Game Day: Warriors (18-2) @ Suns (17-3), Tues 11/30/21

[SunsRIt]

Shamet and Payton need to sit. Even with no Booker. Shamet can’t shoot.

Good thing you weren’t coaching!

Thank goodness!

[SunsRIt]

I have to give Mikal a pass on this game because his defense was incredible, but he was really bad on offense in this game.

Steph had the worst shooting night of his career so we can cut him some slack. But he was a step off on everything offensively. No rhythm in transition, couldn't get a look from 3, nothing off the dribble and even dribbled it off his foot. Just didn't have it on that end.

Hmm. I wonder if the guy guarding him had anything to do with that.

Loved the block on Curry by Ayton and the next time down he gets blocked by Bridges. He had to be more than a little frustrated.

This is the first time this season the Warriors have been held below 100. Solid defensive effort by the Suns.

[The Bobster]

The West standings are crazy --

#1-2 - Phoenix and Golden State are tied.
#3 - Utah is four games behind.
#4-8 - Dallas, Memphis, the Clippers, the Lakers and Minnesota are all tied at 7 games behind.
#9-10 - Portland and Denver are tied 7.5 games behind.

7 teams within half a game of each other.

[Flagrant Fowl]

[Superbone]

A Smith is a fool.

[JeremyG]

Ayton with 24 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 1 turnover, and 0 fouls in 34 minutes, while playing great defensively from what I was able to catch.

Max contract anyone?

[Suns_Dave]

That's the kind of line he turned in nightly during the playoff run. I would have paid him the max this summer, but I understand where the Suns are coming from. With DA, the conversation always comes back to consistency.

We all know what he can do. Now sustain that level of play for a full week, two weeks, then a month, then two months and so on. That's a max player.

[pickle]

I know I always preach patience on DA, but in this game, I wish he was more aggressive on offense. He had a lot of touches around 6-8 feet and instead of going towards the basket I find him going away from it too much.

[Nodack]

Even the announcers were stupefied at Ayton under the basket against the smallest guy and passing it out. He’s not perfect yet. He is getting there though. He had some badass moves.

Bridges keeps making huge defensive plays. Yeah, I didn’t hear anyone on the tv say Curry having a crappy game had anything to do with Bridges at all. What a shame. I’ll take Bridges and Curry cancelling out each other on offense any day of the week. Some points by Bridges is a needed. The most points by Curry is a prerequisite for Golden State.

I agree we could have gone to the big men a little more.

Paul once again is lethal in the fourth.

Shamet looked great in the preseason. He kind of redeemed himself late in this game. He has only had 2-3 good games that were really just ok games. He needs to get his shot back. He seems to get picked on defensively too.

While it is easily the longest in the 2021-22 season, the Suns' streak is the most number of games won by an NBA team since the Milwaukee Bucks won 18 straight late in 2019.
Their current run of 17 straight wins ranks just outside the top 20 all-time but just a few more wins will have Phoenix crack into the Top 5.

Longest single-season win streaks in NBA history
Win Streak Team Season
33 Los Angeles Lakers* 1971-72
27 Miami Heat* 2012-13
24 Golden State Warriors 2015-16
22 Houston Rockets 2007-08
20 Milwaukee Bucks* 1970-71

[Flagrant Fowl]

Ayton played great. He wasn't perfect, but no one expects perfection right now. I'm happy that he's making a move to score right as he catches the ball. I'm seeing a lot fewer of the kick out passes that lets a mismatched defender off the hook. He also had a great kick out pass in the second half to Cam Johnson. He read the defender well and put it on a dime to Cam.

He still needs to get better at setting up his defender, but I think it'll come in time if he keeps working like he has been recently.

[SunsRIt]

Ayton played great. He wasn't perfect, but no one expects perfection right now. I'm happy that he's making a move to score right as he catches the ball. I'm seeing a lot fewer of the kick out passes that lets a mismatched defender off the hook. He also had a great kick out pass in the second half to Cam Johnson. He read the defender well and put it on a dime to Cam.

