NBA PLAYOFFS: GAME 1: (5) Los Angeles Clippers @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Sunday l 5:00 l TNT

Revived · Post #701 » by **Revived** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 7:39 am

This reminds me of how after game 6 a whopping Dallas gave the Suns, Booker said “It’s game 7, best two words in sports. We got home court for this reason, nothing before this matters”.

He’s too quick to brush off a loss and simply look at the next game. Not saying he has to dwell on it but dude realize that you will lose again if your team comes and plays the same way again.

And I like Booker and he was excellent in this game overall especially defensively. With that being said, he’s not the player that Suns should be going to in the clutch. We gave up the mountain for Kevin Durant for this reason. KD needs to demand the ball and take the shots down the stretch.

The Westbrook block and save should’ve never happened because the ball should never have been in Booker’s hands unless it’s for a catch and shoot shot. It happens too often now, Booker is just slow in the clutch. It’s how he got stripped by Holliday, it’s how he got stripped by Tucker, it’s how he got blocked by Butler and now it happened with Westbrook.

KD is an absolute coward for passing the ball every time he touched it in the 4th qtr after he was ball hogging that **** and doing iso after iso in the 1st qtr and bricking everything. He knew if he shoots and misses in the 4th qtr, his choke job would be all over sports media and with how active he is on Twitter, he had no interest in seeing that everywhere so he let Book take the fall. 6’11 and supposed to be the greatest scorer ever, he should be shooting every shot late in the 4th.

Revived · Post #702 » by **Revived** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 7:58 am

Read on Twitter

This Matt Peterson guy may make a better HC than Monty Williams. He’s worth the follow if you have Twitter btw, he uses actual data and logic for all or most of his opinions.

PittsburghSuns · Post #703 » by **PittsburghSuns** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 8:22 am

It just amazes me that by adding KD this team became a WC favorite in Vegas:

Team cannot rebound and doubly so when Aytons head isn’t into it which seems to be half the time.

CP3 is beyond washed but still plays 40 mins because we have no other viable PG option.

Team has no bench or at least no bench the way Monty coaches/rotations.

Teams are not winning anything with those big of issues.

sunsbg · Post #704 » by **sunsbg** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 8:29 am

LOL, the overreactions. Those stats show KD is not a coward in clutch time, but let's call him that based on one game.

It just happened that only Suns starters played well in this game, but KD was not on ATG level, Booker was not a supermax player, DA was not a max player and CP3 was not the player from even two years ago when he could hit a clutch midrange shot. Lue out coaches Monty, no surprise there. Remember '93 comeback from 0:2 down ? Won't be surprised if something like that happens again though I don't expect a finals appearance this time.

Sunlight · Post #705 » by **Sunlight** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 8:47 am

Revived wrote:

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

This Matt Peterson guy may make a better HC than Monty Williams. He’s worth the follow if you have Twitter btw, he uses actual data and logic for all or most of his opinions.

This just shows how bad coach Monty Williams is. Even KD doesn't get the ball like Ayton hasn't the entire time Williams has been with the Suns.

BurningHeart · Post #706 » by **BurningHeart** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 8:52 am

I must have missed the evolution of fan opinion on Monty Williams. How did this change develop? Just the general underachieving? Did something happen?

I don't follow like I used to but I figured he was on pretty good footing.

Anyway, it's clear from what I *have* watched the team doesn't have much of a heart and soul. Jumps right out at you. Not totally sure it's coach's fault here but again, I haven't been watching much. But it still jumps right out at you.

Puff · Post #707 » by **Puff** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 9:29 am

This loss came down to two issues IMO

1. The Clippers took 11 more shots than we did.
2. Chris Paul was non existent as an offensive weapon.

I had hopes going into this series that CP3 was going to be assertive on offense in a good way and that Ayton would play balls out and dominate the boards. The flunked the first semester.

I know everyone loves to just bash Monty and I guess since he is the coach that is part of the territory but Ayton and CP3 have to do more and everyone has to rebound. We actually shot a higher percentage than the Clips did from the field. We should have won this game.

Revived · Post #708 » by **Revived** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 11:02 am

BurningHeart wrote:Anyway, it's clear from what I *have* watched the team doesn't have much of a heart and soul. Jumps right out at you.

They used to, they traded it away.

PittsburghSuns · Post #709 » by **PittsburghSuns** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 11:11 am

Revived wrote:
BurningHeart wrote:Anyway, it's clear from what I *have* watched the team doesn't have much of a heart and soul. Jumps right out at you.

They used to, they traded it away.

It’s clear this team would be better off with Bridges and Cam. Would make us deeper and more versatile. Still wouldn’t be a championship team because Chris Paul is trash and Ayton is inconsistent.

The new ownership team made a huge move and failed miserably. Durant is a great player but he’s older always been fragile and we were not a contender with or without him. Now our future is completely bleak can’t imagine book won’t want out in a couple years when these guys retire or are traded/released.

schnakenpopanz · Post #710 » by **schnakenpopanz** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 11:17 am

Two things are just painful to watch in hindsight.
Relying on PG book in the PO is hard to watch.
Lack of Rebounding and not having a real versatile PF/C combo to defend and score is not working.
This will get harder IF this team advances to the second round.

Revived · Post #711 » by **Revived** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 11:25 am

schnakenpopanz wrote:Lack of Rebounding and not having a real versatile PF/C combo to defend and score is not working.

