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NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2-0

Moderators: bwgood77, Qwigglez, lilfishi22

If we lose to Denver who gets most of the blame?

CP3
5
5%
Shamet
7
7%
Monty
26
27%
Ishbia
7
7%
JJ
13
13%
Durant
3
3%
Ayton
15
15%
Our weak bench
10
10%
Jdiddy
7
7%
Saberestar
5
5%
 
Total votes: 98

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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#781 » by Qwigglez » Sat May 6, 2023 9:58 pm

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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#782 » by Qwigglez » Sat May 6, 2023 9:58 pm

I actually thought Suns would be in dead last.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#783 » by bwgood77 » Sat May 6, 2023 10:06 pm

Calvin Klein wrote:
he talked about all the things he does off the court, which i'm sure are great, but nothing about on the court stuff obviously. it is what it is


He talked about his on court performance first thing...like first 30-35 seconds. Pretty hard to miss.

Yeah, he has sucked and had his confidence shaken but that doesn't mean you have to completely mischaracterize what Jock said.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#784 » by garrick » Sat May 6, 2023 11:21 pm

Jdiddy701 wrote:
garrick wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
Yeah, he handled, he didn't turn it over, and he hustles. I wish he would shoot more but he really sure doesn't end up with much for stat lines. It's not like he is shooting poorly, just not shooting. He has played almost 20mpg and is shooting 60% from the field and 50% from 3, but that is on 5 shots for the series and 2 3pt shots. So 1 3. Also 1 ast and 2 turnovers for the series.

But no one has gotten many shots outside of KD and Book. After our main 4 players no one scores 5ppg, except Warren who had 7 in 1 game.

No one is averaging more than 7 shots per game except Ayton at 9 shots per game, but only 4 in this last one.

I thought we had a chance of winning this series but if no one else steps up aside from Book and KD, I don't see it. Book won't shoot 80% again and we basically needed that to win. KD is bound to shoot better than the last two but he did get to the line a ton to kind of save him from his poor shooting.

Ayton has played like crap, or at least with little confidence and less energy, but luckily is still attracting defenders into the middle, sometimes 2 guys in there, one on him and one close nearby, even when he doesn't have the ball.

I won't be too surprised if he doesn't start though since they are not utilizing him on offense at all and Landale played with more energy last night.

Denver has too much firepower. 5 guys averaging double digit scoring.


As great as Booker was scoring he definitely did miss Ayton when he sealed off his man in the paint but decided to shoot instead. He made the shots which is great but you know he probably isn't going to shoot 80 percent again so he needs to get the team involved a lot more.

I'm sure the Suns are expecting Denver to play a lot better defense on him so hopefully the Suns can be prepared for that when they adjust in game 4.

Good, I’m happy he missed Ayton. I trust Booker forcing a shot on multiple defenders than passing to DA. We’ve seen time and time where DA has the easiest shot in the world and he misses and you’re pointing out that Book should give it up to DA? Nope!


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Denver is going to adjust and hoping Booker goes for another 40+ points while shooting an ungodly efficiency the next game is unrealistic. Simply put we really need to balance the scoring load or we don't have a chance of winning this series.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#785 » by garrick » Sat May 6, 2023 11:35 pm



Good breakdown and after seeing the replays I didn't realize how horrible of a defender Murray is, if Murray is defending Book there's no chance he can guard him 1 on 1.

Probably we will see a bit more Bruce Brown on Booker and more trapping Booker to see if he coughs it up as that has always been his weakness. We also should probably stop having Durant trying to iso create at the top of the key as AG is just too strong and KD doesn't have as quick first step anymore, hopefully the Suns can game plan for this despite the short rest between game 3 and 4.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#786 » by bwgood77 » Sat May 6, 2023 11:46 pm

garrick wrote:
Jdiddy701 wrote:
garrick wrote:
As great as Booker was scoring he definitely did miss Ayton when he sealed off his man in the paint but decided to shoot instead. He made the shots which is great but you know he probably isn't going to shoot 80 percent again so he needs to get the team involved a lot more.

I'm sure the Suns are expecting Denver to play a lot better defense on him so hopefully the Suns can be prepared for that when they adjust in game 4.

Good, I’m happy he missed Ayton. I trust Booker forcing a shot on multiple defenders than passing to DA. We’ve seen time and time where DA has the easiest shot in the world and he misses and you’re pointing out that Book should give it up to DA? Nope!


