Knicks @ Suns Friday game thread 5-7-2021

[1tinsoldier]

many teams who have won a championship did so, in part,
because they had a favorable playoff path
--i want one

or opponents had injuries
--i want them to

or favorable calls
--i want many

if you want to win it all
hope for some good luck
because that's what it takes

 

[1tinsoldier]

we do have playoff experience now
the past couple of weeks have been like playing through
and winning
2 rounds of the playoffs

and the bubble was a round last year

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

we do have playoff experience now
the past couple of weeks have been like playing through
and winning
2 rounds of the playoffs

and the bubble was a round last year

Helps that our PG and team leader has a ton of experience. Really hope Booker shows up big in his first appearance.

 

[AZ Native]

Because they won’t be. At least not this year. I mean, are you serious with that question? If the Lakers are healthy, they’d be SALIVATING to play is because they’re bigger, more athletic and have a massive experience advantage. Should we also hope that LeBron and AD are completely healthy too so we have easily the toughest matchup in the first round of any team after having the second best record in the league?

you do realize teams try to get higher seeds in the regular season to make their road to the title easier, right?

wanting to play a healthy Lakers team in the WCF? Sure. I get that. But this season is a war or attrition. Starting with what would likely be our toughest opponent as we get acclimated to playoff intensity is a death wish, IMO.

I'm not wanting to play any superior team in the playoffs. I'm just saying we have to beat who is on the schedule to win it all. We have no control over that. No offense, but I was a Sun's fan before you were born. So at this point in my life, I want to see us win it all regardless of the opponent. I suffered through the 76 and 93 losses and would love to see the Suns win it all no matter who they play. Make them dread playing us for a change.

 

[Cheesebeef]

we do have playoff experience now
the past couple of weeks have been like playing through
and winning
2 rounds of the playoffs

and the bubble was a round last year

Sorry, but no. The bubble wasnt playoffs because the teams we were playing against didn’t have to win every game. We had to ball out but there wasn’t intensity or even full rosters from half of the other teams in a lot of those games.

and playing the Clippers without Kawhi, the Jazz without Mitchell and Conley ain’t playoffs either.

the playoffs are the playoffs. Where teams are desperate every game to win.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I'm not wanting to play any superior team in the playoffs. I'm just saying we have to beat who is on the schedule to win it all. We have no control over that. No offense, but I was a Sun's fan before you were born. So at this point in my life, I want to see us win it all regardless of the opponent. I suffered through the 76 and 93 losses and would love to see the Suns win it all no matter who they play. Make them dread playing us for a change.

no offense, but we are less likely to win if we have to start against the defending champions if they’re healthy. You’re asking for a tougher road ON PURPOSE. That makes no sense and it sure as hell doesn’t get you closer to what you want.

again, teams play for HCA and top seeds for a reason. To get beneficial playoff matchups. There won’t be a single sports book in the country nor any sports writer who will have us favored to beat the Lakers if they’re healthy. Asking to be an underdog in the first round literally gets you further away from what you want.

I desperately want this team to win. I also want them to have the best chance to do that. Having to go through a healthy defending champ in the first round doesn’t give us that chance.

Young teams need to learn how to swim before going in the deep end. Getting their feet wet in the first round against teams they’ll be favored to beat.

Eh... forget it. You’re likely going to get what you want... the toughest matchup in the first round. If we lose, I hope the fact that we played the best right off the bat and didn’t even get out of the first round after a great season keeps you warm and fuzzy while the rest of us will be pissed.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

If you want to be the best you have to beat the best. Sorry, dumb take.

Well this is a stupid statement. If you want to win a championship you want the best opportunity possible. Would it be great to beat the best teams in the league? Sure. Is it the most difficult path, and by definition does that make it less likely? Absolutely.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I didn't have the heart to watch the game, but from the box score, it looks like the Suns sure have been missing Crowder.

He had a crazy game. Nailed his first three. Then missed a bunch in a row. Then caught fire again.

 

[Hoop Head]

we do have playoff experience now
the past couple of weeks have been like playing through
and winning
2 rounds of the playoffs

and the bubble was a round last year

These past few weeks aren't the playoffs or even close. Its fighting for playoff position which is something every other playoff team has been through the last couple of seasons. I guarantee you no other team in the league equates the final 3-4 weeks of the regular season as playoff experience.

