Game Thread: Phoenix (29-27) vs Boston (20-33)

[Sunsss]

Another fun game. Even though we're losing, games are more fun now because we move the ball better on offense and young guys are playing. (Accepting the fact that basketball gods don't want us in the playoffs after the 3rd lucky bounce buzzer-beater also helps)

If you don't count Barron's 3 minutes, we had only one guy over 27 years old on the floor tonight.

Celtics' 3-point party in the first half killed us. Some of it was bad defense, I agree. Rest of the game we were scrappy on defense though. They ended up shooting under 44%.

IT's 4-point play was a game changer call. We had momentum with Bledsoe's three-pointers. It was definitely an offensive foul.

I should stop not watching the games live. We're like 1-4 in those games and you guys look like you could use some optimism during games.

[Calvin Klein]

Please let's get over the Dragic thing. It doesn't help.

What doesn't help is management not taking care of our best player, then spinning afterwards saying that we are now better without him. Clearly we are not.

McD made some good moves in the past but made 5 mistakes this season.

-Not signing Frye or replacing him well enough.

-Signing Tolliver, now gone.

-Signing IT, now gone.

-Made moves that led to Dragic being an off the ball player playing at half his capacity. Now gone for pretty much nothing.

-Trading away the Lakers pick.

Knight is ok, but for IT, Dragic, Ennis, Plumlee and Lakers pick?

Then there is Hornacek who has ignored the young guys all season. Who would have thought Archie is better than Green? Or that Warren can play. A waste.

The man has a point Calvin

And I agree. But this board has become not fun at all these last few days.

[JTrain]

You guys crucifying Bledsoe need to ease off a bit, he was going against a pretty good defensive back court that have the right physical traits to give him trouble. I dont think Dragic would "kill" it against Bradley and Smart either.
Bledsoe's turn overs were very disappointing but he DID nail those 2 three pointers that brought them closer.

It's the effort. He flat-out takes plays off, and only goes full-speed on defense about 70% of the time. This less than a week after the FO traded away the other two PGs, expressed total faith in his ability to lead the team and basically made him into the face of the franchise.

[batsmasher]

It's the effort. He flat-out takes plays off, and only goes full-speed on defense about 70% of the time. This less than a week after the FO traded away the other two PGs, expressed total faith in his ability to lead the team and basically made him into the face of the franchise.

Couldn't have said it better. We've put all our eggs in his basket. I'm starting to believe he's not 'the guy'. Not because of his development, not because of his turnovers. The effort just isn't there consistently. A guy can't be a face of the franchise and take plays off.

The same can be said for Keef. He completely checks out on defense sometimes.

Can they "grow out" of it? I just don't know.

[Mr Puddles]

You can't objectively say that wasn't a kick out. Brandon Knight stopped a good foot away from IT. I would have called BS on that foul if it went the Suns' way (LOL) too. The inconsistency in reffing is making the league a joke.

Actually, I do agree that NBA Reffing is just terrible. If it were up to me, we would see some major reform in that area.

With that said, I still think blaming refs for losses is silly.

I've got to agree with you here. Fact is the Celtics came out to play, and the Suns didn't. The refs didn't cause the Suns to go down by 20 in the first half, turn the ball over continuously down the stretch, play bad perimeter defense - those are the reasons we lost, not officiating. It seems to happen after every loss now that posters keep piling on about how NBA referees are somehow rigged against our team, it's a sad way to look for excuses.

At the end of the day the fact remains that the Celtics were the better team tonight and they deserve the win.

[NavLDO]

17/5/8

On no where near as efficiency as Dragic.

Funny enough, that game Dragic had 10 points on 23 % shooting.

But, but, but...it was because Dragic played off-ball...and because IT played...and because Horny wore an orange tie...and because his foot slipped...and because...because...because...ummm...oh yeah, Bledsoe played, too! Yep, blame everyone else but yourself, Goran.

[RunDogGun]

Were they the better team? Not in field goal percentage, free throw shooting, offensive rebounds, total rebounds, blocks, fast break points, and points in the paint. They shot better from three, and had more free throws, and that is the game.

I'm tired of the lack of respect from the refs. We consistently lose out in the free throw department, even when we double the other team in points in the paint (excuses used by Toronto fan, when they shot twice as many from the line). It's just stupid to lose by less points than the opposing team shoots from the line. It isn't like we don't draw contact often. It was our home court from cripes sakes.

I say we start fouling guys very hard. If we are going to get called for every touch foul, and get mugged on the other side of the court, like we did against the lowly Wolves, I say we should start earning those call. We definitely have guys that like to act like goons off the court.

[MrMiyagi]

Welp, time to start trading our entire roster again because obviously the trades we did make didn't make us any better.

Remember how you called me out because I said we won't make playoffs. Do you still think I'm wrong?

You going to keep pretending you're a fan of this team? All you do is bitch and be negative.

I'm still rooting for us to win every game. Have fun being a cynic trying to feel superior by rooting against the Suns just to say "I told you so".

[Revived]

Welp, time to start trading our entire roster again because obviously the trades we did make didn't make us any better.

