Game 50: Dallas Mavericks (25-24) @ Phoenix Suns (25-24)

[KLEON]

That Ayton tweet just looks salty AF and is in very poor taste - especially given what it indirectly says about his teammates.

22 plays dumb but I don't think he's this dumb to say that. I'm guessing its a fake account

[King4Day]

Ayton was sick and missed 3 games. Came back and gave you 19 and 20 still. Anyone hating on Ayton get it together.

Not sure if you watched the whole game (not being a dick).
He played a team with no bigs and most of his rebounds were uncontested. He got the rebounds he should have gotten. Nothing impressive about it. Dallas just missed a ton of shots that he cleaned up.
He gave us 19 on 6-20 shooting. Also missing 3 FT's.

Ayton got paid and no longer puts in any effort.
When Biz was in, the mood of the game changed. As soon as DA returned, it went back to sluggishness all the way around.

Oh for sure. 6-20 is terrible. But again he was sick and missed 3 games because of it. No one else got 20 rebounds so saying they were uncontested is irrelevant. If that’s the case why isn’t everyone getting 20 rebounds?
My point is DA gives you 19 and 20 on an off night. First game back from an illness probably the flu or some viral illness. He’s usually 60% but people like to single him out every chance they get no matter what anyone else on the team does.

I get it he got paid and the other guys don’t make as much as him. There’s a reason then. Because they’re not giving you 19 and 20 uncontested rebounds.
Ayton missed shots he usually makes. Those nights happen to everyone.
The positive side his teammates were looking for him and he got to the line.
Where’s Bridges at? He didn’t have to guard Luka and still had nothing in the first half.
It’s a team game so blame the entire team not just one guy. That’s all.

Then it's on Monty to take, and keep, DA out of the game if he's not ready.
Bridges seemed like a different player with DA out there. He's no longer the #2 guy. He's not 3 or 4 and struggled find his place in the offense.

[enigmatics]

That Ayton tweet just looks salty AF and is in very poor taste - especially given what it indirectly says about his teammates.

That's not Ayton's real account. That's someone being an asshat.

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Ahhhhhh thanks for pointing that out.

[WeekapaugGroove]

It's worrying Monty is being outcoached by someone Mavs and other fans consider a really bad coach.

Strategicly I thought the suns actually had a good plan last night. The Mavs are small and they really tried to pound them down low, Ayton just missed a bunch of shots he normally makes.

Even in game decisions I thought he was fine. Like Saric has been good so I get playing him but it was apparent early this wasn't his night and Monty made the change and never went back. Okogie has also been good lately, last night the Mavs dared him to shoot and Okogie missed. That's not coaching, that's a guy missing shots he needs to make.

My Monty complaint from last night is I thought he played Ayton too many minutes when he looked fatigued from the jump. Also big picture wise him only resting CP for like 4 minutes in the second half is dangerous. But it was such a **** show the first half when CP sat I kind of understood why he was reluctant to have him sit.

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Indeed the plan on offense against Mavs, especially with Wood out, should be to attack the paint. What about D though, how do you let Dinwiddie put Luka kind of stats. Don't we have DPOY candidate. I don't know if Kidd is that bad, but Mavs fans appear to hate him after loving him for beating us in the playoffs.

Honestly some of the Dinwiddie heroics were straight up tip your cap buckets. Dude was making tough shots. When he banked in that last three all I could do was laugh.

Some of the D issues where lack of effort and focus. Powell back doored Ayton a couple times and the suns were lazy with on rotations.

The Mavs only scored 99 points, so while the D had some issues you still should win games in 2023 when you hold the opponent under 100.

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[King4Day]

That Ayton tweet just looks salty AF and is in very poor taste - especially given what it indirectly says about his teammates.

22 plays dumb but I don't think he's this dumb to say that. I'm guessing its a fake account

It's just a fan account.

[sunsfan1o1]

Jaylen Brown missed 2 FTs to win the game. Went 8/22 and had a crucial turnover dribbling the ball off his foot. Let me guess. He sucks too right. Lmao

I'll take Brown over 22 all day everyday. 22 plays with no heart and Brown is elite. What are you going say next, D.A better than Jokic and K.D

Lol. You’re a funny guy. I’m come here for laughs. Our starting 5 is solid. I wouldn’t trade any of them unless it’s for a superstar like KD. The bench is trash. That’s why we lost. Most of our bench players are 3rd stringers.
Love the starting 5
Bench needs work.
Not gonna diss a guy who came off an illness for the last week and his first game back was short on his shots. Means no legs. He’s fatigued. But you wouldn’t know that cuz you don’t play you just hate.
Not gonna say a guy played with no effort when he went out and got 20 rebounds. Rebounding is mostly effort. Smh. But again you wouldn’t know that because you don’t play you just hate.

