Game 58: Phoenix Suns (23-34) @ Utah Jazz (36-20)

[bwgood77]

The most impressive thing to me about Carter lately, since I know what kind of defender he is, is his shooting. I mean he's been on fire the last month or so. On fire enough to be our best 3 pt shooter this season by quite a bit. Shooting overall 42%. It's huge. He hit a timely one too tonight to possibly put the nail in the coffin.

He's obviously the best backup PG we have, and that's not saying much since the other two have been really awful lately. He's also best equipped to just come into the game and make an impact. He's a confident defender and a confident shooter. 4 years in college and a year under his belt seems to have helped. He shot ok from 3 last year (33%) but terribly from 2 (26%). He's still shooting terribly from 2 (40%) but he really only needs to be a 3&D guy and he's perfect for that.

I imagine the other two would probably do or look better if either was the full time primary backup for 25 minutes a game and didn't play like 10 minutes in some games and none in others, but we can't really be messing with that now.

Carter should just get as many minutes as we need a backup PG for.

But yes, we really need to address backup PG and maybe starting PG long term in the offseason.

[Mjee]

Great Win !!!!!!

Ricky Rubio .... well done !!!

When he shoots well, we are definitely a playoff team

Awesome game

[lilfishi22]

Maybe it's just me but I didn't like Booker's body language tonight, especially in the 4th. There was a possession, maybe 5min left in the 4th when Rubio played good D all the way up to Clarkson missing his shot, grabbing his own rebound and putting it back in and it just looked like Booker was sour because we didn't end that defensive possession with a rebound and possession. Then instead of picking up the ball to inbound the next possession to Rubio when the ball was next to him, he basically just stood there and waited for Rubio to pick up the ball, pass it back to Book so Book can pass it back to him for the inbound back to Booker; as if to say, Hey Rubio, inbound it to me.

He could've and should've just picked the ball up, taken two steps off the court and inbound it to Rubio to start the possession.

Then throw in the back to back to back poor offensive possessions from him in tht 4th quarter, he just didn't seem to be in it for much of tonight.

I do remember that play and I do remember being frustrated myself, but also wondering why Booker didn't box out or try to get the rebound. He was right there. I saw Rubio looked a little irritated that he altered that shot and then the guy ended up getting a rebound.

I didn't notice him looking irritated on that one I don't think. But he often looks irritated in games. I don't read too much into it unless he's not putting effort in himself and yelling at others. But he doesn't seem to do that very often.

I don't know if he was irritated or not but it's one of those attitude/body language things when you get scored on; you don't just stand there and kinda wallow in the other team scoring on you, you inbound the ball quickly and try and get a bucket on the next possession.

He just kind of stood there and waited for Rubio to inbound it to him when he was probably closest to the ball and should've inbound to the POINT GUARD to start the next possession. It's small things like that which annoy me. Like we're up 15 and we should be putting the pressure on but instead he kills the momentum by having a little sulk because Rubio couldn't finish that defensive play with possession when he did nothing but stand there.

I'm not here trying to speculate what's going on in his head, only just commenting on what I see, what fans see and I'm sure what his team mates see as poor body language from one of the leaders of the team.

[lilfishi22]

Maybe it's just me but I didn't like Booker's body language tonight, especially in the 4th. There was a possession, maybe 5min left in the 4th when Rubio played good D all the way up to Clarkson missing his shot, grabbing his own rebound and putting it back in and it just looked like Booker was sour because we didn't end that defensive possession with a rebound and possession. Then instead of picking up the ball to inbound the next possession to Rubio when the ball was next to him, he basically just stood there and waited for Rubio to pick up the ball, pass it back to Book so Book can pass it back to him for the inbound back to Booker; as if to say, Hey Rubio, inbound it to me.

He could've and should've just picked the ball up, taken two steps off the court and inbound it to Rubio to start the possession.

Then throw in the back to back to back poor offensive possessions from him in tht 4th quarter, he just didn't seem to be in it for much of tonight.

It's better to not look into these things. You never know what's going through players minds. For you as a fan it will just make you mad.

My favorite soccer team is Liverpool and one of their leaders Mane always gives out bad body language while him being arguably the best player on the team. But he actually loves the team and he has stated it many times (just like Booker). We never know how players are and how they react to different type of competitive situations.

I guess what I'm trying to say that it's not worth to speculate. Most of the times our speculations are going to be off.

I'm not really trying to speculate what's on his mind but poor body language is a bad habit and as one of the leaders of this team, it's something he needs to work on.

[bwgood77]

Maybe it's just me but I didn't like Booker's body language tonight, especially in the 4th. There was a possession, maybe 5min left in the 4th when Rubio played good D all the way up to Clarkson missing his shot, grabbing his own rebound and putting it back in and it just looked like Booker was sour because we didn't end that defensive possession with a rebound and possession. Then instead of picking up the ball to inbound the next possession to Rubio when the ball was next to him, he basically just stood there and waited for Rubio to pick up the ball, pass it back to Book so Book can pass it back to him for the inbound back to Booker; as if to say, Hey Rubio, inbound it to me.

