Clippers @ Suns Monday WCF game thread 6-28-2021 - Game 5

[Cheesebeef]

Never got that impression from Booker. He played with urgency.

nor Cam Johnson.

but CP3, Ayton, Bridges all looked atrocious. I mean, Bridges hasn’t been able to guard a chair in this series and has been totally AWOL on offense.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Kellan Olson
@KellanOlson

Monty Williams brought up a few KYP (know your personnel) things on the Clippers' top options, like letting PG get to his stepback going left time after time.

8:56 PM · Jun 28, 2021·TweetDeck

We just finished game 5. How can that be an issue at this point?

 

[pokerface]

This game was painful to watch...ugh. Did anyone really shine out there? Only here and there...

I'm so sick of this Clippers team!!!!

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Monty needs to shake things up. Take Bridges out of the starting lineup. Start Cam. Spend some damn time figuring out the zone.

I’ll be absolutely shocked if he does that. It would go against every Monty we’ve seen this season.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Here’s where I have faith in Ayton. He recognized in Game 3 that Zubac outplayed him and said as much in the paper. Then he told the team he would own the paint in Game 4. I think he’s gotten to the self awareness point where he knows when he didn’t bring it.

so I think he will Wednesday. The question is will Bridges and can Crowder break out of his slump? And even bigger, can CP3 not look like a total dog out there. Has Covid/rest knocked him that far off his game? If so for the duration, we’re pretty screwed.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The thing that is most striking to me is how we have gone from this fluid offense to playground 1 on 1 basketball for long stretches. They look like they don’t know where they should be and totally confused by the zone three games running.

I have not seen anything like it all season long.

Monty still hasn’t caught up to Lue. With this many games the counters should eventually become at least someone discernible.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The thing that is most striking to me is how we have gone from this fluid offense to playground 1 on 1 basketball for long stretches. They look like they don’t know where they should be and totally confused by the zone three games running.

I have not seen anything like it all season long.

Monty still hasn’t caught up to Lue. With this many games the counters should eventually become at least somewhat discernible.

 

[82CardsGrad]

I think it’s a toss up. I think we have the more talented team but Monty is being way outcoached in this series.

Other than Pop, Lue would outcoach just about any other head coach…

 

[sdscard4]

3-1 leads are forever in my mind. Even though we werent up 3 - 1 vs Houston in 94 we did win the first 2 at home. 95 we were legit up 3-1 and proceeded to do the unthinkable at that time. Common difficulties Houston gets hot we cant buy buckets. Hopefully next game we come out with a 20-5 run

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The free throw line has played better defense vs PG than Bridges this series.

Agreed. It’s not just offensively he’s been MIA. Not a lot of splash defensive plays either other than that block last game.

 

[Cheesebeef]

3-1 leads are forever in my mind. Even though we werent up 3 - 1 vs Houston in 94 we did win the first 2 at home. 95 we were legit up 3-1 and proceeded to do the unthinkable at that time. Common difficulties Houston gets hot we cant buy buckets. Hopefully next game we come out with a 20-5 run

actually, 94 was even worse than you remember. We were up 2-0 after winning the first two on the road!

 

[sdscard4]

Here’s where I have faith in Ayton. He recognized in Game 3 that Zubac outplayed him and said as much in the paper. Then he told the team he would own the paint in Game 4. I think he’s gotten to the self awareness point where he knows when he didn’t bring it.

so I think he will Wednesday. The question is will Bridges and can Crowder break out of his slump? And even bigger, can CP3 not look like a total dog out there. Has Covid/rest knocked him that far off his game? If so for the duration, we’re pretty screwed.

I still feel they were ready to party tonight and basketball was secondary.....esp after Milwaukee winning. Hopefully they feel the desperation in Game 6 and the real Suns show

 

[dscher]

people on the politics boards wouldn’t believe how much we see eye to eye on this board!

No doubt. But at the end of the day, I appreciate more when we can agree to disagree. That's growth. .

 

[82CardsGrad]

We just finished game 5. How can that be an issue at this point?

