Suns @ Mavericks Sunday game thread 3-5-2023

[Dr. Jones]

Really hoping DA plays.

 

[mjb21aztd]

Man kd is sooo fun to witness in a suns uni

Hope suns crush mavs luka is always hard matchup though

Want to see good performances by kd cp3 monster da and dbook

Lets goooo suns

 

[Carolinacacti]

Really hoping DA plays.

But I want to see Biz.............rather have Ayton

 

[Lorenzo]

They only don't give up 3s against us because we couldn't hit wide open looks. That what was so frustrating about game 7. For all the knocks on Monty not making adjustments (many very legit), I felt like, on offense at least, we DID adjust going into the game, we had wide open looks all over the place, they were throwing a hard double at Booker, every play, guys were moving where they needed to in order to get looks and they either bricked wildly or were too scared to shoot.

It was far more of a mental collapse than a strategic failure.

I think we're going to score plenty, Dallas' defense is trash this season, that team we lost to last year doesn't exist anymore, they've gone from 6th in defensive efficiency to 25th and the trade deadline has dropped them further.

I'm curious what our plan will be on defense. This will be the first real test for our defense with Durant in the lineup. Kyrie and, especially, Luka are not guys you can shut down, but if you make them work their ass off on offense to score, they will get frustrated... both have a habit of checking mentally out when things are not going well.

Paul still makes some really great "cagey veteran" defensive plays, but he isn't a stopper anymore, not by a long shot, putting Booker on Luka is just asking for Booker to get in foul trouble. We're going to have to be clever with our switching and hope Okogie and Craig can do some real work.

Also, if Ayton gets matched up with Wood, 1 on 1, on repeatedly the inside, we better look to him, Wood is a dog crap defender.

I think last year I was reminded that what happens in the regular season in a head to head matchup does not always indicate what will happen in the playoffs. My Mavericks inverse is the 2006 Miami heat series where I think Dallas had also handled the heat in the regular season and first two playoff games and then it completely flipped. not sure what we will learn tomorrow but it should be a morale booster for the winning side.

as you pointed out about Dallas’ poor defense this year, that doesn’t magically go away. Dallas were playing good ball heading into last years playoffs for an extended time. Their trade for dinwiddie was smooth, not really as much of a shakeup like this years trade. They were closing out games well with the Luka, Brunson, dinwiddie trio. This year Dallas doesn’t close well on offense in spite of their high scoring average. Luka has seen a lot of doubles and other guys don’t make shots. I think that is what they have a chance to improve upon with Irving being a great shot maker and free throw shooter(something Dallas has been poor at). I don’t know that Dallas can drastically improve defensively this year.

As for last years playoffs, I really felt that Ayton was misused. Most mavs fans and analysts feared him more than booker or Paul but for some reason he disappeared as the series went on. Of corse Paul had a terrible back half of that series.

 

[Phrazbit]

I think last year I was reminded that what happens in the regular season in a head to head matchup does not always indicate what will happen in the playoffs. My Mavericks inverse is the 2006 Miami heat series where I think Dallas had also handled the heat in the regular season and first two playoff games and then it completely flipped. not sure what we will learn tomorrow but it should be a morale booster for the winning side.

as you pointed out about Dallas’ poor defense this year, that doesn’t magically go away. Dallas were playing good ball heading into last years playoffs for an extended time. Their trade for dinwiddie was smooth, not really as much of a shakeup like this years trade. They were closing out games well with the Luka, Brunson, dinwiddie trio. This year Dallas doesn’t close well on offense in spite of their high scoring average. Luka has seen a lot of doubles and other guys don’t make shots. I think that is what they have a chance to improve upon with Irving being a great shot maker and free throw shooter(something Dallas has been poor at). I don’t know that Dallas can drastically improve defensively this year.

As for last years playoffs, I really felt that Ayton was misused. Most mavs fans and analysts feared him more than booker or Paul but for some reason he disappeared as the series went on. Of corse Paul had a terrible back half of that series.

Paul was clearly banged up, I think he also let the refs get in his head, stemming from that game where he fouled out with hardly any playing time. He had a couple weak calls against him but the last couple were just dumb, especially if you think you have a target on you.

Ayton on the other hand, we didn't go to him enough and then by game 6 I think he checked out, in game 7 I remember him missing his first shot, a 4 footer, by about 2 feet and immediately thinking "Oh no". He is the X factor, when he is engaged and his teammates look for him, he is can be a monster, but he really struggles with self motivation and if things go south on him early in a game he turtles up. Very frustrating.

Outside of the Bulls game, he's had a really strong last month or so, I hope they keep going to him but I also think that in a tight game things will likely turn into the Booker and Durant show... which isn't necessarily bad, it will likely be a really strong offense, but they need to find a way to keep Ayton's head in the game while they're at it.

I totally agree on your assessment of the Mavs. IMO, last season's team was more formidable. I know there was a lot of talk about size being the Mavs weakness, but meanwhile they killed teams by going small. They went and got big in the off season and killed their strength. I really didn't get the McGee signing, they spent that series destroying the Suns with McGee on the court... fun player, nice teammate but he's useless against anyone who can spread the court.

Luka and Kyrie are going to be a lot to handle defensively, especially in the clutch, but the Mavs of last year were so hard to shake on defense, a bunch of versatile defenders who also didn't mind being nothing but a catch and shoot turret for Luka on offense.

