Warriors @ Suns Thursday game thread 1-28-2021

[mjb21aztd]

Wow shocked i feel zzz before hapf time lol glad suns won!!

Great gm by frank k and ayton did decent

Big gm vs mavs tom.... hope booker back soon

 

[TJ]

Wow i was completely wrong about Oubre, he didn't have a monster game, he was actually horrendous. He just doesn't have that same energy that he played with last year, felt good to beat him after he bashed the organization the way he did once he was traded. He just doesn't look to have that quick twitch that he had before the injury.

I still hate, well maybe thats a strong word, dislike Green.

Nader did remind me of Oubre, in that he doesn't pass the ball once he gets it, and they like to attack. Nader is more crafty and lengthy. Once he and Moore get in better game shape they should be solid high iq people. Moore isn't great at anything but has a solid old school reliable feel to him.

I read comments about "Ayton being Ayton", I thought he did well with being physical. A couple of times he knocked a few players backwards and fought pretty hard on the glass.

Gallo finally got minutes again! Glad there weren't so many moving pieces last night, something i've been critical of Monty. And timeouts were called a little sooner this game.

I started to question Oubre when he quit on the Suns in the Bubble. JJ did well in selling high on him. Right now, if GSW were to trade him, he’d be worth a conditional 2nd at best.

As for Ayton, he was the best player on the court for the 23 minutes in the game. He was in foul trouble for a good deal of the game. 7 FGAs shows, once again, that he’s not being involved again. Letting guys like Crowder chuck threes instead of the high percentage shot at the rim is dumb. There’s no reason that Ayton should have less than 15 FGA/game. That’s not on Ayton. That’s on Monty.

 

[Mainstreet]

What we do know, Kelly Oubre Jr., hasn't played particularly well since his knee injury.

He played well for the Suns, liked Phoenix and was a welcome replacement for Trevor Ariza.

Most of his shots weren't even close to being on target last night. Whatever is wrong I hope he gets it corrected.

 

[AzStevenCal]

What we do know, Kelly Oubre Jr., hasn't played particularly well since his knee injury.

He played well for the Suns, liked Phoenix and was a welcome replacement for Trevor Ariza.

Most of his shots weren't even close to being on target last night. Whatever is wrong I hope he gets it corrected.

Watching Oubre and, to a lesser extent, Booker, regularly miss shots they'd normally make I can't help but wonder if either of them had Covid over the summer and are experiencing neurological problems?

As for Oubre, yes, he was a welcome replacement for Ariza but I wouldn't quite agree with the statement that he played well for the Suns. He was the poster child for inconsistency for us. He carried us to a few wins almost single-handedly but when he wasn't being great he was often playing us out of games. Regardless, he was a roughly average player for us on the whole and far better than the version GS has seen this season.

 

[Russ Smith]

Turned it off at halftime to watch a movie with GF, guess I made the right call. When Oubre, Green and Looney combine for 8 total points you can't win, unless Curry gets 62 again.

Was impressed with Bridges defense on Curry, Steph had a big first quarter but he was making largely tough shots, Bridges really bothered him with his length.

I felt like Oubre really wanted to make a statement and it kind of backfired he was too pumped up. I watched on the local feed not TNT I don't know if they showed this but early in the game he pokes the ball away from Paul, goes after it and Paul bodied him off the ball and got it and wound up scoring 4 on 5. Oubre actually got knocked out of bounds and took a fairly hard fall. The Warriors announcers were saying for the next several minutes he kept flexing one leg and that he was limping, I didn't notice the limp but Azabuike mentioned it a few times. He makes catch and shoot 3's, if he dribbles they never go in.

Wiseman had a bad game too couldn't finish at the rim and struggled on D got some fouls.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I started to question Oubre when he quit on the Suns in the Bubble. JJ did well in selling high on him. Right now, if GSW were to trade him, he’d be worth a conditional 2nd at best.

As for Ayton, he was the best player on the court for the 23 minutes in the game. He was in foul trouble for a good deal of the game. 7 FGAs shows, once again, that he’s not being involved again. Letting guys like Crowder chuck threes instead of the high percentage shot at the rim is dumb. There’s no reason that Ayton should have less than 15 FGA/game. That’s not on Ayton. That’s on Monty.

That’s not entirely true. Ayton is one of the worst bigs I’ve ever seen at establishing position and keeping his man sealed. In other words being available for the ball. Add in his atrocious hands (5 turnovers last night) and it’s a gamble whether passing the ball to him will be a high percentage shot or a turnover. Granted it seems like our team is also weak at post feed passing, buts there’s plenty of reasons why Ayton doesn’t get as many looks that lie at Ayton’s feet as well.

and mind you, I’m someone that wants to see more shots for Ayton.

 

[Mainstreet]

Watching Oubre and, to a lesser extent, Booker, regularly miss shots they'd normally make I can't help but wonder if either of them had Covid over the summer and are experiencing neurological problems?

As for Oubre, yes, he was a welcome replacement for Ariza but I wouldn't quite agree with the statement that he played well for the Suns. He was the poster child for inconsistency for us. He carried us to a few wins almost single-handedly but when he wasn't being great he was often playing us out of games. Regardless, he was a roughly average player for us on the whole and far better than the version GS has seen this season.

Last season Oubre averaged 18.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, shot 45.2% from the field and 35.2% from three point range for Phoenix. I'd consider this playing well.

