Game 51: Phoenix Suns (36-14) @ Los Angeles Clippers (34-18) l Thursday l 7:00pm l TNT

[lilfishi22]

@JDiddy any tips? lol

[bwgood77]

According to 538's projections, the Clips were the most likely team to win the finals about a week ago, at 22%. Now they have dropped to be tied with the Nets at 18%. You can see we are at 5%

[SunsRback4Good]

Clippers have four players ranked in top 20 that shoot at high 3 point %. Batum, Kennard, George and Morris (all shooting between 42-47%) the Suns closes player on that list is looking outside which is Bridges at 41.2%. Crazy how Jazz only have one player on that list (Ingles at 50%).

[Slim Charless]

A blowout loss would be very disappointing. This team fears me much more than Utah in the playoffs and if seed stay where they are we meet them in the 2nd round.

Pretty sure most people would be disappointed in a blowout loss. I don't expect it the way we play. Not sure it's happened all year and we are playing our best ball.

If Beverley and Ibaka play, and if George isn't ailing too much, they are a lot better than they've been too, so we'll see.

We wouldn’t be playing them on the 2nd night of a back to back in the playoffs though. A blowout or any type of loss to them here wouldn’t mean much in terms of how we match up with them in the playoffs.

But yeah I also don’t think we get blown out anyway and have a chance to even win tonight as well. I was just using it in a hypothetical way.

I guess you worry about b2b games more than I do. We have done well on them. I think last year we won a b2b with the Clips and Utah or something like that and had another one with Utah and Denver where we won one and the other went into OT and we nearly won.

This year we are 7-2 on the 2nd of b2b games. 1 of our losses was a double OT game where Cam, Booker and Ayton were all out in some or all the OTs....and the previous night went into OT.

The only other loss was a 1 pt loss to Orlando...after playing Miami the night before.

We also have a ton of depth. If we only played 7 or 8 players or something it might be a big deal, or if we were an old team prone to injury.

Not sure why you are always so worried and want to rest players. Not THAT many players rest overall and usually it is due to being cautious with injuries...and this has only been a trend at all since the Spurs started it about 7-8 years ago when their core got old.

The previous 50+ years it wasn't something teams did. If you had 4 games in 5 nights it might be more understandable if you had a slight injury to sit a second game out before the next b2b.

College teams play like 3 or 4 days in a row in their conference tourneys.

All in all I agree but I would give CP3 some time, maybe max him at 27mins or so. We have a great bench this is a game to see alot of Payne, Galloway and Carter taking Paul's minutes. Everyone else on the team is pretty young so they should be able to handle it. IF this does turn ugly, I wanna see some Stix.

[insomniac00]

We wouldn’t be playing them on the 2nd night of a back to back in the playoffs though. A blowout or any type of loss to them here wouldn’t mean much in terms of how we match up with them in the playoffs.

But yeah I also don’t think we get blown out anyway and have a chance to even win tonight as well. I was just using it in a hypothetical way.

I guess you worry about b2b games more than I do. We have done well on them. I think last year we won a b2b with the Clips and Utah or something like that and had another one with Utah and Denver where we won one and the other went into OT and we nearly won.

This year we are 7-2 on the 2nd of b2b games. 1 of our losses was a double OT game where Cam, Booker and Ayton were all out in some or all the OTs....and the previous night went into OT.

The only other loss was a 1 pt loss to Orlando...after playing Miami the night before.

We also have a ton of depth. If we only played 7 or 8 players or something it might be a big deal, or if we were an old team prone to injury.

Not sure why you are always so worried and want to rest players. Not THAT many players rest overall and usually it is due to being cautious with injuries...and this has only been a trend at all since the Spurs started it about 7-8 years ago when their core got old.

The previous 50+ years it wasn't something teams did. If you had 4 games in 5 nights it might be more understandable if you had a slight injury to sit a second game out before the next b2b.

