Why did Suns Collapse in Playoffs?

[Mainstreet]

Sports Illustrated covers the angles the best I have scene thus far.


By Zach Koons 23 minutes ago:


As a result of the outbreak, the Suns could not hold season-ending exit meetings between players and coaches at their practice facility. Instead, Phoenix held a team-wide meeting on Zoom.

-----------------------------------

The Suns declined to comment to The Athletic about whether or not there was a breach of protocol regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. A league spokesman told The Athletic, “The NBA has seen no evidence to suggest any rules violations by Suns players or staff.”

Suns Had COVID-19 Outbreak During Game 7 Loss to Mavs, per Report - Sports Illustrated

Six individuals, including one player, tested positive either late in the Western Conference semifinals or the day after Game 7.

www.si.com

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Sports Illustrated covers the angles the best I have scene thus far.


By Zach Koons 23 minutes ago:


As a result of the outbreak, the Suns could not hold season-ending exit meetings between players and coaches at their practice facility. Instead, Phoenix held a team-wide meeting on Zoom.

-----------------------------------

The Suns declined to comment to The Athletic about whether or not there was a breach of protocol regarding the COVID-19 outbreak. A league spokesman told The Athletic, “The NBA has seen no evidence to suggest any rules violations by Suns players or staff.”

Suns Had COVID-19 Outbreak During Game 7 Loss to Mavs, per Report - Sports Illustrated

Six individuals, including one player, tested positive either late in the Western Conference semifinals or the day after Game 7.

www.si.com

That's just a quote of the Athletic article

 

[Mainstreet]

That's just a quote of the Athletic article

Yeah, I couldn't get past the pay wall. I thought SI did a good job of presenting the information.

 

[Finito]

It's more than margin of victory. Come on, you know that.

Dude it’s a 30 point blow out. How much more dominate does it have to be.

Explain to me why the Suns didn’t look good in game 5.

 

[Finito]

I have separated out the COVID thing. It's a rapidly escalating story locally.

Suns were well aware that there was COVID in their locker room and no one was testing since it is basically up to the player to admit if they need to be tested or not.

Say they did have Covid and chose to keep it under wraps.

Now your exposing your teammates, the 25,000 people in the arena, the people who work in the stadium, The Mavs and there employees.

This isn’t football where there is a separation between fans and players in the NBA people literally sit right next to players.

 

[95pro]

Wasn't Luka sick in the warriors series?

 

[Finito]

Wasn't Luka sick in the warriors series?

He averaged 32ppg in the Mavs series.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Wasn't Luka sick in the warriors series?

Yes I am trying to keep this all in the correct thread.

 

[nashman]

Dude it’s a 30 point blow out. How much more dominate does it have to be.

Explain to me why the Suns didn’t look good in game 5.

It was more of we hit some shots and they didn’t hit 30 3 pointers, the game was not a blowout till late and Book blew that lead up also with a few late 3s just for good measure. We played decent in the first two games the rest we looked like we lost who we were as a team all season imo.

 

[Covert Rain]

So even if the Suns had made it past the Mavs, they likely would have given up multiple games to start the next round. Either way, it sounds like this playoffs was doomed.

 

[Peter Sheldon]

So even if the Suns had made it past the Mavs, they likely would have given up multiple games to start the next round. Either way, it sounds like this playoffs was doomed.

yeah it felt that way. Like even if the Suns snuck by Mavs, GSW would have dominated the next series. Suns simultaneously lost the ability to defend and make any outside shots at all from bench thru starters collectively. Biggest complete turnaround of a team I have ever witnessed. Complete lack of coaching and adjustments and play-making. Suns had an on-stoppable big in the middle who makes 60%+ of his shots who they refused to use. A middling H.S. coach could have done better.

 

[Finito]

It was more of we hit some shots and they didn’t hit 30 3 pointers, the game was not a blowout till late and Book blew that lead up also with a few late 3s just for good measure. We played decent in the first two games the rest we looked like we lost who we were as a team all season imo.

The it was a blowout late is not correct we won the third(18)by more than we won the fourth(8). We won the second by 6 also

It was def not blown open late

It was a dominate game. This is really what we’re debating here. Suns win by 30 and it’s well we didn’t look that good.

We won game one by 7 and game 2 by 20. We looked pretty damn good in our wins.

 

[Mainstreet]

The playoffs have been marred by blowouts. I'm not sure why we are debating scores at this point.

 

[nashman]

The playoffs have been marred by blowouts. I'm not sure why we are debating scores at this point.

Correct and when we lost it’s because teams hit a lot of 3s against us, much like our regular season losses. If you get lit up from 3 it’s hard to win unless you can shoot like GS which not many teams can consistently.

 

[Folster]

The playoffs have been marred by blowouts. I'm not sure why we are debating scores at this point.

I'm not sure if it's just an aberration or just a function of teams being so reliant on the 3 point game and a hot or cold performance leads to blow outs.