 

[TJ]

That’s not entirely true. Ayton is one of the worst bigs I’ve ever seen at establishing position and keeping his man sealed. In other words being available for the ball. Add in his atrocious hands (5 turnovers last night) and it’s a gamble whether passing the ball to him will be a high percentage shot or a turnover. Granted it seems like our team is also weak at post feed passing, buts there’s plenty of reasons why Ayton doesn’t get as many looks that lie at Ayton’s feet as well.

and mind you, I’m someone that wants to see more shots for Ayton.

He’s improved drastically at sealing his man since he was drafted. Highly disagree here. I do agree with what you said about his hands. Nonetheless, these aren’t excuses to keep the ball on the perimeter and shoot a million threes when you have a guy who’s going to hit 60% of his shots inside

 

[AzStevenCal]

Last season Oubre averaged 18.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, shot 45.2% from the field and 35.2% from three point range for Phoenix. I'd consider this playing well.

You have to look at more than just his counting stats. He finished the season with a 14.9 PER, a 15 PER is replacement level player. He was a decent individual defender but a horrible team defender and he was often disruptive on offense even when he was putting up points. Kelly not playing in the bubble was not the primary reason we played so well there for 8 games but I believe it was a factor, right behind Saric getting into shape (and fully rested/healthy) along with the acquisition of Cameron Payne.

 

[elindholm]

He’s improved drastically at sealing his man since he was drafted. Highly disagree here. I do agree with what you said about his hands. Nonetheless, these aren’t excuses to keep the ball on the perimeter and shoot a million threes when you have a guy who’s going to hit 60% of his shots inside

Force-feeding Ayton in the post has been a recipe for disaster all season long. In the games that he's scored well, it's because the offense has had enough flow to find him spontaneously. Ayton has a long, long way to go before he's a guy that you dump the ball into in order to get a bucket or free throws. A turnover or weak fadeaway is much more likely, even in his good games.

 

[95pro]

If we're not picking and rolling, then Ayton's positioning becomes an issue but it has been better lately. Once you have great positioning, its becomes really easy to seal off your man being that big/tall while that close to the rim. Unfortunately his hands are still and issue, i'd say the team needs to fire pass after pass at him to get him to see the ball come into his hands.

Also, Ayton could have more than a couple of easy points if he could, was able to??, sprint back on offense. He usually has his defender behind him, jogs, and lets his defender catch up to play defense on him.

 

[Mainstreet]

You have to look at more than just his counting stats. He finished the season with a 14.9 PER, a 15 PER is replacement level player. He was a decent individual defender but a horrible team defender and he was often disruptive on offense even when he was putting up points. Kelly not playing in the bubble was not the primary reason we played so well there for 8 games but I believe it was a factor, right behind Saric getting into shape (and fully rested/healthy) along with the acquisition of Cameron Payne.

Booker's current PER is 14.89.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Booker's current PER is 14.89.

True. You should have seen it a few weeks ago, it was under 10. And, disappointingly, it's reflective of the value he's had on the court this season. If you ignore deep bench players and players whose value is primarily defensive (beyond rebounds, blocks and steals), PER is a very good measurement of a player's game value.

 

[Mainstreet]

Don't be missing layups on Frank when he is going for a triple double.

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[Sunburn]

Don't be missing layups on Frank when he is going for a triple double.

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Bahaha shots fired. Frank has no filter lol

 

[Mainstreet]

Bahaha shots fired. Frank has no filter lol

Frank is a character. I'm glad the Suns brought him back. Every team needs someone like this.

 

[Russ Smith]

If we're not picking and rolling, then Ayton's positioning becomes an issue but it has been better lately. Once you have great positioning, its becomes really easy to seal off your man being that big/tall while that close to the rim. Unfortunately his hands are still and issue, i'd say the team needs to fire pass after pass at him to get him to see the ball come into his hands.

Also, Ayton could have more than a couple of easy points if he could, was able to??, sprint back on offense. He usually has his defender behind him, jogs, and lets his defender catch up to play defense on him.

Early in the game Wiseman came in and beat Ayton down the court after a made basket twice. One time Steph tried to hit him and the pass wasn't accurate the other time Steph didn't throw it and then pointed out Wiseman and said my bad. On tv Kelenna Azabuike said he thought it was something they had seen on tape, Looney isn't fast enough but Wiseman was just sprinting by Ayton downcourt. The thing is if you are familiar with Ayton he's a freaky athlete, if he's getting beaten downcourt by another 7 footer it's because he's not hustling

He actually played pretty well in the first half that I saw. Had 2 nice seals for bully ball buckets, had a nice putback. The thing with him is it's frustrating he seems like he should be so much better than he actually is if he just played hard all the time.

Azabuike said it yesterday he said if Ayton played as hard as Bridgest or Kaminsky he'd be unstoppable, he just doesn't seem to have that kind of motor.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Early in the game Wiseman came in and beat Ayton down the court after a made basket twice. One time Steph tried to hit him and the pass wasn't accurate the other time Steph didn't throw it and then pointed out Wiseman and said my bad. On tv Kelenna Azabuike said he thought it was something they had seen on tape, Looney isn't fast enough but Wiseman was just sprinting by Ayton downcourt. The thing is if you are familiar with Ayton he's a freaky athlete, if he's getting beaten downcourt by another 7 footer it's because he's not hustling

He actually played pretty well in the first half that I saw. Had 2 nice seals for bully ball buckets, had a nice putback. The thing with him is it's frustrating he seems like he should be so much better than he actually is if he just played hard all the time.

Azabuike said it yesterday he said if Ayton played as hard as Bridgest or Kaminsky he'd be unstoppable, he just doesn't seem to have that kind of motor.

This is a perfect summation of my frustration.