As for the bubble, I do think it helped give our guys a small taste of what the playoffs are like as far as being in truly must win situations. Its still not the playoffs. Again, every other team in the West that is playoff contention now was also in the bubble, except the Warriors, but most of them were there about 2 weeks longer than we were because they were in the actual playoffs. So any experience we got from the bubble our opponents more than doubled.

Nothing substitutes live game experience and Booker, Ayton, and Mikal have no playoff experience. That probably won't hurt us much in the first round but it will be evident the further they advance. This year should be all about going as far as they can so they can use this years experience to make a legit title run next season.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Was worried during the first half. But holy cow did we come alive at the end of 3rd and the fourth. Ayton as fantastic. So were Payne and kaminsky.

saric was a weird minimum mins no show.

 

[1tinsoldier]

like tonight, i've been watching playoff teams, vying for position, desperate to win, going at the Suns as hard as they could. and we've got another 5 more of the same on the schedule

and there are plenty of teams with injuries during the playoffs too

and the Suns won 8 straight in the bubble, and at least half of them were against teams desperate to win like the Clippers (4 games wins a series)

but, for all the snobs who want to poop on many of these hardest fought Suns wins in a decade, i'll concede to just call it "playoff-like atmosphere" like the announcers do

 

[Ronin]

"Limousine riding, jet flying, kiss stealing, son of gun!"

 

[Carolinacacti]

Yet another win after a bad loss. Playing the fakers in the first round is fine with me.

 

[Mainstreet]

There are some good reasons the Suns don't want to play the Lakers in the first round. They are a match-up nightmare especially with Lebron healthy.

Also I'm guessing their stars are going to be getting most of the calls from the referees.


Here are a couple of snippets from a Kellan Olson article at Arizona Sports:


Now, James is just taking his time as needed. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported Thursday night James is missing these games to just stay off his ankle, following up head coach Frank Vogel saying James isn’t out due to his health. That all leans into the notion that if James would be playing right now if he had to be.

------------------------------------------------

They have the best defensive rating in the league despite James at 43 games played and Davis 32. Davis is one of the five best defenders on the planet while James would be on All-Defense if he didn’t miss this many games.

Stylistically, they are a big problem for the Suns. Because of that defense, they will restrict what the Suns do offensively, their worst side of the ball of the two. Phoenix rides the momentum of its defense to its offense, and defensively, the Suns don’t have good matchups for the two stars.


https://arizonasports.com/story/264...ngs-trending-toward-suns-lakers-in-1st-round/

 

[Cheesebeef]

like tonight, i've been watching playoff teams, vying for position, desperate to win, going at the Suns as hard as they could. and we've got another 5 more of the same on the schedule

and there are plenty of teams with injuries during the playoffs too

and the Suns won 8 straight in the bubble, and at least half of them were against teams desperate to win like the Clippers (4 games wins a series)

but, for all the snobs who want to poop on many of these hardest fought Suns wins in a decade, i'll concede to just call it "playoff-like atmosphere" like the announcers do

the Clippers, who already had clinched the playoffs and a top 2 seed when we played them in the bubble were desperate? Come on. No. They played hard, but that wasn’t a desperate team.

who were the other “desperate” teams we played in the bubble?

and no one is pooping on the bubble run. I’m just saying they weren’t playoff games. Which they weren’t. This isn’t that hard to understand.

 

[mjb21aztd]

Very fun mornings after suns win wake n bake watching highlights on YouTube with coffee is awesome combo lol

Big test vs lakers tom aren't lebron ad back....?

 

[1tinsoldier]

it's not hard to understand that the bubble games weren't playoff games
but to push the notion that many of those games, including the Clippers game, weren't playoff intensity
or that these Knicks games, and many others recently, weren't,
is unnecessarily argumentative

and it's why i try not to engage directly with anyone here any more

 

[Chaplin]

How much more intense do the Knick games have to be to be considered playoff caliber?

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

How much more intense do the Knick games have to be to be considered playoff caliber?

Imo all talk of “playoff intensity” is silly unless there’s something tangibly riding on the game. Regular seasons games rarely actually rise to that level bc you don’t have literally elimination riding on each game. Whereas each playoff loss gets you closer to elimination. So while people and commentators can talk about playoff like intensity I think it’s mostly chatter. For instance, I don’t believe the knicks woke up this morning stressing last nights loss the way they would if they were only three games away from elimination as a result.