[Jesus_H_Macy]

The real difference in this game was actually the bench. They got crushed when we played our bench. Okogie and Ish 1-12..like -15 for Ish, -12 for Okogie.

I heard Chuck I think say this is a team we should have beaten and compared it to the Clippers beating SA. This seems odd since Dallas is ahead of us in the standings, beat us and went to the WCF last year. Now I know it was because Luka is out, but so is Booker.

Does everyone feel we definitely should have beaten them? Is Luka THAT much better than Booker? Maybe he's better, but Booker's getting close.

And we are missing Payne, Shamet (both backup guards) and have to play Ish and Okogie a lot...and of course we are missing Crowder.

I think it's still a team we should beat, but they are a tough team with solid players and are well coached.

Come on now. Luka's better. I can't stand the guy and will say that. Hell, he might be the best player in the league and imo should be the MVP this year.

Booker's probably the best SG....Luka is probably the best overall player.

OK, but missing Book is pretty big too, especially when you are missing your two backup guards.

Anyway, I don't know what Monty was thinking with that bench. He really was mad about the bench play. Right when Ish checked in for Bridges (Okogie and Biz had just checked in a little earlier), it was 32-24, and they went on a 10-0 run before Cam hit a 3 and Ayton checked back in.

We 1,000% should have beat this team tonight. They were without Luka and Wood. We were missing Book, which matters but not as much as them missing Luka matters for them. Payne being back might help but doesn't really move the needle much. In my opinion Shamet being out is a plus for us.

Monty's rotations make no sense. The only valid explanations I can come up with now that we have most people back are:

1) He's doing the Pop thing of trying to get everyone some time and experience so they're ready if they need to be called upon. Which I actually think is good. But it shouldn't be happening all in one game, and overall it probably shouldn't be happening with more than a few players over any particular 20 game period. I know the injuries required some weird rotations but they're just seems to be no pattern or consistency to it. Jock and Biz are a good example. What's the pattern there? Biz will get sat after having a great game. Same with Jock. If you're going to try and give both of them burn give them at least 10 games straight of the same role before you swip swap

2) He's trying to do a "hot hand" and/or effort thing, but that seems impossible since he often ices the people with the "hot hand" like I mention above. And there's plenty of games I've seen where some guy just doesn't have it but Monty keeps playing him. And I'm referring to the bench guys, I know that there's different considerations for starters.

3) It's for trade purposes. Trying to show other teams what guys have got in the tank. This is the only one I might buy

I don't claim to be the best analyst, I'm just a super fan. But too often to me it looks like Monty doesn't have a plan. I don't necessarily want him or Jones to get **** by Ishbia, but I'm not convinced we couldn't do better either. What good is "good culture" when it results in historic playoff no-shows and a team who's fans are frequently complaining won't play hard or act like they care? Any voice can eventually be tuned out.

[Jesus_H_Macy]

Forgot to add:

My gripe with this game in particular (and every game we've played against the Mavs since the middle of the playoff series) has much more to do with the D than the O. Though they often make us look inept on O too.

And I'm so sick of the all-bench lineups. Why? We should never be playing an all-bench lineup in the playoffs so what is that accomplishing? Why is it so difficult to stagger the starters more? Constant lineups of minimal ball handling and minimal scoring ability. It's gross.

[Ghost of Kleine]

I was at the game and yeah Ayton was flat out terrible. No idea why Monty played him so many minutes, he looked fatigued. All his idiotic non dunks were short. I know it's cliche to complain about the non dunking but it's somehow like 50% more infuriating watching in person.

Anyway that game was lost with the god awful late first early second quarter second unit play. Horrendous.

They need to add a piece or two, get Booker back and then settle on a 9 man rotation. This playing 12 guys and hope something works has been necessary with the injuries but its got to end before the playoffs.

