Game 38 : Golden State Warriors @ Phoenix Suns, Monday, Dec 31st, 7:00PM MST

[NapoleonII]

When was the last time we beat the Warriors?

The Warrior's announcers had a screen up of longest streaks of wins against teams and the Suns were like #2 or #3. I think it was 16 straight victories against the suns, so that's a solid 3-4 years?

[DroughtsOverPHX]

I watched Ayton go 25/10, shoot over 50% from the field against a great team and it still feels like he had a bad game to me. A good game last night, not missing little put backs, going after every rebound would have been 35/20ish. It's still exciting as hell. He's learning and we see flashes of very dominant beast.

[Saberestar]

“They’re a lot better now than they were early,” said Golden State coach Steve Kerr, whose Warriors blasted Phoenix by 20 points back in October in Oakland. “They didn’t show it tonight, but watching them on tape getting ready for this game, dramatic improvement.”

Kerr praised Phoenix’s top three scorers – Devin Booker, TJ Warren and rookie 7-footer Deandre Ayton. The trio scored 69 of the Suns’ 109 points Monday night.

“Warren and Booker give them two really difficult guys to cover on the perimeter and Ayton is a real load,” he said.

https://amp.azcentral.com/amp/2458390002?__twitter_impression=true

[thamadkant]

Ayton is special and is the real franchise player for the Suns. At worst case... He is on the same level as Blake Griffin as a franchise player and at best a Golden Era Center tier big man.

Anyone saw that one handed catch he received down low then quickly flipped it using the same hands to an open shooter for the 3pt shot???

That is Hakeem like... And he isn't doing a Hakeem impression like Embiid is down low... That stuff is real instinct and flow of the game stuff.


Ayton should be getting the ball first.... Every possession.


If Igor can't make Ayton the go to guy and accept to build a system around him.... It's time to find someone who can. I bet someone like Popovic or even retired coaches like Jeff Van Gundy could replicate his Knicks style offense and defense with the Suns personnel.

[spanishninja]

I watched Ayton go 25/10, shoot over 50% from the field against a great team and it still feels like he had a bad game to me. A good game last night, not missing little put backs, going after every rebound would have been 35/20ish. It's still exciting as hell. He's learning and we see flashes of very dominant beast.

that's the thing though. he very casually put up 25/10 on good shooting. that should scare the rest of the league but everybody is only watching Doncic.

[TheLogician]

Ayton's putting up great numbers and showing a lot of what he can do. His touch has been tremendous for a rookie. Honestly better than I thought it would be out the gate. It's scary how good he's going to be.

[thamadkant]

I watched Ayton go 25/10, shoot over 50% from the field against a great team and it still feels like he had a bad game to me. A good game last night, not missing little put backs, going after every rebound would have been 35/20ish. It's still exciting as hell. He's learning and we see flashes of very dominant beast.

that's the thing though. he very casually put up 25/10 on good shooting. that should scare the rest of the league but everybody is only watching Doncic.

Yeah

Very Duncan-esque

Duncan looks like he had a quiet game but then stats show he scored 20 and grabbed 15 rebounds

[Moochthemonkey]

When was the last time we beat the Warriors?

November 2014. Klay Thompson was out with a minor hand injury; Barbosa started in his place. Suns were down 15-16 pts to start the 4th quarter, Gerald Green and IT went on a run to close out the game, I believe handing the Warriors their first loss of the season. Only current member of the Suns at that time was TJ Warren...

pretty much every game since then has been a blowout, sans that one game where Harrison Barnes hit a buzzer beater

[Revived]

I watched Ayton go 25/10, shoot over 50% from the field against a great team and it still feels like he had a bad game to me. A good game last night, not missing little put backs, going after every rebound would have been 35/20ish. It's still exciting as hell. He's learning and we see flashes of very dominant beast.

that's the thing though. he very casually put up 25/10 on good shooting. that should scare the rest of the league but everybody is only watching Doncic.

Ayton does it in blowout losses and Doncic is doing it in wins or close losses. That’s the difference.

If the Suns can go back to play competitive basketball then that would help.

[Fo-Real]

I watched Ayton go 25/10, shoot over 50% from the field against a great team and it still feels like he had a bad game to me. A good game last night, not missing little put backs, going after every rebound would have been 35/20ish. It's still exciting as hell. He's learning and we see flashes of very dominant beast.

that's the thing though. he very casually put up 25/10 on good shooting. that should scare the rest of the league but everybody is only watching Doncic.

