Spurs vs. Suns Saturday game thread (Mexico City) 12-14-19

[Mainstreet]

Sometimes I am better than other times at this. Sometimes I can’t help but to feed the troll. I will try to do better

Posters still owe you big time for that 3 month bet. That was awesome.

 

[SunnyBaller]

I don't know.

Bridges is doing a good job of emulating Bender - solid defense and decent rebounding, but hesitant to take the outside shot, even when wide open, wildly inconsistent with the outside shot, and incapable of putting the ball on the floor

Okobo is doing a good job of emulating Ulis - great speed and can take the ball to the hoop almost at will, but inconsistent finishing, passes all over the place and erratic shooting from outside, and can't defend a chair

And Cam is doing a good job of emulating Reed - Mostly a spot-up shooter who is capable of getting hot from outside but does not do so anywhere near often enough, who contributes nothing else, and whose physical limitations won't allow him to change that.

I just throw out the second round picks because honestly you should never expect much from any of them, the first group contains 3 #4 picks and chriss, all of which huge busts. Bridges is miles ahead of bender, bender is one of the most awkward players I've ever witnessed on a court and there's a reason he doesn't play anymore, bridges is not a starter right now but would get minutes on almost every other team in the league if not all of them. Cam really isn't as bad as you make him out to be , he's a decent bench player right now Reed was down right terrible.

 

[1Sun]

I just throw out the second round picks because honestly you should never expect much from any of them, the first group contains 3 #4 picks and chriss, all of which huge busts. Bridges is miles ahead of bender, bender is one of the most awkward players I've ever witnessed on a court and there's a reason he doesn't play anymore, bridges is not a starter right now but would get minutes on almost every other team in the league if not all of them. Cam really isn't as bad as you make him out to be , he's a decent bench player right now Reed was down right terrible.

Sadly, Cam to me looks exactly like Reed before his last injury here. And Reed was a smart player who didn't make boneheaded plays as well. I don't think Reed, at least before his last injury, was as terrible as you are saying, but he really didn't bring anything positive to the table, either...

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

This is supposed to be fun, you take what little fun is left and piss all over it. What's your agenda? And why is Chris sticking up for you? Have fun guys, this forum sucks.

Dude just put him on ignore. I guarantee you the forum feels better without him.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The Suns currently are not a great team. They are a good team. Generally speaking, when you take the best two players off of a good team they become a bad team. I am not discouraged by this game (although I am quite pissed).

They are not a good team. They are a sub .500 team until proven otherwise. I think it’s fair to guess that they might be a playoff team at full strength, but the reality of this season is that Ayton did get suspended and they are three games under .500. So as things stand today I don’t think anyone can really call them “good.”

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The first group is worse and it's not even close

I dunno if that’s true. Right now, today Len is likely the most accomplished outta both groups. And let’s not forget that some of those guys in the first group looked at times like they had talent in their rookie seasons. The second group has hope, but they really haven’t proven squat other than bridges can play defense (but his offense is subpar) and cam can hit 3s in relatively low volume. That’s it. That’s reality as of today. Anything more in comparing those two groups at present is conjecture about the future of the second group.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Games lost to Ayton’s suspension: 7

 

[Hoop Head]

They are not a good team. They are a sub .500 team until proven otherwise. I think it’s fair to guess that they might be a playoff team at full strength, but the reality of this season is that Ayton did get suspended and they are three games under .500. So as things stand today I don’t think anyone can really call them “good.”

At full strength I would say they're a 500 team that would battle for the 8th seed. By that I mean a healthy Booker, of course, but also a healthy Baynes, Rubio, Cam, and Saric. The Suns have been dinged up this year and injuries are a part of the game so they need to learn to deal with them but I would consider a fully healthy Suns team this year as a good team that is capable of hanging with anyone in the league.

That is all without taking Ayton into account. With Ayton, they should be better but should be doesn't mean much. They should have been better with Ayton last year but we saw how that played out. Hopefully when he returns he'll be able to provide more positives than negative and get the team rolling again. I think this team is also pretty streaky. If they can manage to get hot again then I could see them going on a tear.

 

[SunnyBaller]

I dunno if that’s true. Right now, today Len is likely the most accomplished outta both groups. And let’s not forget that some of those guys in the first group looked at times like they had talent in their rookie seasons. The second group has hope, but they really haven’t proven squat other than bridges can play defense (but his offense is subpar) and cam can hit 3s in relatively low volume. That’s it. That’s reality as of today. Anything more in comparing those two groups at present is conjecture about the future of the second group.

That's fair, but I also took into consideration the expectations based on draft positions with the first group 1st rounders all high picks above where bridges cam and Jerome were picked

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

That's fair, but I also took into consideration the expectations based on draft positions with the first group 1st rounders all high picks above where bridges cam and Jerome were picked

On the court draft position becomes meaningless.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

That's fair, but I also took into consideration the expectations based on draft positions with the first group 1st rounders all high picks above where bridges cam and Jerome were picked

But what really hurts is if even just ONE of those guys were a player this team would be miles ahead.