They might make some noise in the playoffs, maybe pull off an upset but I don't think they're consistent enough to be a threat for the title. But if the Mavs keep Kyrie (and he doesn't go crazy) and they find a couple new lanky defenders who can shoot at the 3 and 4, they'll be very scary again.

 

[Absolute Zero]

:

Early game.

WAKE UP!

 

[BirdGangThing]

:

Early game.

WAKE UP!

I'm up, just made it!

Hoping we get to see more of Darius Bazley and that one guy DeAndre Ayton today, I believe each only played about 7 minutes on Friday lol or at least that's what the stats suggest

 

[leclerc]

Wow, first time in ages I get to see a Suns game live that's not in the middle of the night. I am ready. Game starts in less than an hour, at 19:00.

 

[leclerc]

Make Luka work on both sides of the floor. Put different guys on him. Ish, Baz, Okogie, maybe even KD?

 

[BirdGangThing]

Wow, first time in ages I get to see a Suns game live that's not in the middle of the night. I am ready. Game starts in less than an hour, at 19:00.

Skål!

 

[leclerc]

Found this old favorite.

 

[Lorenzo]

Paul was clearly banged up, I think he also let the refs get in his head, stemming from that game where he fouled out with hardly any playing time. He had a couple weak calls against him but the last couple were just dumb, especially if you think you have a target on you.

Ayton on the other hand, we didn't go to him enough and then by game 6 I think he checked out, in game 7 I remember him missing his first shot, a 4 footer, by about 2 feet and immediately thinking "Oh no". He is the X factor, when he is engaged and his teammates look for him, he is can be a monster, but he really struggles with self motivation and if things go south on him early in a game he turtles up. Very frustrating.

Outside of the Bulls game, he's had a really strong last month or so, I hope they keep going to him but I also think that in a tight game things will likely turn into the Booker and Durant show... which isn't necessarily bad, it will likely be a really strong offense, but they need to find a way to keep Ayton's head in the game while they're at it.

I totally agree on your assessment of the Mavs. IMO, last season's team was more formidable. I know there was a lot of talk about size being the Mavs weakness, but meanwhile they killed teams by going small. They went and got big in the off season and killed their strength. I really didn't get the McGee signing, they spent that series destroying the Suns with McGee on the court... fun player, nice teammate but he's useless against anyone who can spread the court.

Luka and Kyrie are going to be a lot to handle defensively, especially in the clutch, but the Mavs of last year were so hard to shake on defense, a bunch of versatile defenders who also didn't mind being nothing but a catch and shoot turret for Luka on offense.

They might make some noise in the playoffs, maybe pull off an upset but I don't think they're consistent enough to be a threat for the title. But if the Mavs keep Kyrie (and he doesn't go crazy) and they find a couple new lanky defenders who can shoot at the 3 and 4, they'll be very scary again.

Well said on all. I really like Irving’s game and I think he can be a good pairing with Luka like he was in Cleveland with LBJ. The question is does he want to be there long term. I know he had a list of teams he wanted to go to and Dallas was one of them, but not sure where that ranked. Everyone says he wanted to go to LA and I guess I can’t blame him personally for that. Dallas isn’t LA and never will be. Of corse he left a great situation in Cleveland for the east coast and that did not work out. I don’t think the Lakers are a great solution at this point for any free agent given their circumstances atm. If irving doesn’t want to be in Dallas I think it will be easy to move on and try to build around Luka. I really think luka needs an athletic big man that can score. It would be deadly in the pick and roll. I’m really not sure about Wood. He’s a good shooter but really doesn’t defend, finish at the rim, and rebound that well for his size. McGee is a good defensive rebounder but is slow as you pointed out. and has hardly played anyway from what I’ve heard so I don’t quite understand the thought of bringing him in. Dwight Powell seems to be Kidd’s favorite. He plays hard but he’s not the same athletically that he was before he blew his Achilles a couple years ago. he was never really a good scorer aside from pick and roll dunks but he’s not great at that anymore.

 

[Mainstreet]

The Suns have a full crew today except for Landry Shamet who is OUT.

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[Mainstreet]

ABC announcers going on and on about who took the bigger risk, the Suns or Mavericks in trading for Durant and Irving respectively.

The consensus seems to be the Suns took the bigger risk.

 

[Mainstreet]

Maxi Kleber is OUT for the Mavericks.

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[Superbone]

Wow, first time in ages I get to see a Suns game live that's not in the middle of the night. I am ready. Game starts in less than an hour, at 19:00.

That's 7 pm for us Americans.

 

[Mainstreet]

Josh Okogie continues to start.

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[PHI PHX PHAN]

I have KD goin for 40 today

 

[Mainstreet]

This game is getting so much hype. It feels like the Finals.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

How old is Hubie brown?

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Is Ross playing? We still haven’t seen a highlight dunk from him.

 

[Mainstreet]

Is Ross playing? We still haven’t seen a highlight dunk from him.

Yes. Ross is playing as is Ayton.

 

[Mainstreet]

Tip-off.

 

[Mainstreet]

Ayton gets the inside feed for the stuff.

 

[BirdGangThing]

Ayton slashing to the bucket early was hoping we'd see that today