Game 1: Dallas Mavericks @ Phoenix Suns l Wednesday l 8:30pm l ESPN

[Qwigglez]

Yeah when I saw the ESPN clip and even read the comments, everyone is talking about the Mavericks. I think Perkins was right too, even mentioned how the refs bailed out Luka. What's crazy is if you just look at the box score you'd think this was a fairly officiated game, however if you actually watched you'd see how many times the refs killed the Suns momentum by calling offensive fouls and made up calls for Luka. I will give THJ some credit because I think we definitely would have blown them out had he not hit those back to back 3's in the 3rd. That really swung the game in their favor.
Anyway, I think we just completely outclass the Mavs. Even when they get KP back, we should still beat them easily.

[Bogyo]

Yeah when I saw the ESPN clip and even read the comments, everyone is talking about the Mavericks. I think Perkins was right too, even mentioned how the refs bailed out Luka. What's crazy is if you just look at the box score you'd think this was a fairly officiated game, however if you actually watched you'd see how many times the refs killed the Suns momentum by calling offensive fouls and made up calls for Luka. I will give THJ some credit because I think we definitely would have blown them out had he not hit those back to back 3's in the 3rd. That really swung the game in their favor.
Anyway, I think we just completely outclass the Mavs. Even when they get KP back, we should still beat them easily.

BINGOOOOO!!! A game can be officiated badly / very biased, even though the FTA's are about the same, and there is no real bad call in the last 5 minutes. 1 "superstar" call in each of the first 3 quarters at the "right" time can completely change the course of the game, wether its's the 3rd call on your starting big as an offensive foul, taking the ball away from you and not allowing to try to score, or stopping a scoring drought for them and putting Jordan/Lebron/Luka on the line, not calling an obvious defensive foul on Rodman/Bowen becouse they are allowed to kick/punch/push/bite/pinch becouse they are "such great defenders"... Just ask Donaghy.

[denial]

I love Bridges. I was specifically rebutting the notion that Book "forced" things tonight. And I used a comparison to everyone's (well deserved) glowing reviews of Bridges' game as a reference point.
I am definitely not saying Book outplayed Bridges or was more efficient than him.

I feel like Booker played exactly as he should, but got screwed over hard by the refs. He had 1 trip to the line 11 seconds into the game and then didn't get another trip until 1:44 left in the 4th quarter... That's super suspicious.

I don't like tons of fouls being called either way, but there were some dumb fouls called on Booker. I do like quicker play though, and do wish Booker would make quicker decisions unless it's the end of the quarter or we REALLY need a bucket, but I'd always rather him pass for a wide open shot over taking a contested one under any circumstance...that goes for any player unless they can get to the rim and make it or draw a foul. Typically Book ends up with a solid 2 pt FG% though despite taking some tough contested shots, so overall over the course of a season it works.

Personally I have always hate too much iso ball though whether it be Harden, Doncic or Booker....hated watching Kobe play too. You always see Jordan iso highlights but he usually made quick decisins. I also hated when Barkley slowed things down so much and took KJ's run-n-gun Suns out of the rhythm, but he never dribbled around the court..he just slowed down and backed down the defender and then turned around and shot or passed out for an assist, which is a decent play and not too much iso. I just prefer the nice crisp offense like the Suns from 89-92, the SSOL Suns, the Warriors a few years back, etc.

I know I can be hard on Book but I just feel he could be a lot more fun to watch, but I know a ton of people love iso and the Kobe, Harden, Doncic, Booker style of iso play and baiting fouls, challenging defenders one on one and hopefully hitting that contested shot.

I hate iso ball. Suns led the league in assists last year. I think book makes good decisions and usually takes what the defense gives him. I completely don’t understand why people accuse him of being a chucker or playing hero ball. He shot over 50% in game 1. Nothing like hero ball chucking.

[denial]

I think Book forced it more because it was vs Doncic and it was national tv. I wonder what casual fans thought...or people watching it on the GB thread.

But yeah, spot on with everything.

Book took 11 shots less than Doncic and shot a much higher percentage. 53% to 42%. Who was forcing what?
Book also shot better than Bridges, who had a great game by everyone's account.

By forcing it, I meant he dribbled forever looking for his shot, and ended up with a lot of turnovers because it left him with no passing lanes because he got trapped...or using up nearly all the shot clock looking for something, and then giving it to Cam or Galloway with 4-5 seconds left where they had to find something quickly.

So he shot a tad better from the field, however Bridges took 7 of his 11 shots from 3 and Booker took 9 of his 15 from 2.

But look at everything else. Turnovers - Booker 8, Bridges 0
Rebounds - Bridges 7, Booker 5
Blocks - Bridges 2, Booker 0
3 pt shooting - Bridges 4-7, Booker 2-6
Free throws - Bridges 4-4, Booker 4-6

So overall, with TS%, Bridges was more efficient

Bridges was also responsible for a lot of Doncic not shooting well.

