Thunder @ Suns game thread 1-7-18

[JCSunsfan]

Nice thing about Bender is that he plays defense consistently. He still makes some mistakes, but for the most part, you can count on him defensively every on every possession. Offense will come. His three-point shot keeps getting better, and he shows the ability to drive to the hoop every once in a while. He just needs to keep being aggressive and confident, and he will be fine.

As far as rebounding goes, I am not sure what his deal is. He blocks out well enough, and the Suns centers have been doing a good job rebounding. Offensively, he plays too far away from the basket. Now, that's fine, but when the shot goes up, he really needs to go for some offensive rebounds.

EDIT: I still maintain that he will be most successful as a Center. He still needs to add twenty pounds of muscle, but he will be more effective as a Center than anything else.

He defers to his teammates when rebounding. There is always Chandler or Len or Monroe there.

 

[Suns_fan69]

As good as Bender's game was, I was more impressed with Jackson. Bender's most impressive move was the pump fake into drive and converting. That's the next part of his game he needs to develop once his 3's start dropping as teams are going to start running him off that 3 point line.

Jackson was the most composed I've seen him this year. Didn't force too much, took open shots, passed when pressured and his usual solid defense. That was far more encouraging to me than what Bender did.

* edit. This ended up reading to be a lot more negative on Bender than I intended, which isn't intentional, just impressed by Jackson.

 

[Finito]

To continue with that I got the same feeling. Watching Jackson early was frustrating you could tell he wanted to go 100mph.

Last night he just let the game come to him he played with agresive and still under control and looked awesome.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I am really said I missed this game. Enjoyed the highlights though

 

[Superbone]

I am really said I missed this game. Enjoyed the highlights though

Yes, definitely our best 48 minutes of basketball of the year. The offense was fine tuned last night and everybody was hitting on all cylinders.

 

[Suns_fan69]

One play in particular that I was really happy to see Jackson make was off a drive/kick out from someone (Booker? Ulis? Can't remember). He had a pretty good look for a 3, hesitated long enough to get a help defender rotating towards him then kicked it to Bender who was on fire. Doesn't sound like much but was good to see considering how often Jackson would try to force the issue at times earlier in the year.

 

[Mainstreet]

One play in particular that I was really happy to see Jackson make was off a drive/kick out from someone (Booker? Ulis? Can't remember). He had a pretty good look for a 3, hesitated long enough to get a help defender rotating towards him then kicked it to Bender who was on fire. Doesn't sound like much but was good to see considering how often Jackson would try to force the issue at times earlier in the year.

It was a very nice play. It shows Jackson is learning the game.

 

[BC867]

I still maintain that he will be most successful as a Center. He still needs to add twenty pounds of muscle, but he will be more effective as a Center than anything else.

That would put him at 245 lbs., passable for a finesse Center.

He's the new Alvan Adams. I'm sure you love that, BC!

Alvan Adams would have had to have three meals a day at McDonald's for two years to dream about reaching 245 lbs. Of course, he would then have needed a wheelbarrow to make it from one end of the court to the other. He still would have had the skinniest arms on the court.