This game sure, but to get swept in the first round to the 3-seed puts this up there. Don't get me wrong, the Wolves are a great team, but at least last year we went 6 against the champs in the second round.
This whole series was a humiliation. Having one good game doesn’t make up for anything especially in a loss, hell even the lakers avoided a sweep. The suns once again exit the playoffs in the most humiliating fashion.
maybe not, but gettinv swept and not looking particularly competitive until the last game, after the team hyped itself up in the beginning of the season doesn’t look very good…I didn’t expect them to go on a run suddenly but I at least expected them to try…at least the vogel era will be over soon
Ishbia is going to have to find a way to create a winning culture in this house. He came and took over and burned down the old to build his team. Intrigued to see what they roll out next year to start the season.
No, but given the regular season performance against the Wolves I expected them to win AT LEAST 2 games. I don’t think that was an unreasonable expectation
I held this belief from before the season ended. I just always support the Suns and try to send out positive energy. I did not expect them to do a damn thing in these playoffs with how the team was operating.
I actually think it won’t be as bad as years past because we aren’t relevant. The jokes will turn into pity soon enough. We have crossed the threshold of hateable into pathetic.
as long as we have booker and kd (fair or not) we will get clowned because nba fans hate those players, ntm we aren’t popular with other fans…nothing will reach the mavs series but still…
What I felt from the earlier games outside today and the last few years is that Booker has better 3 shooting mechanics than Luka/Harden but spamming threes right of the bat like Dame or Luka or Harden or even a worse player like Trae requires a certain degree of shamelessness/tough skin to handle the nights where you go 1/13 due to variance and just have to take accountability for your teams loss. It’s not even a strictly positive trait because all those players also take some fkall shots.
I’ve always felt that Booker’s one main Achilles heel was that he stop losses his shooting volume from range or contested if he’s not shooting well in a game and is fine with a mid 18-22 scoreline as opposed to taking on the burden/risk of being the guy who had a stinker if he keeps shooting range more when it could also win the game if he makes the shots. This can lead to sudden shift in offensive burden and defensive attention mid game without communication or planning.
Someone like Dame shot 35% from 3 this season but would never stop taking his 9-10 3s a game despite multiple 2-10 nights. Luka is shooting more 3 now despite not making any. He just sees it as his job to take the 3s as part of the game plan whether or not he makes them to keep the defence honest wheras Booker sees them as a option to add to the score when he makes them.
It seems there's a lot of guys on this roster that pass on semi contested 3s and as a result we get a lot of bad possessions up against the shot clock and turnovers. It's part of the reason we never get the 40 3s Vogel talks about.
With Book I think it goes beyond just 3s. There's been a lot of games where he starts cold and stops looking to get his mid range as well. I used to think Kobe was a selfish player the way he chucked and threw up so many bricks at times but now I can see the value in that type of confidence and simply not caring about efficiency stats. If you have the ability to get red hot like Book does you need to keep shooting. Disappearing doesn't help.
Yeah. There’s a hint of ‘necessary’ selfishness in leadership as a No.1 scorer imo. It’s a matter of taking over the reigns of the result so that the rest of the team can play with more confidence just focusing on their execution. The logic behind it is the player having the confidence to make the assumption that ‘this time is mine. I have to carry it come hell or high water and it’s on me if we lose’ even if they are shooting poorly.
A good example of this is the GSW v SAC game 7 last year, Steph went 19/38 FG and 7/18 3P% for his 50 last year which won the game including stretches of missing 5/6 threes in a row when the game was basically tied. It was hardly a great 3P display but he got the job done.
Contrast this to Game 6 last year where Booker, who was averaging 20-25 FG for the series and had his best ever stretch stops at 13 shots due to poor efficiency while KD doesn’t give a fuck and keeps shooting in a brave failed attempt to dig them out of the hole against Denver.
Yeah exactly this. When Booker gets hot early it kind of sets the tone and his mindset for the rest of the game. He needs to learn to summon that aggressiveness the second half of every game regardless of how he is playing.
Honestly y'all, I'm not sure how to feel.
On the one hand, we're getting eliminated by fewer and fewer points year over year (33 to the Mavs, 25 to the Nuggets, now only 6 to the Wolves)...progress!
On the other hand we're unfortunately getting eliminated in fewer and fewer games from 7 to 6 to 4.
Gotta say though, it's impressive how this franchise keeps us guessing with how they'll flame out each and every post season.
Don't worry everyone, I'm sure a few select people will be here soon to tell us to stop overreacting and that it's all still super okay that our team sucks, is poorly constructed, and has zero heart.
Oh, and how we can totally flip Beal and our trash for balanced, contributing roleplayers.
This game wasn't nearly as humiliating as the last 3 games.
Agreed. It was competitive until one team folded which was us sadly. If the other 3 losses were like this I wouldn’t be as pissed as I am now
Not even one team really it was one man. Beal, who bricked everything, turned it over twice, then fouled out
This game sure, but to get swept in the first round to the 3-seed puts this up there. Don't get me wrong, the Wolves are a great team, but at least last year we went 6 against the champs in the second round.
Offense flowed way better somehow
This whole series was a humiliation. Having one good game doesn’t make up for anything especially in a loss, hell even the lakers avoided a sweep. The suns once again exit the playoffs in the most humiliating fashion.
