Offense was not a problem at all the last game, we scored 119 points on great percentages.
A Bucks fan needed to come here to remind us that our offense is working perfectly.
The problem is that the Bucks were even better, they literally could not miss in the second and third quarter. Our defense was not bad, we contested every shot but you know...good offense always beats good defense.
Offense wasn't a problem? We lost a 16 pt lead quite quickly. We were taking bad quick threes with a lead, and we didn't run plays. We often go back to iso hero ball, and it just makes the whole offense crap.
Our defense was poor often. We continue to let Middleton get into his shooting motion, and then it is too late. We are not using our players to their best.
We will either win as a team, or lose playing like individuals. There is no discipline from the coaches.
No, it wasn't. We had the best shooting percentage of a team that EVER lost in the playoffs. We have 5 of our main guys with over a 62 TS% in this series and Book at over 56%. Craig at 50% TS% (very bad) and Payne at 47% (very very bad).
But I do think we need more ball movement because I don't know if we can expect Book to have 40 on 50% plus shooting every game..plus every starter and Cam shot at an even better % in last game.
They were simply on fire. The offensive problems (but small ones because they didn't shoot much) were Craig and Payne.
When asked how Fascism starts, Bertrand Russell once said: "First, they fascinate the fools. Then, they muzzle the intelligent."
bwgood77 wrote:No, it wasn't. We had the best shooting percentage of a team that EVER lost in the playoffs. We have 5 of our main guys with over a 62 TS% in this series and Book at over 56%. Craig at 50% TS% (very bad) and Payne at 47% (very very bad).
But I do think we need more ball movement because I don't know if we can expect Book to have 40 on 50% plus shooting every game..plus every starter and Cam shot at an even better % in last game.
They were simply on fire. The offensive problems (but small ones because they didn't shoot much) were Craig and Payne.
Ugh, so if someone takes crappy shots but they happen to go in, then that is really "good offense". We had a 16 point lead, and lost it on a 19 point run. We needed to score, which would come from our offense. We failed to do that regardless of the % the guys shot.
Offensive problems, is not having someone crash the boards, guys shooting early in the clock with no one in position to rebound a miss, running head on into three defenders turning the ball over, not coming to the pass, lazy passes, hero ball where no one moves, but stands by the three point line watching, when Ayton gets a smaller defender on him, he clears out, stands on the opposite weak side block, and allows himself to be taken out of the play. We aren't rolling correctly and fast enough. We aren't setting enough screens, we are not moving without the ball, and we often get caught in the air making bad choices. The offense was a problem, the shooting percentage was not. But we all know offense is much more than one guy shooting, or we would be getting Johnson as many three point shots as he can take, because he is our best three point shooter.
Oh, and they are on fire, because we let them get into their shooting motion and rhythm. We have to get out on shooters, and knock the ball before they get it up to their shooting motion. That means we have to close out faster, and know where the Buck's early natural arm position before shooting. We can't double, or do weak reaches. This has been leaving guys wide open, and the Bucks actually use their bench, and get more shots to bench guys shooting well.
Ghost of Kleine wrote:Alot of things to definitely be fustrated and dejected about. Whether it's the Suns repeated lack of urgency, tenacity, inability to get a critical rebound, unwillingness of them to actually rotate properly defensively and recover to close off penetration, unwillingness to take it hard to the rim to get a high % shot or at the very least to force the refs to make more foul calls. Has everyone on our team forgotten how to take a charge? Or to communicate defensively. Every time the bucks ( Jrue or Giannis) barrell to the rim, We should have st least attempted to slide/ rotate over defensively.
Our lack of size and lack of a legitimate shotblocking presence was severely exposed throughout this series, Yet we choose to ho small and then......NOT PUSH THE PACE!!! We have played right into the bucks hands repeatedly with half court sets. When we actually GANG rebound and push the pace ( fastbreak style offense) the bucks can't properly set their defense. Nor can they recover! Coach Monty though can't even make simple adjustments to create beneficial mismatches. He needs/ has needed to corral his team, get them focused and motivated!!!
This apathetic, easygoing nonchalant effort regardless of original expectations bring exceeded is utterly unacceptable when you're this close to bringing the franchise it's first ever championship! All in all, Yes we exceeded expectations by a wide margin. However, The team putting out such a mediocre half azz effort for at least 3 straight games is borderline insulting. It's like they've just become complacent in their success and are now cashing it in already. The difference between our team and the bucks success in this series is quite clearly focus and effort. The Bucks FG or the last three straight games have consistently fought harder than us for wins, showed more tenacity and poise, and overall constantly have been out hustling our entire team. Only Booker has constantly brought the effort.
Unfortunately, His occasional critical errors during the most inopportune times during the game, have cost us dearly in this series, As have Paul's struggles, Crowders' streaky shooting and mediocre defense, And Aytons' resurgence of passivity in playing small when we need him most to help set the tone against a team with much more size. Our team is unfortunately not quite ready for actual championship contention. I hate admitting that, But it's really apparent with our lack of urgency and killer instinct. We just can't put a team away here in the finals when it matters most.
As a fan of the suns for over 40+ years, The one thing that you can always count on is them getting really close, Getting everyone excited about the possibilities, And then finding creative ways to monumentally collapse and tearing your hearts out. Still, They do have a solid although not championship level core. We have drastically exceeded original expectations, And we may have a bright future, IF we make the right decisions over the next two seasons. But we definitely need to wake up , Add legitimate additional frontcourt size, length, and athleticism to our team. We need high level rebounding and shotblocking!!! And we need a very athletic and fast isolation scorer, That can actually break down defenses regardless of oppositional size. We have some real key personnel decisions looming this offseason!
It's hard to understand how you can complain about the Suns half court offense when it's been elite the past two games.