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Denver is going to adjust and hoping Booker goes for another 40+ points while shooting an ungodly efficiency the next game is unrealistic. Simply put we really need to balance the scoring load or we don't have a chance of winning this series.


Booker had one of his best games ever, if not his best. Ayton had one of his worst games ever, if not his worst, and they are still shooting around the same FG%. Prior to this game, Ayton was still shooting close to 70%, regardless of the fact he was taking a lot of midrange shots. If he is wide open, typically you should get it to him. It sucks seeing him take it to the rim and miss like he did but also kind of ironic people whine about him settling for a midrange shot even when he makes it and then he drives to the rim twice and misses.

He looked terrible, but prior to that game he was scoring at nice efficiency in this series. But if they are not going to really utilize him on offense, they could try going to someone else. Landale doesn't typically play that well though.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#787 » by garrick » Sun May 7, 2023 12:17 am

bwgood77 wrote:
garrick wrote:
Jdiddy701 wrote:Good, I’m happy he missed Ayton. I trust Booker forcing a shot on multiple defenders than passing to DA. We’ve seen time and time where DA has the easiest shot in the world and he misses and you’re pointing out that Book should give it up to DA? Nope!


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https://youtu.be/U8rcZFLRnfs?t=95

https://youtu.be/U8rcZFLRnfs?t=127


Denver is going to adjust and hoping Booker goes for another 40+ points while shooting an ungodly efficiency the next game is unrealistic. Simply put we really need to balance the scoring load or we don't have a chance of winning this series.


Booker had one of his best games ever, if not his best. Ayton had one of his worst games ever, if not his worst, and they are still shooting around the same FG%. Prior to this game, Ayton was still shooting close to 70%, regardless of the fact he was taking a lot of midrange shots. If he is wide open, typically you should get it to him. It sucks seeing him take it to the rim and miss like he did but also kind of ironic people whine about him settling for a midrange shot even when he makes it and then he drives to the rim twice and misses.

He looked terrible, but prior to that game he was scoring at nice efficiency in this series. But if they are not going to really utilize him on offense, they could try going to someone else. Landale doesn't typically play that well though.


Jock was unplayable throughout a huge chunk of the season which many seem to conveniently forget so this level of play is unsustainable most likely.

I suspect the Nuggets will pay less attention to Ayton and make him score instead so hopefully he can just play aggressively and not overthink things too much.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#788 » by Ghost of Kleine » Sun May 7, 2023 3:44 am

Spoiler:
kennydorglas wrote:
Ghost of Kleine wrote:The blueprint for beating Denver and coming back and winning this series epically was laid out last night!

1- PLAY FAST! Push the pace and be a disruptive defensive running fastbreak team. Denver is superb in the halfcourt offensively, a even really good defensively too. But they just can't stop Booker and Durant or even Payne on the fastbreak without a true shot blocker or any ELITE defensive wings. This also benefits us in drawing fouls on them early.

2- PLAY STRONG AND AGGRESSIVE. The Nuggets are going to keep mugging us defensively and be ultra physical and whiny flippers too because they know they're going to continue getting the benefit of the refs lopsided calls in their favor. But you can't counter this type of play with passivity. We need to match their level of physicality in order to offset the refs biased AND to try and draw more fouls to keep the glaring Free throw gap closer.

3- DRIVE TO THE HOOP AND TEAM REBOUND AGGRESSIVELY! If we get fouls, then we get them. But we can't just roll over and not fight at all. We currently aren't good or deep enough to heat them in a shootout! We need to turn the tables against them and muck up the game right back BUT ALSO secure rebounds to not give them such easy offensive opportunities. We need to fustrate them and make them uncomfortable so they themselves make mistakes and don't ever get into a comfortable offensive rythym.

*** DON'T PLAY SHAMET!!!! And the moment that Ayton doesn't play aggressively and with purpose, PULL HIM! We still have Landale and Biyombo. Just tell them to play with physicality and aggression! Focus on rebounding and rim protection. Instead of Shamet, simply play more Ross and Okogie to being the ball up. Have D Lee and Warren flash to the corners to break any traps when necessary! But don't play Shamet at all! Ross and Warren will continue hearing up IF actually given playing time so they can find a rythym. Landry won't and doesn't have any positives to add!