He could've and should've just picked the ball up, taken two steps off the court and inbound it to Rubio to start the possession.

Then throw in the back to back to back poor offensive possessions from him in tht 4th quarter, he just didn't seem to be in it for much of tonight.

I do remember that play and I do remember being frustrated myself, but also wondering why Booker didn't box out or try to get the rebound. He was right there. I saw Rubio looked a little irritated that he altered that shot and then the guy ended up getting a rebound.

I didn't notice him looking irritated on that one I don't think. But he often looks irritated in games. I don't read too much into it unless he's not putting effort in himself and yelling at others. But he doesn't seem to do that very often.

I don't know if he was irritated or not but it's one of those attitude/body language things when you get scored on; you don't just stand there and kinda wallow in the other team scoring on you, you inbound the ball quickly and try and get a bucket on the next possession.

He just kind of stood there and waited for Rubio to inbound it to him when he was probably closest to the ball and should've inbound to the POINT GUARD to start the next possession. It's small things like that which annoy me. Like we're up 15 and we should be putting the pressure on but instead he kills the momentum by having a little sulk because Rubio couldn't finish that defensive play with possession when he did nothing but stand there.

I'm not here trying to speculate what's going on in his head, only just commenting on what I see, what fans see and I'm sure what his team mates see as poor body language from one of the leaders of the team.

I didn't notice what you are talking about. I was just wondering why he didn't make an effort for the rebound or step in to box out. No one was happy they got the rebound. Rubio couldn't have done much else he was all over him which was why the shot missed but he came down around the same time Mitchell was going back up. He was probably just mad that they got an offensive rebound and put back...maybe moreso that it was Mitchell. Rubio didn't look happy either after playing that possession so tough. But yeah, I agree about putting pressure on the defense by moving quickly when it's over. I was more worried about the offensive isos hoping it didn't continue and luckily it didn't. He finally knew to get back into their offense that had made us successful up to that point.

[SunsRback4Good]

I went to the gym few minutes before halftime.What exactly happened for us to outscore them by 25+ in the next 26 min?

[Fo-Real]

Instead of a plane ticket home, the Suns should give Okobo a firm loving hand shake!! You ain't got to go home, but.....!!!! C'est la vie !! Au revoir mon ami!!! We will always have PARIS !!!

[sunskerr]

Love the game from Rubio. Flirting with a quadruple double is completely unexpected.

[Kerrsed]

I went to the gym few minutes before halftime.What exactly happened for us to outscore them by 25+ in the next 26 min?

Well we continued to be hampered by terrible officiating (Ayton picked up 2 fouls, Offense and Defense on back2back plays 30 seconds into the 3rd quarter), but the main thing was we played solid defense, kept attacking the rim which then opened up space on our 3 point shooting, and we were pretty much nailing every shot.

[SunsRback4Good]

I went to the gym few minutes before halftime.What exactly happened for us to outscore them by 25+ in the next 26 min?

Well we continued to be hampered by terrible officiating (Ayton picked up 2 fouls, Offense and Defense on back2back plays 30 seconds into the 3rd quarter), but the main thing was we played solid defense, kept attacking the rim which then opened up space on our 3 point shooting, and we were pretty much nailing every shot.

Awesome! thanks for the recap man. Glad that our defense was that stellar in the 2nd half. And going by the box score Rubio had an amazing game 22/11/6/7, Booker 2nd, and Oubre 3rd star. Grizzlies lost their 3rd straight after all star break and Suns are now just 4.5 games behind them for the final seed

[SunsRback4Good]

Instead of a plane ticket home, the Suns should give Okobo a firm loving hand shake!! You ain't got to go home, but.....!!!! C'est la vie !! Au revoir mon ami!!! We will always have PARIS !!!

[SunsRback4Good]

Great Win !!!!!!

Ricky Rubio .... well done !!!

When he shoots well, we are definitely a playoff team

Awesome game

He has been shooting around 47% in his last four games. GS 4-8 fg, TOR 4/9 fg, CHI 4/9 fg, UTA 6/13 fg. He shot one game .50 while the rest 44%, 44% and 46%. As long as he doesnt take 13+ shots a game he is fine but when he is shooting a ton and missing thats hurting the team.

[grumpysaddle]

Probably the end of the road for Okobo. He nearly single-handedly gave the game away in the first half. Wasn't a huge fan of Carter for a lot of the season, I'll be honest, but he's been consistent in what he brings lately. Probably time to just make him the permanent backup PG the rest of the season. Let Ellie go at the end of the season, and let Jerome work on things he needs to work on and get some deep bench minutes.

