NBA PLAYOFFS: Round 2 l Game 2: Phoenix Suns @ Denver Nuggets l Monday l 7:00pm l TNT l Nuggets lead series 1-0

[RaisingArizona]

Cue the Westpaul infamous quote

[Frank Lee]

As much as we skewer Moronty, Jones really let us down this yr

Jones not doing anything in the offseason, Monty Python wasting valuable chemistry development time giving Shamet minutes instead of Payne/Lee/Warren/Ross...

oh nos abound. Suns clown car continues well into the 2020s...

And a new driver for that car
(Insert photoshop clown-nosed MattyIsh here)

[Revived]

I feel bad for jdiddy. He paid money to fly out and attend both game 1 and game 2. Ishbia should refund him.

I hope he at least got to hit some good weed in Denver.

[BurningHeart]

This team is also just weird. Like... Game 1 we couldn't miss, but also couldn't grab a rebound or defend AT ALL. Game 2, we played about 44 minutes of solid D, but couldn't hit the broadside of a **** barn. Game 3 has to be a combination of passable defense and average shooting, I guess.

No identity. No soul.

[kennydorglas]

the trade never should have happened during the season.
NEVER.
is there a case in the history of the nba where a top tier claiber trade like this led to instant success?
look at this offense:

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=azcsports
monty says: DON'T HOLD THE BALL.
with durant this is impossible.

lol we dont run this 0.5 offense for more than a year.

it is not about running an offense like this.
it is about the mentality to establish an offense.
if you have kd you have to run your offense differently.
you have to adapt, most of the times the suns look clueless on offense.
that's why i was refering to the argument that this should never have happened during the season.

well KD played 0.5 in Golden State, if we kept playing this style he would fit in like a glove.
not sure why we reverted to this 1x1 crap like mark J and kidd did in playoffs.

[Ghost of Kleine]

As much as we skewer Moronty, Jones really let us down this yr

It been a dual effort for awhile now! This is why Slim, myself and others advocated for a coaching change and New GM too. Too many seasons of ineptitude and/ or inaction.
Monty and Jones brainstorming strategies together)!!

[MrMiyagi]

Cue the Westpaul infamous quote

Didn't think Westy complained about free throws.

[SunsRback4Good]

Isn’t Matt Ishbia trading away Bridges, Johnson and our entire future collection of picks for a turd version of KD worse than any one trade or one basketball transaction Robert Sarver did in 18 years of ownership?

Serious question.

It's up there. I seem to remember a few failures. The Kurt Thomas situation, trading Marion for Shaq, bending to memes about our defense and firing D'Antoni, etc. Worst decision of all time was hiring McDonough however.

McD drafted and extended Booker so you can't say that. Best Sun ever.

But we missed 7 years in hiring McD in 2013. Yes, he got us Booker buy Suns before never missed more than 3 years of playoff basketball.

[bwgood77]

I still think this series goes 6 or 7. I think we probably win next 2, Denver probably takes game 5. Then, we would need to win an elimination game which we haven't been able to do yet, and Book has played very poorly in both elimination games the last two years. Book has really raised his play a notch with KD attracting so much attention though so I think we would have a good chance of pushing it to 7. But can we win in Denver?

Jokic didn't shoot that well in the first game, and Murray was 3-15 in this one and 0-9 from 3. I doubt that happens again.

I'd start Book at PG with Okogie and Craig at 2/3 next game. I guess they can try Payne starting. He's always played much better with starters.

It's tough though. Craig and Okogie only took 5 shots. Really missing Bridges and Cam. KD has been awesome and I know people argue it didn't impact depth because we got TJ but he doesn't really play, so it hurts. Jae wasn't playing either but we also would have gotten a player for him. Especially since we don't utilize Ayton on offense much any more despite him shooting around 70% for the series. We seem to miss a lot of would-be easy buckets. Definitely need to figure out if we can get anything worthwhile for him this summer.

[grumpysaddle]

Can't wait for Ishbia to hire Isiah Thomas as GM and really make me stop watching basketball again.

[Slim Charless]

Cam Johnson shot 42% from 3 in the playoffs. Mikal Bridges shot 40% from 3.

...... and none of it mattered in the playoffs.

None of it matters for KD either apparently. We got as far as we did last season with Bridges/Johnson. Actually we were closer to the semi finals with them than we are with KD who we gave up **** load of picks for.

Thanks for commenting btw I know you’re one of the big supporters of trade and spend lot of time bashing Bridges/Johnson. Looking forward to this discussion tonight, please respond.

The only thing that "the Twins" would've gotten us is a younger star in the offseason. A Zion, Trae, maybe KAT....maybe Embiid.

That's it.

Just other players cause they weren't leading any team anywhere other then the lotto. Including ours.

[kennydorglas]

Our only saving grace is Denver playing horrendous on the road.

