NBA PLAYOFFS: Game 7: Semi-Finals - Dallas Mavericks @ Phoenix Suns, 5:00pm l ESPN l Series tied 3-3

[Saberestar]

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[RaisingArizona]

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Only if you win.

[dirkdiggler4177]

Does anyone know what is going on with CP3? Is it fatigue from giving everything against the Grizzlies? Injured?

[BlueSan]

He'll be fine, he also had the longest rest in the series, before that he rested more cause of foul trouble and some blowout wins/losses.

CP3 will be great in this game, as will Booker and Suns win this. I don't even get it why anyone thinks differently.

[bwgood77]

Does anyone know what is going on with CP3? Is it fatigue from giving everything against the Grizzlies? Injured?

I take it you mean the Pelicans? No...he was great in game 2 vs Dallas....blew game open in 4th scoring 14 to start the 4th on 6-6 shooting.

After the Suns started getting the switch onto Luka in game 2 and attacking him on D, Dallas adjusted to do the same on Paul, so they are intentionally getting the switch (Luka and Brunson) onto Paul and wearing him out defensively.

I think this is a big part...he is just worn out from D. Phx needs to adjust and not allow the switch. In this last one, Paul actually shot 5 3s and hit 3 of them. In the last 4 games, he has scored 21 of his 37 pts on 3s. That's 4 ppg inside the arc...which isn't him. He usually works the midrange with an occasional 3.

He also usually spends the first 3 quarters getting people going and typically only had 4-5 shots through the first 3 quarters and then takes over in the 4th if needed but generally scores more himself...and maybe takes 5 shots or more if needed. I think by the 4th he has maybe been out of gas because of the defense...to work his midrange game and get to his spots.

Now he could be injured but I don't think so. He is still shooting very well this series....like 50% from the field and 3...if he is injured at all it's probably something with a leg limiting him from manuevering to find his midrange shots and get to his spots. But he is moving a lot on defense so that doesn't really make sense either.

He probably has too much pride to tell the coach/team to stop allowing the switch onto Luka, but if he doesn't, Monty needs to switch that up and make sure Crowder/Bridges fight through or go around screens.

I don't know..everyone played badly in this last game. Book was 6-17 with 8 turnovers, Bridges and Crowder only attempted one 3 and we hit 6 as a team.

So a lot of issues. You guys have a good chance, and you did win the second most games since Jan 1st..2 games behind us...and after starting 16-18, went 36-12, over a 61 win pace, so you really played like the 2 seed the last 4 months of the season.

We should have the edge being a game 7 at home, but since everyone has played badly, we don't have a playoff legit backup guard, Paul has been off, Book had a bad game, the Suns need a lot of things to change, mainly shooting more 3s and limiting turnovers, and the Mavs probably need to not shoot as well for the Suns to win.

[IamBBAnalysis]

Does anyone know what is going on with CP3? Is it fatigue from giving everything against the Grizzlies? Injured?

I take it you mean the Pelicans? No...he was great in game 2 vs Dallas....blew game open in 4th scoring 14 to start the 4th on 6-6 shooting.

After the Suns started getting the switch onto Luka in game 2 and attacking him on D, Dallas adjusted to do the same on Paul, so they are intentionally getting the switch (Luka and Brunson) onto Paul and wearing him out defensively.

I think this is a big part...he is just worn out from D. Phx needs to adjust and not allow the switch. In this last one, Paul actually shot 5 3s and hit 3 of them. In the last 4 games, he has scored 21 of his 37 pts on 3s. That's 4 ppg inside the arc...which isn't him. He usually works the midrange with an occasional 3.

He also usually spends the first 3 quarters getting people going and typically only had 4-5 shots through the first 3 quarters and then takes over in the 4th if needed but generally scores more himself...and maybe takes 5 shots or more if needed. I think by the 4th he has maybe been out of gas because of the defense...to work his midrange game and get to his spots.

Now he could be injured but I don't think so. He is still shooting very well this series....like 50% from the field and 3...if he is injured at all it's probably something with a leg limiting him from manuevering to find his midrange shots and get to his spots. But he is moving a lot on defense so that doesn't really make sense either.

He probably has too much pride to tell the coach/team to stop allowing the switch onto Luka, but if he doesn't, Monty needs to switch that up and make sure Crowder/Bridges fight through or go around screens.

