NBA PLAYOFFS: RD 2 l Game 3 - (2) Phoenix Suns @ (3) Denver Nuggets l Friday l 7:00 l ESPN l Suns lead series (2-0)

[SunsRback4Good]

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[bwgood77]

I said it on the post game show.
Some people say Brooklyn looks unbeatable right now.
Or the Jazz are probably the favorites out West.

Both are fair arguments.
First round, Bucks and Hawks looked unstoppable. This round? Not so much.
Just shows that every series is different. Matchups are a big deal. Just like we won't have this easy of a time no matter who we play next round.

You can suggest that we don't want to play this team or that team, but if you think the Nets or Jazz or Clippers look at Phoenix and say, 'that's who we want', you are out of your mind.
The Phoenix Suns are a good mix of vet leadership and youth (but not too young where they look out of place).
We have 4 guys who are long, tall, and/or just really good defenders in Bridges, CamJo, Crowder, and Craig. That'll give any team, no matter how good or bad, fits.
And we're clicking

I've said similar things but I am a little shocked at how easily we are rolling. I know Denver is banged up, but we watched this team all year lose focus...not just Ayton or a couple players, but the entire team just have huge letdown teams, play down to competition, have horrible stretches, and even Zach Lowe I believe, when talking about how a lot of people were not talking about the Suns as a contender said that it might be because people probably were not sure this team had another gear, not only because we are young, but because Paul is such a competitor that he wants to win every possession, every game.

We certainly have an extra gear. I can't say enough about Paul.

[bwgood77]

If we had this team last season we would have won a championship, there was no super team last season and this year's team has a real shot at beat last year's lakers. that Brooklyn team is even more ridiculously stacked than the peak warriors with KD truth be told.

I think the Sixers might do a better job than the Bucks against the Nets. Hopefully they at least give us some clues on how to guard Brooklyn.

Maybe, but the Bucks rolled through the Heat who many projected to beat them and won the last 3 games by 34, 27 and 17. Philly is very tough with Embiid. I'll be curious about this Bucks/Nets game 4.

Sure the Nets crushed them in one game and pulled away in the late 3rd in the other one, but margin of victory doesn't matter, and the Bucks held on to win.

I expect the Nets to beat them but won't be surprised if the Bucks win as they shot terribly this last game too..both teams did. That win could have instilled some confidence.

I am curious when Harden will come back.

[bwgood77]

What a fantastic performance AGAIN.

This team is amazing. Everyone played their part.

CP3 and Book controlled the game since the fist minute, they are toying with their backcourt.

Ayton played a very good defense. Jokic obviously is a tremendous player and he got high numbers, but his efficiency was not good.

Bridges/Crowder/Cam J/Craig did all the dirty work and stretched the floor, those guys are perfect as complimentary pieces on a contender.

Saric was solid again and played his role. Way better than Millsap and better than the amazing Javale McGee, that guy that we needed badly because he is tall. He is doing a good job for the Nuggets on the bench. (Green font not even needed).

And Payne with another good 6th man performance. I love his defense, he always contest shots with energy and without fouling.

But Book and CP3 were the MVPs in this game.

Book scoring ability is RIDICULOS, he can make every shot against anyone.

And CP3...what can I say? He is a **** legend. 11 × All Star for a reason.
BTW...he is the best mid-range shooter that I have seen in my life.

I said it a few times before, but this Nuggets team is not a big threat to us because they do not have Jamal Murray. Plain and simple.

It is a sad for them, because with Murray these two teams would be so close and this series would be more competitive...but injuries are part of the game, not our fault.

Props to our team for not slowing down and the way we our managing these games.

All of this. Sarver better pay that man in the summer. I kinda homerishly think that CP3's decision to opt out is pre-planned since once he signs that 3/100 deal he gives us another 13M or so to play around with.

You keep saying this but we are already over the cap by over $10 million. Even if his salary reduces $10 million we are still over the cap. We will have the MLE and the rights to pay Cam.

Unless you mean more space under the tax, but the bigger issues there is the following summer. Best case if we sign him to 3/100 is to pay him the most in the first year and have a declining contract so we don't get as far in the tax the following year and hopefully avoid the repeater tax the following.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Maybe the most amazing stat of this series is Ayton has 4 total fouls in 3 games. His ability to not bite on all Jokics tricks is wild.

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[King4Day]

I said it on the post game show.
Some people say Brooklyn looks unbeatable right now.
Or the Jazz are probably the favorites out West.

Both are fair arguments.
First round, Bucks and Hawks looked unstoppable. This round? Not so much.
Just shows that every series is different. Matchups are a big deal. Just like we won't have this easy of a time no matter who we play next round.

You can suggest that we don't want to play this team or that team, but if you think the Nets or Jazz or Clippers look at Phoenix and say, 'that's who we want', you are out of your mind.
The Phoenix Suns are a good mix of vet leadership and youth (but not too young where they look out of place).
We have 4 guys who are long, tall, and/or just really good defenders in Bridges, CamJo, Crowder, and Craig. That'll give any team, no matter how good or bad, fits.
And we're clicking

I've said similar things but I am a little shocked at how easily we are rolling. I know Denver is banged up, but we watched this team all year lose focus...not just Ayton or a couple players, but the entire team just have huge letdown teams, play down to competition, have horrible stretches, and even Zach Lowe I believe, when talking about how a lot of people were not talking about the Suns as a contender said that it might be because people probably were not sure this team had another gear, not only because we are young, but because Paul is such a competitor that he wants to win every possession, every game.

