Game 1: Dallas Mavericks @ Phoenix Suns l Wednesday l 8:30pm l ESPN

[denial]

Ya'll trashing on Book is disappointing and just silly.

Booker
22/5/3
on 8 for 15 shooting
in 34 minutes. Led the winning team in scoring.
+/- +7

Doncic
32/8/5
on 11 for *26* shooting
in 36 minutes. Led the losing team in scoring.
+/- -9

(edit: not saying Book outplayed Doncic per se. But with the discrepancy in calls by the refs, and Book's much better efficiency, I think he played just fine against the pre-ordained 2021 mvp)

[lilfishi22]

Cam Payne and Cam Johnson were both terrific tonight. Mikal was great as usual.

Ayton played good D apart from his foul trouble. Even Jalen wasn't too bad, though he lacks confidence.

Damian Jones on the other hand...

He did what we paid him to do, use his 5 fouls

[Barkley6]

Cam needs to be starting. Just not enough firepower in the starting lineup with Crowder starting.

Cam was amazing in that stretch. One of my Mavs friend even texted me asking who this Cam guy was.

I never really saw Crowder before tonight.. very disappointed.
Cam is a stud and I have been saying it since his 5th game.

He's had minimal time off since last season, joined camp late and is still building chemistry. Give it 6 or 7 games before judging him.

[Maze]

I like what I saw from Crowder on defense.Offensively, I thought he forced a bunch of bad 3pt attempts this game.Mostly in the first half.I guess he's going to be like another Q Rich with his streakiness on offense.

[denial]

Cam needs to be starting. Just not enough firepower in the starting lineup with Crowder starting.

Cam was amazing in that stretch. One of my Mavs friend even texted me asking who this Cam guy was.

I never really saw Crowder before tonight.. very disappointed.
Cam is a stud and I have been saying it since his 5th game.

He's had minimal time off since last season, joined camp late and is still building chemistry. Give it 6 or 7 games before judging him.

fair enough. I will withhold further judgment for now.

[sunsbg]

Always wanted to see Mikal show more on O especially against lazy D Doncic. Good he's starting to figure it out.

[Preacher162a]

I'm not sure if you guys might have heard, but Lucka is big and strong.

[SC923]

What are people's thoughts on the three guard lineups? I assumed it was just a preseason thing with a lot of our wings out but not sure how I feel with a 6'1 Galloway at the 3.

Happened twice tonight

[Mr Puddles]

Cam needs to be starting. Just not enough firepower in the starting lineup with Crowder starting.

Cam was amazing in that stretch. One of my Mavs friend even texted me asking who this Cam guy was.

I never really saw Crowder before tonight.. very disappointed.
Cam is a stud and I have been saying it since his 5th game.

Crowder isn't a player that sticks out with his play and makes you remember him. His impact is under-the-radar though. He also didn't have much time with the team for practice, but he will get better with time for sure.

I do think there is a correlation between having Crowder on the roster and our improved defence. He's the type of player who you can plug into a line-up and the collective becomes better defensively. Memphis fell off a cliff defensively after they traded crowded (and haven't recovered since), and Miami really could have used him against Orlando tonight as well.

[NTB]

Read on Twitter

[SunsRback4Good]

Cam Payne and Cam Johnson were both terrific tonight. Mikal was great as usual.

Ayton played good D apart from his foul trouble. Even Jalen wasn't too bad, though he lacks confidence.

Damian Jones on the other hand...

He did what we paid him to do, use his 5 fouls

Will he ever become an all star?

[bwgood77]

Double checked to make sure I didn't miss him, but Moore didn't even play tonight. Not long ago we were looking for players like him to come start and play 30+ minutes for us. What a difference.

Yeah, it is amazing. On just about all our teams before last year he would have played like 30 minutes, and now he is a very nice reserve to have if a guard gets injured or cools off.

[MrMiyagi]

Cam Payne and Cam Johnson were both terrific tonight. Mikal was great as usual.

Ayton played good D apart from his foul trouble. Even Jalen wasn't too bad, though he lacks confidence.

