Suns @ Celtics Friday game thread 2-3-2023

[95pro]

I don't understand the swing in scores from game to game this season.

They call it parity, but it still doesn't fully make sense to me.

3pt shooting. Your either hot or not

 

[Mainstreet]

3pt shooting. Your either hot or not

This helps to explain some of it, but 3-point shooting is not a new thing unless more teams are adopting it as their primary weapon.

As a general observation, I see less focus on defense this season.

 

[Dback Jon]

Great un expected win

 

[Mainstreet]

I was glancing at the stats again.

Several Suns players had good games, but who would have thought prior to the game that Daric Saric would have 14 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists against the athletic Celtics as a starter.

He has been in double figure scoring the last three games.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Suns are now 6th place in the Western Conference.

 

[clyde2tw]

Several Suns players had good games, but who would have thought prior to the game that Daric Saric would have 14 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists against the athletic Celtics as a starter.
He has been in double figure scoring the last three games.

And, Damion has a +30 for the game

 

[Mainstreet]

And, Damion has a +30 for the game

Yes, several Suns had good games.

 

[nashman]

Really liked what I saw from Bridges tonight.

Thai whole last month dude has been killing it…

 

[nashman]

This helps to explain some of it, but 3-point shooting is not a new thing unless more teams are adopting it as their primary weapon.

As a general observation, I see less focus on defense this season.

It absolutely has you never used to see teams jack up 30, 40, 50 3s in a game now it’s very common…

 

[mjb21aztd]

The Suns are now 6th place in the Western Conference.

Playoffs did you say playoffs!!! Lol back In the hunt

 

[Carolinacacti]

It absolutely has you never used to see teams jack up 30, 40, 50 3s in a game now it’s very common…

Just look at the Suns 4th in the league in three point percentage. You know what games they win.

 

[Covert Rain]

Really liked what I saw from Bridges tonight.

Tonight and for the last month. He has been by far our most consistent player.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Tonight and for the last month. He has been by far our most consistent player.

He needs to be this guy… PERIOD. Ayton ain’t ever gonna be the number 2. But if Bridges CAN do this next to Booker, we have something to build off long term.

 

[Phrazbit]

And people bet on NBA games. Go figure.

I have a buddy back East who is a gambling fiend, he asked my thoughts on this one, I told him "Celtics -10 is a sucker bet, you gotta move that line to Celtics -20! Get some juice on that action!".

Luckily for him, he didn't listen.

 

[Superbone]

I have a buddy back East who is a gambling fiend, he asked my thoughts on this one, I told him "Celtics -10 is a sucker bet, you gotta move that line to Celtics -20! Get some juice on that action!".

Luckily for him, he didn't listen.

At halftime the line had moved to Suns -1.5. Great, surprising win!

 

[Germz249]

I don't understand the swing in scores from game to game this season.

They call it parity, but it still doesn't fully make sense to me.

Right! How do we get destroyed by the Hawks but pull out a win against the Celtics..

 

[Shaggy]

I was glancing at the stats again.

Several Suns players had good games, but who would have thought prior to the game that Daric Saric would have 14 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists against the athletic Celtics as a starter.

He has been in double figure scoring the last three games.

That is what's crazy to me. He has done well as a starter and I'd never would have thought he would.

 

[Covert Rain]

He needs to be this guy… PERIOD. Ayton ain’t ever gonna be the number 2. But if Bridges CAN do this next to Booker, we have something to build off long term.

There might not be enough balls to go around for him to be that guy ,period, when this team is fully healthy. Book, CP3, Ayton, Cam J are all guys that need their shots.

What this does is gives them another option on those nights where the team is struggling. That is unless Monty changes his offensive sets. So you have confidence in Monty doing that? I don’t.

 

[Covert Rain]

I wonder why no other NBA team saw that and snapped Lee up first.

I think he needs to work on ball handling. There were several times where he looked shaky dribbling or maybe it’s just a confidence thing.

 

[AzStevenCal]

There might not be enough balls to go around for him to be that guy ,period, when this team is fully healthy. Book, CP3, Ayton, Cam J are all guys that need their shots.

What this does is gives them another option on those nights where the team is struggling. That is unless Monty changes his offensive sets. So you have confidence in Monty doing that? I don’t.

I don't think that's the guy we need Ayton to be. I think we're at our best when he's highly efficient and anchoring our defense. We don't need him to take those jumpers, we need him on the blocks opening up shots for our perimeter guys.

 

[Covert Rain]

I don't think that's the guy we need Ayton to be. I think we're at our best when he's highly efficient and anchoring our defense. We don't need him to take those jumpers, we need him on the blocks opening up shots for our perimeter guys.

The problem with that is the Suns become really one dimensional without the threat of Ayton taking those jumpers. If teams realize they don’t need to worry about Ayton away from the rim the Suns become easier to defend. It’s no coincidence that when Ayton has every working, the Suns are almost unstopable (when healthy).

 

[AzStevenCal]

The problem with that is the Suns become really one dimensional without the threat of Ayton taking those jumpers. If teams realize they don’t need to worry about Ayton away from the rim the Suns become easier to defend. It’s no coincidence that when Ayton has every working, the Suns are almost unstopable (when healthy).

We are at our worst when Ayton relies primarily on those 12 to 15 footers except for those rare games when he's making almost all of them. Taking one occasionally is fine, but the closer he gets to that free throw line the more he clogs the lane and it lessens his opportunities for rebounds and put-backs. I want to see him posting up or shooting inside 10 feet most of the time.

 

[Cheesebeef]

There might not be enough balls to go around for him to be that guy ,period, when this team is fully healthy. Book, CP3, Ayton, Cam J are all guys that need their shots.

That’s why I said LONG TERM, when CP3 is gone. And he should be getting more looks than Ayton simply because he actually has sone ability to create.

What this does is gives them another option on those nights where the team is struggling. That is unless Monty changes his offensive sets. So you have confidence in Monty doing that? I don’t.

This is more the point I was trying make about this year. If he can still be aggressive in fourth quarters and not crap the bed like he has so many times before, it opens up our crunch time offense. On this specific team he’s not good enough to be taking that many shots away from Cam (if healthy) or CP3, but if he can be a legit option late in games, it would help solidify our playoff spot and help possibly spring an upset or two once we’re there.

 

[Covert Rain]

That’s why I said LONG TERM, when CP3 is gone. And he should be getting more looks than Ayton simply because he actually has sone ability to create.




This is more the point I was trying make about this year. If he can still be aggressive in fourth quarters and not crap the bed like he has so many times before, it opens up our crunch time offense. On this specific team he’s not good enough to be taking that many shots away from Cam (if healthy) or CP3, but if he can be a legit option late in games, it would help solidify our playoff spot and help possibly spring an upset or two once we’re there.

Oh I agree that he can be more aggressive. I am just saying if people expect him to put up the numbers that he is now that is not fair to Bridges. He has done everything asked of him for over a month now and the only reason he is getting the touches is because of the injuries. Prior to this point, most of Bridges points have come off of cuts, spot up 3's and him doing cleanup. I don't see Monty as stubborn as he is all of the sudden building offensive sets around Bridges. Maybe there is a way for Monty to get him more involved. I just don't have much faith in Monty changing things up after the last two seasons.