Suns News: Playoffs Edition

[pickle]

Interesting and great that Booker is finally ahead of CP3.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/316 ... chris-paul

One of those things is often midrange proficiency, and according to Second Spectrum, Booker shot 13-for-18 on jumpers off the dribble, which is the most jumpers off the dribble made by a player since Second Spectrum began tracking in 2013-14.

This is cool

I guess, if you shoot 13-18, it’s not a inefficient shot anymore. It’s like a reverse 3-pt shift.

A while ago, defenses were prepared for penetration and post play, leaving the 3pt line available beyond certain point, some teams started to exploit it, by overloading with shooters all the 3pt line, giving us some teams like the Warriors dinasty, but also some bizarre iterations like the micro-ball Rockets. Defenses adjusted and now teams have to execute very well in order to launch those shots. We are looking more and more “logo shots” because defenses are leaving that space available, but that will change if players start to sink those shots more often.

Now, the Suns, having TWO midrange masters, are equipped to exploit the now “undefended” zone this evolution left, the “inefficient” shot between the paint and the 3pt line, and, by having the shooters AND because the shots taken are less contested (like the original 3pt revolution), they turned an inefficient shot into a deadly poison for defenses customized for efficient shots.

No wonder why Paul keeps pushing this year as a title run, because next year we are not taking anybody by surprise, and defenses will adjust to us.

[pickle]

You are absolutely right, but I would compare it to rim shots instead of 3s. Paul is a bit small to consistently attack the rim, while Booker tends to fade to one side or the other and bank it off the backboard when he attacks. They stop and pop that 12 footer much more frequently and indeed league is not well equipped to defend it because the options to dish off either inside to DA or to a 3 point shooter parked outside are all devastating.

[ShelC]

The midrange shot is only inefficient because guys stopped practicing it.

[Split T]

I don’t even think it was ever necessarily inefficient. Long 2’s were the real problem. The biggest change was pushing the floor spacing guys out to 3. Stretch bigs used to space to like 20 feet…that stuff was dumb. As was pull up 22 footers. That 15 foot pull up has always been a good shot if you can make it somewhat regularly.

[AmareIsGod]

Oh wow! Draft lottery is tomorrow! I remember when that was the most exciting day of the year for all of us the past 10 or so years. How times have changed.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Well, I guess you are talking about Meloball, I was talking about how the metrics says that, outside the paint, IN AVERAGE, any shot is inefficient compared to going all the way to the paint, because, going all the way back to the 3pt line, the extra point this shot produces, it’s what compensates the lower odds to make it. And obviously, any shot you can make regularly is a good shot, and that’s precisely my point, we have two shooters very capable to make those shots regularly, but Shel C said it best. Practice is the key, both to be able to make the shot, but also to defend it. And we are taking advantage on both sides of it, a forgotten shot used effectively against defenses that stopped planning against it.

But right now, teams are taking notes about us and it will get harder and harder to use. That’s why I fully enjoyed the most seeing the Booker playmaker rather than the shooter, keeping the others involved was the key to keep LA defense honest, they tried to double team Booker scorer, and in the dark days we would have seen Devin trying to defeat a double and triple team by himself, yesterday he found his teammates again and again on all kind of passes. Beautiful.

[Superbone]

Oh wow! Draft lottery is tomorrow! I remember when that was the most exciting day of the year for all of us the past 10 or so years. How times have changed.

Now I couldn't give a crap. We are 29th out of 30.

[Split T]

Oh wow! Draft lottery is tomorrow! I remember when that was the most exciting day of the year for all of us the past 10 or so years. How times have changed.

Now I couldn't give a crap. We are 29th out of 30.

Ya I didn’t even realize it until they said it during the games yesterday. I’m interested as a fan of the entire nba, but it’s so nice to have zero stress about it…It used to be the biggest day of the postseason for us…that’s so sad.

