NBA PLAYOFFS: RD 2 l Game 1 - (3) Denver Nuggets @ (2) Phoenix Suns l Monday l 7:00 l TNT l Series (0-0)

[WeekapaugGroove]

Ayton is going to destroy their frontcourt. They really don't have anyone athletic enough to stay with him. Minimal weakside protection and a center than can't jump is a recipe for Ayton to do some serious, serious damage.

Ayton has a big opportunity to do damage offensively. Could certainly argue that Ayton had a tougher match up offensively against Gasol, AD (when he was healthy) and even Drummond who's a big body in the paint. Against the Nuggets, Jokic is clearly the biggest front court player they have and while he's smart defensively, he's not someone who will be able to match Ayton's activity offensively. Millsap is another guy who might get a go at defending Ayton. I think it's clear that while Ayton isn't going to be giving us 33 a game like Jokic, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that he puts up his own 25/12.

What is interesting is that Jokic's assist % is way down in the playoffs (40% vs 25%) while his USG% has gone up (30% vs 36%). CP3's assist% and USG% is pretty much the same. Much of that is likely Denver having a shootout with the Portland so I expect Jokic's assist/USG to get closer to the mean but our offense ain't a joke either (#5 in the league vs #2 for Portland).

I'm curious to see if Denver sends help dowm on Ayton A LOT more than LA did. I think they will and will test his ability to make a quick decision and pass out.

He needs to continue to run the floor hard, I thought he did an outstanding job of this against the Lakers. This will not only get him good looks but it also forces Jokic to use more energy getting back.

On Jokics numbers, Portlands plan especially early in that series was to make Jokic beat them scoring and not getting everyone else involved. It's actually not a bad plan and I think the suns may play him in a somewhat similar fashion.

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[darealjuice]

I can't wait to see how we come to play today. How healthy is Chris Paul going to be after getting a few days to get treatment and heal up? How will Mikal be able to check MPJ with his breakout? Ayton's been huge so far, but Jokic is going to be a big test for him. It would have been fun to see Booker and Murray square up for some big matchups in the playoffs too. I'm curious to see how they defend him.

We'll need to shoot better from deep than last series, Nuggets can really light it up and we need to take advantage of open looks. Lakers were definitely a better defensive team in the paint, hopefully we can take advantage of that.

[King4Day]

Not sure this would motivate the players but maybe they'll play harder for Monty tonight.

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[WeekapaugGroove]

Someone brought this up earlier but I can't remember who, but Payne vs Monte Morris is a key battle this series. Payne at least playing him even would be absolutely huge for phoenix.

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[Revived]

I’m curious to see how Monty uses Ayton in this series. Ayton can’t protect the rim if he’s gonna be guarding Jokic because Jokic will drain 3s if left open. Most other players on the floor will be shooters for Denver.

Drummond allowed Ayton to be closer to the rim because of Drummond’s inability to do anything outside of the paint.

Suns as a team will need to keep their assignment in front of them and not rely on Ayton’s help defense as much as they did in the LAL game. Denver is also a much, much better 3pt shooting team than the Lakers overall.

[kyledriver]

Second round let's go boys!!!

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[lilfishi22]

Not sure this would motivate the players but maybe they'll play harder for Monty tonight.

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lol what a joke

Look I totally get that Thibs did a great job and from a wins improvement standpoint, it's better than ours but it's gotta be more than just about wins. They are middle of the pack in the East while the Suns are #2 in the whole league.

[spanishninja]

If I wasn't sure we will win the series, I am now. Highway robbery

Not sure this would motivate the players but maybe they'll play harder for Monty tonight.

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[lilfishi22]

I’m curious to see how Monty uses Ayton in this series. Ayton can’t protect the rim if he’s gonna be guarding Jokic because Jokic will drain 3s if left open. Most other players on the floor will be shooters for Denver.

Drummond allowed Ayton to be closer to the rim because of Drummond’s inability to do anything outside of the paint.

Suns as a team will need to keep their assignment in front of them and not rely on Ayton’s help defense as much as they did in the LAL game. Denver is also a much, much better 3pt shooting team than the Lakers overall.

The scary thing about how important Ayton is isn't just Ayton getting into foul trouble and having no one to defend Jokic but that the paint is wide open for Jokic and their wings to get easy shots close to the basket. It will mean our guys will have to start packing the paint a bit more than we would like without Ayton in there and that will just leave their shooters wide open.

[bwgood77]

Ayton is going to destroy their frontcourt. They really don't have anyone athletic enough to stay with him. Minimal weakside protection and a center than can't jump is a recipe for Ayton to do some serious, serious damage.