He still needs to get better at setting up his defender, but I think it'll come in time if he keeps working like he has been recently.

I feel like he set up his defenders really well couple of times. And you’re right, he did make some great passes out. There were also times when he set his defender and they didn’t get him the ball.

[phatmike]

That was fun

[ShelC]

Boxscore: https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401360140

Full game: https://nbareplay.net/golden-state-warr ... full-game/

[ShelC]

The 2nd half felt much more like our kind of basketball, especially down the stretch. We got our stops, CP went to work, the ball was swinging and we cut down on the TOs. I was concerned Steph would shake loose at some point and give them the lead but Mikal never let him breathe. 4-23 from Curry so if Mikal isn't in the convo for DPOY and All-Defense, he never will be.

The other Ws cooled off a bit and then they started taking worse shots because of our defense. And on top of everything, we did it without Book for half the game and without Cam Johnson for the last quarter(?).

Great game by DA. Maybe his best of the season? Was a force from the start on both ends, really impacted the game inside and held his own when switched on the perimeter. Monty mentioned him doing a better job sealing and making himself a bigger target and it's been showing the last few games. He gets deep in the center of the paint to where all he has to do is turn and put in a soft flip shot, which he's great at.

Jae battled all night defensively and hit a few big 3s down the stretch. He seems to always step up in big games.

Shamet made them count at the end but we'll need better shooting if Book is out for any amount of time. I know he's got a quick release but sometimes it looks like he's playing hot potato and just launching before he's even ready or set. He does a lot of other things well but he was brought in to make 'em.

JaVale made a few plays on both ends but didn't seem to have much juice and we were going small anyway. Last night was the kind of game having a 6-9 or 6-10 F/C would've come in handy to match up a bit better, but we did take advantage of our size when we were big.

Elf was forced into action after the Book injury but was pretty awful. If Book and/or Cam are out for a bit we'll need better play from him.

Just one game, but it was a big one and we did it without Book.

[Vladimir_Taltos]

Shamet made them count at the end but we'll need better shooting if Book is out for any amount of time. I know he's got a quick release but sometimes it looks like he's playing hot potato and just launching before he's even ready or set. He does a lot of other things well but he was brought in to make 'em.

We need Shamet to step up...which hopefully gets us 60-70% of Devin's productivity...and we need elevated performance out of Ayton to continue. That would keep the ship righted while Book gets better, and if they can pull that off it leaves the team in a better position on Devin's return...

[bajanguy008]

Finally sitting down to watch the game
I did peep some last night but anyone else with League Pass got the Overtime feature to watch the game from different camera angles and not the actual TV coverage ?

That was my only option for some reason last night but I didn't care and got used to it after a while. Two backboard cam angles and two following star players of each team which I guess that's kinda how I would feel being in the actual arena

The plays almost look totally different now I'm watching the TV coverage

[Superbone]

Ayton played great. He wasn't perfect, but no one expects perfection right now. I'm happy that he's making a move to score right as he catches the ball. I'm seeing a lot fewer of the kick out passes that lets a mismatched defender off the hook. He also had a great kick out pass in the second half to Cam Johnson. He read the defender well and put it on a dime to Cam.

He still needs to get better at setting up his defender, but I think it'll come in time if he keeps working like he has been recently.

I feel like he set up his defenders really well couple of times. And you’re right, he did make some great passes out. There were also times when he set his defender and they didn’t get him the ball.

I also noticed him keeping the ball up high and not letting the opposing smalls strip him. He's showing real signs of improvement. Really happy to see this.

[Indy]

Feels like Mikal has the yips on offense. He needs to attack the rim.

He has been passing up a lot of shots and not just this game.

[Indy]

All this hate for Shamet saying he can't shoot, but he is shooting 38% (only 3 guys better on our team) and on nearly 5 attempts a game (also only 3 guys taking more).

[Indy]

That was not a travel on Cam Johnson. I don't know what the referee saw.

He moved both feet backward before going forward and dribbling. So many guys do that when they already decide to drive before they catch the ball.