No more asinine false rationalizations that his defense offsets his lack of anything else. His defense ( effort or not sucks) he's not stopping anyone! And Murray's huge games and impact in this series is a clear example of that. He simply causes more issues than he solves. Durant and Booker need to just continue playing ultra aggressive! Keep driving to the hoop, putting pressure on the rim and drawing fouls!


kennydorglas wrote:In the moment Jock checked in, I saw him scrambling with joker to deny his position.
That's the right mentality to play in Phoenix.

Not sure how we're going to steal one game in Denver tho, altitude is proving to be too much for us.


Very good point! The altitude is just one more distinct advantage the Nuggets have in this series on top of their vastly superior depth, their better shooting, and the incredibly obvious and significant biases the refs have towards letting them aggressively foul with no accountability, yet call our players for flagrant fouls if the Nuggets players so much as pass gas! It's pretty blatantly absurd that the NBA has an agenda here to get the nuggets to the next round wherein the Warriors will advance as well to setup a Denver/Golden State rematch from last season! :nonono:

But still.............................
Our best chance of beating them is not trying to outshoot or outscore them in the halfcourt where they'll dissect us pretty easily! But rather, we need to gang rebound. get out and run for easy buckets and to draw fouls, and frustrate them driving to the rim (because they don't have a true rim protector) getting high percentage buckets! and also wear down there players somewhat too!
We need to be extra physical and muck up the game right back! Just frustrate them enough to keep them from getting comfortable offensively! :nod:
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#789 » by oddity » Sun May 7, 2023 12:01 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
garrick wrote:
Jdiddy701 wrote:Good, I’m happy he missed Ayton. I trust Booker forcing a shot on multiple defenders than passing to DA. We’ve seen time and time where DA has the easiest shot in the world and he misses and you’re pointing out that Book should give it up to DA? Nope!


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https://youtu.be/U8rcZFLRnfs?t=95

https://youtu.be/U8rcZFLRnfs?t=127


Denver is going to adjust and hoping Booker goes for another 40+ points while shooting an ungodly efficiency the next game is unrealistic. Simply put we really need to balance the scoring load or we don't have a chance of winning this series.


Booker had one of his best games ever, if not his best. Ayton had one of his worst games ever, if not his worst, and they are still shooting around the same FG%. Prior to this game, Ayton was still shooting close to 70%, regardless of the fact he was taking a lot of midrange shots. If he is wide open, typically you should get it to him. It sucks seeing him take it to the rim and miss like he did but also kind of ironic people whine about him settling for a midrange shot even when he makes it and then he drives to the rim twice and misses.

He looked terrible, but prior to that game he was scoring at nice efficiency in this series. But if they are not going to really utilize him on offense, they could try going to someone else. Landale doesn't typically play that well though.

Wow leave it to BW to compare the FG% of a player scoring 35 and a player scoring 10 ppg. It literally does not get more disingenuous than that. It's almost like the player scoring 35 has to do it on more difficult shots bc he's the number 1 option, but who am I to get in the way of the BW-DA Knob-Slob Jamboree? Dude you have been defending DA all season. Ditch the kid gloves with him. Who cares about his FG% if he's not taking shots?????????????? As DA gets roasted on a national level, completely rightfully so, can you at least admit you were wrong just once? I mean, I've had more random Knicks and Nets fans (I live in NY) tell me that DA is their least favorite player in the league than fans on this board - THAT SHOULD TELL YOU SOMETHING. That city has Ben Simmons in it, and still people manage to hate DA more. This dude could not continue the decent play he showed around thanksgiving - which I've seen you use as an excuse all season long. Dude never once played with any fire this season. Dude has scored LESS with KD than without him, so pairing him with a star or 2 doesn't help, but I doubt he would even try to be the man on a team with no star on it either... He gets caught ball-watching a two-time MVP in the playoffs right after going on some big shpiel about how much of a "motor" he has. Dude is a giant flowery pussy and this whole board - ****, the whole basketball world knows it.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#790 » by sunsbg » Sun May 7, 2023 12:42 pm

Someone expected Ayton will score more with KD on the team. Weird.

Anyway, for the sanity of those people and to help their pathological hatred hopefully he's traded for someone who will make them happy. I'm sure all the so called supporters will be fine as long as it makes the team better.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#791 » by oddity » Sun May 7, 2023 1:29 pm

sunsbg wrote:Someone expected Ayton will score more with KD on the team. Weird.

Anyway, for the sanity of those people and to help their pathological hatred hopefully he's traded for someone who will make them happy. I'm sure all the so called supporters will be fine as long as it makes the team better.

