Suns @ Mavericks Tuesday game thread 1-28-20

[Mainstreet]

Bridges guarded him a lot.

Yup. Heck of a nice game from Bridges (+27).

 

[Mainstreet]

Suns have 35 games left in the season. I so wish they could finish .500 or above.

 

[elindholm]

Raise your hand if you had Ayton outplaying Doncic in this showdown.

 

[BC867]

My company left late, I checked the box score (especially Bridges starting and Doncic falling short -- coincidence? I don't think so.)

What an amazing 3rd quarter for the Suns.

If Monty dares to removed Bridges from the starting lineup, as he did recently, I volunteer to tar-and-feather him (or whoever
is calling the shots) and run them out of town.

With the D-backs obtaining Starling Marte, returning Ketel and Escobar to their natural positions, and a lot to root for, it would
be nice to see the Suns join the party, even at this late date. Despite not getting to see the game, I feel exuberant!

If we can keep this progress going, ASFN will be a much more pleasant place to post. All good feelings!

 

[BC867]

Raise your hand if you had Ayton outplaying Doncic in this showdown.

 

[BC867]

I still want to see a legitimate starting Power Forward and backup Point Guard.

What a difference that would make.

Under those circumstances, I'd be for Oubre coming off the bench as instant offense.
And if he doesn't like it, because of the selfishness he's shown lately, #@+*@ him.

 

[Mainstreet]

Ayton's shot selection tonight. Need more of this.

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[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

What a great game! Only got to see the first 20 minutes but it was impressive. What I was most impressed with was Ayton’s defense, particularly on doncic. Don OC’s herky-jerky movement likely works on drawing fouls from shot blockers bc their timing is off. I think it may actually work against him with Ayton. Ayton tends to be a tad slow in reaction, as a result he remains earthbound a touch longer which traps doncic in no man’s land.

Was super excited about Ayton taking it inside, but I’m also realistic. He’s not going to shoot 13-15 often just like the three point shooting from our cast of misfit toys wasn’t sustainable from the beginning of the season. What I’m hoping for though is a raising of his game. If he can start averaging 20-22 per game sprinkled with monster games here and there this team is beginning to resemble something.

I like that we finally started the best five. But there will be some nights that’s a disaster. Like an oubre-Ayton-bridges front line likely gets one of the SFs killed going against a Zion-hayes-Ingram front line. And the issue is that bridges doesn’t have the foot speed to make either Ingram or Zion pay at the other end (typically when you give up size you gain an advantage in speed, but that wouldn’t be the case there).

anyway, rambling. Great - incredible - win.

 

[SirStefan32]

I just watched the game, and WOW! That was a proper beat-down! I have watched every Mavs game this year, and Bridges played as great of defense on Doncic as I have seen. Ayton was going to the rim like a maniac- he was just amazing. Booker just continuing to do his superstar thing. That double-fake on Jackson was an amazing play. Bench contributed, and it was really nice to see Jerome have a nice game. Go Suns!

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Suns have 35 games left in the season. I so wish they could finish .500 or above.

I’d be stoked if they played .500+ just in these closing 37 games. Something to build on next year.

 

[Mainstreet]

What a great game! Only got to see the first 20 minutes but it was impressive. What I was most impressed with was Ayton’s defense, particularly on doncic. Don OC’s herky-jerky movement likely works on drawing fouls from shot blockers bc their timing is off. I think it may actually work against him with Ayton. Ayton tends to be a tad slow in reaction, as a result he remains earthbound a touch longer which traps doncic in no man’s land.

Was super excited about Ayton taking it inside, but I’m also realistic. He’s not going to shoot 13-15 often just like the three point shooting from our cast of misfit toys wasn’t sustainable from the beginning of the season. What I’m hoping for though is a raising of his game. If he can start averaging 20-22 per game sprinkled with monster games here and there this team is beginning to resemble something.

I like that we finally started the best five. But there will be some nights that’s a disaster. Like an oubre-Ayton-bridges front line likely gets one of the SFs killed going against a Zion-hayes-Ingram front line. And the issue is that bridges doesn’t have the foot speed to make either Ingram or Zion pay at the other end (typically when you give up size you gain an advantage in speed, but that wouldn’t be the case there).

anyway, rambling. Great - incredible - win.

So important for the Suns to get off to a good start. I'd go with Oubre and Bridges at the forwards to see how far that carries us.

 

[GatorAZ]

I still want to see a legitimate starting Power Forward and backup Point Guard.

What a difference that would make.

Under those circumstances, I'd be for Oubre coming off the bench as instant offense.
And if he doesn't like it, because of the selfishness he's shown lately, #@+*@ him.

If we win 3 of 4 before the deadline Cam for Gallo?

 

[elindholm]

If we win 3 of 4 before the deadline Cam for Gallo?

So, in other words, give Johnson away for free?

 

[Suns_fan69]

Lots of positives this game obviously, but these things, in particular, I was happy about.

* The rest of the team stepping up and making shots when Dallas started trapping Booker (9 assists to 1 to)
* Bridges hounding Doncic all night; he can really be a pest
* Continued defensive effort from everyone
* Booker not having to re-enter in the 4th

Love to see this, hope they can carry the effort on.