I don't know..everyone played badly in this last game. Book was 6-17 with 8 turnovers, Bridges and Crowder only attempted one 3 and we hit 6 as a team.

So a lot of issues. You guys have a good chance, and you did win the second most games since Jan 1st..2 games behind us...and after starting 16-18, went 36-12, over a 61 win pace, so you really played like the 2 seed the last 4 months of the season.

We should have the edge being a game 7 at home, but since everyone has played badly, we don't have a playoff legit backup guard, Paul has been off, Book had a bad game, the Suns need a lot of things to change, mainly shooting more 3s and limiting turnovers, and the Mavs probably need to not shoot as well for the Suns to win.

Do you think all the Suns (except maybe Booker) are just not in great shape? Maybe they didn't put in the work at the end of the season? It feels strange making excuses for an NBA player being tired, especially a guy that is a star player. I'm 49 and I played a tennis tournament today in Scottsdale and beat two 30-year-olds in 100 degree heat...and I was not tired after, they were. So I don't have a lot of sympathy for this kind of stuff. It is about how hard you work and how smart you are. Age plays a factor but a day off should be fine.

[bwgood77]

Does anyone know what is going on with CP3? Is it fatigue from giving everything against the Grizzlies? Injured?

I take it you mean the Pelicans? No...he was great in game 2 vs Dallas....blew game open in 4th scoring 14 to start the 4th on 6-6 shooting.

After the Suns started getting the switch onto Luka in game 2 and attacking him on D, Dallas adjusted to do the same on Paul, so they are intentionally getting the switch (Luka and Brunson) onto Paul and wearing him out defensively.

I think this is a big part...he is just worn out from D. Phx needs to adjust and not allow the switch. In this last one, Paul actually shot 5 3s and hit 3 of them. In the last 4 games, he has scored 21 of his 37 pts on 3s. That's 4 ppg inside the arc...which isn't him. He usually works the midrange with an occasional 3.

He also usually spends the first 3 quarters getting people going and typically only had 4-5 shots through the first 3 quarters and then takes over in the 4th if needed but generally scores more himself...and maybe takes 5 shots or more if needed. I think by the 4th he has maybe been out of gas because of the defense...to work his midrange game and get to his spots.

Now he could be injured but I don't think so. He is still shooting very well this series....like 50% from the field and 3...if he is injured at all it's probably something with a leg limiting him from manuevering to find his midrange shots and get to his spots. But he is moving a lot on defense so that doesn't really make sense either.

He probably has too much pride to tell the coach/team to stop allowing the switch onto Luka, but if he doesn't, Monty needs to switch that up and make sure Crowder/Bridges fight through or go around screens.

I don't know..everyone played badly in this last game. Book was 6-17 with 8 turnovers, Bridges and Crowder only attempted one 3 and we hit 6 as a team.

So a lot of issues. You guys have a good chance, and you did win the second most games since Jan 1st..2 games behind us...and after starting 16-18, went 36-12, over a 61 win pace, so you really played like the 2 seed the last 4 months of the season.

We should have the edge being a game 7 at home, but since everyone has played badly, we don't have a playoff legit backup guard, Paul has been off, Book had a bad game, the Suns need a lot of things to change, mainly shooting more 3s and limiting turnovers, and the Mavs probably need to not shoot as well for the Suns to win.

Do you think all the Suns (except maybe Booker) are just not in great shape? Maybe they didn't put in the work at the end of the season? It feels strange making excuses for an NBA player being tired, especially a guy that is a star player. I'm 49 and I played a tennis tournament today in Scottsdale and beat two 30-year-olds in 100 degree heat...and I was not tired after, they were. So I don't have a lot of sympathy for this kind of stuff. It is about how hard you work and how smart you are. Age plays a factor but a day off should be fine.

Bridges plays the most minutes. I don't know. I think they are all in great shape, even Paul. Maybe McGee isn't. He can never play many minutes.

But I think guarding one of the 5 or so best players in the world along with a little quick above avg player in Brunson all game, will wear anyone down. They often talk about "they don't want Book to expend to much on defense" and most teams don't want their star guarding a primary scorer but they stick him on a spot up shooter. Especially being older.

I think Paul wasn't accustomed to it. I was just listening to the Zach Lowe podcast and he said he researched it and the 4 games Paul guarded the screener and switched onto the ballhandler the most the entire season have been the last 4 games. He defends hard too, so it just takes energy he wasn't used to having to do. It's like a boxer punching the entire round rather than half of it, or a guy who runs one leg of a relay race suddenly having to run the 1st and 3rd legs instead of 1 leg.