Well to be fair DA was barely scoring before KD arrived - we tried to rely on him when Book went down if you remember, and he quickly deferred to Mikal and Cam - so literally anything aggressive would be better scoring than before in my mind.
Y'know what, he even scored less when there was no KD or Mikal or Cam in that month following the trade. There is literally no combination of players you can pair him with that will actually bring the best out of him. I mean, we've reached a point where 80% of DA's shots are assisted and he still never improves or even dunks the ball for crying out loud.
The point is he doesn't try to score when there's no star on the floor. He doesn't try to score when there is one star on the floor. He doesn't try to score with 2 stars on the floor. You can call it pathological hate, but I call it pathological passiveness and cowardice from DA. He's had some of the best teammates and coaching staffs a player could ask for, and still he doesn't try to do more than the bare minimum. Compare how Okogie at least TRIED to step up his game with KD to how DA just retreated into the background of the offense.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#792 » by sunsfan1o1 » Sun May 7, 2023 2:03 pm

I think Ayton is suffering from analysis paralysis.
He’s not being involved on offense so the few times he gets the ball he’s shocked like a deer in headlights.

On defense Jokic gets away with a lot of offensive fouls. They basically let Jokic body Ayton and if Ayton does the same back they call foul.

Ayton is in a tough spot. His team and the refs have eliminated him from this series.

That being said, that’s no excuse. He wants to be great he needs to go get some offensive rebounds and be more aggressive.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#793 » by lonea » Sun May 7, 2023 4:38 pm

Ghost of Kleine wrote:But it's become fairly apparent (as I've said for awhile now) that he's mentally and emotionally checked out and ready to move on!


I highly doubt that's the case.

He never had the drive since the day he got into the league.

I still remember him in his rookie year and the thought he was the **** and in shape but was getting cooked at the rim by guards. Then he can't stay out of foul trouble.

CP getting to Phoenix was a gift from god to him, otherwise his ass would've been long gone.

The problem is he's not getting any better at this point. He reached his ceiling in the 2021 playoffs. While Booker and Bridges ascended.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#794 » by Jdiddy701 » Sun May 7, 2023 4:38 pm

sunsfan1o1 wrote:I think Ayton is suffering from analysis paralysis.
He’s not being involved on offense so the few times he gets the ball he’s shocked like a deer in headlights.

On defense Jokic gets away with a lot of offensive fouls. They basically let Jokic body Ayton and if Ayton does the same back they call foul.

Ayton is in a tough spot. His team and the refs have eliminated him from this series.

That being said, that’s no excuse. He wants to be great he needs to go get some offensive rebounds and be more aggressive.

His team and refs have eliminated him from the series. That’s funny right there! Good one!


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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#795 » by oddity » Sun May 7, 2023 4:47 pm

sunsfan1o1 wrote:I think Ayton is suffering from analysis paralysis.
He’s not being involved on offense so the few times he gets the ball he’s shocked like a deer in headlights.

On defense Jokic gets away with a lot of offensive fouls. They basically let Jokic body Ayton and if Ayton does the same back they call foul.

Ayton is in a tough spot. His team and the refs have eliminated him from this series.

That being said, that’s no excuse. He wants to be great he needs to go get some offensive rebounds and be more aggressive.

I get what you're saying, but I'm so sick of making these kind of excuses.

If that's the case, why didn't he dominate when D Book was down and we had no star on the floor earlier in the season? Why did Mikal have to step up, and literally completely level up his game while DA just stood there passively?

DA has to demand the ball. I'm tired of playing the world's smallest violin for him when he shrinks into the offense no matter who he plays next to.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#796 » by Ghost of Kleine » Sun May 7, 2023 7:46 pm

lonea wrote:
Ghost of Kleine wrote:But it's become fairly apparent (as I've said for awhile now) that he's mentally and emotionally checked out and ready to move on!


I highly doubt that's the case.

He never had the drive since the day he got into the league.

I still remember him in his rookie year and the thought he was the **** and in shape but was getting cooked at the rim by guards. Then he can't stay out of foul trouble.

CP getting to Phoenix was a gift from god to him, otherwise his ass would've been long gone.

The problem is he's not getting any better at this point. He reached his ceiling in the 2021 playoffs. While Booker and Bridges ascended.