We certainly have an extra gear. I can't say enough about Paul.

Yea I've been guarded about my confidence going into the next series.
After game 3's loss against LA, I was convincing myself that this was a great season and that losing to LA was inevitable. I don't know that I necessarily believed it, but I was working on convincing myself that this was the case.

The thing is, when the season started, I was really confident this might be a title contender. But then we dropped to 8-8 and I accepted we weren't (but not entirely).
Then we went on this run and haven't lost more than 2 in a row the entire way. I kept thinking, "I just can't picture this team losing 4 out of 7 in a playoff. We're too in sync."

I'm still feeling that way but have been very cautious about it because we've been relatively fortunate with our health this season, and the teams we've played, Denver especially, haven't been fully healthy (I know... CP3's shoulder).

I look at our SF"s and our overall defense. Short of games where the other team is on fire, I don't know who can stop us outside of maybe Brooklyn. Even then, I think we give them the type of matchup that they will not have experienced all playoffs with our size.

[Slim Charless]

What a fantastic performance AGAIN.

This team is amazing. Everyone played their part.

CP3 and Book controlled the game since the fist minute, they are toying with their backcourt.

Ayton played a very good defense. Jokic obviously is a tremendous player and he got high numbers, but his efficiency was not good.

Bridges/Crowder/Cam J/Craig did all the dirty work and stretched the floor, those guys are perfect as complimentary pieces on a contender.

Saric was solid again and played his role. Way better than Millsap and better than the amazing Javale McGee, that guy that we needed badly because he is tall. He is doing a good job for the Nuggets on the bench. (Green font not even needed).

And Payne with another good 6th man performance. I love his defense, he always contest shots with energy and without fouling.

But Book and CP3 were the MVPs in this game.

Book scoring ability is RIDICULOS, he can make every shot against anyone.

And CP3...what can I say? He is a **** legend. 11 × All Star for a reason.
BTW...he is the best mid-range shooter that I have seen in my life.

I said it a few times before, but this Nuggets team is not a big threat to us because they do not have Jamal Murray. Plain and simple.

It is a sad for them, because with Murray these two teams would be so close and this series would be more competitive...but injuries are part of the game, not our fault.

Props to our team for not slowing down and the way we our managing these games.

All of this. Sarver better pay that man in the summer. I kinda homerishly think that CP3's decision to opt out is pre-planned since once he signs that 3/100 deal he gives us another 13M or so to play around with.

You keep saying this but we are already over the cap by over $10 million. Even if his salary reduces $10 million we are still over the cap. We will have the MLE and the rights to pay Cam.

Unless you mean more space under the tax, but the bigger issues there is the following summer. Best case if we sign him to 3/100 is to pay him the most in the first year and have a declining contract so we don't get as far in the tax the following year and hopefully avoid the repeater tax the following.

Yeah. I meant under the tax. The less tax Bobby has to pay, the more likely he'll pay DA, Bridges their new deals as well.

Speaking of which. Do you think they both get maxes?

[bwgood77]

All of this. Sarver better pay that man in the summer. I kinda homerishly think that CP3's decision to opt out is pre-planned since once he signs that 3/100 deal he gives us another 13M or so to play around with.

You keep saying this but we are already over the cap by over $10 million. Even if his salary reduces $10 million we are still over the cap. We will have the MLE and the rights to pay Cam.

Unless you mean more space under the tax, but the bigger issues there is the following summer. Best case if we sign him to 3/100 is to pay him the most in the first year and have a declining contract so we don't get as far in the tax the following year and hopefully avoid the repeater tax the following.

Yeah. I meant under the tax. The less tax Bobby has to pay, the more likely he'll pay DA, Bridges their new deals as well.

Speaking of which. Do you think they both get maxes?

I don't know. I think there is a better chance DA does than Bridges, but I definitely think they will both get somewhere close to 4/$100 but the plus about a max is that you get to do it for 5 years (I don't think you can do more than 4 otherwise, but may be mistaken).

[Slim Charless]

You keep saying this but we are already over the cap by over $10 million. Even if his salary reduces $10 million we are still over the cap. We will have the MLE and the rights to pay Cam.

Unless you mean more space under the tax, but the bigger issues there is the following summer. Best case if we sign him to 3/100 is to pay him the most in the first year and have a declining contract so we don't get as far in the tax the following year and hopefully avoid the repeater tax the following.

Yeah. I meant under the tax. The less tax Bobby has to pay, the more likely he'll pay DA, Bridges their new deals as well.

Speaking of which. Do you think they both get maxes?

I don't know. I think there is a better chance DA does than Bridges, but I definitely think they will both get somewhere close to 4/$100 but the plus about a max is that you get to do it for 5 years (I don't think you can do more than 4 otherwise, but may be mistaken).

Yeah I agree. If there's a choice to be made it's Ayton most likely as his stock has shot up significantly since the playoffs. Also, we have Cam Johnson backing Bridges up... That said, Mikal is huge to what we do.

Wonder what Sarver will do. Hope he ponies up for both and CP3. The money he'll make from actually having a good team will offset all of that. Craig and Nader should be cheap to bring back. Payne also needs a new deal lol....