Playoffs Round 1, Game 6: Phoenix Suns (3-2) @ New Orleans Pelicans, Thurs 04/28/22

[Superbone]

Has Book confirmed he's good after playing tonight?

[ShelC]

[ShelC]

Very happy this series is over. Pels are tough young team on the rise and should be a problem next year if they stay the course. Good test for us in the 1st round. Hard fought, chippy and competitive, the fans were into it, great coaching on both sides and a lot of different players stepped up throughout the series. As stressful as it was at times, it was cool seeing some new faces in the playoffs.

CP's getting all the attention and rightfully so but DA was just as huge with Book out. His midrange jumper really came on in this series to where it was automatic. That'll help open up the low post offense and some dribble drive moves while clearing out opposing centers. CP and DA were 24-26 on FGs, just unreal.

Mikal started off a little quiet but came up huge with some jumpers and that big steal on CJ. Our guys just know how and when to step up in the big moments. The game came down to like 2 possessions and the Mikal steal was one of them.

CamJ had a better game offensively and we needed it because the rest of the bench was a no-show. Gotta figure out how to get Payne and Shamet going again because we can't sustain throughout the playoffs with our starters playing 35+ each game. We're almost down to 6 man rotation.

Jae catches a lot of heat when his shot is off but he's still the heart of our defensive identity. He comes up big when it matters and feeds off the crowd and all the shit-talking, which the rest of the team feeds off of as well. The ultimate glue-guy and defensive role player.

Book looked fine and I like how Monty saved him for the 4th. A little unorthodox and Monty seemed to get outcoached at times with matchups but it worked out.

[Mori Chu]

Proud of our guys for gutting out the win and closing out this surprisingly tough series. I am worried, though. Our 3-point shooting has really dried up, and almost all of our bench is AWOL. I don't think we can win a title if we don't figure these things out. Plus Booker certainly didn't look 100% last night, so he'll have to rest up and get better for us to have a chance.

I do think we can beat the Mavs, but how are we going to beat teams like the Warriors, Bucks, Celtics, etc. with the team in its current state? I'm a little concerned.

[AmareIsGod]

I'm less worried about Dallas than New Orleans.

[iLLmatic]

I'm less worried about Dallas than New Orleans.

Me too but I'll be honest, I haven't watched a lot of Dallas basketball lately

[bajanguy008]

Made it through the 2nd half listening to Reggie
Now I'm here watching over the full game listening to New Orleans broadcast
Being a Sicko lol

[AmareIsGod]

Made it through the 2nd half listening to Reggie
Now I'm here watching over the full game listening to New Orleans broadcast
Being a Sicko lol

Love it! I'd do the same if I could.

[bajanguy008]

Made it through the 2nd half listening to Reggie
Now I'm here watching over the full game listening to New Orleans broadcast
Being a Sicko lol

Love it! I'd do the same if I could.

They are usually Ok but some bias creeping into the broadcast cause they really wanted their guys to win. They said McCollum play was just a hard playoff foul, then chimed in the problem is playoff fouls don't exist anymore.
Lol I'm watching in parts

They didn't complain about Jonas foul trouble, said he needs to be smarter. Curious to see what they will say about CJ foul trouble but honestly they been fairly objective and really talking up DA.
They were some happy campers going into HT because they obviously were looking at their 3rd quarters for the series so I will check the 2nd half later

[Split T]

I only caught the 4th Q live, so I think I’ll rewatch the whole game tonight.

[Mori Chu]

I need a bit of a scouting report on Dallas. How scary are they? Who on their team do you think will give us trouble? Who's overrated? Which of our guys is likely to go off against them, and who will probably struggle? Etc. For example I'm curious how Ayton is likely to do against their bigs. Ayton in the past seems to "get up" for games against other prominent bigs like Embiid or Jokic and less so for teams without a dominant center. Will he go back into his shell against Dallas's centers?

[In2ition]

I think that DA will get up for games against Luka. He doesn't need there to be a prominent center in this matchup. Just my opinion, based on how the Suns and Ayton have played vs. Luka since they were both drafted.

That being said, Dallas is a much better team since their trade of KP. Both their offense and defense improved after the deadline. This is going to be a tough matchup, as the Suns have struggled vs Dinwiddie as a tall and long PG/SG.

[Indy]

I need a bit of a scouting report on Dallas. How scary are they? Who on their team do you think will give us trouble? Who's overrated? Which of our guys is likely to go off against them, and who will probably struggle? Etc. For example I'm curious how Ayton is likely to do against their bigs. Ayton in the past seems to "get up" for games against other prominent bigs like Embiid or Jokic and less so for teams without a dominant center. Will he go back into his shell against Dallas's centers?

Dallas hasn't won 4 games against us since they drafted Luka. We are 11-3. Two of those 3 came in Ayton's rookie season when we only won 19 games.

In the losses, no Devin Booker for 1, no Ayton for 1, and 1 with no Devin Booker or Ayton.

[Cap]

I need a bit of a scouting report on Dallas. How scary are they? Who on their team do you think will give us trouble? Who's overrated? Which of our guys is likely to go off against them, and who will probably struggle? Etc. For example I'm curious how Ayton is likely to do against their bigs. Ayton in the past seems to "get up" for games against other prominent bigs like Embiid or Jokic and less so for teams without a dominant center. Will he go back into his shell against Dallas's centers?

Dallas hasn't won 4 games against us since they drafted Luka. We are 11-3. Two of those 3 came in Ayton's rookie season when we only won 19 games.

In the losses, no Devin Booker for 1, no Ayton for 1, and 1 with no Devin Booker or Ayton.

They also haven’t been this good since they drafted Luka. 30-11 second half of the season. We were one of the 11, but it was tough. Tie game with three minutes to play.

[Nodack]

Brunson has been very aggressive and playing well. He’s #2 on my list to contend with.

The cold Suns bench can just as easily heat up the next series.

[bajanguy008]

Brunson has been very aggressive and playing well. He’s #2 on my list to contend with.

The cold Suns bench can just as easily heat up the next series.

Agreed
I just shared my thoughts on that in the other thread, didn't realize it's being discussed here

[JJ Slim]

Mikal started off a little quiet but came up huge with some jumpers and that big steal on CJ. Our guys just know how and when to step up in the big moments. The game came down to like 2 possessions and the Mikal steal was one of them.

DA was a big part of that steal helping put the pressure that forced the steal.

[JJ Slim]

I was nervous about Booker playing last night. He didn't make a huge impact except for that 3 at the end to put it out of reach for them. Most importantly though is that he got some burn time to get the "first game back" rust off instead of doing it in the first game with a new opponent.

[Mori Chu]

Larry Nance, why did you have to have unprotected sex!?

This was my favorite post of the whole game thread (narrowly edging out Indy's stream of consciousness). Laughed out loud.

[Indy]

Larry Nance, why did you have to have unprotected sex!?

This was my favorite post of the whole game thread (narrowly edging out Indy's stream of consciousness). Laughed out loud.

agreed.