Remember how you called me out because I said we won't make playoffs. Do you still think I'm wrong?

You going to keep pretending you're a fan of this team? All you do is bitch and be negative.

I'm still rooting for us to win every game. Have fun being a cynic trying to feel superior by rooting against the Suns just to say "I told you so".

Lmao I like how you don't the balls to admit you were wrong and apologize. And I have said numerous times since season started that I'm with not making playoffs as long as Len, Goodwin and Warren get good minutes.

So sure try to cover up with the whole "Your not a fan, you rooted against us!" thing to cover up the fact that you tried attacking me and ended up being completely wrong. And of course we all know that me "rooting against them" is the reason why the Suns lay an egg in all these games, clearly they care so much about me and who i root for

[thamadkant]

You guys crucifying Bledsoe need to ease off a bit, he was going against a pretty good defensive back court that have the right physical traits to give him trouble. I dont think Dragic would "kill" it against Bradley and Smart either.
Bledsoe's turn overs were very disappointing but he DID nail those 2 three pointers that brought them closer.

It's the effort. He flat-out takes plays off, and only goes full-speed on defense about 70% of the time. This less than a week after the FO traded away the other two PGs, expressed total faith in his ability to lead the team and basically made him into the face of the franchise.

You also have to factor in... Bledsoe's game style and his body type tires him out everytime he burst out penetrating.

He could be trying to catch his breath during that apparently "30%" of the time he looks like he is taking it easy.


All I know is he does become more active in the 4th quarte a lot.

There were a couple of times he got mugged driving in and there were no calls.

[JTrain]

...he burst out penetrating.

[Lindecision]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgEbETdNBgc[/youtube]

The game itself was incredibly entertaining anyway.

But to have that payback staredown was just the icing on the cake.

[NavLDO]

You guys crucifying Bledsoe need to ease off a bit, he was going against a pretty good defensive back court that have the right physical traits to give him trouble....

Very true. Maybe he slacked off some this game, as others that went to the game saw, but outside of that, when was the last time Bledsoe had a double-double, with half of that being Assists, not rebounds. He had a decent game overall, from a stats perspective. Especially considering he, along with Kieff and Len are having to essentially, start over likes it's the beginning of the season. I think everyone needs to realize that we just had an incredibly high player turnover just a few short days ago. Losing 1 starter and 2 role players, while adding a starter and 2 role players, AND playing two more young/rookie players in Goodwin/Warren is no small thing. That's a lot of difference than what the rotation looked like 2 weeks ago.

Everyone knows I'm a Goodwin fanboy and I'm glad I am... gets inside the paint like any of the elite guards and had added a dimension in that he drives with 2 options... score OR dish-off to a shooter.... once he can pull up a jumper... he will score 20 a game....

Yep. Good to see him get some meaningful minutes. How awesome would it be for Goodwin to develop into a stud starting SG as a 27th overall pick. And if Warren can wrestle away the starting gig from PJ, we'll have 3 starters from the past 2 drafts, and potentially Bogdanovich as well.

Some fans need to realize, Celtics took this game from the Suns.... Thomas, Bradley and Bass stepped it up... got to give kudos where it is due.

Yeah, the fact that they shot 48% from 3 on 29 attempts, as opposed to our 28% on 32 attempts. That's a 15 point swing, so the fact that we kept it to just a 5 pt loss isn't as bad as it looks. Had we shot 2 more successful 3's, we win. So while an argument can be made that the Suns lost, I think the argument can be made that the Celtics actually won the game more than we lost it!.

[MrMiyagi]

Remember how you called me out because I said we won't make playoffs. Do you still think I'm wrong?

You going to keep pretending you're a fan of this team? All you do is bitch and be negative.

I'm still rooting for us to win every game. Have fun being a cynic trying to feel superior by rooting against the Suns just to say "I told you so".

Lmao I like how you don't the balls to admit you were wrong and apologize. And I have said numerous times since season started that I'm with not making playoffs as long as Len, Goodwin and Warren get good minutes.

So sure try to cover up with the whole "Your not a fan, you rooted against us!" thing to cover up the fact that you tried attacking me and ended up being completely wrong. And of course we all know that me "rooting against them" is the reason why the Suns lay an egg in all these games, clearly they care so much about me and who i root for

I'm rooting for us to win every game. Are we statistically out of the playoff? I don't think so. OKC keeps having injuries, same with the Pelicans. I'm still optimistic.

[SunsRback4Good]

OKC has finally put together a winning streak of 7 games something phoenix haven't done all season. I believe we had a 4 game win streak once. Pelicans have a better chance at that 8th seed then us.

[lilfishi22]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/BillSimmons/status/570119377653071872[/tweet]

I remember the first 2 games with Thomas. I had the exact same reaction

[SUN]

Celtics fans aren't idiots, right? They don't think Isiah Thomas is good, right? Right?

[Revived]

Celtics fans aren't idiots, right? They don't think Isiah Thomas is good, right? Right?

They think he's Isiah Thomas.

[SunsRback4Good]

Celtics fans aren't idiots, right? They don't think Isiah Thomas is good, right? Right?

They think he's Isiah Thomas.