Game 14: Denver Nuggets (7-7) @ Phoenix Suns (8-5) l Friday l 8:00pm l ESPN l FSAZ

[Revived]

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Thought the Suns were paying $44 million for CP3 to fix these issues in the clutch time.

[SuperSunsFan]

i think James Jones f**ked up with the CP3 trade. I want Rubio back and i am not trolling. the trade was basically Kelly, Rubio and capspace that could have been used to sign Wood/Grant for CP and Crowder, only things CP better than Rubio theoretically was being a better 3 point shooter and more crutch but if he isn't doing doing those things rubio is better, especially at pushing the pace and having much better chemistry with Book and Ayton.

[Keith_myath]

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?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

Why you posting this?
I posted the same thing <1min after Booker did it.

[Bogyo]

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Thought the Suns were paying $44 million for CP3 to fix these issues in the clutch time.

Said it before, and will say it again until it catches a bit bigger audiance, even at the cost of sounding like a broken record.

Chris Paul is done. Not like done-done, but he has more than a 1000 games in his legs, and is old. He can only do about 85% of what he did - even last season. While that is still a very good player, it's not much above average. His shots are not falling becouse his legs are not there anymore, this will not get better, it will only get worse. And I'm not even hating on the guy. I think he is still a valuable starter overall - it's just his experience is keeping him in games, becouse his play doesn't justify it at this point really. By the numbers he is something of an average starting point guard. His assist numbers are good - maybe a bit of a byproduct of having the ball in his hands all the time, playing his way all the time, and having good players next to him to feed. But all of the other numbers a bit down, despite minutes being roughly the same, or even a bit more than previous couple seasons. The end is near. The signs are there, it's just not fully visible yet. But I could argue that us pissing away all these leads and close games are a visible sign that he is not what he used to be, or what JJ expected him to be after his last season in OKC. Tough luck, but Sunsy.

(Sidenote: I really think he will have 2 of his worst shooting season this year and next, with his lowest scoring averages too and then he'll call it quits - maybe sign a really small 1-2 yrd deal to chase a ring somewhere).

This does not mean that we won't go to the playoffs or anything like that. Just stating the fact that hasn't really caught on in general population, not even on this board (with a few exemptions) , and not a mention of it in national media. Same time next year it will be there too.

[Keith_myath]

People are expecting a peak Paul and it's embarrassing if you're expecting that and demanding a Rubio trade because he's not peak Paul.

In the first half he was instrumental in our fast start. It was our bench and lack of a shooting option that slowed us down. It wasn't Paul. Johnson needs to go back to the bench group. We need to trade for another shooter who can do more than Galloway and is a more reliable outside shot than Saric and/or Frank.

In the last, he was scoring when no one else was. He was trying to pick n roll but Ayton went back to his usual passive play and the rest of the players weren't moving. They were all standing there waiting for a ball instead of presenting or cutting to release another player. That's not on Paul.

As soon as Jokic started scoring, DA went into his shell. That was a huge influence on the outcome. Jokic's dominating caused our defense to sag, which led to Nugs players getting in open spots on the three, and then driving when we went the anticipating block shot jump. We needed DA to get physical.

Our inability to not close out games comes from Booker going hero ball and trying to score ISO style. The snowball effect sees the other players standing around knowing they're about as useful as a cock flavoured lollipop on offence. So this results in bad, contested shots from Booker, or he chucks it out to teammates who aren't in good positions to score. It's times like today where we need a dominant inside man to demand the ball over Booker and back Jokic down or drop a shoulder into him, getting physical with him to bruise him up and tire him out.

We're not a squad that has 1 player to take us to victory. It requires 5 strong games and another min. 3 with good games. Today we had 6 with good games, but no one was strong for 4 quarters.

And FFS, Paul is not the problem.

[grumpysaddle]

People are expecting a peak Paul and it's embarrassing if you're expecting that and demanding a Rubio trade because he's not peak Paul.

In the first half he was instrumental in our fast start. It was our bench and lack of a shooting option that slowed us down. It wasn't Paul. Johnson needs to go back to the bench group. We need to trade for another shooter who can do more than Galloway and is a more reliable outside shot than Saric and/or Frank.

In the last, he was scoring when no one else was. He was trying to pick n roll but Ayton went back to his usual passive play and the rest of the players weren't moving. They were all standing there waiting for a ball instead of presenting or cutting to release another player. That's not on Paul.

