*EARLY START!* Game Day: Suns (33-28) @ Bucks (42-17), Sun 2/26/23

[TOO]

Fuck it, I think we can beat the bucks.

That's the spirit.

[Shabazz]

I thought Ayton played pretty well today. He wasn’t the problem.

One thing he still doesn’t have a good handle on though, is how to attack the basket. He often will have a straight line drive and will opt to spin into a defender, even in semi-transition. He’s afraid of contact and getting called for a charge, but he often just needs to take 2 steps and yam on someone’s head.

[Split T]

The bucks are scary…they have the best defense in the league and they have a the most physically difficult player to deal with in the league. If Middleton and Jrue play well there is really not much you can do against them.

We tried the whole guard Giannis straight up thing and Ayton didn’t fare too well. We did better the next year(I think) when we defended him with Crowder(fronted him) and let Ayton be near the rim to protect. But that leaves the other guys open and Jrue/Khris have had a lot of success in those situations.

KD and Ayton make it a little more interesting. I think you can now afford to let Ayton take the primary matchup as you’ll have KD there to protect the rim as well. I don’t love our options against Jrue and Khris though. Book will have to guard one of them.

It’s a scary matchup and I think we’d just have to hope KD and Book feast on mid range jumpers and the Bucks miss their 3s…oh and Ayton can keep Giannis under 50..or at least 40.

[Wally_West]

Landry Shamet and 1st for Jevon Carter is still fuckin stupid.

[ShelC]

Postgame Quotes and Videos

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[Wally_West]

I’ll say this, I just don’t know what the bucks would do against KD. He almost single-handedly beat them by himself 2 years, he was correct shoe size away from sending their asses packing.

[Split T]

Ya and that’s when they had PJ Tucker…they don’t have anyone to guard him unless they want to put Giannis on him

[bajanguy008]

I was happy with how the guys battled
Their physicality still made us struggle in spots but I felt like we were getting after them also and had that stretch where we hurting them on the boards

I don't see much mention of Jock contribution in the 2nd half, he was a key part to our 4th quarter run
Ish was also solid
T-Ross was trying on D but yeah gets lost at times and then I felt at times he was in decent position but going for strips and getting call for reaching instead of keeping his hands up. With that said tho I was glad to see him still hit his shots (do his job) when he got open

Nothing needs to be said about Okogie

So imo the others made quite enough valuable contributions making my issue the "Big 3" and I could mention CP3 and DA but I will always be more critical of Book cause I expect more from him of the 3.

I see folks praising Jrue and the fact he seems to have Book's number and that is fair, Jrue is elite but Book was also struggling against damn Grayson which obviously annoyed me.

His 1st quarter was something like brick, brick, strip by Allen, brick, block by Lopez and then also getting stripped by damn Crowder

Again, Jrue did a good job in the 4th but there were many times where Book called for the high screen to get Crowder switched on to him. Book only blew by him once, ONCE
There's no way frigging Jae Crowder should be extended to the halfway line D'ing up Book and he not get cooked. That was so disappointing, it was almost like he was giving him too much respect

After the Mavs debacle the forum got a lil toxic with us all being frustrated but one debate I remember was someone saying we can't call Book a Superstar if he lets him team get embarrassed like that. So for those saying he might be better as a 1B and KD coming probably benefits him a whole lot. Can't really fault ppl for that opinion especially in moments like this.

Again, I'm a huge fan of dude that's why I get so bothered by games like this and it happens on National TV too much. Anyways this was too long a post.....

[bajanguy008]

The TJ thing is still confusing me
Torrey isn't playing well enough to be locked into certain minutes

There were points when I was like Why is Torrey on but the matchup was Portis so I was like fair, can't have TJ on as a small ball 4 now
When they went to Ingles as the stretch 4 I felt we could have put TJ out there. He must be looking really lost in practice

Is TJ any sure thing to contribute?? Nope.....
But again I'm comparing him to Craig "production"

[MightyMoog]

We also have to figure, that Monty isn’t necessarily trying to win each game on an individual basis. He needs to figure out a rotation around the 4 stars. He also can’t play 12 guys. He needs to play 10 now with the idea of narrowing down to 9 by the playoffs. There’s too many calculations for us to figure. Let the coach do his job. Things are going to look completely different once KD is in there.

[Mori Chu]

We also have to figure, that Monty isn’t necessarily trying to win each game on an individual basis. He needs to figure out a rotation around the 4 stars. He also can’t play 12 guys. He needs to play 10 now with the idea of narrowing down to 9 by the playoffs. There’s too many calculations for us to figure. Let the coach do his job. Things are going to look completely different once KD is in there.

Yeah, I support letting Coach figure out what works best between now and the playoffs. Right now it sort of feels like this is the likely rotation:

starters: CP3, Book, Okogie, KD, Ayton
bench: Payne, Ross, Craig, Landale/Biyombo
won't get many playoff minutes: Wainwright, D. Lee, Shamet, Warren

Bench center depends on whether we need Biz's defense more or Landale's offense.

