Playoffs: Clippers @ Suns Tuesday game thread 4-18-2023 - Game 2

[Chris_Sanders]

I know it's late but Sportcenter just did a big thing on Booker tonight.

With his 38 and 9 tonight he now sits behind only KJ for Suns playoff performers with 35 points and 5 assists

That is not a trivia question I would have gotten remotely correct

 

[Phrazbit]

Chris Paul has X-ray on right hand come back negative, per report

Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul reportedly had an X-ray on his right hand that came negative following Tuesday night's Game 2 win.

arizonasports.com

If you watch the video, he is messing with his hand the whole time.

It looks like only his pinky was bugging him. He did drill a long jumper a few plays after the pass deflection.

 

[82CardsGrad]

Chris Paul has X-ray on right hand come back negative, per report

Phoenix Suns point guard Chris Paul reportedly had an X-ray on his right hand that came negative following Tuesday night's Game 2 win.

arizonasports.com

If you watch the video, he is messing with his hand the whole time.

It looks like only his pinky was bugging him. He did drill a long jumper a few plays after the pass deflection.

Serious question: Has there ever been a post season where Paul wasn’t injured? Incredible…

 

[95pro]

I hate to pull this card out, but has the 1st quarter officiating been lop sided against us in both games? Some could argue the entire game. But I feel that we are picking up some way cheap calls in the first. Last night Booker got 1. Game 1 a few of guys had 2 already. But then we go and get hammered on some plays with no call? Just baffling on some occasions. And last night, there were 3? really just blatant traveling calls and I think they all led to points on the board.

 

[djm75]

I hate to pull this card out, but has the 1st quarter officiating been lop sided against us in both games? Some could argue the entire game. But I feel that we are picking up some way cheap calls in the first. Last night Booker got 1. Game 1 a few of guys had 2 already. But then we go and get hammered on some plays with no call? Just baffling on some occasions. And last night, there were 3? really just blatant traveling calls and I think they all led to points on the board.

To be fair, we got away with a blatant one as well. That is when Booker pushed Gordon off after the from-behind steal from Zubac. And that was a key moment in the game.

 

[wagonmound464]

A good, much needed win!
Moving forward I'm still concerned about bench minutes:

Bench --Damion Lee SG...Landry Shamet SG...Ish Wainright SFT....J. Warren SF

20 minutes, 0 pts

----------------------------------------
Bizzy and J.O. > played 30 minutes mostly for defense, scored 13 pts

 

[Ronin]

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[JCSunsfan]

Chris Paul finally beat Scott Foster. Took like 20 years but he did it.

Oh my goodness. Couldn't watch the game, just now reading the game thread. Didn't realize Foster was reffing. That is huge. Really it is.

 

[Ronin]

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[JCSunsfan]

That’s not stopping Kawhi.

he needs to be more aggressive.

That's not KD's game, Kahwi bowls through double teams. KD finds the open guy when he is doubled. It's what makes KD such a great team player.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Reading game threads afterwards is hilarious. The only explanation for the histrionics must be lots of alcohol.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Reading game threads afterwards is hilarious. The only explanation for the histrionics must be lots of alcohol.

Or not enough.

 

[Covert Rain]

Honestly not to impressed with KD so far

Yeah, because KD doesn't draw attention to free up other guys, hasn't been averaging 2 blocks a game, hasn't accumulated 16 assists in two games, done any defensive rebounding, has a positive plus/minus on the floor and isn't averaging 26 points per game.

Not impressive at all.

 

[95pro]

To be fair, we got away with a blatant one as well. That is when Booker pushed Gordon off after the from-behind steal from Zubac. And that was a key moment in the game.

I thought that was a lot acting, but it was a stupid and uneccessary move by Book regardless of the outcome. Maybe he thought Gordon would have tried harder for the ball.

 

[Finito]

Yeah, because KD doesn't draw attention to free up other guys, hasn't been averaging 2 blocks a game, hasn't accumulated 16 assists in two games, done any defensive rebounding, has a positive plus/minus on the floor and isn't averaging 26 points per game.