Overall, The vast majority of my post emphasized that the biggest issues leading to our collapse in this series obviously being lack of overall consistent effort, tenacity, toughness and poise. The bucks just clearly wanted the win more than we did and it has shown throughout. But nevertheless in regards to your reply to my comments about our halfcourt offense and it being elite............
Whilst I do agree with you that we shot much better from the perimeter overall in this game, Our offense was still absolutely in part to blame for this loss, As well as our losses in the past games too. For example:
- Crowder shot 50% from three for the night, But still only took 4 shots, And ended up with 10 points! Not nearly enough contribution for a starter in the nba finals obviously.
- Paul finished well for the game with 21 and 11, But started really rough with only two points in the first quarter and 7 in the 2nd, And really didn't start playing to his level until the 4th quarter, missing shots in the midrange that he'd normally make easily.
- Bridges finished with 13points and 4 rebounds despite shooting well statistically. Another starter with mediocre contribution in a critical game.
**Cam Johnson ( one of our best playoff performers so far ) only had 5 total shot attempts!!!
- Cam Payne only finished with six points and 4 rebounds. And didn't even attempt a three.
- Craig finished with only three points and 2 rebounds on 33% shooting.
We shot great from three for sure as well as from the perimeter too! But the Bucks still made 9 more threes than us, Had 6 more free throws ( regardless of percentage) and they happened to beat us in fast break points 21 to 12. We didn't play to our strengths with playmaking and ball movement, We didn't at all get balanced scoring throughout our team which had made us so successful throughout the season and in the playoffs, We basically played ISO ball too much and didn't get the rest of the team into a rythym to foster a more potent offense so we could win. In the 2nd and 3rd quarters, The bucks outscored us 79-53 ( a 26 point differential)! If our offense other than statistical shooting was that elite, Then how did they outscore us by such a wide margin?
NBA Finals Game 6 preview: Suns’ last stand comes down to fixing offense
BY KELLAN OLSON | JULY 19, 2021 AT 2:54 PM UPDATED: JULY 19, 2021 AT 3:46 PM
The way in which play has unfolded on the court over the last three games, all Suns losses, puts them in a hole that’s deeper than any they’ve been in this season.
Most of all, the Suns have lost their main source of mojo, the signature spice that takes them from a great team to an excellent one: ball movement.
Phoenix averaged 50.1 potential assists per game in the regular season, meaning assists plus all the missed shots that would have added more. That was second in the NBA, and the Suns’ 43.9 through the first three rounds of the playoffs ranked third, according to NBA Stats.
But in the last three games of the Finals, the Suns are at 36 a game, including only 29 in the Game 5 loss on Saturday.
Where that has decimated Phoenix the most is three-point attempts. “I think we just got to figure out a way to generate more threes,” Suns guard Chris Paul said before practice Monday. “If that’s penetrating — it doesn’t have to be me and Devin (Booker). That’s the way we have played all season long, is penetrating the gaps, finding [Mikal Bridges], [Cam Johnson], [Jae Crowder], all the different guys on our team for threes.
The Suns attempted just 19 triples on Saturday, their lowest output for any regular season or playoff game this season. That was after 23 in Game 4.
Williams’ players have echoed him all year in that their defense is their best way to produce offense. It is painstakingly clear when watching them play and it’s even more of a requirement in Game 6 because stops will allow Phoenix to get out and run more.
That’s where the ball will zip more naturally. Even better if the Suns are able to do it off turnovers, where they racked up 11 points in the first quarter of Game 5.
That cannot be relied upon, however. Phoenix has to win the battle of halfcourt offenses as well, and more importantly, keep Milwaukee’s there.
Per Cleaning the Glass, the Suns’ 106.5 points per 100 possessions in the halfcourt trounces the Bucks’ putrid 96.9 mark in the Finals. And yet, the overall offensive numbers give the Bucks an edge at 118.7 to 117.0 because of other factors like transition, controllable factors for the Suns.
The point I think is that yes, even though we shot great from the perimeter for that particular game, We didn't pass the ball or get everyone involved. And thusly we didn't have balanced scoring production as evidenced in the box score. We also played too much iso ball with Booker and Paul, So when they hit a dry spell, it was easier for the bucks to key in on them ( which they did)! Too stifle our offense more.
This halfcourt offense style of play with Paul bringing up the ball and running down the shot clock is simply not at all conducive for our success because Paul himself is struggling and hasn't been able to take over games as he previously did. And without the .5 offense and good ball movement to get everyone involved in an offensive rythym, Our usually potent offense is reduced to isolation plays that are much easier for them to shutdown defensively.
Lastly, Our previously stellar swarming/ suffocating defense was predicated upon us playing uptempo and getting out and running, playing the passing lanes, being Disruptive!! We simply can't do that either if we're constantly walking the ball up the court in a half court offensive set. So statistical shooting aside, This is not an optimal style of play for our team, As evidenced by our three consecutive losses in adopting this strategy. We simply need to get out and run to beat them before their defense can get set, And also beat them in fast break points as well. That's how we beat this team. Same as how we beat the Flakers by playing uptempo, Getting higher percentage shots on the break ( which kept everyone in a great offensive rythym) and allowed us to play the passing lanes more and be disruptive defensively.
But again, The predominant emphasis of my post was on the really poor indifferent effort from the team aside from Booker of course. Their unwillingness to play uptempo at a faster pace, penetrate more for higher percentage shots at the rim and to draw fouls and be in better position for rebounds. Great defense breeds better offense. But we have to play to our style, Rather than this halfcourt ISO nonsense that has already cost us three consecutive games so far!
** Sorry for the late response by the way. Long Roadtrip with too many dead spots for wifi. Also, nice to meet you.