College teams play like 3 or 4 days in a row in their conference tourneys.

Couldn't agree more. People talk about back to backs like they are over the hill beer bellied guys and not literally the best conditioned people in the world. Restrict CP a bit to be safe and the rest will be fine. Let em run. We should win this. We didn't play our best ball last night, and booker owes it to himself to go out and win one for us since he tried a few times at the end of that 4th to lose it.

That put me in a really sour mood even though we won the game. Love Book but if he stays this bad in the clutch our playoff run will be short. (That or start letting CP3 take the shots)

[Jdiddy701]

@JDiddy any tips? lol

I like the value of Mikal Bridges over on 3’s on 1.5 makes, the value of +130 is too good to pass up. I would lean towards +6 Suns if I had to make a bet.


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[irish22022]

I guess you worry about b2b games more than I do. We have done well on them. I think last year we won a b2b with the Clips and Utah or something like that and had another one with Utah and Denver where we won one and the other went into OT and we nearly won.

This year we are 7-2 on the 2nd of b2b games. 1 of our losses was a double OT game where Cam, Booker and Ayton were all out in some or all the OTs....and the previous night went into OT.

The only other loss was a 1 pt loss to Orlando...after playing Miami the night before.

We also have a ton of depth. If we only played 7 or 8 players or something it might be a big deal, or if we were an old team prone to injury.

Not sure why you are always so worried and want to rest players. Not THAT many players rest overall and usually it is due to being cautious with injuries...and this has only been a trend at all since the Spurs started it about 7-8 years ago when their core got old.

The previous 50+ years it wasn't something teams did. If you had 4 games in 5 nights it might be more understandable if you had a slight injury to sit a second game out before the next b2b.

College teams play like 3 or 4 days in a row in their conference tourneys.

Couldn't agree more. People talk about back to backs like they are over the hill beer bellied guys and not literally the best conditioned people in the world. Restrict CP a bit to be safe and the rest will be fine. Let em run. We should win this. We didn't play our best ball last night, and booker owes it to himself to go out and win one for us since he tried a few times at the end of that 4th to lose it.

That put me in a really sour mood even though we won the game. Love Book but if he stays this bad in the clutch our playoff run will be short. (That or start letting CP3 take the shots)

Yup. The perception to other nba fans is he's clutch, but if you watch nightly you could almost say he's anti clutch. Tried to do too much and takes bad shots at the end. His ego really comes out in the last two minutes, you can literally feel him trying to add to his legacy instead of thinking of ways to win. And he's not really that wrong, kobe did the same thing tbh. I watched a lot of kobe and he missed a ton of game winners while taking terrible shots. Nobody remembers them, so it doesn't matter.

But we won't win many playoff series if monty keeps letting booker work on his legacy. The ball needs to go to CP3.

[lilfishi22]

@JDiddy any tips? lol

I like the value of Mikal Bridges over on 3’s on 1.5 makes, the value of +130 is too good to pass up. I would lean towards +6 Suns if I had to make a bet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good calls. I'll put some spare change on Bridges

[Crives]

What the hell, national game is blacked out on tnt? Wtf.

[lilfishi22]

Couldn't agree more. People talk about back to backs like they are over the hill beer bellied guys and not literally the best conditioned people in the world. Restrict CP a bit to be safe and the rest will be fine. Let em run. We should win this. We didn't play our best ball last night, and booker owes it to himself to go out and win one for us since he tried a few times at the end of that 4th to lose it.

That put me in a really sour mood even though we won the game. Love Book but if he stays this bad in the clutch our playoff run will be short. (That or start letting CP3 take the shots)

Yup. The perception to other nba fans is he's clutch, but if you watch nightly you could almost say he's anti clutch. Tried to do too much and takes bad shots at the end. His ego really comes out in the last two minutes, you can literally feel him trying to add to his legacy instead of thinking of ways to win. And he's not really that wrong, kobe did the same thing tbh. I watched a lot of kobe and he missed a ton of game winners while taking terrible shots. Nobody remembers them, so it doesn't matter.

