NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 - Semi-Finals - (4) Dallas Mavericks @ (1) Phoenix Suns l Wednesday l 7:00pm l TNT l Suns lead 1-0

[handsome salary]

Thanks to the NBA, the Suns could close out this series before the Grizz/Dubs even get to a Game 4. They would have at least 5 days rest before a Game 1 conference Finals?

[BobbieL]

Yeah, it was dumb. But it seemed even dumber that TNT kept showing Dallas fans at our home, after Dallas scored. There were at least 6 video cuts to their fans, and one at the end when they were getting crushed. At that point it should have been camera cuts to Suns fans cheering on our team.

Those fans were in Dallas at American Airlines area - they weren't in Phoenix.


Nick Wright thinks it was unfair that the Suns attacked Luka when he was most tired. He thikns the Suns should have played more "straight up"

whatever the f&&k that means

He called our offense gimmicky for attacking Luka. How does this dude get on tv.

“Here’s the deal. The Mavs are in a rough spot. Luka’s (Doncic) one weakness as a player is he is not a great defensive player … They are in a rough spot because the Mavs right now have one way to score and it is Luka because Jalen Brunson has yet to show up in the series. It’s exhausting. He’s not naturally a great defender to begin with and Chris Paul, because he is as smart of a basketball player as we’ve ever had this side of LeBron James, waits and waits and waits and then in the fourth quarter, when Luka is his most tired, and the Mavs are their most desperate, he just tortures them. It’s almost a little unfair what they are doing. These constant pick and rolls, the constant targeting. I would just say, if you are truly the best team in basketball, beat them straight up, not with this gimmicky stuff, but that is what they are doing.”

This might be one of the worst takes I have heard.

Isn't the object to take advantage of weaknesses. I am not sure if Nick Wright is just trying to fill a 15 minute segment or such a Mavs homer or Suns hater that he is not thinking straight

My guess, just filling a segment and needs to be adversarial - or at worst, two sides. Poor little Luka - GTFO with that nonsense.

[matt131]

Those fans were in Dallas at American Airlines area - they weren't in Phoenix.


Nick Wright thinks it was unfair that the Suns attacked Luka when he was most tired. He thikns the Suns should have played more "straight up"

whatever the f&&k that means

He called our offense gimmicky for attacking Luka. How does this dude get on tv.

“Here’s the deal. The Mavs are in a rough spot. Luka’s (Doncic) one weakness as a player is he is not a great defensive player … They are in a rough spot because the Mavs right now have one way to score and it is Luka because Jalen Brunson has yet to show up in the series. It’s exhausting. He’s not naturally a great defender to begin with and Chris Paul, because he is as smart of a basketball player as we’ve ever had this side of LeBron James, waits and waits and waits and then in the fourth quarter, when Luka is his most tired, and the Mavs are their most desperate, he just tortures them. It’s almost a little unfair what they are doing. These constant pick and rolls, the constant targeting. I would just say, if you are truly the best team in basketball, beat them straight up, not with this gimmicky stuff, but that is what they are doing.”

This might be one of the worst takes I have heard.

Isn't the object to take advantage of weaknesses. I am not sure if Nick Wright is just trying to fill a 15 minute segment or such a Mavs homer or Suns hater that he is not thinking straight

My guess, just filling a segment and needs to be adversarial - or at worst, two sides. Poor little Luka - GTFO with that nonsense.

Yeah I don't get this at all. It's unfair that a team is beating its opponent? I mean, I dunno I could be wrong, but don't you play to WIN THE GAME? should it just be a tie? Is it unfair that Luka is the best one on one scorer in this series? Maybe the reason we are the best team is that we have the players and system that allows for us to pounce at the perfect time and attack terrible defensive players. I get that he's just an idiot who doesn't know basketball or has a higher power to answer to, but man that's just the worst analysis I've ever heard.

[handsome salary]

A great article - https://www.theringer.com/2022/5/5/23058272/suns-nba-playoffs-devin-booker-chris-paul

Booker looks fully recovered, Paul has been as potent as ever, and a team with no major weaknesses is now exploiting its opponents’ flaws at will. As Pelicans guard CJ McCollum tweeted in the fourth quarter, “​​Damn this Suns team is really good. Don’t feel as bad watching CP and them cook someone else.”