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I get that Ayton is really polarizing for his hot/cold motor issues, and his finesse style of play too often. But if 19 points and 20 rebounds is "flat out terrible" for a guy who clearly was fully recovered from being sick but still played with enough effort to provide that production (even on anomalous struggling efficiency), then I'll take flat out terrible happily! Now the other consideration is.................. IF Ayton's 19 points and 20 rebounds = flat out terrible, then how should we classify this exactly:

Read on Twitter

My point here is that this loss honestly and objectively falls on the entire team (sans maybe Johnson of course). Had pretty much our entire bench not ALSO put up a "flat out awful performance tonight, then clearly the outcome would've been very different. It was an unfortunate loss that should be shared by everybody. You're very right that Ayton shouldn't have played so many minutes tonight as he clearly wasn't fully recovered from being sick yet. But then again, who's really responsible for that choice? The players or the coach?? Overall I'd say this is one of those losses that's tough to stomach but shouldn't have people overreacting because the reality is that we're still not fully healthy and not yet fully hitting our stride either, with more to still figure out in the remaining 30 + games.

Yeah it's kind of crazy to say a 18 and 20 game was 'terrible' but that's what it was eye test wise. And judging the what I heard around me and walking out of the arena I wasn't the only one with that observation.

It was just the missed bunnies, Ayton was bad defensively getting back doored by Powell multiple times.

Like I said I thought Ayton looked fatigued and I have no idea why Monty didn't see that and play him less.

Ayton is a good player, he's also a very frustrating player. Both those things can be true at the same time.

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I agree with what you said hear in its entirety man. And yes, both things can absolutely be true! It's just tiresome that so many around here can exhaustingly find fault with Ayton over any loss we have yet never find themselves capable of mentioning any other players being accountable or contributing negatively to the loss. Sure Ayton struggled last night and missed shots he'd normally make. But do not all players experience nights like that? Sure his defense was bad last night. But which players on our team actually showed good focus or defensive engagement last night defensively? Aside from Ayton, Johnson, Paul and to a smaller degree Bridges too which players showed up/ showed out and offered supportive production to foster a win???

For anyone unsure about this consideration, all they'd have to do is look at the boxscore or the tweet I shared referencing this. I just can't fault Ayton for this solely when he clearly still put up a double/ double and his rebounding efforts kept us in the game DESPITE PLAYING SICK. The point is struggling or not, at least he showed up and put forth much better effort and rebounding that many have complained about for so long! How much did Lee, Okogie, Saric, or the rest of our bench contribute last night again??

This is where our game was lost. In our short 4 game win streak, we won because our bench stepped up and helped carry the load. As Williams said himself in the post game conference, THE TEAM didn't want it as much as the suns did. And that's the simple truth about this team. There are nights wherein we don't show up and play with any urgency. This was just another example of those existing issues. That falls on our coach to have ready, focused in and engaged for games. He didn't have us ready. And maybe he shouldn't have played Ayton as much knowing he still wasn't 100% but he ( our coach) made that choice to play him that much. And at least Ayton put in significant effort and production when the rest of our team obviously didn't bother showing up at all!!!

Johnson, Paul, Ayton, and to a slightly lesser degree Brodges ( off night) deserve credit for showing up and fighting and offering solid effort and production towards a win. Those are positives still. But the rest of our complimentary cast ( bench) were completely MIA last night. And we lost by a small margin due to that! So both of those things can ge true as well. Ayton is not yet what we had hoped for, and for sure he can be a frustrating player at times. But last night's loss was not due to him solely, but the team not staying engaged as a whole. And that's my point here.

[Slim Charless]

Come on now. Luka's better. I can't stand the guy and will say that. Hell, he might be the best player in the league and imo should be the MVP this year.

Booker's probably the best SG....Luka is probably the best overall player.

OK, but missing Book is pretty big too, especially when you are missing your two backup guards.

Anyway, I don't know what Monty was thinking with that bench. He really was mad about the bench play. Right when Ish checked in for Bridges (Okogie and Biz had just checked in a little earlier), it was 32-24, and they went on a 10-0 run before Cam hit a 3 and Ayton checked back in.

We 1,000% should have beat this team tonight. They were without Luka and Wood. We were missing Book, which matters but not as much as them missing Luka matters for them. Payne being back might help but doesn't really move the needle much. In my opinion Shamet being out is a plus for us.