Man right when I saw how cheap the Clippers got Mason Plumlee for at the trade deadline, I said that was a great steal for them.

7 pts, 11 rebounds and +16 in his 18 mins of play.

Revived · Post #712 » by **Revived** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 11:30 am

Read on Twitter

Watch the video above.

That’s KD saying he was fine with taking only 1 shot in last 5 mins because he wanted to be a floor spacer for his teammates.

Suns traded Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and 4 unprotected 1st rd picks and 2 unprotected pick swaps for a guy that turns into floor spacer in crunch time….a job that Dario ***** Saric could do.

Frank Lee · Post #713 » by **Frank Lee** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 12:32 pm

Jdiddy701 wrote:…. I’m still confident the Suns get the job done. A lot of easy stuff the Suns can correct.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You cant correct a washed up Paul, a gutless DA, a ragtag bench, an ineffective coach, and an excessive minute load. Not during the playoffs.

Spank us red and send us to bed.

Had all year to fix these things. Book and KD will win us a few games, but the writing is on the wall.

Sack Moronty and the imposter GM Jones, else the graffiti reads the same….even then it likely will as impulsive Ishbia painted us into a corner… and hes not leaving.

This is not an over reaction to this one game.

King4Day · Post #714 » by **King4Day** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 1:41 pm

I didn't get to see the entire game and as I watched the box score, I assumed Okogie was hurt. Instead, it sounds like Monty outcoached himself. Making adjustments before anything was needed. These are things you do to make adjustments during a series. Not before one starts.

Only one bench player (Shamet) had double digit minutes.
This was the worst of Monty we may have ever seen. Relying too much on the starters and getting into his own head.

I really hope, in game 2, he goes back to what got him there.
If this continues though, and we are bounced in round 1, I think it won't be just a select few calling for his head.
Just an inexplicable performance by our coach yesterday.

King4Day · Post #715 » by **King4Day** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 1:43 pm

To the positives.
I do think Monty will revert.
I think there's plenty of film to watch to show what was done wrong. I expect our guys to play harder, box out better, and we'll also shoot better. Any playoff jitters should be gone now (if we had any). I expect a relatively convincing win. In the 8-15pt range.

handsome salary · Post #716 » by **handsome salary** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 1:49 pm

There was nothing DA could do fellas. Securing a stop was out of his hands (literally):

"The ball was just bouncing weird, man," Ayton said. "Russ stole one. After that one offensive rebound they got, it just kept tipping off us. One came off my hand when it bounced off. It was just bad misses."

Jesus_H_Macy · Post #717 » by **Jesus_H_Macy** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 2:07 pm

Revived wrote:
schnakenpopanz wrote:Lack of Rebounding and not having a real versatile PF/C combo to defend and score is not working.

Man right when I saw how cheap the Clippers got Mason Plumlee for at the trade deadline, I said that was a great steal for them.

7 pts, 11 rebounds and +16 in his 18 mins of play.

Jones is incapable of making those types of trades which is why I think I’ve finally arrived at a firm he’s-got-to-go. We could definitely do worse, but how the hell is that guy going to be able to make the type of moves needed to fill out the back half of this roster with actual NBA players, and replace CP within the next few years?

POLI · Post #718 » by **POLI** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 2:25 pm

I dot think we are getting a better performance in a PO game by Craig and a worst one by the whole bench in any other one.
That said, our bench is crap and one of the starters is quite old to maintain that volume of minutes.
KD is no youngster either.
I knew this was not the year. It is not just the roster, but the lack of chemistry due to the fact that they have not played together enough.
We could even win the series and pass to the WCF, but we lack some talent in order to be the champs.
We have a G-League bench where only Payne and Ross have NBA level. We lack size and the PF starting position and bench position.
For a team plenty of forwards as the Clipps, we did not play Warren and Bazley. Okogie played scarce minutes.
Something is not understandable.

But may be the worst thing of all this is the effort point. Westbrook played really bad, but he got 11 rebounds, dished 8 assists, stole 2 balls and blocked 3 shots. Their bench scored 34 to ours 10.
Shamet played 24 minutes for 4 points. Craig played 27 for 22.
Should have not Craig played longer?
Oh, man, I look at our bench minutes and reminds me of the old days of European basketball when Greece would play its stars 38 minutes over 40 with just some 30 second rests so they could win a championship.

pj0tr · Post #719 » by **pj0tr** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 2:28 pm

A lot of people in this thread are overthinking this - rewatch the game - if you're not placing majority (>50%) of the blame on Monty, I don't know what to tell you.

Monty was an absolute disaster last night, one of his worst coaching performances, if not the worst, as a Suns head coach.

darealjuice · Post #720 » by **darealjuice** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 2:38 pm

Craig got in foul trouble guarding Kawhi, that’s why he played less than 30 minutes despite being +14 for us.

I don’t understand playing Ish at all. He’s just not good. I don’t think TJ saves the day or anything, but Ish shouldn’t be on the floor in the playoffs.

The big failure is our roster building. We knew our bench sucked last year, did nothing, lost our wing depth with Crowder/Cam, and pretended “surprises” like Okogie and Landale would be playoff contributors. We’ll go as far as our starting lineup lifts us.

Who will be top three performers for game 1?