Yeah

Very Duncan-esque

Duncan looks like he had a quiet game but then stats show he scored 20 and grabbed 15 rebounds

And he did it with good Pg's.

[Fo-Real]

When was the last time we beat the Warriors?

November 2014. Klay Thompson was out with a minor hand injury; Barbosa started in his place. Suns were down 15-16 pts to start the 4th quarter, Gerald Green and IT went on a run to close out the game, I believe handing the Warriors their first loss of the season. Only current member of the Suns at that time was TJ Warren...

pretty much every game since then has been a blowout, sans that one game where Harrison Barnes hit a buzzer beater

Pre-season does not count but we did it!

[spanishninja]

I watched Ayton go 25/10, shoot over 50% from the field against a great team and it still feels like he had a bad game to me. A good game last night, not missing little put backs, going after every rebound would have been 35/20ish. It's still exciting as hell. He's learning and we see flashes of very dominant beast.

that's the thing though. he very casually put up 25/10 on good shooting. that should scare the rest of the league but everybody is only watching Doncic.

Ayton does it in blowout losses and Doncic is doing it in wins or close losses. That’s the difference.

If the Suns can go back to play competitive basketball then that would help.

they have been competitve lately, coinciding with Ayton's improvement and Booker's return. meanwhile, Dallas is 2-8 in their last 10 games during which we've been 5-5.

golden state was the only true blowout loss for us lately. okc was close until the 4th quarter when Westbrook exploded and Booker was limited by foul trouble.

[Kerrsed]

that's the thing though. he very casually put up 25/10 on good shooting. that should scare the rest of the league but everybody is only watching Doncic.

Ayton does it in blowout losses and Doncic is doing it in wins or close losses. That’s the difference.

If the Suns can go back to play competitive basketball then that would help.

they have been competitve lately, coinciding with Ayton's improvement and Booker's return. meanwhile, Dallas is 2-8 in their last 10 games during which we've been 5-5.

golden state was the only true blowout loss for us lately. okc was close until the 4th quarter when Westbrook exploded and Booker was limited by foul trouble.

Dont forget we have had the 4th HARDEST schedule in the league, facing top tier teams night after night, while Dallas has had the complete opposite and has had one of the easiest. We have also gone stretches with injuries to key players (Booker/Warren) missing games, Dallas really hasnt (Dirk's decaying carcus is NOT a key player anymore).

[CloudWalker]

Ayton does it in blowout losses and Doncic is doing it in wins or close losses. That’s the difference.

If the Suns can go back to play competitive basketball then that would help.

they have been competitve lately, coinciding with Ayton's improvement and Booker's return. meanwhile, Dallas is 2-8 in their last 10 games during which we've been 5-5.

golden state was the only true blowout loss for us lately. okc was close until the 4th quarter when Westbrook exploded and Booker was limited by foul trouble.

Dont forget we have had the 4th HARDEST schedule in the league, facing top tier teams night after night, while Dallas has had the complete opposite and has had one of the easiest. We have also gone stretches with injuries to key players (Booker/Warren) missing games, Dallas really hasnt (Dirk's decaying carcus is NOT a key player anymore).

DSJ missed 12 games (2 more than Booker)
Wesley Matthews missed 6 games (same as TJ Warren)
Harrison Barnes missed 4 consecutive games to start the season

These are all starters.

Maxi Kleber who is crucial off the bench and actually started some games missed 4 and JJ Barea missed 3. Dirk too, of course.

[spanishninja]

they have been competitve lately, coinciding with Ayton's improvement and Booker's return. meanwhile, Dallas is 2-8 in their last 10 games during which we've been 5-5.

golden state was the only true blowout loss for us lately. okc was close until the 4th quarter when Westbrook exploded and Booker was limited by foul trouble.

Dont forget we have had the 4th HARDEST schedule in the league, facing top tier teams night after night, while Dallas has had the complete opposite and has had one of the easiest. We have also gone stretches with injuries to key players (Booker/Warren) missing games, Dallas really hasnt (Dirk's decaying carcus is NOT a key player anymore).

DSJ missed 12 games (2 more than Booker)
Wesley Matthews missed 6 games (same as TJ Warren)
Harrison Barnes missed 4 consecutive games to start the season

These are all starters.

Maxi Kleber who is crucial off the bench and actually started some games missed 4 and JJ Barea missed 3. Dirk too, of course.

though none of these guys are nearly as vital as Booker is for us, I do agree injuries are only part of the story. the two teams have clear differences in coaching and management as well. benching Anderson and getting rid of Ariza and Chandler were things we did to try to rectify the latter.