Differing opinions I suppose! We'll know for sure soon enough once he's on another team and in a different scheme/ featured role. I've obviously been one of his biggest supporters for a long time now. But it's fairly obvious aside from random speculation abound, that he's ready to move on. As I've said before, he played outstanding basketball in his fitlrst postseason with us. And even basically did everything asked of him over the past two seasons in terms of either accepting a reduced role or focusing initially on offense, then the following season switching to focus primarily on defense and then a supplementary clean up glue big role.

But he clearly exhibited that fire during that postseason finals run! And the regression began after the Ayton Saver restaurant meeting over his contract negotiations in 21. And then progressively deteriorated over the following two seasons as he was constantly thrown in trades and shown ( by the ownership, front office and some fans too) that he simply wasn't valued here! Constantly being compared to Doncb** ( who aside from stat padding personal accolades due to insane usage rates) hasn't really gotten his team anywhere either. Overall in terms of team success, Ayton has helped his team experience better/ higher overall team success than any of his fellow top 5 draft picks. And they all got paid similar or better than what he recieved without recieving a fraction of the same criticism.

So for me, from the human aspect of the situation, I can understand his frustration and disconnect from the overall situation. With any person, in a workplace situation you at the Gary least want to be valued and/ or appreciated. Otherwise you might decide to look for other employment options. The human aspects and causality attached is not absent from consideration here. So that's why I understand and see things from this perspective.

Now I'm not at all arguing his poor motor/ physicality issues! He's far to soft and finesse for my liking regardless of inherent talent and potential. And I'm fully on board with us moving on for our well being and prosperity as well as his too. My point is I just believe the root cause of his overall apathy/ indifference can be traced back to that initial situation. And a mutual deterioration of the relationship developed over time. And I would say that this is evidenced further by the fact that the players such as Booker and Landale, etc come to his defense and to a small degree even Williams himself. I just don't see the primary reason for the coming separation being his conditioning issues. :dontknow:
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#797 » by bwgood77 » Sun May 7, 2023 8:24 pm

oddity wrote:
bwgood77 wrote:
garrick wrote:https://youtu.be/U8rcZFLRnfs?t=95

https://youtu.be/U8rcZFLRnfs?t=127


Denver is going to adjust and hoping Booker goes for another 40+ points while shooting an ungodly efficiency the next game is unrealistic. Simply put we really need to balance the scoring load or we don't have a chance of winning this series.


Booker had one of his best games ever, if not his best. Ayton had one of his worst games ever, if not his worst, and they are still shooting around the same FG%. Prior to this game, Ayton was still shooting close to 70%, regardless of the fact he was taking a lot of midrange shots. If he is wide open, typically you should get it to him. It sucks seeing him take it to the rim and miss like he did but also kind of ironic people whine about him settling for a midrange shot even when he makes it and then he drives to the rim twice and misses.

He looked terrible, but prior to that game he was scoring at nice efficiency in this series. But if they are not going to really utilize him on offense, they could try going to someone else. Landale doesn't typically play that well though.

Wow leave it to BW to compare the FG% of a player scoring 35 and a player scoring 10 ppg. It literally does not get more disingenuous than that. It's almost like the player scoring 35 has to do it on more difficult shots bc he's the number 1 option, but who am I to get in the way of the BW-DA Knob-Slob Jamboree? Dude you have been defending DA all season. Ditch the kid gloves with him. Who cares about his FG% if he's not taking shots?????????????? As DA gets roasted on a national level, completely rightfully so, can you at least admit you were wrong just once? I mean, I've had more random Knicks and Nets fans (I live in NY) tell me that DA is their least favorite player in the league than fans on this board - THAT SHOULD TELL YOU SOMETHING. That city has Ben Simmons in it, and still people manage to hate DA more. This dude could not continue the decent play he showed around thanksgiving - which I've seen you use as an excuse all season long. Dude never once played with any fire this season. Dude has scored LESS with KD than without him, so pairing him with a star or 2 doesn't help, but I doubt he would even try to be the man on a team with no star on it either... He gets caught ball-watching a two-time MVP in the playoffs right after going on some big shpiel about how much of a "motor" he has. Dude is a giant flowery pussy and this whole board - ****, the whole basketball world knows it.


I think he's played terrible this series and he did miss a couple of easy shots last game, but if I did play him I would get him a couple buckets early, to maybe get him going and perhaps more engaged. If you're not going to utilize him on offense, don't play him as much. That's it.