As soon as Jokic started scoring, DA went into his shell. That was a huge influence on the outcome. Jokic's dominating caused our defense to sag, which led to Nugs players getting in open spots on the three, and then driving when we went the anticipating block shot jump. We needed DA to get physical.

Our inability to not close out games comes from Booker going hero ball and trying to score ISO style. The snowball effect sees the other players standing around knowing they're about as useful as a cock flavoured lollipop on offence. So this results in bad, contested shots from Booker, or he chucks it out to teammates who aren't in good positions to score. It's times like today where we need a dominant inside man to demand the ball over Booker and back Jokic down or drop a shoulder into him, getting physical with him to bruise him up and tire him out.

We're not a squad that has 1 player to take us to victory. It requires 5 strong games and another min. 3 with good games. Today we had 6 with good games, but no one was strong for 4 quarters.

And FFS, Paul is not the problem.

[sunsbg]

There were just a few here who maybe thought Paul is still an All Star. Most pointed out one could only expect a decline from a 35yo.

There is no great bench play now to compensate. Jae for CJ switch in the starting lineup is not working. Payne is not a game changer after the injury, Saric is out. Seems all need to be available and playing great for this team to win games.

[Saberestar]

Beautiful first half but the Nuggets are great staying in games, they do not care about the scoreboard.

I would love to watch a playoff series facing the Nuggets, the talent level and every stuff is so close, there are no big differences between these two teams.

I think that we lost the game because Cam Johnson's poor offensive game. He did not help the other four starters who did his job.

This one hurts because every loss in OT hurts, but the most important thing is getting back Book ASAP. Hopefully is not a serious injury.

[Saberestar]

Another thing...

Monty had to ask for a timeout in regulation's last play. Big mistake there from Monty.

[Adrao]

I hate losing this kind of games but, at the same time, i'm happy becasue we can face good teams. We need to improve the way we play the last minutes, that's something that a losing team needs to learn and we were a losing team for years.

[garrick]

https://official.nba.com/2020-21-nba-officiating-last-two-minute-reports/ I would be interested how the NBA reviews that offensive foul call on booker.

[Bogyo]

People are expecting a peak Paul and it's embarrassing if you're expecting that and demanding a Rubio trade because he's not peak Paul.

In the first half he was instrumental in our fast start. It was our bench and lack of a shooting option that slowed us down. It wasn't Paul. Johnson needs to go back to the bench group. We need to trade for another shooter who can do more than Galloway and is a more reliable outside shot than Saric and/or Frank.

In the last, he was scoring when no one else was. He was trying to pick n roll but Ayton went back to his usual passive play and the rest of the players weren't moving. They were all standing there waiting for a ball instead of presenting or cutting to release another player. That's not on Paul.

As soon as Jokic started scoring, DA went into his shell. That was a huge influence on the outcome. Jokic's dominating caused our defense to sag, which led to Nugs players getting in open spots on the three, and then driving when we went the anticipating block shot jump. We needed DA to get physical.

Our inability to not close out games comes from Booker going hero ball and trying to score ISO style. The snowball effect sees the other players standing around knowing they're about as useful as a cock flavoured lollipop on offence. So this results in bad, contested shots from Booker, or he chucks it out to teammates who aren't in good positions to score. It's times like today where we need a dominant inside man to demand the ball over Booker and back Jokic down or drop a shoulder into him, getting physical with him to bruise him up and tire him out.

We're not a squad that has 1 player to take us to victory. It requires 5 strong games and another min. 3 with good games. Today we had 6 with good games, but no one was strong for 4 quarters.

And FFS, Paul is not the problem.

Absolutley no one was expecting peak Paul. Not that I've seen. That dude is gone for about 2-3 years by now. I assume all of us here follow the league enough to know that. If you think otherwise you are sadly mistaken. That is why we did not love this trade on this forum. Were some ppl a bit optimistic? Yes. Did most expect OKC Paul? Probably. But the problem is that he ain't even that. You'll see more and more of it, as you can't beat father time. Paul is a big part of the problem as of now, as he is not doing what he was supposed to do when he was brought in.

[Jarlaxle0204]

Still can't believe we don't call a timeout with 2 seconds left. Why not give yourself a chance to win the game. Unreal.

[SuperSunsFan]

people expected a better 3 point shooting point guard than Rubio in CP that could open up the court more for ayton and Book, but that version of CP has not show up yet, Rubio is younger less likely to run out of gas at 4th quarter and is more capable at applying pressure defensively, his 3 point shooting was also pretty good in the bubble so he probably worked on it during the lockdown why not give him more time to see if the improvement is for real. At this stage Rubio of course is better than CP but no the management had to make this deal because they were enamored by Paul's reputation not what he can bring to the team now at nearly 36.