Ayton has a big opportunity to do damage offensively. Could certainly argue that Ayton had a tougher match up offensively against Gasol, AD (when he was healthy) and even Drummond who's a big body in the paint. Against the Nuggets, Jokic is clearly the biggest front court player they have and while he's smart defensively, he's not someone who will be able to match Ayton's activity offensively. Millsap is another guy who might get a go at defending Ayton. I think it's clear that while Ayton isn't going to be giving us 33 a game like Jokic, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that he puts up his own 25/12.

What is interesting is that Jokic's assist % is way down in the playoffs (40% vs 25%) while his USG% has gone up (30% vs 36%). CP3's assist% and USG% is pretty much the same. Much of that is likely Denver having a shootout with the Portland so I expect Jokic's assist/USG to get closer to the mean but our offense ain't a joke either (#5 in the league vs #2 for Portland).

Depends on touches and if our guards get going they may keep it up and ride the hot streak, which is fine, like in our last couple games and especially the last one.

But they should get him going partly because the more touches you get and involved you are, the more a player likely usually gets vested on the other side as well as you get pumped up and the blood flowing.

[Calvin Klein]

Half the people give 100% of the credit for our season to Chris Paul, from a leadership standpoint. Those are less likely to vote for Monty.

[Slim Charless]

I’m curious to see how Monty uses Ayton in this series. Ayton can’t protect the rim if he’s gonna be guarding Jokic because Jokic will drain 3s if left open. Most other players on the floor will be shooters for Denver.

Drummond allowed Ayton to be closer to the rim because of Drummond’s inability to do anything outside of the paint.

Suns as a team will need to keep their assignment in front of them and not rely on Ayton’s help defense as much as they did in the LAL game. Denver is also a much, much better 3pt shooting team than the Lakers overall.

Yeah, they need to team rebound as Ayton is gonna have his hands full with Joker. I think they let him single him up and shut down everyone else. In particular, they need to make sure MPJ handled. Mikal will need to make sure he doesn't go off on us. I don't think Denver can contain us, if we have a healthy CP3 though.

[dremill24]

Yeah Ayton being pulled away from the rim could be an issue. We have no other rim protection and we suck at rebounding if hes not down there.

[lilfishi22]

Ayton is going to destroy their frontcourt. They really don't have anyone athletic enough to stay with him. Minimal weakside protection and a center than can't jump is a recipe for Ayton to do some serious, serious damage.

Ayton has a big opportunity to do damage offensively. Could certainly argue that Ayton had a tougher match up offensively against Gasol, AD (when he was healthy) and even Drummond who's a big body in the paint. Against the Nuggets, Jokic is clearly the biggest front court player they have and while he's smart defensively, he's not someone who will be able to match Ayton's activity offensively. Millsap is another guy who might get a go at defending Ayton. I think it's clear that while Ayton isn't going to be giving us 33 a game like Jokic, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that he puts up his own 25/12.

What is interesting is that Jokic's assist % is way down in the playoffs (40% vs 25%) while his USG% has gone up (30% vs 36%). CP3's assist% and USG% is pretty much the same. Much of that is likely Denver having a shootout with the Portland so I expect Jokic's assist/USG to get closer to the mean but our offense ain't a joke either (#5 in the league vs #2 for Portland).

Depends on touches and if our guards get going they may keep it up and ride the hot streak, which is fine, like in our last couple games and especially the last one. But I am all for our guards doing whatever they can to keep Ayton engaged as much as possible

But they should get him going partly because the more touches you get and involved you are, the more a player likely usually gets vested on the other side as well as you get pumped up and the blood flowing.

I'm not really thinking about our guards running plays after plays for him or even get him significant touches. I was more thinking about him creating opportunities with his hustle just as he did against the Lakers. Ayton put up 16ppg basically without any iso touches or plays run specifically for him (aside from the couple of alley oops). He averaged 2.66 dunks (16) in the 6 games against LA's big line up whereas he was at around 1.6 per game in the regular season. All I'm saying is that against a smaller front line, he could certainly see those 20+ point performances we saw in the 1st 3 games of the Laker series.

It's definitely not dependant purely on our guards giving him touches.

[alldayeveryday]

Checking in, let’s get it.




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[lilfishi22]

Yeah Ayton being pulled away from the rim could be an issue. We have no other rim protection and we suck at rebounding if hes not down there.

I'm less worried about that. I think it's OK if Ayton is pulled out to the perimeter because our guards are big enough and long enough to match up against Denver's other guys. There's no elite drivers on their team who can get to the rim at will. Aaron Gordon might be the only guy who could put pressure at the rim but I think Crowder will be able to do enough to keep him out of the lane.

[King4Day]

Checking in, let’s get it.

Post any good shots you get! Have an awesome time.

[Calvin Klein]

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[lilfishi22]

Bloody working in the office today....about to go on my extended lunch break so I can watch the game on my phone.

WFH has been a revelation for my NBA consumption

[Calvin Klein]