NBA Thread 2020-21 Season

[OttoinGrotto]

Sneaky great game by Ayton as well.

The talent was always there but Chris Paul showed him the way.

 

[Orangezoo]

The talent was always there but Chris Paul showed him the way.

Yeah amazing the difference playing for a coach on the sideline and on the court can help your game vs just playing for Adidas.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

How old is Cam Johnson — 15, 16?

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I don't see how Milwaukee is going to handle him this series if he stays healthy.

Yup. The Bucks needs to find a way to take him out of the game or else it could be a 4-0 sweep.

 

[Fireball Jr.]

Two feel-good stories if the Suns keep playing like they did tonight: Chris Paul finally getting to the final in his 16th season and Monty Williams coaching in his first final after playing in the league 9 years despite a heart condition & then enduring the death of his wife, and mother of their 5 children, when a driver crossed the center line and hit her head on.

Meanwhile, a whole lotta love for Devin Booker pulling into the arena in this sweet ride.

 

[Briancuse]

Two feel-good stories if the Suns keep playing like they did tonight: Chris Paul finally getting to the final in his 16th season and Monty Williams coaching in his first final after playing in the league 9 years despite a heart condition & then enduring the death of his wife, and mother of their 5 children, when a driver crossed the center line and hit her head on.

Meanwhile, a whole lotta love for Devin Booker pulling into the arena in this sweet ride.

Sweet ride indeed.

 

[Day2]

BTW, Magic and Bron are the two arguments for the best 22 year old of all time, along with Luka.

Makes Kawhi’s decision interesting if the choice is stay with PG or sign to play with a guy that’s tracking with Magic and Bron.

You assume he cares.

He literally passed on an opportunity to play for Magic’s old team with Bron.

 

[Finwad32]

I’ve been waiting since 1993 for the Suns to have another crack at this… Last night was fun to watch… Hell, the playoffs have been a lot of fun to watch. I haven’t missed a Suns game.

What a great story for CP3 and Monty for that matter. And Booker & Ayton are as good of 2 young foundational pieces as there are in the NBA.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Hard to not pull for Phoenix and Paul after all these years. Hope he continues to play like that and they get the title.

 

[MSOrange]

Hard to not pull for Phoenix and Paul after all these years. Hope he continues to play like that and they get the title.

I'm actually ok with either team but it would be nice for Phoenix to get one. I didn't watch much NBA regular season, but I'm more interested in these finals since it's different teams that haven't been there in forever.

On another note, this has probably been brought up many times, but did Deandra Ayton go to the Greg Oden school of aging? The guy looks like he's in his mid 30s, not 22!

 

[Finwad32]

I'm actually ok with either team but it would be nice for Phoenix to get one. I didn't watch much NBA regular season, but I'm more interested in these finals since it's different teams that haven't been there in forever.

On another note, this has probably been brought up many times, but did Deandra Ayton go to the Greg Oden school of aging? The guy looks like he's in his mid 30s, not 22!

Don’t you put that on him! Don’t you do it!!!

 

[chugg21]

Feel like the old guy that when someone asks who I'm rooting for, responds with just hoping for a good game. Just want Giannis to get closer to 100% and see this one go at least 6 in either direction.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

ESPN is in meltdown mode today. What is going on over there?

Anyone else find it interesting that this year old "recording" has been released on the eve of the finals. Just saying.

 

[Melancer46]

The concerning thing for me is that I don’t think the Bucks' defense actually looked any better with Brook off the floor; if anything it might have been worse.

Phoenix got good looks all game long no matter what Milwaukee did. The only shots they took the entire game that weren’t open or wide open were easy finishes at the rim + 6 mid-rangers from CP3 and Booker, of which they shot 1/6. Literally everything else was categorized as an open shot.

The refs didn’t let Milwaukee play physical on defense and with the disparity in quickness between these two teams, playing physical is easily our best hope of keeping them in front of us. The defense has carried us throughout the playoffs through very inconsistent offensive performances, but this will be pretty easily the greatest test.

Offensively, this game was pretty much par for the course in terms of Milwaukee creating pretty good looks; difference is we shot well in this one. It’s a shame one of the few good shooting nights was wasted on a double digit loss and might be a bad sign for how this series is going to go.

At any rate, playoff games don’t necessarily replicate themselves consistently so we’ll see if things change in Game 2, but Phoenix was the better team by a significant margin last night and it was only our hot shooting that kept it remotely within reach.

 

[Cusefan0307]

The concerning thing for me is that I don’t think the Bucks' defense actually looked any better with Brook off the floor; if anything it might have been worse.

Phoenix got good looks all game long no matter what Milwaukee did. The only shots they took the entire game that weren’t open or wide open were easy finishes at the rim + 6 mid-rangers from CP3 and Booker, of which they shot 1/6. Literally everything else was categorized as an open shot.