Not impressive at all.

Meh

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Did the bench at least aid the victory by playing good defense? Because the bench's virtually nil offensive contribution has been unacceptable. It always was weak offensively, but it could often give more than that in the regular season. Landry Shamet didn't score a point in 14 minutes. ...I'm not really surprised that one of the only scorers was Josh Okogie.

It's making me uneasy. This team doesn't eschew having any bench, like Mike D'Antoni's teams did; but the scoring ends up nevertheless being enormously top-heavy in favor of the starters.

Biyombo gave good minutes defensively. Okogie seemed a shell of himself. No one else did anything.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I hate to pull this card out, but has the 1st quarter officiating been lop sided against us in both games? Some could argue the entire game. But I feel that we are picking up some way cheap calls in the first. Last night Booker got 1. Game 1 a few of guys had 2 already. But then we go and get hammered on some plays with no call? Just baffling on some occasions. And last night, there were 3? really just blatant traveling calls and I think they all led to points on the board.

Nah

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Oh my goodness. Couldn't watch the game, just now reading the game thread. Didn't realize Foster was reffing. That is huge. Really it is.

Agreed. And never did it feel like a foster reffed game.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

That's not KD's game, Kahwi bowls through double teams. KD finds the open guy when he is doubled. It's what makes KD such a great team player.

I dunno, kahwi was picking apart our double teams with pinpoint passes last night. It seemed his passes always lead to a wide open 3 or a layup. When we pass it out if doubleteams it is always 5 feet behind the arc with a defender in close proximity. We almost never make the defense pay for doubling. Book did last night but only because he would drive immediately at the closeout player, not because the spacing allowed Durant to find the wide open player for an easy bucket.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Reading game threads afterwards is hilarious. The only explanation for the histrionics must be lots of alcohol.

Having watched the game delayed last night I did the same. And you’re 100% right. The in-the-moment emotional outbursts are funny in retrospect . . . particularly when you know a particular target ended up playing well overall.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Yeah, because KD doesn't draw attention to free up other guys, hasn't been averaging 2 blocks a game, hasn't accumulated 16 assists in two games, done any defensive rebounding, has a positive plus/minus on the floor and isn't averaging 26 points per game.

Not impressive at all.

Lol. But Finito will defend Ayton with his dying breath (just messing with you, Finito).

Personally, KDs passing has been most impressive to me. The gravity he creates as soon as his shots start falling has a big positive impact trickling down to everyone else on the court. That said, I still don’t think he’s playing his top ball. He’s had a lot of starts and stops with playing ball over the past few months. I’m not even certain he’s fully in rhythm yet. Not to mention I don’t think monty does him any favors in designing anything to maximize him.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I thought that was a lot acting, but it was a stupid and uneccessary move by Book regardless of the outcome. Maybe he thought Gordon would have tried harder for the ball.

Agree on all parts.

 

[Bufalay]

It’s still Duncan Robinson. He’s making $18 million to ride the pine lol

I'd rather see Duncan Robinson on the bench than Shamet on the court.

 

[95pro]

Did anyone get anxious last night while Okogie was guarding Kahwi? I know I did and I was curious to see the outcome. Okogie seemed a little shell shocked or maybe not prepared for the bright lights. Kahwi is just so good he made Okogie look slow and small on two occasions I believe. I think Okogie becomes more comfortable as we move along and as he gets more minutes (hopefully) that he'll show how effective he can truly be.

The suns did a nice job of doubling Kahwi, but Kahwi has that little step through between defenders to make the pass. That's also another note, is that the clippers are very good at creating passing lanes to bail out Kahwi on those double teams. This is something we are not good at.

 

[DJ Tabooh]

I'd rather see Duncan Robinson on the bench than Shamet on the court.

He is a better shooter I’ll definitely give you that but he would be targeted nonstop defensively.

I know we thought Shamet would provide shooting but him and Jevon Carter had essentially the same stats this season but Carter is getting paid significantly less and we gave up a first round pick to acquire Landry.