Suns @ Knicks Thursday game thread 1-16-20

[BC867]

THAT'S the guy I dreamed of summer 2018. People keep talking about how "raw" Ayton is but the truth is... he's incredibly talented already with spin moves, turnarounds, jump shot. He just needs to channel the POWER into his game and he could be that guy who made me idiotically rail against drafting Doncic over him.

Build on this!

That would be great! Tonight vs. the Knicks gave an inkling of how it would look.

The next few games will show us if that will be the case.

 

[BC867]

Just finished watching the game, and I am so happy right now! I just knew that Ayton's breakout game was coming. 26 points on 11/15 shooting, 21 rebounds, and a couple of blocks and assists. He flat-out dominated the paint tonight on both ends of the floor. I am telling you guys, this kid is going to be good. Tonight was a huge step for him- he needed this game just to see how good he can be. I honestly don't think he realizes how big, strong, quick, long, and athletic he is. I hope Monty makes him watch this game on tape over and over and over again.

We certainly don't expect 20-20 games to become the norm. The Knicks are hardly a good NBA team.

But the style with which Ayton played tonight is what we need on a regular basis.

 

[GatorAZ]

The Knicks haven’t been completely awful since Fizdale was fired. Randle, Payton, Robinson and Morris are all solid. I’ve always liked Randle but idk why he’s shooting so many 3’s. He’s one of those guys we thought would be a bad fit with Ayton because of defensive deficiencies but skilled guys who play hard are good fits regardless of their flaws.

 

[Superbone]

Ayton wins tip.

YES!!!

 

[1tinsoldier]

the Suns looked horrible in every way in the 1st quarter. fortunately so did NY (true to form)

they are winning at twice the rate of last year
so i think the roster has improved as well as the coach
but their confidence has been rocked by some brutal beatings and hot players
-- they are sloppy and reluctant double-teamers, slow on covering the 3 ball,
and, except for Oubre & Baynes, too generous to opponents in the paint
the coach needs to work on that stuff

Ayton's success tonight didn't prove anything about his heart
but it sure seems that if you give him 35 minutes he manages to easily manage a double double
the intrigue remains -- what could he do if he was actually aggressive all game?
there is no indication that will ever happen
but i'm willing to wait to see how his confidence level might change things
and, on a related note, i'm still waiting for him to take that open 3 point shot

 

[Phrazbit]

We certainly don't expect 20-20 games to become the norm. The Knicks are hardly a good NBA team.

But the style with which Ayton played tonight is what we need on a regular basis.

The Knicks do have a beefy front court though. Gibson, Randall, Portis, Robinson... all these guys are well thought of, Robinson is considered an up and coming defensive big. Ayton made them look like hot garbage tonight.

Whatever fueled Ayton's fire, I hope we know how to keep it kindled.

 

[Phrazbit]

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Great reel of Ayton's night. Shows his good and bad moments. It's overwhelmingly good, he played a great game. But even so, there were still 3 or 4 plays where he got the ball about 10 feet out and he took a wimpy shot, granted, there were also times where he was in the same spot and he actually went in and attacked the post. (Gotta note, almost all his wimpy shot attempts were in the 1st half, when he really got rolling he was going straight at the rim).

The shot that particularly bugged me is when he gets blocked on a jumper, he pump faked, juked his defender out of his shoes, had a WIDE open path to the net for a dunk and he hesitated, went for a jumper anyway and got blocked.

He's getting better, he is getting more aggressive. If they can get him more involved, get him in more plays where his momentum is carrying him towards the hoop... we will have a monster center on our hands.

What is wild is that we are now worried about his offense. Who would have thought..? Defensively he has been rock solid this year. Somehow it is his offensive efficiency that has us worried. Basically the exact opposite of his pre-draft resume.

 

[Mainstreet]

One thing I don't worry about is Ayton's offense. It will come.

He has a sweet outside shot and will get more than his share of baskets at the rim. When he masters getting to the free throw line, he will be an unstoppable offensive machine.

 

[Mainstreet]

Here is an interesting tidbit.


Julie Fie‏ @suns_jfie


Deandre Ayton (21 years, 177 days) is the youngest player in NBA history to record 25+ points and 20+ rebounds at any of the Madison Square Gardens. Previous Youngest: Hakeem Olajuwon (22 years, 24 days) on 02/14/1985. #RisePHX

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8:03 PM - 16 Jan 2020

 

[Mainstreet]

This tweet shows the half court lob by Rubio to Ayton.

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[devilalum]

We beat the Knicks 128-110 in New York last year:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201812170NYK.html

Dude!

You should ask admin to change ur screen name to wetblanket or darkcloud.


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[1Sun]

Dude!

You should ask admin to change ur screen name to wetblanket or darkcloud.


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How about Sir Realist?

 

[JCSunsfan]

Ah. I love the ignore function, except that I feel like I am missing out on half the conversation.

 

[Ronin]

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[TJ]

Ah. I love the ignore function, except that I feel like I am missing out on half the conversation.

I put a ton of people on “ignore” the past two weeks. Didn’t realize it would decimate the conversation to an echo chamber, but this is where we are as a fan base

 

[gimpy]

Well, I have never put anyone on ignore. But, I do ignore some of the people.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Lessons from this game.