He did go a whole month scoring 23 or so on over 67% shooting and a 70% TS%. I said if he's open..if he was shooting 70% on 10 shots, I don't see a big reason to have guys shoot a bunch of jumpers all game at a far worse %. Last game I understand it more because Book was on fire.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#798 » by bwgood77 » Sun May 7, 2023 8:29 pm

oddity wrote:
sunsbg wrote:Someone expected Ayton will score more with KD on the team. Weird.

Anyway, for the sanity of those people and to help their pathological hatred hopefully he's traded for someone who will make them happy. I'm sure all the so called supporters will be fine as long as it makes the team better.

Well to be fair DA was barely scoring before KD arrived - we tried to rely on him when Book went down if you remember, and he quickly deferred to Mikal and Cam - so literally anything aggressive would be better scoring than before in my mind.
Y'know what, he even scored less when there was no KD or Mikal or Cam in that month following the trade. There is literally no combination of players you can pair him with that will actually bring the best out of him. I mean, we've reached a point where 80% of DA's shots are assisted and he still never improves or even dunks the ball for crying out loud.
The point is he doesn't try to score when there's no star on the floor. He doesn't try to score when there is one star on the floor. He doesn't try to score with 2 stars on the floor. You can call it pathological hate, but I call it pathological passiveness and cowardice from DA. He's had some of the best teammates and coaching staffs a player could ask for, and still he doesn't try to do more than the bare minimum. Compare how Okogie at least TRIED to step up his game with KD to how DA just retreated into the background of the offense.


In Feb he scored 23 ppg on over 67% shooting, as I just mentioned, and an ortg and drtg of 136 and 110 so no, before KD came he was scoring quite a bit. Then when the trade went down and team chemistry. Though in April's few reg season games, he did shoot over 75% with ortg and drtg of 140 and 113. He obviously can play well on offense in his role, as I know you've seen. Just because he's been playing like crap lately doesn't mean facts have to be distorted.
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Re: NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 3: (1) Denver Nuggets @ (4) Phoenix Suns l Friday l 7:00pm l ESPN l DEN Leads series 2- 

Post#799 » by oddity » Sun May 7, 2023 9:36 pm

bwgood77 wrote:
oddity wrote:
sunsbg wrote:Someone expected Ayton will score more with KD on the team. Weird.

Anyway, for the sanity of those people and to help their pathological hatred hopefully he's traded for someone who will make them happy. I'm sure all the so called supporters will be fine as long as it makes the team better.

Well to be fair DA was barely scoring before KD arrived - we tried to rely on him when Book went down if you remember, and he quickly deferred to Mikal and Cam - so literally anything aggressive would be better scoring than before in my mind.
Y'know what, he even scored less when there was no KD or Mikal or Cam in that month following the trade. There is literally no combination of players you can pair him with that will actually bring the best out of him. I mean, we've reached a point where 80% of DA's shots are assisted and he still never improves or even dunks the ball for crying out loud.
The point is he doesn't try to score when there's no star on the floor. He doesn't try to score when there is one star on the floor. He doesn't try to score with 2 stars on the floor. You can call it pathological hate, but I call it pathological passiveness and cowardice from DA. He's had some of the best teammates and coaching staffs a player could ask for, and still he doesn't try to do more than the bare minimum. Compare how Okogie at least TRIED to step up his game with KD to how DA just retreated into the background of the offense.


In Feb he scored 23 ppg on over 67% shooting, as I just mentioned, and an ortg and drtg of 136 and 110 so no, before KD came he was scoring quite a bit. Then when the trade went down and team chemistry. Though in April's few reg season games, he did shoot over 75% with ortg and drtg of 140 and 113. He obviously can play well on offense in his role, as I know you've seen. Just because he's been playing like crap lately doesn't mean facts have to be distorted.

He's never played above whats expected of him. He never rose to the occasion outside of the playoffs 2 years ago. Didn't he say after dropping 30 a few games in a row early on that he can do this every night? Why are we okay with a passive 20 a night as a second or third option when he could be a 25+ guy as a first option. I've watched the bar for him fall lower month over month this season. He dropped some decent stats on good efficiency - good for him - but has he ever really locked in and become a needle-pushing factor in a game this season? Is there any game you can remember where you could tell DA decided not to lose and actually made a positive impact? Those stats are meaningless to me because I know that we won those games in February like we had to win games all season - Off the back of Devin Booker (and sometimes Mikal).
Living off borrowed time the clock ticks faster...

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