed to him there. The other time Book passed to him in the lane, looks like a fumble, but the pass was a laser, the ball found its way back to Book for a short baseline made 2.

It was a nearly flawless 9:29. One missed box out. One possible fumbled pass. A ton of great plays on the defensive end. Lakers scored 12 points in his 9:27.

I'll gladly have this DA in the Nuggets series.

https://www.arizonasportsfans.com/forum ... st-4515070

[JeremyG]

It feels like Ayton often has low numbers in our blowout wins. Although the rebounding was unusual and I wonder if it had something to do with LeBron reinjuring Ayton's shoulder.