Monty's rotations make no sense. The only valid explanations I can come up with now that we have most people back are:

1) He's doing the Pop thing of trying to get everyone some time and experience so they're ready if they need to be called upon. Which I actually think is good. But it shouldn't be happening all in one game, and overall it probably shouldn't be happening with more than a few players over any particular 20 game period. I know the injuries required some weird rotations but they're just seems to be no pattern or consistency to it. Jock and Biz are a good example. What's the pattern there? Biz will get sat after having a great game. Same with Jock. If you're going to try and give both of them burn give them at least 10 games straight of the same role before you swip swap

2) He's trying to do a "hot hand" and/or effort thing, but that seems impossible since he often ices the people with the "hot hand" like I mention above. And there's plenty of games I've seen where some guy just doesn't have it but Monty keeps playing him. And I'm referring to the bench guys, I know that there's different considerations for starters.

3) It's for trade purposes. Trying to show other teams what guys have got in the tank. This is the only one I might buy

I don't claim to be the best analyst, I'm just a super fan. But too often to me it looks like Monty doesn't have a plan. I don't necessarily want him or Jones to get **** by Ishbia, but I'm not convinced we couldn't do better either. What good is "good culture" when it results in historic playoff no-shows and a team who's fans are frequently complaining won't play hard or act like they care? Any voice can eventually be tuned out.

I'm far from a Monty fan, but I could see him showcasing guys for a trade. It's obvious that Ishbia wants to make a move which means JJ has to make a move...which means we need to show off how certain guys can play. I could see them letting certain dudes put up numbers so they will seem better to other teams.

[SkyBill40]

Jaylen Brown missed 2 FTs to win the game. Went 8/22 and had a crucial turnover dribbling the ball off his foot. Let me guess. He sucks too right. Lmao

I'll take Brown over 22 all day everyday. 22 plays with no heart and Brown is elite. What are you going say next, D.A better than Jokic and K.D

Lol. You’re a funny guy. I’m come here for laughs. Our starting 5 is solid. I wouldn’t trade any of them unless it’s for a superstar like KD. The bench is trash. That’s why we lost. Most of our bench players are 3rd stringers.
Love the starting 5
Bench needs work.
Not gonna diss a guy who came off an illness for the last week and his first game back was short on his shots. Means no legs. He’s fatigued. But you wouldn’t know that cuz you don’t play you just hate.
Not gonna say a guy played with no effort when he went out and got 20 rebounds. Rebounding is mostly effort. Smh. But again you wouldn’t know that because you don’t play you just hate.

This collection of excuses and other logical fallacies is easily one of the most asinine posts I've ever read on RGM and, to be honest, I've seen a LOT of ridiculous posts.

Get over yourself, dude. Seriously.

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[WeekapaugGroove]

I get that Ayton is really polarizing for his hot/cold motor issues, and his finesse style of play too often. But if 19 points and 20 rebounds is "flat out terrible" for a guy who clearly was fully recovered from being sick but still played with enough effort to provide that production (even on anomalous struggling efficiency), then I'll take flat out terrible happily! Now the other consideration is.................. IF Ayton's 19 points and 20 rebounds = flat out terrible, then how should we classify this exactly:

Read on Twitter

My point here is that this loss honestly and objectively falls on the entire team (sans maybe Johnson of course). Had pretty much our entire bench not ALSO put up a "flat out awful performance tonight, then clearly the outcome would've been very different. It was an unfortunate loss that should be shared by everybody. You're very right that Ayton shouldn't have played so many minutes tonight as he clearly wasn't fully recovered from being sick yet. But then again, who's really responsible for that choice? The players or the coach?? Overall I'd say this is one of those losses that's tough to stomach but shouldn't have people overreacting because the reality is that we're still not fully healthy and not yet fully hitting our stride either, with more to still figure out in the remaining 30 + games.

Yeah it's kind of crazy to say a 18 and 20 game was 'terrible' but that's what it was eye test wise. And judging the what I heard around me and walking out of the arena I wasn't the only one with that observation.

It was just the missed bunnies, Ayton was bad defensively getting back doored by Powell multiple times.

Like I said I thought Ayton looked fatigued and I have no idea why Monty didn't see that and play him less.

Ayton is a good player, he's also a very frustrating player. Both those things can be true at the same time.