But we won't win many playoff series if monty keeps letting booker work on his legacy. The ball needs to go to CP3.

In basically every clutch scenario, I would rather have the ball in CP3's hands. Even if the play doesn't eventuate, I feel more confident living and dying by his playmaking than Booker's shooting. Booker does have some nice clutch highlights but he's no Dame.

[Crives]

That put me in a really sour mood even though we won the game. Love Book but if he stays this bad in the clutch our playoff run will be short. (That or start letting CP3 take the shots)

Yup. The perception to other nba fans is he's clutch, but if you watch nightly you could almost say he's anti clutch. Tried to do too much and takes bad shots at the end. His ego really comes out in the last two minutes, you can literally feel him trying to add to his legacy instead of thinking of ways to win. And he's not really that wrong, kobe did the same thing tbh. I watched a lot of kobe and he missed a ton of game winners while taking terrible shots. Nobody remembers them, so it doesn't matter.

But we won't win many playoff series if monty keeps letting booker work on his legacy. The ball needs to go to CP3.

In basically every clutch scenario, I would rather have the ball in CP3's hands. Even if the play doesn't eventuate, I feel more confident living and dying by his playmaking than Booker's shooting. Booker does have some nice clutch highlights but he's no Dame.

I am fine with the ball in Bookers hands... just hate the pure isos. Run the normal offense and share the ball. Only time I agree with iso is when we are well ahead and trying to burn the clock

[SunsRback4Good]

@JDiddy any tips? lol

I like the value of Mikal Bridges over on 3’s on 1.5 makes, the value of +130 is too good to pass up. I would lean towards +6 Suns if I had to make a bet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good calls. I'll put some spare change on Bridges

How About Galloway? I feel like he can nail 3-4 3s tonight.

[Revived]

A blowout loss would be very disappointing. This team fears me much more than Utah in the playoffs and if seed stay where they are we meet them in the 2nd round.

Pretty sure most people would be disappointed in a blowout loss. I don't expect it the way we play. Not sure it's happened all year and we are playing our best ball.

If Beverley and Ibaka play, and if George isn't ailing too much, they are a lot better than they've been too, so we'll see.

We wouldn’t be playing them on the 2nd night of a back to back in the playoffs though. A blowout or any type of loss to them here wouldn’t mean much in terms of how we match up with them in the playoffs.

But yeah I also don’t think we get blown out anyway and have a chance to even win tonight as well. I was just using it in a hypothetical way.

I guess you worry about b2b games more than I do. We have done well on them. I think last year we won a b2b with the Clips and Utah or something like that and had another one with Utah and Denver where we won one and the other went into OT and we nearly won.

This year we are 7-2 on the 2nd of b2b games. 1 of our losses was a double OT game where Cam, Booker and Ayton were all out in some or all the OTs....and the previous night went into OT.

The only other loss was a 1 pt loss to Orlando...after playing Miami the night before.

We also have a ton of depth. If we only played 7 or 8 players or something it might be a big deal, or if we were an old team prone to injury.

Not sure why you are always so worried and want to rest players. Not THAT many players rest overall and usually it is due to being cautious with injuries...and this has only been a trend at all since the Spurs started it about 7-8 years ago when their core got old.

The previous 50+ years it wasn't something teams did. If you had 4 games in 5 nights it might be more understandable if you had a slight injury to sit a second game out before the next b2b.

College teams play like 3 or 4 days in a row in their conference tourneys.

Oh yeah I hate back to backs. I think it’s dumb in general but especially when the team doing it has to travel (even if it’s a short flight). I don’t think college can be compared to NBA. It’s just a whole different game. Just like high school is cause I remember some tourneys where I’ve played 6/7 days in a row in my hs days. There’s way more game planning, strategy, strength and stamina required at the NBA level than college, or high school imo.