[dremill24]

Defense is still an underlying problem. They played **** defense the whole game and when the offense inevitably sputtered it burned us.

We switch 1-4 every other game and this one where they actually hace a C who can punish a switch we decide to switch 1-5? The off-ball defense is still pathetic, i think Booker might be contagious with that. And theres just no semblance of secondary rotation even in the infrequent instances where the first rotation is good.

[spanishninja]

https://official.nba.com/2020-21-nba-officiating-last-two-minute-reports/ I would be interested how the NBA reviews that offensive foul call on booker.

the angle Dave King showed on Twitter did make it seem like there was a hit from Book's left elbow. Also, there isn't going to be a report on that particular play because it occurred outside of the final two minutes.

[bwgood77]

The big reversal..

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ESPN didn't show this angle.

Yeah, I figured he probably hit him with his left elbow, as mentioned in the game thread, but that based on the video evidence we saw, it shouldn't be overturned..but yeah, with that angle it's pretty obvious. I would have been surprised if he didn't touch him at all because that would have been a hell of a flop and a very long job of selling it.

Where did you get that picture?

[bwgood77]

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Thought the Suns were paying $44 million for CP3 to fix these issues in the clutch time.

Said it before, and will say it again until it catches a bit bigger audiance, even at the cost of sounding like a broken record.

Chris Paul is done. Not like done-done, but he has more than a 1000 games in his legs, and is old. He can only do about 85% of what he did - even last season. While that is still a very good player, it's not much above average. His shots are not falling becouse his legs are not there anymore, this will not get better, it will only get worse. And I'm not even hating on the guy. I think he is still a valuable starter overall - it's just his experience is keeping him in games, becouse his play doesn't justify it at this point really. By the numbers he is something of an average starting point guard. His assist numbers are good - maybe a bit of a byproduct of having the ball in his hands all the time, playing his way all the time, and having good players next to him to feed. But all of the other numbers a bit down, despite minutes being roughly the same, or even a bit more than previous couple seasons. The end is near. The signs are there, it's just not fully visible yet. But I could argue that us pissing away all these leads and close games are a visible sign that he is not what he used to be, or what JJ expected him to be after his last season in OKC. Tough luck, but Sunsy.

(Sidenote: I really think he will have 2 of his worst shooting season this year and next, with his lowest scoring averages too and then he'll call it quits - maybe sign a really small 1-2 yrd deal to chase a ring somewhere).

This does not mean that we won't go to the playoffs or anything like that. Just stating the fact that hasn't really caught on in general population, not even on this board (with a few exemptions) , and not a mention of it in national media. Same time next year it will be there too.

Well when arguing against the trade, especially if we had to send a first round pick, I said maybe "right now" he is better than Rubio but what about next year? And then of course his 3 years before last year he only played in about 75% of the games, so his body had been broken down and I thought he was close to done...he just had one nice healthy short season...so I was hesitant, especially if we had to add a pick and take on 2.5 times the Rubio salary and send Oubre instead of having him available to trade for something else like Gordon.

All that being said, I think people are being a little hard on Paul. He did have an amazing first half of assists and some clutch shooting down the stretch.

It's just we lose an OT game, even to a WCF team, after leading, people need to find a scapegoat, and Ayton is playing to well be the the scapegoat now so it lands on Paul.

He isn't shooting well but it's a small sample size.

Of course he is old, and we knew this, and is obviously well past his prime, so of course he's in decline, but I don't think he's done.

[bwgood77]

Beautiful first half but the Nuggets are great staying in games, they do not care about the scoreboard.

I would love to watch a playoff series facing the Nuggets, the talent level and every stuff is so close, there are no big differences between these two teams.

I think that we lost the game because Cam Johnson's poor offensive game. He did not help the other four starters who did his job.

This one hurts because every loss in OT hurts, but the most important thing is getting back Book ASAP. Hopefully is not a serious injury.

Yeah, I was thinking the same about Cam. People want to blame an entire loss on one play here or there, the refs, or blame Paul despite the great number of assists in the first half and some clutch shots late....but we had a huge lead, and some players could have played better.

Cam had a nice hustle play in OT to get Ayton that bucket after diving on the ground for the ball. But I think he didn't do enough but I think Payne not being up to what he was pre-injury might be impacting us more. He does not look good at all really. Missing Dario hurts too.