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I agree with what you said hear in its entirety man. And yes, both things can absolutely be true! It's just tiresome that so many around here can exhaustingly find fault with Ayton over any loss we have yet never find themselves capable of mentioning any other players being accountable or contributing negatively to the loss. Sure Ayton struggled last night and missed shots he'd normally make. But do not all players experience nights like that? Sure his defense was bad last night. But which players on our team actually showed good focus or defensive engagement last night defensively? Aside from Ayton, Johnson, Paul and to a smaller degree Bridges too which players showed up/ showed out and offered supportive production to foster a win???

For anyone unsure about this consideration, all they'd have to do is look at the boxscore or the tweet I shared referencing this. I just can't fault Ayton for this solely when he clearly still put up a double/ double and his rebounding efforts kept us in the game DESPITE PLAYING SICK. The point is struggling or not, at least he showed up and put forth much better effort and rebounding that many have complained about for so long! How much did Lee, Okogie, Saric, or the rest of our bench contribute last night again??

This is where our game was lost. In our short 4 game win streak, we won because our bench stepped up and helped carry the load. As Williams said himself in the post game conference, THE TEAM didn't want it as much as the suns did. And that's the simple truth about this team. There are nights wherein we don't show up and play with any urgency. This was just another example of those existing issues. That falls on our coach to have ready, focused in and engaged for games. He didn't have us ready. And maybe he shouldn't have played Ayton as much knowing he still wasn't 100% but he ( our coach) made that choice to play him that much. And at least Ayton put in significant effort and production when the rest of our team obviously didn't bother showing up at all!!!

Johnson, Paul, Ayton, and to a slightly lesser degree Brodges ( off night) deserve credit for showing up and fighting and offering solid effort and production towards a win. Those are positives still. But the rest of our complimentary cast ( bench) were completely MIA last night. And we lost by a small margin due to that! So both of those things can ge true as well. Ayton is not yet what we had hoped for, and for sure he can be a frustrating player at times. But last night's loss was not due to him solely, but the team not staying engaged as a whole. And that's my point here.

Totally get it. Ayton talk gets exhausting around here. I know personally I'm sick of thinking about, talking about him, and him in general. It's been 5 years, it is what it is.

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[KLEON]

Jaylen Brown missed 2 FTs to win the game. Went 8/22 and had a crucial turnover dribbling the ball off his foot. Let me guess. He sucks too right. Lmao

I'll take Brown over 22 all day everyday. 22 plays with no heart and Brown is elite. What are you going say next, D.A better than Jokic and K.D

Lol. You’re a funny guy. I’m come here for laughs. Our starting 5 is solid. I wouldn’t trade any of them unless it’s for a superstar like KD. The bench is trash. That’s why we lost. Most of our bench players are 3rd stringers.
Love the starting 5
Bench needs work.
Not gonna diss a guy who came off an illness for the last week and his first game back was short on his shots. Means no legs. He’s fatigued. But you wouldn’t know that cuz you don’t play you just hate.
Not gonna say a guy played with no effort when he went out and got 20 rebounds. Rebounding is mostly effort. Smh. But again you wouldn’t know that because you don’t play you just hate.

Ppl here thinking 22 played like crap last night was because of the flu. So you are telling me 22 has been ill for the last 4 years?

[KLEON]

If 22 sat out last night for sure its a win for the Suns. To me has always kills the vibe of this team especially this season

[Slim Charless]

Yeah it's kind of crazy to say a 18 and 20 game was 'terrible' but that's what it was eye test wise. And judging the what I heard around me and walking out of the arena I wasn't the only one with that observation.

It was just the missed bunnies, Ayton was bad defensively getting back doored by Powell multiple times.

Like I said I thought Ayton looked fatigued and I have no idea why Monty didn't see that and play him less.

Ayton is a good player, he's also a very frustrating player. Both those things can be true at the same time.

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I agree with what you said hear in its entirety man. And yes, both things can absolutely be true! It's just tiresome that so many around here can exhaustingly find fault with Ayton over any loss we have yet never find themselves capable of mentioning any other players being accountable or contributing negatively to the loss. Sure Ayton struggled last night and missed shots he'd normally make. But do not all players experience nights like that? Sure his defense was bad last night. But which players on our team actually showed good focus or defensive engagement last night defensively? Aside from Ayton, Johnson, Paul and to a smaller degree Bridges too which players showed up/ showed out and offered supportive production to foster a win???