 

[Mainstreet]

If there is any good news tonight, the Nuggets beat the Thunder so the Suns hold onto a piece of the 8th spot.

Kings, Suns and Thunder are all tied at 11-14

 

[BC867]

So whining is okay as long as you endlessly do it? Gotcha

I meant that, right now, Suns fans are the only ones pulling a Pop and "whining" on every close play.

Historically, our coaches do not have the makeup to earn makeup calls (or makeup attitudes) from
the refs. It's just not in the Suns' DNA. It would take literally a decade of pulling Pop's routine to
change the Suns image. A pretty team! And, y'know what? Rightfully so!

Suns fans hated Danny Aingle . . . until he was one of us. When he left, the fire once again disappeared.

That was my point. Not that the fans should go on and on in a helpless cause. That won't sway refs.

Suns players will have to earn it and it won't happen overnight.

 

[Mainstreet]

It stinks as a fan to get a call wrong and the referees get it right.

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[Phrazbit]

It stinks as a fan to get a call wrong and the referees get it right.

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They shouldn't have even had the ball in the first place. We're up 2 with 8 seconds left and they go to deliberately foul Rubio, grabbing him around the waist as he reaches for a pass, pulling him away from catching it, it goes out of bounds and the refs ignored it.

 

[GatorAZ]

It stinks as a fan to get a call wrong and the referees get it right.

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You could read Mikal’s lips after the play saying it’s off my head.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I watched the whole game except for OT (had to take boys to buy bday and Xmas gifts for mom). And I just watched patty mills game winner. Wow is that disappointing. Our highlight defender, bridges, who can’t add anything offensively, assigned to guard the hot hand, has 6-8 inches advantage on mills, overplays the play, gets outta position and allows a free throw to mills to lose the game. If he can’t bother that shot in that scenario he’s worthless. I mean, this is patty mills and bridges comes up short. Lame.

 

[Phrazbit]

This is supposed to be fun, you take what little fun is left and piss all over it. What's your agenda? And why is Chris sticking up for you? Have fun guys, this forum sucks.

Stick around, we're about to get Ayton back, we will go on a run and 1Sun will go back to doing what he did during our previous hot streak... making like 1 post per game thread, maybe 2 if we briefly give up a 10 point run.

Or just put him on ignore. The dude has made it plain that he is a troll who enjoys getting a rise out of people by taking the absolute most negative takes possible.

I used to question it a bit, but it was really solidified this week as he called TJ Warren an all-star in one thread and then garbage in another when his stats put current Suns in a positive light.

 

[Hoop Head]

Everybody is ragging on Bridges and how he doesn't contribute offensively but he just finished a run of 5 games scoring 10+ a game. He had 11, 12, 15, 11, and 14. He came up short with 9 the next game. Would I like more? Of course but he only averaged 22 minutes a game in that stretch.

Bridges is coming along at the pace of most 2nd year players. It would be nice if he were farther along but he's not and dumping on him for not being more does nothing but highlight a part of the problem with the Suns over the last few years and that's giving up on young players far too soon. Yes, Bridges was an older draft pick but that doesn't change that he's in just his 2nd season and 1st with a real NBA level head coach. If a guy isn't ready for prime time within 20 games then it's time to move on. Most people prematurely expected him to supplant Oubre as a starter before the season started and 23-24 games into the year and apparently he's worthless because he's inconsistent.

I can't blame him for failing to stop Mills either. He had slipped and only gotten back to his feet to try and contest Mills shot. Rubio was stopped by an Aldridge screen but Mills was his man. It was a great shot by Mills but if anyone deserves blame then it should Ricky. I can't fault Bridges for trying, and failing, to cover for someone else's man. If he had been tasked with guarding Mills then I'd ask why our best perimeter defender is on Patty Mills at the end of the game. As it is, he had a split second to try and do something and couldn't.

For anyone who didn't see the play, it's queued up here at 2:10. I'm not sure what he could have done other than not slip before it happened.

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[leclerc]

What a bull **** game.

 

[gimpy]

What? Sorry, I'm out of state and did not get to see the game. What do you mean by that statement. Is it on the coaching, the players, refs? Or what?

 

[leclerc]

I just watched it on league pass and it's mostly fresh frustration of losing a close game. The refs called some strange things so it feels like random result going for the spurs and against the suns. A familiar feeling. I thought we had it with some seconds left in OT. Ricky was hacked so I thought free throws but they inbounded and Ricky got held and turned it over.

Frustrating loss but I am glad they kept it close. I was skeptical where the points would come from. Take the positives and work on the negatives but forget the game result.

 

[pokerface]

Yeah the suns fought hard again...kept it close without our two best players. Yeah I was miffed we lost but this is the best basketball I've seen out of them in years...without our two best players! Oh yeah I said that...

 

[Ronin]

“Phoenix got robbed”—Pop

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[Carolinacacti]

Well as bad as Cam is. It looked like he was the player the Spurs wanted to stop. And the Suns needed him to shoot. Nice try for a Sins team void of their stars