Pelicans @ Suns Tuesday Playoff game thread 4-19-2022 - Game 2

[nashman]

Ayton needs to show up and Crowder needs to sit more if he can’t hit a shot!

 

[Bufalay]

That's all good. But his energy was trash tonight. IMO. He was also consistently out hustled on more than a few occasions under the board's.

It's weird, he has these games where he sucks all around and you can tell he's gonna suck cuz he can't hold onto the ball early on.

 

[Finito]

That's all good. But his energy was trash tonight. IMO. He was also consistently out hustled on more than a few occasions under the board's.

The entire team was out hustled. How many times did they leak out and beat us down court for a layup. They just didn’t look ready from jump

This TEAM doesn’t rebound and we haven’t all year. It’s by far our biggest weakness

 

[mjb21aztd]

We lost game 2 now, let’s come back.

Hopefully if suns lose next gm not sure how ill be feelin as a fan momenfum wise

 

[Mainstreet]

This is obvious. The Suns played terrible transition defense.

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[Bufalay]

Whatever happens the rest of the playoffs, we need to move on from Crowder this off season. He is just way too inconsistent on offense, can't rebound in any way, shape, or form commensurate to the position he plays, and the alleged toughness he supposedly brings on defense seems to be mostly a mythology.

If we are going to need to free money to resign Ayton and CJ, this the first and most obvious place to start.

Problem is there is no one to replace him with. For all his flaws he is a pretty good player for how much he gets paid.

 

[Mainstreet]

Monty says this was probably the Suns worst transition defense while he has been here.

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[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I don't know, as I mentioned in another post I turned the game off in the first quarter. It was obvious they were going to lose. They aren't that good and I can't stand the disappointment.

Huh. Okay

 

[nashman]

Man one can only hope this fires the team up and they come out pissed off Friday and prove they are the best team!

 

[Finito]

Whatever happens the rest of the playoffs, we need to move on from Crowder this off season. He is just way too inconsistent on offense, can't rebound in any way, shape, or form commensurate to the position he plays, and the alleged toughness he supposedly brings on defense seems to be mostly a mythology.

If we are going to need to free money to resign Ayton and CJ, this the first and most obvious place to start.

We need a rebounder at the 4. Of his shot isn’t falling Crowder is worthless his defense has really fallen off.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

He had 13 rebs and 10 pts tonight... Nothing to get excited about.

Other than the fact that he outplayed Ayton for a second night in a row.

38-18

Know what that is?

Rebounds for valencunius and Ayton first two games.

 

[Covert Rain]

Other than the fact that he outplayed Ayton for a second night in a row.

38-18

Know what that is?

Rebounds for valencunius and Ayton first two games.

Honestly, I don’t care if Ayton scores a damn point. GRAB REBOUNDS. It limits their second chance points and give us second chance points and we have shooters.

 

[Mainstreet]

Hopefully if suns lose next gm not sure how ill be feelin as a fan momenfum wise

Momentum has shifted to the Pelicans.

They now have home court advantage which is something the Suns worked all season to achieve.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I saw it although I'm not excusing Ayton. The Suns have him coming outside to defend on plays leaving a vacuum inside.

Naw man. He comes out when Jonas goes out for a pick. He only switched like two or three times. He wasn’t out there defending a whole lot tonight. He was getting rag dolled down low.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

If I was going to pick a pivotal moment in the game, it was when the ball went off the leg of Valanciunas out of bounds and the Pelicans maintained possession and scored.

I think they were giving the suns a pass on not calling a foul there tbh.

 

[Finito]

Other than the fact that he outplayed Ayton for a second night in a row.

38-18

Know what that is?

Rebounds for valencunius and Ayton first two games.

So you just ignore what you’ve been told on this take.

Figures.

Is Ayton in the paint battling on defense for alot of those rebounds? Oh what’s that? No he’s not. Yes Ayton contest 3s and turn around and run down there while the ball is in the air get position and the rebound to. That’s super realistic.

