Western Conference Round 1, Game Day: Clippers (0-0) @ Suns (0-0), Sun 4/16/23

[Superbone]

Damn.

I saw someone post that the Suns guy was the “counting money” guy from the 2021 playoffs. That dude can fuck right off.

I don't know what that is ("counting money guy"?) but he was a bad example for his son.

[Superbone]

This one’s on Monty more than anyone. #FireMonty

I haven’t read any of this thread yet but I bet everyone’s blaming Ayton Ayton Ayton. Lol.

EDIT: Scrolling through I’m glad people are starting to wake up to Monty’s coaching.

Wanting to fire Monty and giving no blame to Ayton is laughable.

[Superbone]

@GeraldBourguet

Suns lose for the first time with Kevin Durant in the lineup

Not such a fun fact anymore.

[Superbone]

Not this time.

[Superbone]

That last minute possession where LAC got like 4 tries was tough. Ayton needs to control the boards.

Inexcusable. The whole team is responsible but Ayton is supposed to be our best rebounder but he doesn't know how to block out or grab the ball firmly with two hands. He's always trying to tip it to himself. How many times did he tip the ball out of bounds yesterday?

[Superbone]

A couple of things:

CP/DA pick and roll at the end of games is what we are going to get until we trade CP or hire a more ballsy coach.
Bench production is going to be a big conversation in this series, but when you build a team around a "big 4", you aren't going to get a ton of bench scoring. We need 90 points from our stars.

Big props to Torrey Craig. He was locked in and just played great on both ends. IMO this was a career game for him.
Big props to Booker. His passion and defense were outstanding.
I thought Jock played well in his short stint. That's a bad matchup for us, but he did what he could.

Yes, all this talk about switching in Craig as being an issue is silly. I didn't like it but he played fantastically and like you said, played the most solid ball of the whole team. That lineup change is not why we lost. However, playing Ish over Okogie was a BIG mistake as well as not playing JO way more minutes. Should have been Craig or Okogie on the floor at all times.

There's no question Williams got out-coached by Lue in this one.

[Superbone]

I’d almost just close with Okogie/Book/Craig/KD/Ayton if CP3 is gonna shoot 2/8. He had wide open looks too. If this is 2021 or 2022, he goes 11/15 and buries them with mid range looks. He’s just not able to do that anymore. Monty absolutely needs to get the ball out of his hands more. Of course I hope this comes back on me and CP3 does in fact go 11/15 tomorrow including like 6/7 on his patented elbow pull-up.

Yeah, that was NOT vintage CP3. Those used to be automatic. He has looked better before. Hopefully, this was a fluke.

[Shabazz]

Damn.

I saw someone post that the Suns guy was the “counting money” guy from the 2021 playoffs. That dude can fuck right off.

I don't know what that is ("counting money guy"?) but he was a bad example for his son.

This loser.

[AmareIsGod]

That last minute possession where LAC got like 4 tries was tough. Ayton needs to control the boards.

Inexcusable. The whole team is responsible but Ayton is supposed to be our best rebounder but he doesn't know how to block out or grab the ball firmly with two hands. He's always trying to tip it to himself. How many times did he tip the ball out of bounds yesterday?

He doesn't know how to use his body and box out to get a rebound. He's always trying to pogo stick and tip rebounds to himself.

[Superbone]

Damn.

I saw someone post that the Suns guy was the “counting money” guy from the 2021 playoffs. That dude can fuck right off.

I don't know what that is ("counting money guy"?) but he was a bad example for his son.

This loser.

Thanks. Doesn't even make any sense. Showing off that he has $1500 in the bank? That is "LA guy with sun glasses and a chain" douche level.

[Nodack]

Every time Durant touched the ball and made a move Westbrook left his man and came from behind to disrupt him. I don’t know what you call that. A soft double team? It worked well over and over again. They should be ready for that. Westbrook’s man is open. Maybe draw up a play to take advantage of that if they keep doing that.

Starting Craig over Okogie was interesting. Maybe Monty thought Craig could defend Leonard better. Leonard still did whatever he wanted against Craig. Craig had a great game though, so the impact was negligible between the two probably. Okogie barely got any pt. Who knows what that was.

I was excited about Shamet when we got him. He played well in the pre season. A Booker light. After a couple of years watching his play, calling him Booker light is an insult to Booker. Now I cringe when he comes in.

CP3 was on an offensive roll going into the playoffs and by playing as a two guard letting Book and KD handle the ball more and it was working. He seemed good with the transition. He was bombing away from 3’s and not having to expend as much energy handling the ball. They threw that game plan right out the window to start the playoffs. His shots weren’t falling game one. Doesn’t mean they won’t next game.

We need pissed off Ayton who wants contact going to the hoop, not wimpy 100% jump shooting Ayton. CP3 got more rebounds. Ayton, Biyombo and Landale combined for 12 rebounds. Tubac and Plumlee combined for 26 rebounds. Earn you points the way a lot of big men do. Fight for position under the glass, grab the rebound and put it back in.

The Suns dug themselves a hole early and dug their way out of it in the second half. In the end the Clippers got hot from three and the Suns couldn’t get a rebound and that was game. The Clippers came in as the underdog away from home playing against the team many picked to go all the way. They were focused and had a game plan. They took game one because they played better. Game two is Tuesday. I hope the Suns bring their A game this time.

[Superbone]

Welcome to the party, 'Dack. Good to have you hear. All of that was spot on!