I like Carter a lot and I don't like Okobo. Just doesn't seem like Okobo improved much from his rookie season. He's still as indecisive, still a jack of no trades type of guard. Carter might be limited offensively but at least he seems to play with some decisiveness and some confidence and he always has a fallback contribution which is his defense.

As long as Carter has another player to split playmaking with, he's fine. It's when he pounds the air out of the ball that things look bad. Coincidentally, he hasn't been doing that lately, and he's looked like a good backup. I'd just hate to see him go to another team next season and turn out to be a perfect backup for them when he seems to have the tools to do that in Phoenix. The defense is outstanding, and if he can continue to knock down open threes, then we're golden.

[grumpysaddle]

Suns need to step it up at home. Got a homestand up next, but they are 11-18 at home and 13-16 on the road. Would prefer they just play the rest of the season on the road at this point.

[SunsRback4Good]

Suns need to step it up at home. Got a homestand up next, but they are 11-18 at home and 13-16 on the road. Would prefer they just play the rest of the season on the road at this point.

I prefer as well that we finish off the season playing all 24 on the road. Watching road games makes you believe we got a .500 chance of winning the game while just 20% chance at home.

[bwgood77]

Great Win !!!!!!

Ricky Rubio .... well done !!!

When he shoots well, we are definitely a playoff team

Awesome game

He has been shooting around 47% in his last four games. GS 4-8 fg, TOR 4/9 fg, CHI 4/9 fg, UTA 6/13 fg. He shot one game .50 while the rest 44%, 44% and 46%. As long as he doesnt take 13+ shots a game he is fine but when he is shooting a ton and missing thats hurting the team.

He's also 5/11 from 3, or 45.4% in those 4 games.

[nevetsov]

That first dip came when Rubio subbed out and Okobo came in for him. The play making went down the toilet and the offense stagnated.

Okobo may not be a bad player, but he's not consistently good enough to be a playmaker right now, which is what we need from the PG spot. We have 2 SGs in PG bodies in Okobo and Carter.

I guess this is why we looked to obtain Kennard at the deadline - he makes sense as an on ball SG next to a guy like Carter.

Perhaps Jerome can be that plus sized playmaker, but as of right now it's a weakness for us whenever Rubio is out.

I see us chasing a veteran backup play making PG in the off season, with Jerome and Lecque as our 3rd and 4th stringers. The rest are gone.

[Saberestar]

The most impressive thing to me about Carter lately, since I know what kind of defender he is, is his shooting. I mean he's been on fire the last month or so. On fire enough to be our best 3 pt shooter this season by quite a bit. Shooting overall 42%. It's huge. He hit a timely one too tonight to possibly put the nail in the coffin.

He's obviously the best backup PG we have, and that's not saying much since the other two have been really awful lately. He's also best equipped to just come into the game and make an impact. He's a confident defender and a confident shooter. 4 years in college and a year under his belt seems to have helped. He shot ok from 3 last year (33%) but terribly from 2 (26%). He's still shooting terribly from 2 (40%) but he really only needs to be a 3&D guy and he's perfect for that.

I imagine the other two would probably do or look better if either was the full time primary backup for 25 minutes a game and didn't play like 10 minutes in some games and none in others, but we can't really be messing with that now.

Carter should just get as many minutes as we need a backup PG for.

But yes, we really need to address backup PG and maybe starting PG long term in the offseason.

I agree with all that you said in this post except for the bold part.

Jerome and Okobo are not playing 25 minutes a game because when they are on the court they usually have been terrible, not (like you suggested) they are terrible because they don't play 25 minutes per game every night. They would look even worse playing so many minutes and they would be a definitive reason to lose games.

Monty can't put a guy out there too many minutes playing as bad as they play. It is a simple correlation.

Regarding Carter, he has had his ups and downs during the season, but you know what he gives you every night. That bullgod mentality is much needed on our team, and that's why I think he is a keeper.

With all the solid PGs that are around the league I think Carter will be cheap. Something like $5M / 2 years (full guaranteed).

[King4Day]

I'm glad the gods saw fit to make the technical free throw not go in after Oubre's head bob thing. It made it easier to forgive. Oubre's game was fun to watch tonight.

I'm not as bothered by it. He only did it because the game was over at that point.

[Saberestar]

I went to the gym few minutes before halftime.What exactly happened for us to outscore them by 25+ in the next 26 min?

A few things...

1. Monty gave Carter all the backup PG minutes in the second half. That was huge IMO.

2. Our depth at PF/C was big in the second half. We would have lost this game a couple weeks ago because Ayton committed his 4th foul at the beginning of the third quarter. Baynes first and Saric later played really well (I would say Saric did GREAT) and Gobert couldn't take any advantage against us.

3. Rubio played an overall terrific game. When he plays like that we are a much better team and he did Oubre's life really easy in this game.