[SunsRback4Good]

Monty “ We’re going to come back home and win games 3 & 4 for our wonderful fans.. then head back to Nuggets and win that game and come back home and finish off the series in 6.”

[LV-Suns]

That was one of the worst offensive games I have seen played. We are painfully slow on offense, there are rarely ever any opportunities for fast breaks. I don’t get it, we have 2 of the best offensive players in the league, a guy that shoots 60%+, yet the best shot we can get is a contested mid range shots. We are making it so much more difficult for ourselves to get a shot up. whatever happened to Monty’s .5 offense? Now every possession down the floor is just an iso from Booker and KD.

[RayLight]

Last year's team was soo much fun with team basketball, energy, hard effort. I know something happened (Monty cannot coach during the playoffs?), but it was super fun to watch them play.

This year and now during the playoffs it is super ISO, no team basketball, no energy (except Booker), no effort defensively. It is almost unwatchable basketball, which I personally cannot stand. I agree that it is all on the GM and the coaching staff.

DA is pathetic for a 30+ million player. His real salary, based on production is no more than 10 million.

I just don't get it why veterans like Ross and Warren are not used. Check out Denver and players like Brown, who is not a better player, but is playing with confidence, better energy and playoff momentum.

CP3 should stay as a backup mentor to a young playmaker. Booker and KD should build the chemistry and the energy in a new team.

Ayton, Payne, Shamet should be gone for sure. I hope they bring a couple of young players with energy, effort and confidence to play with Book and KD.

From the rest of the guys I will keep only Craig, Okogie, Biyombo and Damion Lee. The first 3 as good defenders and Lee for the shooting.

[Revived]

...... and none of it mattered in the playoffs.

None of it matters for KD either apparently. We got as far as we did last season with Bridges/Johnson. Actually we were closer to the semi finals with them than we are with KD who we gave up **** load of picks for.

Thanks for commenting btw I know you’re one of the big supporters of trade and spend lot of time bashing Bridges/Johnson. Looking forward to this discussion tonight, please respond.

The only thing that "the Twins" would've gotten us is a younger star in the offseason. A Zion, Trae, maybe KAT....maybe Embiid.

That's it.

Just other players cause they weren't leading any team anywhere other then the lotto. Including ours.

KD isn’t leading a team to nowhere either. He’s proven that his whole career. That’s why he pulled off the weakest move in sports history and joined the Warriors.

His garbage ass is lucky he has Booker on the team carrying him to the 2nd round.

[MrMiyagi]

...... and none of it mattered in the playoffs.

None of it matters for KD either apparently. We got as far as we did last season with Bridges/Johnson. Actually we were closer to the semi finals with them than we are with KD who we gave up **** load of picks for.

Thanks for commenting btw I know you’re one of the big supporters of trade and spend lot of time bashing Bridges/Johnson. Looking forward to this discussion tonight, please respond.

The only thing that "the Twins" would've gotten us is a younger star in the offseason. A Zion, Trae, maybe KAT....maybe Embiid.

That's it.

Just other players cause they weren't leading any team anywhere other then the lotto. Including ours.

Another **** take. Y'all really dick-riding this failure of a trade, huh?

[RaisingArizona]

It's up there. I seem to remember a few failures. The Kurt Thomas situation, trading Marion for Shaq, bending to memes about our defense and firing D'Antoni, etc. Worst decision of all time was hiring McDonough however.

McD drafted and extended Booker so you can't say that. Best Sun ever.

But we missed 7 years in hiring McD in 2013. Yes, he got us Booker buy Suns before never missed more than 3 years of playoff basketball.

I hear you. Plenty of mistakes were made but drafting the best player in franchise history at #13 has to mean something. Bridges also a good trade on draft night. DA is meh but not a bust. I don't think anyone could have been super successful under Saver. JJ added CP3 to an already good core and didn't do anything else really after that. It doesn't matter. I just hope changes come because not getting a dependable backup pg or fixing the bench the last 2-3 deadlines is negligence at this point.

[Slim Charless]

Isn’t Matt Ishbia trading away Bridges, Johnson and our entire future collection of picks for a turd version of KD worse than any one trade or one basketball transaction Robert Sarver did in 18 years of ownership?

Serious question.

It's up there. I seem to remember a few failures. The Kurt Thomas situation, trading Marion for Shaq, bending to memes about our defense and firing D'Antoni, etc. Worst decision of all time was hiring McDonough however.

Ummmmmmmm. You guys are both missing the most obvious choice here. Something that this board gives me hate for on a daily basis. The easiest answer to what Sarver did worse:

Choosing Ayton over Luka. Made even worse by the fact we had his national coach as our guy already. McD has gone on to say that was a Sarver move, not one by him.

[Revived]

Read on Twitter

This is why some of us were concerned about the minutes count in the 1st round. No other star player in the playoffs is even close to minutes count as ours.