When all of your key guys, sans a suddenly very old Chris Paul, are scary young and inexperienced, yea… this crap happens when you’ve dragged out into deep waters…

 

[sdscard4]

actually, 94 was even worse than you remember. We were up 2-0 after winning the first two on the road!

Oh jesus you're right ....epic 2 yr collapse.
I'll never forget 94 and 95....stings more than 93 actually

 

[Cheesebeef]

I still feel they were ready to party tonight and basketball was secondary.....esp after Milwaukee winning. Hopefully they feel the desperation in Game 6 and the real Suns show

I think they thought it was over. Young team mistake (and ghosts of choking CP3) mistake.

 

[jruss702]

Choke

Certainly feels like it. Given that we’re a miracle play and horrendous shooting night on both sides from having lost 4 straight, I’m struggling to see how we win 1 more.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I also still maintain the Suns biggest blunder this past off-season was not investing some resources in a big body that could truly spell Ayton and maybe even play along side him in some situations. Saric is definitely not looking like the former, and probably not the latter either.

How nice would it have been to have Aron Baynes or Richaun Holmes at several points during this series and the ones before... or anyone similar?

No doubt. It likely spelled an 8-14 swing with cousins going ham on saric and saric’s inability to do much.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

tonight felt like that SA game where we won ten games in a row, had a tough east coast swing coming up, they had multiple guys out and we just fell flat on our freaking faces thinking we could just show up and win.

we’ve done that MULTIPLE TIMES this year. We’ve also responded to those face plants, every time, including the next game post SA meltdown and BEAT Milwaukee on their home floor in an epic finish. I expect to see that kind of effort on Wednesday, win or lose.

Yeah. It the difference in those instances were that we weren’t playing an opponent that we just faced 5 times that knows our every move. Playoffs are different than regular season.

 

[dscher]

Oh jesus you're right ....epic 2 yr collapse.
I'll never forget 94 and 95....stings more than 93 actually

I was young...but I think I suppressed and/or blocked out those emotionally after the 93 pain. Lol

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

This game was painful to watch...ugh. Did anyone really shine out there? Only here and there...

I'm so sick of this Clippers team!!!!

Book showed up until late when he could finish anything.

 

[Covert Rain]

I’ll be absolutely shocked if he does that. It would go against every Monty we’ve seen this season.

Actually one of the reasons why I think he might because it seems like an easy adjustment he could make. He clearly seems stumped from an X’s and O’s perspective.

I just hope the Suns just come out and get a blow out next game so we can move on. Lue is just a great coach.

 

[GatorAZ]

actually, 94 was even worse than you remember. We were up 2-0 after winning the first two on the road!

I would still go with 95’ being worse because they lost both games 5 and 7 at home after choking the year before. There was still hope after the 94’ collapse. After 95’ it was over.

Players from those eras were lucky social media and hot take morning shows weren’t around back then.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Oh jesus you're right ....epic 2 yr collapse.
I'll never forget 94 and 95....stings more than 93 actually

yup. Those were our years to win it all. We were favored in both series. We would have been favored for the rest of the playoffs had we gotten past the Rockets. And we just epically choked both chances away.

let’s hope this year doesn’t make the trifecta!

 

[sdscard4]

We kick butt on the road I feel good.

 

[Raindog]

And go back even further...

To 1979, and the Suns up 3-2 in WCF over a favored Seattle... and coming back to Phoenix for Game 6... and dropping last two games.

Or 1981, when Suns finished with best record in the NBA. Injury riddled champion Lakers knocked out in first round. Suns playing a MASH unit KC Kings in second round, missing their three best players. It looks like a cake walk to the WCF, but somehow a very heavily favored Suns get down 3-1 before coming back to tie series at 3-3... only to lose Game 7 at home... to a Kings team having to start most of their bench (down to their 10th and 11th men). And that Kings team was coached by... Cotton Fitzsimmons.

I still think that latter series was the all-time biggest choke job in Suns history... even more than the Rockets series, as that team went on to win two championships.