Damian Jones on the other hand...

He did what we paid him to do, use his 5 fouls

Will he ever become an all star?

1st ballot HoFer

[NTB]

Except for his shooting I think Crowder played well. Rebounds and 4 assists and good defense.

[bigfoot]

What are people's thoughts on the three guard lineups? I assumed it was just a preseason thing with a lot of our wings out but not sure how I feel with a 6'1 Galloway at the 3.

Happened twice tonight

I think it is fine if it's with the bench unit.

[Mulhollanddrive]

No coincidence Paul and Crowder were both off, temporary issue getting familiarity.

Our 3 guard lineup is my favourite full bench and suits how we need to play at pace to get open looks:
- Payne, Carter, Galloway, Johnson, Saric

[Mjee]

Guys Cam is going to be GOOD !!!! He created his own shot tonight and once he starts doing that consistently.... sky is the limit

He's a 6'8" Booker clone.

He’s got the tools ... just needs to learn the ins and outs and build confidence.... !!! I’m very excited to see his progress

[WeekapaugGroove]

Really encouraging to win a game where neither Paul or Booker played particularly well, that's a very good sign.

Bridges was their best player tonight, loved his aggression on O.

Cam Johnson was great, the more I watch him the more I like his game.

Payne and Galloway were good.

Stix looked like a rookie at times but did some things and they desperately needed his minutes in the 2nd quarter and he delivered.

I told y'all Crowder was streaky, he'll have better games.

Some of those calls on Ayton were ticky tak, I thought he was fine when he was out there although I'd love for him to cool it on the fadeaways.

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[AtheJ415]

Our transition D was terrible. Ayton's driving was way better. Got a couple fouls off the dribble.

Payne I think is clearly our backup PG. He just has a lot more talent than Carter. The game has slowed down for him and him becoming a legit scorer has opened things up quite a bit.

Johnson needs to start. I'm not saying it just on this game. He's been a top 5 player on this team since the bubble, and the main reason we took off imo was Oubre being out and Cam taking his spot. No offense to Crowder, but Cam's shooting at his size with even passable defense has more value than Jae does. Also, with Cam in a corner and Ayton with Book or Paul on the PnR, it especially works with Bridges's cutting ability. That group fits very well together. Cam is big enough to play the 4. They need to make this move sooner than later imo.

Galloway was great. I think Moore still will play on this team.

I'd like to see this 11 man rotation. Depending on resting situations and opponent, the guy left out could differ:

Paul / Payne / Carter
Booker / Galloway / Payne
Bridges / Crowder / Moore
Johnson / Saric / Smith / Crowder
Ayton / Saric / Smith


I think it's fairly clear we can afford to get rid of Jones or Kaminsky and take another wing. Smith is good enough to be our temporary backup center and 3rd string once Saric gets back. No reason for Jones to stay here. I'd really look at Frank Jackson for the last roster spot and Zhaire Smith for a 2 way. Zhaire was such a monster defender in college and an infectious disease derailed his career so far. It's well worth a 2 way spot to see what happens there imo.

[bwgood77]

Quick thoughts about the game.

Book forced it too much, kinda got the feeling he wanted to prove he's still the man with cp3 here.

Ayton's fouls were BS, defensively he was above solid, especially on the perimeter. Missed a couple of drives where he didn't contest being the weak side defender but no blown coverage or so. On offense he got his with the minimal touches he got, it's funny how he can score 13 points and you can hardly tell he got any shots.

Cp3 had an off game, yet his influence in crunch time was huge, that's why they brought him.

Cams and Galloway, very solid game, love me some Johnson, he's looking like he's developing very well (ain't that a nice change from our pre-18 rook classes)

Game ball goes to Mikal, he's taking the next step we were hoping to see from Ayton, he's reaching Middleton territory this year, I love this guy.

I think Book forced it more because it was vs Doncic and it was national tv. I wonder what casual fans thought...or people watching it on the GB thread.

But yeah, spot on with everything.