I do think Damion Lee has played well enough this year that I'm sad if he doesn't get playoff minutes. He can give us some good scoring off the bench. But his defense isn't very good, and his shooting is really streaky (and has been off lately). I'd be fine with him getting spot minutes but you can't depend on him. I could see Lee taking some of the Ross minutes if Ross is having an off night. I could also see Lee getting some PG minutes if CP3 and/or Payne have any injury problems.

[Superbone]

As far as the Spurs/Suns vibes from the past, we almost played the role of the Spurs where we're down most of the game only to come back to win it at the end. Unfortunately, we couldn't keep it up those last few minutes and the Bucks stepped up the intensity. Just have to look at it as another growing experience.

[Shabazz]

This game didn’t do anything to allay my Chris Paul concerns.

[Superbone]

This game didn’t do anything to allay my Chris Paul concerns.

They shouldn't be concerns any more. He has had a large drop off this season and this is the new level we should expect. This is our new reality. Luckily, we're adding arguably the best player in basketball to the mix which should lessen the effects of his decline.

[Shabazz]

This game didn’t do anything to allay my Chris Paul concerns.

They shouldn't be concerns any more. He has had a large drop off this season and this is the new level we should expect. This is our new reality. Luckily, we're adding arguably the best player in basketball to the mix which should lessen the effects of his decline.

I have concerns for how he’ll fare against Marcus Smart or Jrue Holiday after a month’s worth of Western Conference battles (should we be so fortunate). He’s just a tier below where we need him to be.

[Mori Chu]

I found it really painful to watch CP3 try to break free from his defender, then launch up an awkward runner or floater. He's a great midrange shooter, but that's more about pullups; he's never had a great Tony Parker-like floater in the lane, imo. I think he's trying to use it more because he is slower and can't get enough separation to pull up. But it isn't really his specialty.

[Superbone]

This game didn’t do anything to allay my Chris Paul concerns.

They shouldn't be concerns any more. He has had a large drop off this season and this is the new level we should expect. This is our new reality. Luckily, we're adding arguably the best player in basketball to the mix which should lessen the effects of his decline.

I have concerns for how he’ll fare against Marcus Smart or Jrue Holiday after a month’s worth of Western Conference battles (should we be so fortunate). He’s just a tier below where we need him to be.

Plus the fact that historically he has broken down in the playoffs. That ain't getting any better with age. I just don't think you can expect that tier you're looking for. It might not be available to him any longer.

[Shabazz]

This game didn’t do anything to allay my Chris Paul concerns.

They shouldn't be concerns any more. He has had a large drop off this season and this is the new level we should expect. This is our new reality. Luckily, we're adding arguably the best player in basketball to the mix which should lessen the effects of his decline.

I have concerns for how he’ll fare against Marcus Smart or Jrue Holiday after a month’s worth of Western Conference battles (should we be so fortunate). He’s just a tier below where we need him to be.

Plus the fact that historically he has broken down in the playoffs. That ain't getting any better with age. I just don't think you can expect that tier you're looking for. It might not be available to him any longer.

...hence my concerns.

Watching him struggle to bring it up against Jevon Carter was disconcerting.

[Superbone]

This game didn’t do anything to allay my Chris Paul concerns.

They shouldn't be concerns any more. He has had a large drop off this season and this is the new level we should expect. This is our new reality. Luckily, we're adding arguably the best player in basketball to the mix which should lessen the effects of his decline.

I have concerns for how he’ll fare against Marcus Smart or Jrue Holiday after a month’s worth of Western Conference battles (should we be so fortunate). He’s just a tier below where we need him to be.

Plus the fact that historically he has broken down in the playoffs. That ain't getting any better with age. I just don't think you can expect that tier you're looking for. It might not be available to him any longer.

...hence my concerns.

Watching him struggle to bring it up against Jevon Carter was disconcerting.

Well having concerns won't help if he can't get to that level. We're going to have to deal with it in other ways. But sure, concern away!

[Aztec Sunsfan]

This game didn’t do anything to allay my Chris Paul concerns.

They shouldn't be concerns any more. He has had a large drop off this season and this is the new level we should expect. This is our new reality. Luckily, we're adding arguably the best player in basketball to the mix which should lessen the effects of his decline.

I have concerns for how he’ll fare against Marcus Smart or Jrue Holiday after a month’s worth of Western Conference battles (should we be so fortunate). He’s just a tier below where we need him to be.

Plus the fact that historically he has broken down in the playoffs. That ain't getting any better with age. I just don't think you can expect that tier you're looking for. It might not be available to him any longer.

...hence my concerns.

Watching him struggle to bring it up against Jevon Carter was disconcerting.

Pestering guards have always troubled him, Beverley, Alvarado and such, the same with Booker, specially if the referees allow them to bump and claw the handler. Every team has one of those "specialist" to bother the handler for some minutes, buy they rarely stay on the court for extended minutes.

The team have to develop schemes to counter those vermin players, and we have recently watched Okogie taking the ball up.