We need to start doubling Leonard every time and let the others try to beat us. He was masterful but had it too easy. All the other coaches seem to know to double Book and KD and yet we play Leonard mostly one-on-one. Bad.

[Drewsprocket]

Ya we can hardly blame the lineup change for this one. Craig was one of our best players. He didn’t really slow Kawhi, but no one did. I’m fine sticking with him though. He’s honestly probably our best catch and shoot guy.

I’d play Okogie more though and I think I’d drop Biz and Ish from the lineup. Shamet kinda has to play with no Payne, but less minutes please.

My big takes:

1. Don’t let Kawhi get to his spots without seeing another defender.
2. Know who to help off of(Westbrook, not Gordon)
3. More Book and KD on ball(especially down the stretch)
4. Need to play with some energy(Okogie maybe?)

I would like to see Okogie sub in for CP3 to see how the defense and transition offense can get going.

[Kryptonic]

We need pissed off Ayton who wants contact going to the hoop, not wimpy 100% jump shooting Ayton. CP3 got more rebounds. Ayton, Biyombo and Landale combined for 12 rebounds. Tubac and Plumlee combined for 26 rebounds. Earn you points the way a lot of big men do. Fight for position under the glass, grab the rebound and put it back in.

You know damn well he’s going to show up in game 2, then quickly regress to shit the following 3 games. It’s his identity at this point. Mr. Inconsistency…. But hey, he averages a double double so he’s cool. Smh.

[Kryptonic]

Ya we can hardly blame the lineup change for this one. Craig was one of our best players. He didn’t really slow Kawhi, but no one did. I’m fine sticking with him though. He’s honestly probably our best catch and shoot guy.

I’d play Okogie more though and I think I’d drop Biz and Ish from the lineup. Shamet kinda has to play with no Payne, but less minutes please.

My big takes:

1. Don’t let Kawhi get to his spots without seeing another defender.
2. Know who to help off of(Westbrook, not Gordon)
3. More Book and KD on ball(especially down the stretch)
4. Need to play with some energy(Okogie maybe?)

I would like to see Okogie sub in for CP3 to see how the defense and transition offense can get going.

I love this okogie idea…. The less shamet the better.

[Split T]

I wasn’t able to follow along as closely as I’d have liked, but I think this was what we closed the 3rd with after we took a 7 point lead. We better not see that again. Should never be 4 bench guys in together at once.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

I wasn’t able to follow along as closely as I’d have liked, but I think this was what we closed the 3rd with after we took a 7 point lead. We better not see that again. Should never be 4 bench guys in together at once.

Totally agreed, what’s the point on being Top Heavy on the rotation then?

You stagger your starters and keep a functional duo at all times.

[Mori Chu]

Been thinking about this loss a lot today. It stings. Felt like a winnable game that we blew mostly due to poor coaching strategy, with a bit of blame also on CP3 and Ayton.

The biggest factor in the loss I think was bad lineup management by playing the Book + 4 scrubs lineups, along with giving Ish minutes, giving both Biz and Jock minutes, and giving Shamet so many minutes. Also Paul had a real stinker of a game; we just needed an average performance from him and we would have won, but he couldn't deliver that. Ayton had okay stats but was his typical frustrating self, not being tough and not rebounding aggressively. I am not super mad at Ayton since I have just accepted that he's mediocre at this point, but if he were an actual max player we would have won this game.

I keep coming back to this thought that we just don't have enough 3-point shooting. We should be bombing 3s all game. Between KD, Book, and the rest, we should be leading the league in 3s. But we love settling for mid-range contested jumpers. It's just not winning basketball. I get that KD, Book, and CP3 are all among the best mid-range shooters in the league. But that doesn't mean you just make that your offensive strategy. You still prioritize 3s and layups, then you go to middies if the other shots aren't there. We made only around six 3s all game; we won't go far in the playoffs if we don't change that. I think we should play some of our offense-minded guys like Ross and Lee more since they can at least hit open shots. Book and KD can be driving to the basket and hitting those guys for wide open 3s. That's how you win. I don't think what, say, Shamet brings on D is enough to offset his bad shooting. And Ish Wainwright should be getting zero playoff minutes, sorry. And despite playing all those trash players, we can't give KD more than 3 minutes of rest? And Book plays 43? Ugh.

Random Coach Monty thought: Why didn't he take more timeouts in the 1st half when we were stinking up the joint? Use those timeouts, coach!

[In2ition]

I think that blame can go all around, including James Jones for what he didn't do in the off-season and before the trade deadline. He needed to upgrade the backup PG position and he crapped the bed. Not trading Jae before Brooklyn insisted on him being in the trade was another bungle, as they could have gotten something useful. We knew Monty wasn't going to make adjustments from the last 2 season playoffs, so don't count me in on one that thinks he's going to figure out any possible counters that Lue makes.

For most of the end of the game, the Clippers just wanted it more and were coming from all angles to get rebounds and find the open shooter. Kawhi played great, Zubac was eating Ayton alive on the boards, and no one could keep Westbrook off the boards.

I still don't understand the experimenting in a game 1 playoff series. I don't understand why Monty went with a 11 man rotation, and I don't understand why KD only took 1 shot in the last 6 minutes.

[TOO]

This one’s on Monty more than anyone. #FireMonty

I haven’t read any of this thread yet but I bet everyone’s blaming Ayton Ayton Ayton. Lol.

EDIT: Scrolling through I’m glad people are starting to wake up to Monty’s coaching.

Wanting to fire Monty and giving no blame to Ayton is laughable.

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