I kinda wish a player of young Shaq's size and athleticism would come into the league and just punish these teams. Imagine Kleba and Powell guarding a prime Shaq. It would be a defensive flop fest for sure. Remember all the stiffs like Ostertag and Big Jake that teams had to roster to throw at him to try to slow him down.

 

[Mainstreet]

I'm not sure if it's just an aberration or just a function of teams being so reliant on the 3 point game and hot and cold performance lead to blow outs.

I kinda wish a player of young Shaq's size and athleticism would come into the league and just punish these teams. Imagine Kleba and Powell guarding a prime Shaq. It would be a defensive flop fest for sure. Remember all the stiffs like Ostertag and Big Jake that teams had to roster to throw at him to try to slow him down.

I do think the 3-point shot has made all the difference. When teams are hot they can pile up points in a hurry.

Ironically the Suns showed how good defense and a grind it out offense can beat this style of play but they were not playing this way at the end of the season.

The regular season Suns would have beat the playoff Mavericks without much trouble. This makes it all the more frustrating.

 

[Finito]

I'm not sure if it's just an aberration or just a function of teams being so reliant on the 3 point game and a hot or cold performance leads to blow outs.

I kinda wish a player of young Shaq's size and athleticism would come into the league and just punish these teams. Imagine Kleba and Powell guarding a prime Shaq. It would be a defensive flop fest for sure. Remember all the stiffs like Ostertag and Big Jake that teams had to roster to throw at him to try to slow him down.

Shaq would be super limited in this era. You flat out can’t play physical like that anymore. Throwing elbows and lowering your shoulder he’s have 4 fouls in the first quarter

He’s be helpless trying to guard the perimeter. Guys can’t just camp out in the paint anymore.

It’s just such a different game.

 

[Finito]

The playoffs have been marred by blowouts. I'm not sure why we are debating scores at this point.

No one is debating scores but to say the Suns didn’t look good in a game we won by 30 is just ridiculous

 

[Folster]

Shaq would be super limited in this era. You flat out can’t play physical like that anymore. Throwing elbows and lowering your shoulder he’s have 4 fouls in the first quarter

He’s be helpless trying to guard the perimeter. Guys can’t just camp out in the paint anymore.

It’s just such a different game.

He'd adjust and shoot 90% from the field and foul out the opposing team's bigs.

 

[Mainstreet]

No one is debating scores but to say the Suns didn’t look good in a game we won by 30 is just ridiculous

I'm not hearing anyone say this.

 

[Finito]

He'd adjust and shoot 90% from the field and foul out the opposing team's bigs.

He was helpless 5’ away from the basket.

You can’t play like he played today. Like I said he would have 4 fouls in the first quarter and on defense

Could you even play him on defense is the question. It would def be interesting. Guys like Dream and Robinson I think would thrive today they could really move there feet. The big bangers like Shaq, Mourning and Ewing are a lot more interesting.

I do think the NBA really needs to stop with the BS soft play stuffs it’s gotten so out of hand it’s ridiculous. They have to let guys play down low

 

[Finito]

I'm not hearing anyone say this.

Chaplin literally just said it that’s what we are talking about. That’s who I quoted

And you even liked a quote from Nashman saying it was a blowout late and was more what they didn’t do than what we did.

 

[AzStevenCal]

No one is debating scores but to say the Suns didn’t look good in a game we won by 30 is just ridiculous

He'd struggle a bit in the game pre-covid but since the bubble, they've allowed a lot more physical play inside. IMO Shaq would dominate the NBA today, maybe even more so than before because we've bred all the big bodies out of the game.

Silver has handled some challenging situations well but his decision to "give the fans what they wan" in the way of more physical play really bothers me. Now, we're almost back to the days when you could kill someone and get away with it in the postseason.

They still enforce some of the perimeter changes that had been put in place but even there they are allowing heavy contact moving screens regularly. It's absurd the way they call it now, they frequently still whistle players for moving screens but if you bang the hell out of them when you set the screen, it's usually a no call.

 

[Finito]

He'd struggle a bit in the game pre-covid but since the bubble, they've allowed a lot more physical play inside. IMO Shaq would dominate the NBA today, maybe even more so than before because we've bred all the big bodies out of the game.

Silver has handled some challenging situations well but his decision to "give the fans what they wan" in the way of more physical play really bothers me. Now, we're almost back to the days when you could kill someone and get away with it in the postseason. They still enforce some of the perimeter changes that had been put in place but even there they are allowing heavy contact moving screens regularly.

I couldn’t disagree more. We are nowhere close to 90s basketball in terms of physical play.

I don’t think they’ve allowed more physical play at all.

 

[Covert Rain]

Chaplin literally just said it that’s what we are talking about. That’s who I quoted

And you even liked a quote from Nashman saying it was a blowout late and was more what they didn’t do than what we did.

I didn't get that at all from what he wrote. First off most of the Suns damage was done in the 3rd quarter. The other 3 quarters pretty much looked like the same team. Also, he said "return to form" which to me was referencing the team that ripped through the league.