[AmareIsGod]

Oh wow! Draft lottery is tomorrow! I remember when that was the most exciting day of the year for all of us the past 10 or so years. How times have changed.

Now I couldn't give a crap. We are 29th out of 30.

Ya I didn’t even realize it until they said it during the games yesterday. I’m interested as a fan of the entire nba, but it’s so nice to have zero stress about it…It used to be the biggest day of the postseason for us…that’s so sad.

Fixed.

[ShelC]

[Mori Chu]

They should have ended that post with, "P.S. SUNS IN FO!"

[Split T]

Oh wow! Draft lottery is tomorrow! I remember when that was the most exciting day of the year for all of us the past 10 or so years. How times have changed.

Now I couldn't give a crap. We are 29th out of 30.

Ya I didn’t even realize it until they said it during the games yesterday. I’m interested as a fan of the entire nba, but it’s so nice to have zero stress about it…It used to be the biggest day of the postseason for us…that’s so sad.

Fixed.

Haha, very true

[ShelC]

[Superbone]

If I had to guess, we won't have Paul back until Game 3 in LA where he is currently holed up and waiting for us.

[JeremyG]

Chris Paul’s son liked this comment on his TikTok FWIW.

[Wormwood]

Listening to a podcast with Broussard: says Morris tweaked his knee, and was unable to go in the 4th quarter as a result. He may or may not be available for Tuesday's game.

That said, Ty Lue is a master of adjustments.

He came back from being down 2-0 in both the first and second round. His team rallied furious to 4 straight wins on the Jazz with brilliant X's and O's coaching. I am dubious of pulling off a second win against the Clippers in Phoenix without CP3. (FWIW: when I said we couldn't beat the clippers without CP3, I meant for the series. We barely made it out of game 1 on the back of a monster Booker performance).

[Superbone]

Stephen A. Smith looked into the camera today and said Devin Booker is the next Kobe Bryant while sitting at a table with Magic Johnson.

https://lebronwire.usatoday.com/2021/06 ... be-bryant/

[AmareIsGod]

Listening to a podcast with Broussard: says Morris tweaked his knee, and was unable to go in the 4th quarter as a result. He may or may not be available for Tuesday's game.

That said, Ty Lue is a master of adjustments.

He came back from being down 2-0 in both the first and second round. His team rallied furious to 4 straight wins on the Jazz with brilliant X's and O's coaching. I am dubious of pulling off a second win against the Clippers in Phoenix without CP3. (FWIW: when I said we couldn't beat the clippers without CP3, I meant for the series. We barely made it out of game 1 on the back of a monster Booker performance).

In the playoffs, the only thing that matters is winning. You can't afford to throw away any games. Pretty Wormwood like though to squash any glimmer of optimism around the team. Even if we win a championship this season, are you going to mildly celebrate it with an asterisk because of the multiple injuries to star players in the NBA this year?

[In2ition]

Listening to a podcast with Broussard: says Morris tweaked his knee, and was unable to go in the 4th quarter as a result. He may or may not be available for Tuesday's game.

That said, Ty Lue is a master of adjustments.

He came back from being down 2-0 in both the first and second round. His team rallied furious to 4 straight wins on the Jazz with brilliant X's and O's coaching. I am dubious of pulling off a second win against the Clippers in Phoenix without CP3. (FWIW: when I said we couldn't beat the clippers without CP3, I meant for the series. We barely made it out of game 1 on the back of a monster Booker performance).

Yeah, if they continue to let the Clippers shoot over 42% and hit 20 3s, it's going to be tough to beat them. They can't let Mann shoot wide open 3s, that's essentially all he can do offensively, unless you don't account for him on the offensive glass, then he's opportunistic.

I think the Suns will be ready for the Clippers sneaky pickups full court to induce cheap steals. This helped generate around at least 10 pts they may not have had otherwise. I expect Jae to watch his lazy passes now. Although, you may expect the Clippers to pickup Booker earlier with a double to take him out of the game.