Many players do rest. LeBron, Giannis, 20 yr old Doncic, Harden, Durant, I mean basically you can name any top 20 player in the league and they probably have been rested at least a few times on back to backs in the last 5/6 years. The Raptors won a title by basically doing it with Kawhi for a whole season keeping him completely fresh for postseason. And Kawhi was only like 27 at the time.

Pop did start it but now every elite coach in the league and others utilize the resting strategy. Especially teams with great records who know their gonna make the playoffs anyway. I think borderline teams are more hesitant because the difference between 1 or 2 losses could mean making playoffs or not.

I think it especially makes sense for 35 yr old CP3. And this isn’t just any back to back, it’s a back to back after playing 43+ mins. If it was just a regular game in which he played his usual 31 mpg then I wouldn’t really care as much.

Anyway, looks like there is no resting though and everyone is a full go. Hopefully we come out of it clean.

[DroughtsOverPHX]

Brings back memories seeing Markieff get ejected at the end in a close game. The more things change...

[cberry78]

Am I the only one that wants a Suns version of the Heat unis? Purple on one side orange on the other?

Sent from my moto e5 play using RealGM mobile app

[alldayeveryday]

Looking at some of these other teams in the west, we really need another big. In the playoffs, Ayton will get into foul trouble in some games. Dario will have to step up big time during the time Ayton is out. It has been working so far in the regular season but I feel like we are going to get outmatched. I don't think even if Stix was getting playing time this season, it would have helped. Outside of any injuries (knock on wood) this is going to be our Achilles heal.

[grumpysaddle]

I'll take Reggie Miller over Chris Webber. Both are better than **** Mark Jackson, though. Wish it was Doris last night instead.

[LV-Suns]

63 total free throws in the Lakers game. This game was supposed to end 30 mins ago.

[Kerrsed]

Hate that TNT is showing commercials while the Suns game is still in progress.

Then they finally go to the game just in time for a TO and a commercial break of course.

So dumb.

[bwgood77]

We wouldn’t be playing them on the 2nd night of a back to back in the playoffs though. A blowout or any type of loss to them here wouldn’t mean much in terms of how we match up with them in the playoffs.

But yeah I also don’t think we get blown out anyway and have a chance to even win tonight as well. I was just using it in a hypothetical way.

I guess you worry about b2b games more than I do. We have done well on them. I think last year we won a b2b with the Clips and Utah or something like that and had another one with Utah and Denver where we won one and the other went into OT and we nearly won.

This year we are 7-2 on the 2nd of b2b games. 1 of our losses was a double OT game where Cam, Booker and Ayton were all out in some or all the OTs....and the previous night went into OT.

The only other loss was a 1 pt loss to Orlando...after playing Miami the night before.

We also have a ton of depth. If we only played 7 or 8 players or something it might be a big deal, or if we were an old team prone to injury.

Not sure why you are always so worried and want to rest players. Not THAT many players rest overall and usually it is due to being cautious with injuries...and this has only been a trend at all since the Spurs started it about 7-8 years ago when their core got old.

The previous 50+ years it wasn't something teams did. If you had 4 games in 5 nights it might be more understandable if you had a slight injury to sit a second game out before the next b2b.

College teams play like 3 or 4 days in a row in their conference tourneys.

All in all I agree but I would give CP3 some time, maybe max him at 27mins or so. We have a great bench this is a game to see alot of Payne, Galloway and Carter taking Paul's minutes. Everyone else on the team is pretty young so they should be able to handle it. IF this does turn ugly, I wanna see some Stix.

Sounds like people don't have much confidence in us vs the Clips, despite being very good on the back end on b2bs.

I can understand that people are scared of the Clips to some extent as I consider them the favorite.

I might limit Paul but if it's close and we need him I wouldn't worry about that.

I think we'd have to be down over 20 with about 5 minutes left to start putting Stix, Alexander, etc, in.