 

[Mainstreet]

Imo all talk of “playoff intensity” is silly unless there’s something tangibly riding on the game. Regular seasons games rarely actually rise to that level bc you don’t have literally elimination riding on each game. Whereas each playoff loss gets you closer to elimination. So while people and commentators can talk about playoff like intensity I think it’s mostly chatter. For instance, I don’t believe the knicks woke up this morning stressing last nights loss the way they would if they were only three games away from elimination as a result.

I'm not going to get into the “playoff intensity” stuff but looking at the Knicks schedule they should be playing with a lot of intensity if they want to avoid a play-in.

Their remaining games are @Clippers, @Lakers, Spurs, Hornets and Celtics.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

like tonight, i've been watching playoff teams, vying for position, desperate to win, going at the Suns as hard as they could. and we've got another 5 more of the same on the schedule

and there are plenty of teams with injuries during the playoffs too

and the Suns won 8 straight in the bubble, and at least half of them were against teams desperate to win like the Clippers (4 games wins a series)

but, for all the snobs who want to poop on many of these hardest fought Suns wins in a decade, i'll concede to just call it "playoff-like atmosphere" like the announcers do

A massive difference between playoff like games and an actual playoff series is game planning and making constant adjustments. You can only do so much preparation for a game in the regular season, but in the playoffs you are preparing for a single team for up to 7 games.

 

[1tinsoldier]

it may be a lot of "chatter" to think that in the heat of the moment of any game, when a player has to out-jump the other guy for a rebound, that they're thinking about how much more important it is because it's a "playoff" game

-- than a game to make the playoffs
-- than a game for better seeding in the playoffs
-- than a game to increase the value of their next contract
-- than a game they're being paid millions to play
-- than a game millions of people are watching, including their friends and family, and that media will be critiquing and writing about and collecting stats on
-- than a game they want to make a statement in or seek revenge/payback
-- than a game where the guy guarding them has been pissing them off or the guy they're guarding has been gloating or talking smack
etc...

personally, if i only had 20 or 30 minutes on the court, i'd play every minute of every game with playoff intensity
some do
some don't

sure, in the big picture, there's a playoff difference
but in the moment
and in moments like last night
not so much

 

[Cheesebeef]

it may be a lot of "chatter" to think that in the heat of the moment of any game, when a player has to out-jump the other guy for a rebound, that they're thinking about how much more important it is because it's a "playoff" game

-- than a game to make the playoffs
-- than a game for better seeding in the playoffs
-- than a game to increase the value of their next contract
-- than a game they're being paid millions to play
-- than a game millions of people are watching, including their friends and family, and that media will be critiquing and writing about and collecting stats on
-- than a game they want to make a statement in or seek revenge/payback
-- than a game where the guy guarding them has been pissing them off or the guy they're guarding has been gloating or talking smack
etc...

personally, if i only had 20 or 30 minutes on the court, i'd play every minute of every game with playoff intensity
some do
some don't

sure, in the big picture, there's a playoff difference
but in the moment
and in moments like last night
not so much

we played a team that’s 37-30. And we played excellent down the stretch. If you think that compares in intensity in any way shape or form to the pressure of games that can end the season, against literally one of the best players of all time and the Defending Champions, I don’t know what to tell you.

Also, ignoring what literally ever great NBA player has ever said about the gulf of difference between regular season pressure/intensity and the playoffs is just bizarre.

it’s rationalization IMO in order to get excited about having to play the absolute worst matchup we could possibly face in the first round.

 

[Superbone]

It doesn't matter who we want. It'll be what it is and we'll have to deal with it the best we can. Why argue about it? Yes, getting knocked out in the first round would be very disappointing given our regular season record.

Maybe the Lakers are purposely targeting US for the first round. It is what it is. We just have to keep getting better and hope that's good enough in the playoffs.

 

[1tinsoldier]

cheese, if it's so important to not face the Lakers in the first round (which i've agreed to twice) because we'd likely get beat (aka "eliminated") then my point is made -- we've been playing intense, must-win games to secure the top seed --the top seed in the league, which is a major accomplishment in itself worth playing with full intensity for

and it's a straw-man argument to say because i'm celebrating great wins under playoff-like intensity i'm "bizarrely ignoring what every great nba player" said.

not that you care, but petty nit-picking turned me off to posting here before and it will only take a little more to drive me away for good

just say the word, you or hoop or steph and i'm gone