[matt131]

In a game where CP3 went sicko mode, Booker had 30 points, the Suns team shot the second highest true shooting percentage in playoff history, and the Suns mercilessly attacked Luka on defense, here are the ESPN headlines on the NBA page

Front article: picture of Tyrese maxey of the 76ers

Articles:
76ers, down 2-0, still uncertain on embiid status

Mavs can't win with just doncic, Kidd says (news flash, ESPN, Mavs can't win with Luka, period)

Nets say Simmons blah blah

Warriors Payton to miss a month

Celtics get bounce back win (WHICH HAPPENED FREAKING 2 DAYS AGO)

Ja, with one good eye, drops 47 to carry Grizz (again, TWO FLIPPING DAYS AGO)


This is borderline intentional. How can the only two headlines out of suns wins be about Luka? How is there absolutely zero coverage of the Suns?

There may be a couple reasons outside of something they have against the Suns. 50% of the US population or a tad less live in the eastern time zone. Then about 30% live in the central time zone.

About 6% in the Mountain time zone and 16% in the Pacific time zone (which i believe Phx is in now without DST).

And you posted this early, when it was like 8:14 am in Phx.

But with the eastern time zone at 3x the population of the pacific it is typically going to favor those teams, unless it's LeBron, and then of course Ja and Luka are in the central time zone, which is 2 hours ahead of Phx.

Eh when it comes to players and teams they like, there are articles and front page issues put out within minutes of the game.

50% of the US population is in the eastern time zone, but the Suns had a better record than 100% of the league and on a night with only 2 games they by far had the most impressive win and fun game. ESPN had something up about the heat and 76ers immediately and games from previous nights. NBA.com manages to put out their reactions to the Suns win in enough time for it to be up at 8:14 in the morning. My god that's the whole thing with journalism. The news cycls never stops. Not a good excuse. I understand it's probably not a huge conspiracy, but it's noteworthy at least.

[bwgood77]

In a game where CP3 went sicko mode, Booker had 30 points, the Suns team shot the second highest true shooting percentage in playoff history, and the Suns mercilessly attacked Luka on defense, here are the ESPN headlines on the NBA page

Front article: picture of Tyrese maxey of the 76ers

Articles:
76ers, down 2-0, still uncertain on embiid status

Mavs can't win with just doncic, Kidd says (news flash, ESPN, Mavs can't win with Luka, period)

Nets say Simmons blah blah

Warriors Payton to miss a month

Celtics get bounce back win (WHICH HAPPENED FREAKING 2 DAYS AGO)

Ja, with one good eye, drops 47 to carry Grizz (again, TWO FLIPPING DAYS AGO)


This is borderline intentional. How can the only two headlines out of suns wins be about Luka? How is there absolutely zero coverage of the Suns?

There may be a couple reasons outside of something they have against the Suns. 50% of the US population or a tad less live in the eastern time zone. Then about 30% live in the central time zone.

About 6% in the Mountain time zone and 16% in the Pacific time zone (which i believe Phx is in now without DST).

And you posted this early, when it was like 8:14 am in Phx.

But with the eastern time zone at 3x the population of the pacific it is typically going to favor those teams, unless it's LeBron, and then of course Ja and Luka are in the central time zone, which is 2 hours ahead of Phx.

Eh when it comes to players and teams they like, there are articles and front page issues put out within minutes of the game.

50% of the US population is in the eastern time zone, but the Suns had a better record than 100% of the league and on a night with only 2 games they by far had the most impressive win and fun game. ESPN had something up about the heat and 76ers immediately and games from previous nights. NBA.com manages to put out their reactions to the Suns win in enough time for it to be up at 8:14 in the morning. My god that's the whole thing with journalism. The news cycls never stops. Not a good excuse. I understand it's probably not a huge conspiracy, but it's noteworthy at least.

Well ultimately they are going for clicks so they probably also know which topics are the ones most people have or want to read. Right now the second main thing on there is a picture of CP3 and Stephen A for a video about how CP3 and the Suns exposed Luka in game 2.

