Game Day: Suns (2-1) vs Mavs, WCSF Game 4, Sun 06/08/22

[Superbone]

[Superbone]

[ShelC]

The fouls and emotion took us out of this one again. Refs were letting physical play go, but calling touch fouls. We also didn't flop and sell fouls like we should've since it was being rewarded. CP looks cooked right now so maybe he needed a game off. Regardless of the refs, we were down 5-7 points a few different times and couldn't get over the hump. Book forced shots, our roleplayers suck right now and we let guys like Bertans and DFS kill us from 3 (not to mention others).

Our lack of size and flexibility at the 4spot has been exposed in the playoffs. Jae is great but undersized, CamJ is too small and light as a 4 and we can't play JaVale or Biyombo next to DA so offensive rebounds have been killing us and we're getting taken into the post with no resistance.

The Mavs roleplayers have shown up, ours haven't. That's the biggest difference right now. No production from Payne, CamJ keeps getting pushed around and can't stay in front of anyone and Shamet is a ghost. Mikal's been off the past two games too, so the defense has an easier time focusing on Book. Monty hates deviating from lineups and rotations but sometimes you gotta throw a wrench into things and go deeper into your bench. The Mavs are prepared for Payne, Johnson, McGee and Shamet. They're probably not as prepared for Biyombo and Holiday.

Defensively we're not running their guys off the 3pt line. Kleber, Bertans, Bullock, DFS don't want to put the ball on the floor. It's easy to point to hot 3pt shooting and count on them cooling off, but the defense has to be there to make it happen.

If the roleplayers don't find some juice, we're done. And we need CP scoring throughout the game, not just in the 4th.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Think about Chris Paul's last 72 hours.

Just whipped a league poster boy in Game 2.
It's his 37th birthday.
Game 3, 7 turnovers in the first quarter.
His Mother is watching him on Mother's Day.
Game 4, fouls out in 23 minutes. Barely plays at all in the second half.
Altercation between his family and a Mavs fan.

He's gotta be blindsided, but I can't help but wonder if he wasn't focused in the same way that he was in New Orleans. I'm sure we'll never know, but was there a curfew for this road trip?

[Mori Chu]

I still can't get over how atrocious the officiating was in this game. Dallas hitting record number of 3s is what beat us, but the refs took us out of our flow. And not having CP3 for most of the second half made it hard to stage any kind of a comeback. Really frustrating game. I heard on the PHNX Suns podcast that apparently this specific ref crew hugely favors the home team statistically. I didn't hear a source for that, but I found it interesting. Ugh.

The biggest problem on our side, I think, is that too many of our role players aren't showing up. It's hard to win if we can't count on our wings to hit 3s, on Payne to run the offense and make some shots while CP3 rests, and on Mikal and Ayton and others to hit the little chip shots the defense gives them.

And for God's sake, stay home on their 3-point shooters! Let Luka score 50 if he wants to, just don't help off these guys who are drooling at the thought of an open 3. Make Luka beat us 1-on-5. I like those odds.

[AmareIsGod]

Shamet. Is he still on the team?

[ShelC]

Pretty clear why 3 teams traded him during his rookie contract.

[AmareIsGod]

As bad as the officiating was, we missed a lot of shots, Ayton was timid and missed gimmies and the Mavs were ungodly from the 3.

[Superbone]

This is a horrible call for his 4th. They are equally going for the ball. Doncic just sold it.

[Split T]

In all honesty, they probably send Foster to fix the flopping. If there’s 1 real explanation for why CP3 loses when Foster refs, it’s because Foster doesn’t go for the CP3 tricks. Luka is the worst in the league at flopping and foul baiting and I can see it frustrating him more than anyone.

[BigLewy]

Foster will definitely be reffing game 5. He's not doing any of the games tonight, and I think he reffed the Philly series most recently, so that leaves us. Can't wait for this debacle.

[Mori Chu]

Foster will definitely be reffing game 5. He's not doing any of the games tonight, and I think he reffed the Philly series most recently, so that leaves us. Can't wait for this debacle.

We could be down 2-3 in a few days if so. Crazy.

[JJ Slim]

I noticed something the last two games. I swear I saw at least 4 times over those games where it looked like the ball was kicked and instead of stopping play and resetting the shot clock it ended up being a turn over for the Suns.

Also when we started to get close in the 4th we missed 3 FT's in a row, both by DA and then Book's first. I think that was during a stretch when Dallas had gone cold and our defense was actually working. Can't win a close game like that

[Indy]

On that rebounding foul, I think I said this as it happened, but Paul left the ground first and was not jumping into Luka. He was going for the ball, and got up first. Then Luka jumps up and flop and gets a call. There was certainly an agenda in this game. I am not saying the officials were told by the league to give Luka calls, but the 3 zebras on the court definitely decided to do that.

[Shabazz]

The fouls and emotion took us out of this one again. Refs were letting physical play go, but calling touch fouls. We also didn't flop and sell fouls like we should've since it was being rewarded. CP looks cooked right now so maybe he needed a game off. Regardless of the refs, we were down 5-7 points a few different times and couldn't get over the hump. Book forced shots, our roleplayers suck right now and we let guys like Bertans and DFS kill us from 3 (not to mention others).

Our lack of size and flexibility at the 4spot has been exposed in the playoffs. Jae is great but undersized, CamJ is too small and light as a 4 and we can't play JaVale or Biyombo next to DA so offensive rebounds have been killing us and we're getting taken into the post with no resistance.

The Mavs roleplayers have shown up, ours haven't. That's the biggest difference right now. No production from Payne, CamJ keeps getting pushed around and can't stay in front of anyone and Shamet is a ghost. Mikal's been off the past two games too, so the defense has an easier time focusing on Book. Monty hates deviating from lineups and rotations but sometimes you gotta throw a wrench into things and go deeper into your bench. The Mavs are prepared for Payne, Johnson, McGee and Shamet. They're probably not as prepared for Biyombo and Holiday.

Defensively we're not running their guys off the 3pt line. Kleber, Bertans, Bullock, DFS don't want to put the ball on the floor. It's easy to point to hot 3pt shooting and count on them cooling off, but the defense has to be there to make it happen.

If the roleplayers don't find some juice, we're done. And we need CP scoring throughout the game, not just in the 4th.

I agree with pretty much all of this, but the bolded section is the key.

[Indy]

Heck, most of our starters haven't shown up either.

[Superbone]

In all honesty, they probably send Foster to fix the flopping. If there’s 1 real explanation for why CP3 loses when Foster refs, it’s because Foster doesn’t go for the CP3 tricks. Luka is the worst in the league at flopping and foul baiting and I can see it frustrating him more than anyone.

I think it's time to rip the Foster band aid off.

[SunsRIt]

I worked the night before this game, so I was asleep when it was going on. I’m sure glad I was. I probably would have yelled and broken my TV from what I hear about the game.

[Superbone]

I worked the night before this game, so I was asleep when it was going on. I’m sure glad I was. I probably would have yelled and broken my TV from what I hear about the game.

Consider yourself lucky. It was NOT a fun weekend of Suns basketball.

[JeremyG]

I don't understand how Luka can get a foul called every time he falls to the ground. Except for that one notable time when Ayton held his arms straight up in the air. Luka couldn't believe that they "missed" one.