For anyone unsure about this consideration, all they'd have to do is look at the boxscore or the tweet I shared referencing this. I just can't fault Ayton for this solely when he clearly still put up a double/ double and his rebounding efforts kept us in the game DESPITE PLAYING SICK. The point is struggling or not, at least he showed up and put forth much better effort and rebounding that many have complained about for so long! How much did Lee, Okogie, Saric, or the rest of our bench contribute last night again??

This is where our game was lost. In our short 4 game win streak, we won because our bench stepped up and helped carry the load. As Williams said himself in the post game conference, THE TEAM didn't want it as much as the suns did. And that's the simple truth about this team. There are nights wherein we don't show up and play with any urgency. This was just another example of those existing issues. That falls on our coach to have ready, focused in and engaged for games. He didn't have us ready. And maybe he shouldn't have played Ayton as much knowing he still wasn't 100% but he ( our coach) made that choice to play him that much. And at least Ayton put in significant effort and production when the rest of our team obviously didn't bother showing up at all!!!

Johnson, Paul, Ayton, and to a slightly lesser degree Brodges ( off night) deserve credit for showing up and fighting and offering solid effort and production towards a win. Those are positives still. But the rest of our complimentary cast ( bench) were completely MIA last night. And we lost by a small margin due to that! So both of those things can ge true as well. Ayton is not yet what we had hoped for, and for sure he can be a frustrating player at times. But last night's loss was not due to him solely, but the team not staying engaged as a whole. And that's my point here.

Totally get it. Ayton talk gets exhausting around here. I know personally I'm sick of thinking about, talking about him, and him in general. It's been 5 years, it is what it is.

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I agree here. I mostly want Ayton gone too at this point. Not because I think he sucks, but just because it's not gonna happen here. It'd be nice to move the conversation along some without every thread devolving into pro and anti Ayton posters going back and forth. Lord knows I'm sick of posting the same thing over and over again. Both sides will never convince the other...we need to just move on.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

Watch on YouTube

Of player 1 being Russell and player 2 being Terry Rozier (I'm pretty sure)!
I'd prefer Russell for his size, playmaking and connection with Booker.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

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Yet Ayton unsurprisingly gets blasted for putting up 19/20 while playing sick!

[bwgood77]

Anyway that game was lost with the god awful late first early second quarter second unit play. Horrendous.

They need to add a piece or two, get Booker back and then settle on a 9 man rotation. This playing 12 guys and hope something works has been necessary with the injuries but its got to end before the playoffs.

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What was going on with the bench during that run? Why were Ish and Okogie taking so many shots while Lee, the best 3 point shooter, took none?

Other than one 'what the hell are you doing' drive and floater I thought Okogie was wide open and shot shots he should take they just didn't go in. Ish I don't know, looking at the box score I was surprised he took 5 shots because it didn't remember them. Saric was terrible in his little stretch he played.

That specific run the suns just looked disjointed in general. Probably because they have a 10 day guy trying to run the O.

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I don't usually complain about Monty but that seems ridiculous to play a lineup like that. Then he really complained and was mad about how they brought no energy when they game in, in the presser.

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

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Yet Ayton unsurprisingly gets blasted for putting up 19/20 while playing sick!

Apparently he was still congested, wheezing and dizzy. Seems they would play him less and the other guys more if he was still recovering.

[bwgood77]

The difference between booker and ayton is booker has proven himself as a max contract guy...when Booker has an off game...it is what it is. You can't be perfect all the time. Ayton hasn't earned that right yet...and I don't think ever will. If he doesn't live up to his contract his poor play will always be under a microscope. It's not this one game. It's his whole nba career. He has a good game cool thats what we paid him for...if he has a bad game then he's not living up to his contract. And as of now he is not living up to what is required of a guy making the max. So until he figures it out and takes that next step where he has proven he is worth that contract he will continue to receive criticism and rightfully so.

The contract stuff is a weird thing. All the Suns pod guys, majority of fan base, etc, felt they should extend Ayton the max after 2021 playoffs. But Suns didn't while extending Shamet before he played.

I didn't think he was worth the max last summer but not matching is not an option...or a stupid option.

So trade him if it makes us better..people that just say "trade him"...well, I don't know what expectations are on return if they think he sucks. I doubt we are a better playoff team simply without him.