Raptors @ Suns, Thursday 3-7-24

[Cheesebeef]

Playing Saben... They never guarded him, dared him to shoot (which he deferred on), then attacked him on defense, and attacked him with ease. He's unplayable as much as Okogie is. He is the best ball handler and can weave in and out of traffic, but once he does, he just defers and gives it up to KD by default.

Or throws up a wild layup that ain’t close. Dude doesn’t belong on the court for a legit contender.

 

[Proximo]

They played well without one of their leading scorers, Toronto never led, got out rebounded.This is a team they usually lose too at full strength so dont tell me this isnt a good win especially without Book.

I will tell you that. I think other than the first quarter, they mostly looked like crap.

 

[Bufalay]

Durant and Nurkic should not be allowed to pass to each other. Their carelessness with the ball reminds me of Ayton's defensive rebounds.

 

[95pro]

Or throws up a wild layup that ain’t close. Dude doesn’t belong on the court for a legit contender.

Even when the quarter was coming to an end, he made it to below the free throw line, was wide open, shot it, and still bricked it.

 

[95pro]

Durant and Nurkic should not be allowed to pass to each other. Their carelessness with the ball reminds me of Ayton's defensive rebounds.

What are you talking about? Thats the majority of our sets when we are not playing iso-KD.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Even when the quarter was coming to an end, he made it to below the free throw line, was wide open, shot it, and still bricked it.

Yup. That was a really ugly, wide open 12 footer.

 

[Vacard]

I will tell you that. I think other than the first quarter, they mostly looked like crap.

Then you are WRONG. Othes said it was a good win too especially against a team we usually loose too the beginning of the year. A win is a win and its critical down the stretch especially against a young team. Never let up. Yes it was a good win and I stand by it, nothing you will say will change my mind about it.

 

[Bufalay]

What are you talking about? Thats the majority of our sets when we are not playing iso-KD.

Maybe that's why the Suns have such a bad turnover problem.

 

[Larry Schweikart]

KD being doubled and nurk is still forcing the ball to him while he's being doubled - all while Beal is on the floor mind you

Agree. It's pretty clear that other teams move IMMEDIATELY to double KD and our #2 (closest to him) is slow to move. ALLEN should be #3 after they rotate on #2. He will be open every time.

On Nurk, he has become far, far better than I thought. A thousand times better than Ayton. He still has BIG problems in being way too lazy on his passes or handoffs. That needs to be taken seriously. We could cut out 5 turnovers a game between that and ending the silly KD cross-court passes. I hate blaming coaches, but this is something that, if addressed, could get the Suns a championship, because for the first time in years we have a true very good rebounding and low post center. BTW, I noticed vs. the Raptors Nurk did not even try one three or anything other than a layup/dunk/putback. As it should be.

 

[Yuma]

Playing Saben... They never guarded him, dared him to shoot (which he deferred on), then attacked him on defense, and attacked him with ease. He's unplayable as much as Okogie is. He is the best ball handler and can weave in and out of traffic, but once he does, he just defers and gives it up to KD by default.

Or tries to force a layup at times.

 

[leclerc]

What are the alternatives to Saban? In my eyes he adds ball security, tempo, and movement. When it's Point Book or EG or KD & the guys, the pace is slow, we're pressured far from the basket, the offense is more stagnant. He needs to be in there with a couple of scoring threats though.

The basketball masterminds that put this roster together thought there wasn't a need for point guards so he's the most skilled because yeah... great work, front office.

Thank heavens we won this game by the way. Hopefully we can get 2 out of 4 vs Boston, Boston, Milwaukee and Cleveland. There's one more that I feel is winnable so we're probably gonna choke that game. 2/5 is okay for the upcoming games I think.

 

[SirStefan32]

What are the alternatives to Saban? In my eyes he adds ball security, tempo, and movement. When it's Point Book or EG or KD & the guys, the pace is slow, we're pressured far from the basket, the offense is more stagnant. He needs to be in there with a couple of scoring threats though.

The basketball masterminds that put this roster together thought there wasn't a need for point guards so he's the most skilled because yeah... great work, front office.

Thank heavens we won this game by the way. Hopefully we can get 2 out of 4 vs Boston, Boston, Milwaukee and Cleveland. There's one more that I feel is winnable so we're probably gonna choke that game. 2/5 is okay for the upcoming games I think.

The problem is that you don't have to guard him. You can leave him wide open when he doesn't have the ball, and you can back off when he does have the ball. He is very good defensively, can bring the ball up the floor, but he is just so easy to neutralize.

 

[Yuma]

Plus with saran Lee out there, I am assuming Book, Beal, KD and Nurk are on the floor. You really need the other guy to be a top scorer, like Grayson Allen, or a defender like Okogie. That's why we don't need a PG. Unless we can find a big PG that's a lock down defender. The Death lineup works because we have guys on the floor that can hit the open shot. Saban isn't comfortable on the three, Okogie is only slightly better. We win big when Okogie is hitting the three because we get his defense, and he's making the other side not play off him for help defense on KD or Book. In the playoffs they will leave our fifth guy open, and that guy has to hit those shots for us to win.

 

[leclerc]

What I can't understand is why can't we have a cutter or a board crasher? Why does everyone have to be a threat from three? It was not always like that. Don't miss the flat shoes and the tight shorts though. Only a little.