Booker did have 3 assists though (but the 8 turnovers don't make that look too impressive)...a couple of steals though as well, which, I guess you could say, kind of cancels 2 of his 8 turnovers, but even a net 6 is bad.

I guess I’m biased because I don’t see book as over handling the ball at all. The way harden and other ball hogs do where they take 22 seconds off the clock.
Maybe he did it a couple of times that really bothered you? Or maybe I just didn’t notice. In general, I think book, for as amazing as he shoots, share the ball great.

[denial]

Ya'll trashing on Book is disappointing and just silly.

Booker
22/5/3
on 8 for 15 shooting
in 34 minutes. Led the winning team in scoring.
+/- +7

Doncic
32/8/5
on 11 for *26* shooting
in 36 minutes. Led the losing team in scoring.
+/- -9

(edit: not saying Book outplayed Doncic per se. But with the discrepancy in calls by the refs, and Book's much better efficiency, I think he played just fine against the pre-ordained 2021 mvp)

It's just the 8 turnovers and taking us out of the .5 offense dribbling the air out of the ball.

I absolutely agree on the turnovers, but not worried about it at all. Normal game 1 stuff.

[Slim Charless]

On the Dallas side they really need Porzingis back because eye test wise the suns really looked like the more talented team. Luka is great so they won't be bad but I'm not sure I'd just pencil them in as a top 6 team in the stacked west.

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They lack athleticism without Porzingis especially around the rim. We had like 7 or 8 blocks as a team and they had 0.

With what they gave up for him and what they're paying him, a good Zinger is needed for them to do anything imo. A gimpy KP can single-handedly keep them from hitting their potential. There's not really any good FAs coming out that are worth the max. I would've hated to see Rudy or Giannis and Luka together lol.

[bwgood77]

Jalen Smith almost gave me an anxiety attack when they put him in. I’m happy he held his own out there. I’ll give credit when it’s due and he played great considering.

Meanwhile Vassell had 3 pts and 3 rebounds. Haliburton did pretty well though with 12 pts, 4 assists, 2 boards and a block in 30 minutes.

Jalen Smith was a big positive for me. I'm on record saying I would have preferred to draft Haliburton and Vassell, but Smith looked much better than advertised. Especially those reports about him not being able to defend the perimeter and not being able to put the ball on the floor seem to be incorrect. Much like Cam Johnson's scouting report made him seem like a Jason Kapono 2.0, while in actuality he's proving to be an all-around player who's getting better by the day.

Smith is clearly not 'there' yet, but I saw enough glimpses for him to become a good rotation player - which is really all I'm hoping for. He does seem a lot smaller than I though he was though. Against a smaller team like the Mavs it's not a major concern, but until his body fills-up he's not going to see a lot of time at the 5 position.

Suns drafting and player development has certainly looked a lot better as of recent.

Him driving it to the rim in traffic was impressive...that takes guts as a rookie and he picked up the foul to go to the line. Nerves likely got to him at the FT line, but he's an ok FT shooter for a big, at least in college, over 70%.

He showed some other good things too...very good at staying in front of a guy driving into the paint and with help D.

[SuperSunsFan]

I am happy to see that not being switchy or unable to guard the perimeter is probably not the concern that will hold Jalen back like some scouting reports stated, not that Jalen will be good for sure but he is agile enough to pair well with Ayton, he is no Saric. However I don't want him to add too much muscle, that would slow him down, I want him to build strength while stay relatively light so he can continue to be agile, like the body type of Marcus Camby or Mikki Moore back in the day.

[oddity]

I always hated Max with a passion. Speaks like he knows it all and will never admit that he's wrong. Perk gets a bad rep but I would much rather guys like him, that just let it rip from the heart, than fake slicked back suits like Max.

The Suns played great defense! Cam J and Mikal looked sweet. Love how aggressive Cam in particular is on offense. Actually, in college he was in the 97th percentile in attacking closeouts. Seems like that is beginning to show with more experience in the NBA. I want to see him have more plays designed around him coming off screens ala rookie Book in the Hornacek era.

Mikal has so much higher of a ceiling than anyone thought. He can be seriously GREAT for us. I voted for him as our second most valuable player, over DA, in that poll BW made a few months ago. I'm sticking to that. He can be the perfect sidekick.

[bwgood77]

I always hated Max with a passion. Speaks like he knows it all and will never admit that he's wrong. Perk gets a bad rep but I would much rather guys like him, that just let it rip from the heart, than fake slicked back suits like Max.

The Suns played great defense! Cam J and Mikal looked sweet. Love how aggressive Cam in particular is on offense. Actually, in college he was in the 97th percentile in attacking closeouts. Seems like that is beginning to show with more experience in the NBA. I want to see him have more plays designed around him coming off screens ala rookie Book in the Hornacek era.

Mikal has so much higher of a ceiling than anyone thought. He can be seriously GREAT for us. I voted for him as our second most valuable player, over DA, in that poll BW made a few months ago. I'm sticking to that. He can be the perfect sidekick.

I don't think I made that poll, I think bigfoot did, but I have always thought Bridges had a VERY high ceiling.