1. When Rubio shoots well, everything opens up. But we know his shooting in this game is an aberration.
2. Oubre might be taking looks away from DA. If you want DA to be an offensive presence, you have to run the offense through him often.
3. DA is a monster rebounder. Most of the best rebounders in history have been instinctive rebounders, not necessarily position rebounders (Marion, Rodman etc). I am OK with DA being and instinctive rebounder. It really makes a difference on offense. He turns misses into scores.
4. DA's dominance in this game was not by doing things we did not know he could do, but rather by doing aggressively what we all know he can do. It is one game. Consistency is the difference between NBA scrubs and stars.
5. We have now come to expect great games from Book. We take them for granted now.

 

[Chaplin]

At the risk of sounding overly positive, I think it's possible that Ricky's performance last night might not be an aberration. Hear me out: We know that he was certainly on a "high" because he just became a father a day ago. But for some players, a light just comes on and can stay on. That happened to Jason Kidd, where he was an abysmal shooter when he was with us but somehow when he got to Jersey, he started shooting well, especially from 3.

So we know that players can become better shooters and sustain it. For Rubio, it wasn't like yesterday he had a good breakfast and it made him dial-in. He played well after a major life change that isn't going away. I'm curious to see if this can sustain itself. I'm not holding out much hope, but I think it's possible. Being a father myself, I know how that fundamentally changes you immediately. Maybe it will have a positive effect on Ricky moving forward and for the rest of his career. Crossing fingers.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

At the risk of sounding overly positive, I think it's possible that Ricky's performance last night might not be an aberration. Hear me out: We know that he was certainly on a "high" because he just became a father a day ago. But for some players, a light just comes on and can stay on. That happened to Jason Kidd, where he was an abysmal shooter when he was with us but somehow when he got to Jersey, he started shooting well, especially from 3.

So we know that players can become better shooters and sustain it. For Rubio, it wasn't like yesterday he had a good breakfast and it made him dial-in. He played well after a major life change that isn't going away. I'm curious to see if this can sustain itself. I'm not holding out much hope, but I think it's possible. Being a father myself, I know how that fundamentally changes you immediately. Maybe it will have a positive effect on Ricky moving forward and for the rest of his career. Crossing fingers.

It's still an aberration until he proves otherwise with consistent performances like this one. It's not like having a kid can somehow fix your jump-shot.

Also it's not like Kidd suddenly became a better shooter simply because of a life change. He worked hard on it and probably got with a different shooting coach which created results.

 

[mjb21aztd]

Nice win by suns and swept knicks atleast lol

Good to see ayton have a monster gm hope he doesn't get tested again... just jkin

Also Rubio amd booker both balling is nice

 

[Dr dumas]

Ah. I love the ignore function, except that I feel like I am missing out on half the conversation.

Trust me, you’re not missing much. The sky is falling, Jones should be fired, Cam is useless.. every post.

 

[Dr dumas]

At the risk of sounding overly positive, I think it's possible that Ricky's performance last night might not be an aberration. Hear me out: We know that he was certainly on a "high" because he just became a father a day ago. But for some players, a light just comes on and can stay on. That happened to Jason Kidd, where he was an abysmal shooter when he was with us but somehow when he got to Jersey, he started shooting well, especially from 3.

So we know that players can become better shooters and sustain it. For Rubio, it wasn't like yesterday he had a good breakfast and it made him dial-in. He played well after a major life change that isn't going away. I'm curious to see if this can sustain itself. I'm not holding out much hope, but I think it's possible. Being a father myself, I know how that fundamentally changes you immediately. Maybe it will have a positive effect on Ricky moving forward and for the rest of his career. Crossing fingers.

It looked like Rubio had better arc on his shot. Wasn’t so flat. Would love to see him hit more mid range shots because it sure did open everything up.

 

[JCSunsfan]

At the risk of sounding overly positive, I think it's possible that Ricky's performance last night might not be an aberration. Hear me out: We know that he was certainly on a "high" because he just became a father a day ago. But for some players, a light just comes on and can stay on. That happened to Jason Kidd, where he was an abysmal shooter when he was with us but somehow when he got to Jersey, he started shooting well, especially from 3.

So we know that players can become better shooters and sustain it. For Rubio, it wasn't like yesterday he had a good breakfast and it made him dial-in. He played well after a major life change that isn't going away. I'm curious to see if this can sustain itself. I'm not holding out much hope, but I think it's possible. Being a father myself, I know how that fundamentally changes you immediately. Maybe it will have a positive effect on Ricky moving forward and for the rest of his career. Crossing fingers.

And yes, you sound overly positive. Rubio is historically a very poor shooter. I have to give him credit, he still puts the shots up when he is left open, which is something he has to do. It is POSSIBLE for his shooting to improve, but not likely. We would have to see more than this one game to start even slightly hoping it has.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Dude!

You should ask admin to change ur screen name to wetblanket or darkcloud.


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[BC867]

How about Sir Realist?

You do realize that Sir Realist when pronounced quickly comes out as surrealist, don't you?

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