[cberry78]

The Heat Sixers game was billed as Game of the Night on ESPN this morning. ESPNs takedown of Sarver went nowhere so they now are under order to promote the Suns as little as possible.
Game 1 was “Luka was a God”. Game 2 the Suns target Luka specifically for a historic night and it’s crickets. Shaq after the game was going “they can’t shoot 65% again. It’s a fluke”. Oh well. Suns keep winning.

Ernie had the best response possible to Shaqs comment, something along the lines of they didn't shoot 65% in game 1 so they obviously don't need to shoot 65% to win.

[handsome salary]

The Heat Sixers game was billed as Game of the Night on ESPN this morning. ESPNs takedown of Sarver went nowhere so they now are under order to promote the Suns as little as possible.
Game 1 was “Luka was a God”. Game 2 the Suns target Luka specifically for a historic night and it’s crickets. Shaq after the game was going “they can’t shoot 65% again. It’s a fluke”. Oh well. Suns keep winning.

Ernie had the best response possible to Shaqs comment, something along the lines of they didn't shoot 65% in game 1 so they obviously don't need to shoot 65% to win.

Ernie also brought up they've shot over 50% in every single playoff game so it's not exactly a fluke they shot this high.

[TeamTragic]

A great article - https://www.theringer.com/2022/5/5/23058272/suns-nba-playoffs-devin-booker-chris-paul

Booker looks fully recovered, Paul has been as potent as ever, and a team with no major weaknesses is now exploiting its opponents’ flaws at will. As Pelicans guard CJ McCollum tweeted in the fourth quarter, “​​Damn this Suns team is really good. Don’t feel as bad watching CP and them cook someone else.”

That comment from CJ

[sasquatchBob]

First half of the video where Windhorst is speaking is worth listening.

Watch on YouTube

[bwgood77]

The Heat Sixers game was billed as Game of the Night on ESPN this morning. ESPNs takedown of Sarver went nowhere so they now are under order to promote the Suns as little as possible.
Game 1 was “Luka was a God”. Game 2 the Suns target Luka specifically for a historic night and it’s crickets. Shaq after the game was going “they can’t shoot 65% again. It’s a fluke”. Oh well. Suns keep winning.

Ernie had the best response possible to Shaqs comment, something along the lines of they didn't shoot 65% in game 1 so they obviously don't need to shoot 65% to win.

Ernie also brought up they've shot over 50% in every single playoff game so it's not exactly a fluke they shot this high.

I think it's funny when they mention this so much. It's great but we also shoot the fewest 3s of anyone left, and only the Pelicans shot fewer than us (barely) from eliminated teams.

We shoot 27 3s a game. Of remaining teams, the next lowest is Philly with 33.1 a game.

[thamadkant]

Not to burst anyone's bubble but if we get through this series, especially in 4 or 5 games, just remember this is an insanely good matchup for us. Memphis and Golden State will present problems that Dallas doesn't, and don't forget about a team like Milwaukee who is a matchup nightmare for us.
We can still win, but it'll be far far far from how this series has gone so far.

The irony is Mavs matches up well with warriors

[thamadkant]

Mavs matches up well with Warriors but suns struggle against Warriors.

Mainly because based on eye test, the Warriors wing defenders all converge into the paint for rebounds and offensively suns get baited outside which Warriors then use back-door cuts a lot

[lilfishi22]

Not to burst anyone's bubble but if we get through this series, especially in 4 or 5 games, just remember this is an insanely good matchup for us. Memphis and Golden State will present problems that Dallas doesn't, and don't forget about a team like Milwaukee who is a matchup nightmare for us.
We can still win, but it'll be far far far from how this series has gone so far.

For sure, this series has some real Denver sweep vibes from last year where we played against a team with an MVP level player and just a lack of talent aside from him. Then we got a rude reawakening against the Clippers in the WCF who are well coached, potent offensively, disciplined defensively and deep, with the key difference this year being the Grizzlies and Warriors both have an MVP level player.