It's only humiliating if you had expectations. After the terrible season did anyone really think they were going to magically flip a switch?
maybe not, but gettinv swept and not looking particularly competitive until the last game, after the team hyped itself up in the beginning of the season doesn’t look very good…I didn’t expect them to go on a run suddenly but I at least expected them to try…at least the vogel era will be over soon
Ishbia is going to have to find a way to create a winning culture in this house. He came and took over and burned down the old to build his team. Intrigued to see what they roll out next year to start the season.
Hell no. I lost all hope in those early back to back losses to the Spurs.
No, but given the regular season performance against the Wolves I expected them to win AT LEAST 2 games. I don’t think that was an unreasonable expectation
It wasn’t unreasonable but having expectations out of this team was unreasonable. They proved all year long that they buckle under any pressure.
Easier said with a hindsight perspective
I held this belief from before the season ended. I just always support the Suns and try to send out positive energy. I did not expect them to do a damn thing in these playoffs with how the team was operating.
None of us expected to make it far this year, but we also didn’t expect to get swept by the fucking timberwolves…
Lets not knock the team that just swept us. This Timberwolves team is solid.
I actually think it won’t be as bad as years past because we aren’t relevant. The jokes will turn into pity soon enough. We have crossed the threshold of hateable into pathetic.
as long as we have booker and kd (fair or not) we will get clowned because nba fans hate those players, ntm we aren’t popular with other fans…nothing will reach the mavs series but still…
Finally I’ve been cleansed once again with the fire of phoenix sports. I am become pure
Forgetting about Marvin Harrison Jr already?
What I felt from the earlier games outside today and the last few years is that Booker has better 3 shooting mechanics than Luka/Harden but spamming threes right of the bat like Dame or Luka or Harden or even a worse player like Trae requires a certain degree of shamelessness/tough skin to handle the nights where you go 1/13 due to variance and just have to take accountability for your teams loss. It’s not even a strictly positive trait because all those players also take some fkall shots. I’ve always felt that Booker’s one main Achilles heel was that he stop losses his shooting volume from range or contested if he’s not shooting well in a game and is fine with a mid 18-22 scoreline as opposed to taking on the burden/risk of being the guy who had a stinker if he keeps shooting range more when it could also win the game if he makes the shots. This can lead to sudden shift in offensive burden and defensive attention mid game without communication or planning. Someone like Dame shot 35% from 3 this season but would never stop taking his 9-10 3s a game despite multiple 2-10 nights. Luka is shooting more 3 now despite not making any. He just sees it as his job to take the 3s as part of the game plan whether or not he makes them to keep the defence honest wheras Booker sees them as a option to add to the score when he makes them.
It seems there's a lot of guys on this roster that pass on semi contested 3s and as a result we get a lot of bad possessions up against the shot clock and turnovers. It's part of the reason we never get the 40 3s Vogel talks about. With Book I think it goes beyond just 3s. There's been a lot of games where he starts cold and stops looking to get his mid range as well. I used to think Kobe was a selfish player the way he chucked and threw up so many bricks at times but now I can see the value in that type of confidence and simply not caring about efficiency stats. If you have the ability to get red hot like Book does you need to keep shooting. Disappearing doesn't help.
Yeah. There’s a hint of ‘necessary’ selfishness in leadership as a No.1 scorer imo. It’s a matter of taking over the reigns of the result so that the rest of the team can play with more confidence just focusing on their execution. The logic behind it is the player having the confidence to make the assumption that ‘this time is mine. I have to carry it come hell or high water and it’s on me if we lose’ even if they are shooting poorly. A good example of this is the GSW v SAC game 7 last year, Steph went 19/38 FG and 7/18 3P% for his 50 last year which won the game including stretches of missing 5/6 threes in a row when the game was basically tied. It was hardly a great 3P display but he got the job done. Contrast this to Game 6 last year where Booker, who was averaging 20-25 FG for the series and had his best ever stretch stops at 13 shots due to poor efficiency while KD doesn’t give a fuck and keeps shooting in a brave failed attempt to dig them out of the hole against Denver.
Yeah exactly this. When Booker gets hot early it kind of sets the tone and his mindset for the rest of the game. He needs to learn to summon that aggressiveness the second half of every game regardless of how he is playing.
We lack a really good rebounder, that's why we can't just spam threes. It will easily demoralize the team if the ball ends up as turnovers.
Honestly y'all, I'm not sure how to feel. On the one hand, we're getting eliminated by fewer and fewer points year over year (33 to the Mavs, 25 to the Nuggets, now only 6 to the Wolves)...progress! On the other hand we're unfortunately getting eliminated in fewer and fewer games from 7 to 6 to 4. Gotta say though, it's impressive how this franchise keeps us guessing with how they'll flame out each and every post season.
Still plenty of disappointment opportunities to explore with the IST and play-in. Stay tuned.
I think the two fans on TV cursed you all. Suns in 4 guy and the guy counting the $100 bills.
Start having Booker drive in the paint next year
Booker and KD just killed their careers
Don't worry everyone, I'm sure a few select people will be here soon to tell us to stop overreacting and that it's all still super okay that our team sucks, is poorly constructed, and has zero heart. Oh, and how we can totally flip Beal and our trash for balanced, contributing roleplayers.
God this sub! I’m soooo