 

[BC867]

The starters were all from a plus-27 to a plus-39 vs. Dallas.

The bench were all from a plus-2 to a minus-8.

What can we conclude from this?

A) As long as the bench doesn't blow the lead, we're OK?

B) That if a one or two starters get the flu or tire out, it
will be the same old-same old?

I am afraid, starting with Rubio, and Booker having to carry
the Point, that it will be Option B).

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[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Man the fates did us dirty. You see a game like tonight and wonder what this squad would be with morant. It’s really criminal that we didn’t land him. Booker Ayton morant would be crowed as the next big thing.

 

[Cheesebeef]

I’d be stoked if they played .500+ just in these closing 37 games. Something to build on next year.

borgbrain.

 

[Phrazbit]

I’d be stoked if they played .500+ just in these closing 37 games. Something to build on next year.

We are 9-8 in Ayton's 17 games so... there is hope!

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

We are 9-8 in Ayton's 17 games so... there is hope!

And 8-7 in the last 15 games. All since he came back from the ankle injury. So we are over .500 with him even excluding any games from early in the season.

On top of that we have been playing shorthanded of late. So I think it is a fair assumption that we are at least somewhere over a .500 team when healthy.

 

[Phrazbit]

I also want to compliment Monty's use of time outs tonight. Pretty much anytime we had a stretch of a few bad possessions in a row he called a timeout and nipped it in the butt. Instead of waiting until a 20 point lead was dropped to a single digit lead, he was shutting down opposing momentum as soon as it got started.

 

[82CardsGrad]

I’d be stoked if they played .500+ just in these closing 37 games. Something to build on next year.

We now only need to win 33% of our remaining games to reach 30 wins... which, IIRC, you thought to be a rather ridiculous expectation to think Ayton’s return from suspension & ankle injury could produce that type of impact, right? [emoji6]

 

[82CardsGrad]

I also want to compliment Monty's use of time outs tonight. Pretty much anytime we had a stretch of a few bad possessions in a row he called a timeout and nipped it in the butt. Instead of waiting until a 20 point lead was dropped to a single digit lead, he was shutting down opposing momentum as soon as it got started.

What I also saw tonight was the realization of a coach who knows how important it is that the players own their individual and collective performance and results. Monty is allowing the team to develop and for leaders to emerge.
Ultimately, leaders “do,” and then they gain respect and are able to lead...When players hold each other accountable, magic can happen.
I can see the early signs of this taking shape with this team...

 

[Phrazbit]

I may be a debbie downer on this but I fear that Lecque is going to turn out to be essentially Archie Goodwin 2.0. His g-league highlights really showcase his athleticism but his overall stats from his time at the g-league are pretty horrible: https://gleague.nba.com/player/jalen-lecque/

He isn't shooting well from anywhere, he's barely over 1 assist/to and the rest of his stats are middling at best. He's young, so there's still the chance he could develop something but he really needs at least one stand out skill to keep him in the NBA; unfortunately, athleticism by itself is not it.

Here's Archie's stats for comparison: https://www.basketball-reference.com/gleague/players/g/goodwar01d.html

I wouldn't be surprised if Lecque never becomes anything, but Goodwin's problem was that he never evolved and never seemed interested in learning how to be better.

Goodwin, from the moment he came into the league, was amazing at dribble penetration and absolute trash at everything else. That one ability allowed him to look good in the G-League, facing guys who couldn't stay in front of him and couldn't keep him away from the rim. In the NBA against fellow elite athletes, he couldn't do squat. He never learned to pass, shoot and was always trash on defense.

Goodwin sucked because he couldn't learn and grow, Calipari famously called him uncoachable. It is waaaaaaaaaaay too soon to know if Lecque has the same issue.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

There are 173 5 man lineups that have played at least 50 minutes together in the NBA and this lineup with Rubio, Booker, Oubre, Bridges and Ayton have the best Net Rating of them all. They are a +36 Net Rating in 81 minutes together.

https://stats.nba.com/lineups/advanced/?CF=MIN*GE*50&sort=NET_RATING&dir=1

 

[Phrazbit]

There are 173 5 man lineups that have played at least 50 minutes together in the NBA and this lineup with Rubio, Booker, Oubre, Bridges and Ayton have the best Net Rating of them all. They are a +36 Net Rating in 81 minutes together.

https://stats.nba.com/lineups/advanced/?CF=MIN*GE*50&sort=NET_RATING&dir=1

I bet this doesn't even include tonight's game, typically this stuff doesn't update for a day or so.

It has been a truly dominant lineup, on both ends of the floor.

The only thing it lacks is outside shooting, but I think if Bridges starts seeing more time in that lineup, a look that will afford him open looks constantly, that his shooting will improve, probably Booker's 3 point shooting too. Tonight the Mavs were trying to double team Booker and he was killing them for it, once teams realize that the lineup is too quick and that Ayton basically cannot be covered 1v1 in the low post, it will be make throwing those doubles at Booker an obviously losing bet.