Game 59: Oklahoma City Thunder (32-25) @ Phoenix Suns (30-28)

[bigfoot]

Top 5 players in the league with the most field goals made in one-possession games with two minutes or less remaining:

Good example of why advanced stats can be misleading because despite all that, Suns are like 5-17 in games decided by 5 or less and like 6-16 in games decided by 3 or less. Both among the league's worst.

Like Reggie Miller said yesterday, Suns don't have a closer yet.

These aren't advanced stats such as PER, ORTG, DRTG, RAPM. These are simple stats. It shows that current Suns players have made a lot of shots in the last two minutes of close games. Nothing advanced about that nor states nothing about win/losses. Nor did the original poster say anything about why we won this game. Just put something out there for people to look at.

[Revived]

Top 5 players in the league with the most field goals made in one-possession games with two minutes or less remaining:

Honestly, it doesn't say much to me except that the Suns have way too many close games down the stretch as opposed to other teams. Good field goal percentages though (for Kieff and Bled)...

Your gut reaction is wrong.

1) Knight being on the list implies the Bucks had a lot of close games
2) Exactly 12 teams out of 30 have point differentials less than 3 points (one possession). Also, 22 out of 30 have less than 5 point differentials. What that means is most NBA games are close.
3) It's important to have players who want to take shots at the end and can make them. This will pay off in spades as this very young team ages.

We don't have this. When was the last time a Suns player made a buzzer beating shot to win the game? Or hell, even a game winner? Probably last season.

Like Reggie Miller said yesterday, Suns don't have a closer.

[Revived]

Iso iso iso iso. Blocked.

Great call there, PHX.

What was Bledsoe doing there?

I can't believe that Bled-ISO-e against Ibaka is the ATO play call there.

Its a typical at the end of game, crunch time playcall by Hornacek. Its been going on all season long.

[Revived]

Even though Westbrook had a bad shooting night, he kept them around. Without him they lose by 20+ and are done going into the fourth quarter at least.

Westbrook's continuous attack inside gave Thunder a lot of chances in this game..

He has to be on some performance enhancing drugs, you cannot play 35+ minutes and have the same amount of energy all night long... This year, Westbrook's demeanor, aggressiveness, fury etc looks enhanced lol.. as if his testosterone levels are at 200%.

Just so much energy and not much sign of tiredness.... just curious whether he has taken some supplements/PEDs.
Its uncanny.

With that said, I love watching him.. he looks so angry all the time.. like a mini-hulk.

Yea even on a terrible shooting night, he found ways to impact the game in other ways (rebounds and assists) and THAT is what being a superstar is all about imo.

He had 27, 8 and 6 in just the second half alone.....those are numbers that 90% of the players would be super hyped about if they got it in a whole game.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/status/571193907188523008[/tweet]

[SarcasticSun]

Best Suns game in years! I really hope Markieff is turning a corner with these rebounds and this isn't just a fluke.

[Bogyo]

Best Suns game in years! I really hope Markieff is turning a corner with these rebounds and this isn't just a fluke.

Literally* praying for your prediction to come true.


* I'll let the experts decide wheter I really do pray for it or, I just used the word in an incorrect way. Maybe this game thread will have another 4-5 pages to read.