One game at a time, one series at a time. Don't get too high and don't get too low

[spanishninja]

Not to burst anyone's bubble but if we get through this series, especially in 4 or 5 games, just remember this is an insanely good matchup for us. Memphis and Golden State will present problems that Dallas doesn't, and don't forget about a team like Milwaukee who is a matchup nightmare for us.
We can still win, but it'll be far far far from how this series has gone so far.

For sure, this series has some real Denver sweep vibes from last year where we played against a team with an MVP level player and just a lack of talent aside from him. Then we got a rude reawakening against the Clippers in the WCF who are well coached, potent offensively, disciplined defensively and deep, with the key difference this year being the Grizzlies and Warriors both have an MVP level player.

One game at a time, one series at a time. Don't get too high and don't get too low

same feeling here. hope we dont get complacent should this end up being a short series. and hopefully the other series goes to 7 and whoever advances will be more exhausted.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM Forums mobile app

[cberry78]

Not to burst anyone's bubble but if we get through this series, especially in 4 or 5 games, just remember this is an insanely good matchup for us. Memphis and Golden State will present problems that Dallas doesn't, and don't forget about a team like Milwaukee who is a matchup nightmare for us.
We can still win, but it'll be far far far from how this series has gone so far.

For sure, this series has some real Denver sweep vibes from last year where we played against a team with an MVP level player and just a lack of talent aside from him. Then we got a rude reawakening against the Clippers in the WCF who are well coached, potent offensively, disciplined defensively and deep, with the key difference this year being the Grizzlies and Warriors both have an MVP level player.

One game at a time, one series at a time. Don't get too high and don't get too low

same feeling here. hope we dont get complacent should this end up being a short series. and hopefully the other series goes to 7 and whoever advances will be more exhausted.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM Forums mobile app

With CP3, Book, and Crowder driving this team I don't see any real chance of this team getting complacent for more than a couple of plays this year.

[starbosa10]

Not to burst anyone's bubble but if we get through this series, especially in 4 or 5 games, just remember this is an insanely good matchup for us. Memphis and Golden State will present problems that Dallas doesn't, and don't forget about a team like Milwaukee who is a matchup nightmare for us.
We can still win, but it'll be far far far from how this series has gone so far.

For sure, this series has some real Denver sweep vibes from last year where we played against a team with an MVP level player and just a lack of talent aside from him. Then we got a rude reawakening against the Clippers in the WCF who are well coached, potent offensively, disciplined defensively and deep, with the key difference this year being the Grizzlies and Warriors both have an MVP level player.

One game at a time, one series at a time. Don't get too high and don't get too low

same feeling here. hope we dont get complacent should this end up being a short series. and hopefully the other series goes to 7 and whoever advances will be more exhausted.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM Forums mobile app

After the experience of being up 2-0 in the Finals then losing 4 straight, I really don't think this team takes anything for granted. During CP3's post game interview he even said something along the lines of we've just done what we're supposed to do (in regards to winning the first two at home)

[SkyBill40]

Mavs matches up well with Warriors but suns struggle against Warriors.

Mainly because based on eye test, the Warriors wing defenders all converge into the paint for rebounds and offensively suns get baited outside which Warriors then use back-door cuts a lot

I wouldn't say we "struggle" with GS. We're built in the same vein and closing out and defending their shooters is the only spot we really have any issues with. We did split the season series with them after all.

[spanishninja]

For sure, this series has some real Denver sweep vibes from last year where we played against a team with an MVP level player and just a lack of talent aside from him. Then we got a rude reawakening against the Clippers in the WCF who are well coached, potent offensively, disciplined defensively and deep, with the key difference this year being the Grizzlies and Warriors both have an MVP level player.

One game at a time, one series at a time. Don't get too high and don't get too low

same feeling here. hope we dont get complacent should this end up being a short series. and hopefully the other series goes to 7 and whoever advances will be more exhausted.

Sent from my SM-G781U using RealGM Forums mobile app

After the experience of being up 2-0 in the Finals then losing 4 straight, I really don't think this team takes anything for granted. During CP3's post game interview he even said something along the lines of we've just done what we're supposed to do (in regards to winning the first two at home)

I dunno. g4 from the pels series makes me believe we are not immune to lapses in effort.