The refs didn’t let Milwaukee play physical on defense and with the disparity in quickness between these two teams, playing physical is easily our best hope of keeping them in front of us. The defense has carried us throughout the playoffs through very inconsistent offensive performances, but this will be pretty easily the greatest test.

Offensively, this game was pretty much par for the course in terms of Milwaukee creating pretty good looks; difference is we shot well in this one. It’s a shame one of the few good shooting nights was wasted on a double digit loss and might be a bad sign for how this series is going to go.

At any rate, playoff games don’t necessarily replicate themselves consistently so we’ll see if things change in Game 2, but Phoenix was the better team by a significant margin last night and it was only our hot shooting that kept it remotely within reach.

I am not sure who keeps these stats, but my eyes tell me CP 3 was a lot better than 1-6 on mid range jumpers himself.

 

[jncuse]

I wouldn’t mind Harlan though getting a crack at the Finals.
Everytime he calls a big moment he typically delivers.

except for Syracuse — UNC Asheville where he got caught in the moment of a potential 1-16 upset and lost objectivity on certain calls at the end.

but otherwise seems strong.

 

[Melancer46]

I am not sure who keeps these stats, but my eyes tell me CP 3 was a lot better than 1-6 on mid range jumpers himself.

1-2 on mid-rangers that weren't categorized as open or wide open. Point being, pretty much all of Phoenix's shots last night were good looks. The only ones that weren't were 2 mid-rangers from CP3 and 4 from Booker (of which he missed all of them). This is based on NBA.com's shot tracking.

 

[Cusefan0307]

1-2 on mid-rangers that weren't categorized as open or wide open. Point being, pretty much all of Phoenix's shots last night were good looks. The only ones that weren't were 2 mid-rangers from CP3 and 4 from Booker (of which he missed all of them). This is based on NBA.com's shot tracking.

Ok that makes sense. I think I read your post wrong.

 

[MikeSU02]

The concerning thing for me is that I don’t think the Bucks' defense actually looked any better with Brook off the floor; if anything it might have been worse.

Phoenix got good looks all game long no matter what Milwaukee did. The only shots they took the entire game that weren’t open or wide open were easy finishes at the rim + 6 mid-rangers from CP3 and Booker, of which they shot 1/6. Literally everything else was categorized as an open shot.

The refs didn’t let Milwaukee play physical on defense and with the disparity in quickness between these two teams, playing physical is easily our best hope of keeping them in front of us. The defense has carried us throughout the playoffs through very inconsistent offensive performances, but this will be pretty easily the greatest test.

Offensively, this game was pretty much par for the course in terms of Milwaukee creating pretty good looks; difference is we shot well in this one. It’s a shame one of the few good shooting nights was wasted on a double digit loss and might be a bad sign for how this series is going to go.

At any rate, playoff games don’t necessarily replicate themselves consistently so we’ll see if things change in Game 2, but Phoenix was the better team by a significant margin last night and it was only our hot shooting that kept it remotely within reach.

I thought on D the Bucks tried to make adjustments and CP3 and co were just rolling them no matter who was out there.

Bucks also missed a lot of easy buckets in the 1H. I think they can still get a split.

The biggest takeaway I'm getting from these playoffs is I think Ayton might be the second most important player on PHX behind CP3.

 

[Cusefan0307]

I know it’s more complicated than this, but the difference in the game last night was the free throw line.

 

[MikeSU02]

I know it’s more complicated than this, but the difference in the game last night was the free throw line.

It felt like FTs and CP3 being able to get whatever spot he wanted to and Ayton gobbling up the boards.

I think this will be a long series, but being able to just crush your FTs is such a boon when teams are so close in how good they are.

 

[Melancer46]

I thought on D the Bucks tried to make adjustments and CP3 and co were just rolling them no matter who was out there.

Bucks also missed a lot of easy buckets in the 1H. I think they can still get a split.

The biggest takeaway I'm getting from these playoffs is I think Ayton might be the second most important player on PHX behind CP3.

We definitely missed a lot of shots we usually make inside, but we also shot as well from the perimeter as we can reasonably expect. One of our best shooting games of the postseason really.

Ultimately we have to find an adjustment defensively because like I said, Phoenix was getting good shots almost every single possession last night. It’s just impossible to win that way.

The free throw disparity hurt too. Middleton attempting like 25 shots and 0 FTs just can’t happen for us. We have to find a way to win at the free throw line and win the points in paint battles.

 

[Day2]

Hard to not pull for Phoenix and Paul after all these years. Hope he continues to play like that and they get the title.

Phoenix, sure. But Paul? He’s one of the dirtiest players in the league.

 

[Finwad32]

Phoenix, sure. But Paul? He’s one of the dirtiest players in the league.

Crafty? Actor? Talker? Yes, yes and yes. Dirty, na.

 

[Day2]

Crafty? Actor? Talker? Yes, yes and yes. Dirty, na.