Ah ok

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

Problem is there is no one to replace him with. For all his flaws he is a pretty good player for how much he gets paid.

Craig played lights out when he started in place for Crowder. He shot better... rebounded infinitely better, and played scrappy defense.

 

[Mainstreet]

Naw man. He comes out when Jonas goes out for a pick. He only switched like two or three times. He wasn’t out there defending a whole lot tonight. He was getting rag dolled down low.

Ayton wasn't the only one. The transition defense was beyond awful.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

It’s our defense we’ve been over this. We don’t drop we switch and we switch because Ayton is good on the perimeter.

It’s hard to rebound when your contesting shots on the perimeter. This is where team rebounding becomes important and nobody on this team outside of Ayton is even a good rebounder

No, not tonight we didn’t switch much. Our guys were going over to allow Ayton to maintain contact with Jonas to stop the hemorrhaging inside. Ayton still wasn’t up to the task.

 

[reebokalone2001]

I saw it although I'm not excusing Ayton. The Suns have him coming outside to defend on plays leaving a vacuum inside.

I agree that the Suns asking Ayton to help defend outside plays, but what I am really pissed about is his effort in rebounding.

Warriors ask Draymond Green to defend outside play as well. The first thing Green does as soon as the ball left the offense player's hand is to run inside to help on the rebound. What Ayton does in the same situation is to stand still, turn around and watch.

Ayton never boxes out to rebound even when he is in the position. Take the last rebound chance in the 4th qtr (before CJ and Ingram went nuts in 3s) as an example, Pelicans missed the shot, and Ayton stood right under the rim behind Jonas Valanciunas(no contact between the two at all). VJ had the position for the rebound but was pushed by Crowder at the last moment, which affected his position, and balance, then Ayton had fingers on the ball and tipped the ball outbound. In this serious alone, Ayton did not 1) box out VJ, 2) fight for the rebounding position, or 3) get a good sense of where the ball is. He will get the rebound with ease if he did any of the three.

I don't think Ayton knows how to rebound just yet other than outjump or out lengthen others, or he just simply does not like contact.

 

[Raindog]

The entire team was out hustled. How many times did they leak out and beat us down court for a layup. They just didn’t look ready from jump

This TEAM doesn’t rebound and we haven’t all year. It’s by far our biggest weakness

That's because Crowder can't rebound for crap at the 4. And Bridges isn't anywhere close to being much more than average to average-minus at his slot. If Ayton isn't having a gigantic night, which let's face it, he rarely does against any of the bigger 5's in the league, we are straight up screwed on the boards.

They need to try playing some lineups with some combination of Ayton, McGee, and Biyombo to counteract that. But heaven forbid Monty try anything different or unexpected to adjust to the circumstances on the court.

 

[Mainstreet]

Craig played lights out when he started in place for Crowder. He shot better... rebounded infinitely better, and played scrappy defense.

Craig had 0 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist in 8 minutes.

 

[Finito]

This is what this board does. Well certain guys

We lost cause Ayton

Not because
Crowder went 1/10
Chris Paul couldn’t hit anything
Bridges our defensive stopper got abused over and over
Our bench gave us nothing

The TEAM was trash tonight, but yes Ayton sucks I agree

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Whatever happens the rest of the playoffs, we need to move on from Crowder this off season. He is just way too inconsistent on offense, can't rebound in any way, shape, or form commensurate to the position he plays, and the alleged toughness he supposedly brings on defense seems to be mostly a mythology.

If we are going to need to free money to resign Ayton and CJ, this the first and most obvious place to start.

I have to say, I can’t disagree with this. Crowder has really regressed. His defense is great effort, but he’s not long enough to bother PFs and long SFs, he doesn’t have the lateral quickness to stay in front of elite offensive players and his shot has abandoned him. I’ve loved what he’s brought to us and all his heart. But it’s not enough.

 

[AsUpRoDiGy]

Craig had 0 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist in 8 minutes.

He's been in a slump... along with Payne, Cam, and Crowder.