Paul has always played pretty methodically, and his defense has dropped off a bit over the years. I think being in NBA shape is an entirely different level than being in tennis shape. He's also playing more minutes...like 10-20% more than he did in the regular season.

I mean you can't really have any excuses and if he is tired he should make sure he sits, but there are problems because our backup PG became unplayable and we only have two guys who competed for 3rd string, neither of which are effective when playing important minutes.

[BlueSan]

Paul will be fine

[bwgood77]

Looks like money is coming in on the Suns side. Spread moved from 6 to 6.5 earlier today. Weird though with one sports book (Sports Illustrated sports book) a chunk of money must have come in on the Mavs Saturday morning because it went down to 5.5 and then Suns bettors must have pounced on that lower spread because it quickly jumped back to 6.5.

https://www.vegasinsider.com/nba/matchups/mavericks-vs-suns/line-movements/

[Ghost of Kleine]

Paul will be fine

Luka will have a good game and the rest of the Mavs players won't struggle at all.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Hey suns!
Need some motivation!!!

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[spanishninja]

Looks like money is coming in on the Suns side. Spread moved from 6 to 6.5 earlier today. Weird though with one sports book (Sports Illustrated sports book) a chunk of money must have come in on the Mavs Saturday morning because it went down to 5.5 and then Suns bettors must have pounced on that lower spread because it quickly jumped back to 6.5.

https://www.vegasinsider.com/nba/matchups/mavericks-vs-suns/line-movements/

i mean statistically the home team has won 80% of game 7s, so that is probably propelling the movement. probably less to do with this particular game 7. similarly, the Celts are favored by about the same margin despite that being a more even matchup on paper.

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[Frank Lee]

He'll be fine, he also had the longest rest in the series, before that he rested more cause of foul trouble and some blowout wins/losses.

CP3 will be great in this game, as will Booker and Suns win this. I don't even get it why anyone thinks differently.

Ummmm
May be because I just watched 4 of his worst games ever where he looked overmatched. We all should be concerned. Something doesn’t look right.

[wheezy]

He'll be fine, he also had the longest rest in the series, before that he rested more cause of foul trouble and some blowout wins/losses.

CP3 will be great in this game, as will Booker and Suns win this. I don't even get it why anyone thinks differently.

Ummmm
May be because I just watched 4 of his worst games ever where he looked overmatched. We all should be concerned. Something doesn’t look right.

Pelicans showed you could wear him out and take him out of the game essentially, whether by pressing him or attacking him on D with bigger players (even Brunson is a lot bigger and more physical). Suns need to stop switching everything on D to an extent and not play that **** zone from games 3 and 4. He absolutely needs to be in attack mode before the 4th quarters though, that makes us a lot easier to guard.

[IamBBAnalysis]

He'll be fine, he also had the longest rest in the series, before that he rested more cause of foul trouble and some blowout wins/losses.

CP3 will be great in this game, as will Booker and Suns win this. I don't even get it why anyone thinks differently.

Ummmm
May be because I just watched 4 of his worst games ever where he looked overmatched. We all should be concerned. Something doesn’t look right.

Breaking news. A friend of a friend's cousin's former roommate told me the reason Paul is struggling is that once he got to Dallas he couldn't resist some Texas BBQ and got off the Vegan Diet!

[SunsRback4Good]

He'll be fine, he also had the longest rest in the series, before that he rested more cause of foul trouble and some blowout wins/losses.

CP3 will be great in this game, as will Booker and Suns win this. I don't even get it why anyone thinks differently.

Ummmm
May be because I just watched 4 of his worst games ever where he looked overmatched. We all should be concerned. Something doesn’t look right.

Breaking news. A friend of a friend's cousin's former roommate told me the reason Paul is struggling is that once he got to Dallas he couldn't resist some Texas BBQ and got off the Vegan Diet!

nice! I hope he continues eating Texas bbq so we can proceed to lose game 7 and blow up half the team starting with the coach.

[Bogyo]

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Lets Fng GOoooo!!!
War time! Crush them and snatch their souls!!!

[BlueSan]

You can just win no need to piss on us also please...

[alldayeveryday]

It’s been a hell of a series so far. We’ll see which team and which superstar shows up today.

[alldayeveryday]

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