I watched back all 3 PHX vs MIN games this week & tracked the Suns offensive possessions.
All in all, the numbers matched what the eye test had me thinking - it's a PICK & ROLL series.
If you care, here's some numbers (w/video) on why I find that interesting...
Jordan Poole flopped to try sell a foul call & then proceeded to slip on a wet spot that he created himself 5 seconds earlier.
Karma's gonna track you down.
My Batman review:
If I wanted to watch 3 hours of a tall, strong & handsome man beating up on a bunch of losers from a poor excuse for New York, then I would’ve just watched Cam Johnson’s career high 38 point performance again.
Sweaty Anthony Davis slides all over the floor & what happens to Ricky Rubio on the very next play?
I get it's mostly kids/volunteers (?) but what are we training them to do? What if that was LeBron on a drive?
This is the moment I will remember the series by. I was pissed. Zero issues with LeBron doing it but my team was being clowned. They were better than that.
The Suns outscored the Lakers 353-297 after this moment.
Nine who secured these all-you-can-get deals, which pay out 90-plus percent of their 2019-20 salaries by April 1, are represented by Klutch Sports on contracts structured and negotiated by agent Rich Paul and attorney Mark Termini
Book put up w/ terrible teams for years. Never made it about him. Publicly owned every L ever given. Trust me, watch his post game pressers. I have.
Just real weirdo energy & honestly, feels like the majority of it comes from folks who look silly with their early career takes.
Call me crazy but I think *we* might be letting a single 8 sec violation overshadow the fact that the Pelicans ball pressure/denial strategy on CP3, completely submarined their half court defense in Game 5....
*you*
With 3:00 remaining in Q3, PHX fell to a game high deficit at 92-101.
Devin Booker almost single-handedly dragged them back to 104-104 in the space of 2:30 mins.
10 points, 1 assist, 2 steals, 1 block, 1 rebound.
☀️Kevin Durant is a member of the Phoenix Suns
🤯I'm sure I am not the only one who is wondering what it will look like to add one of the greatest scorers of all time to a well established offense in PHX.
🧵A thread with a video a day until KD plays...
Chris Paul been battling bigger guards 99% of his entire career. If you think he's not going to relish punishing a garden gnome, you are very mistaken.
Just happy for Book.
13th pick. 6th man in college. Spot up shooter only. Drafted by team where almost no other young guy developed. Face of franchise very early. Had to bear brunt of hate from outside for team being bad.
The fact he's an All Star is down to him & him only.
No offense to everyone else but there's really only 4 people I give a shit about hearing from in regards to Ayton:
Monty Williams, James Jones, Chris Paul & Devin Booker.
I dgaf if it’s cheesy - seeing Devin Booker smiling down the stretch of high leverage playoff games he is dominating is fucking awesome.
I had to watch 4-5 years of horrible basketball but he played in all of it AND had his character/ability questioned throughout.
Josh Okogie went 0/8 from 3 @ DAL - 7 of those misses were with Luka Doncic helping off him.
PHX adjusted their lineup down the stretch & who was guarding the shooter on 5 of the final 7 Suns made 3s?
After running Spain just 4 times in Devin Booker's first 2 games, PHX went to it 9 times in the last 2 games with Book. Generating 2.11 PPP.
I've got time today, so let's start with JJ Redick & Richard Jefferson explaining Spain action before diving in a little further....
Devin Booker will be under contract with PHX through the 27/28 NBA season. I have $$ at:
22/23 - $33,833,400
23/24 - $36,016,200
24/25 - $47,694,150
25/26 - $51,509,682
26/27 - $55,325,214
27/28 - $59,140,746
Devin Booker just said on Instagram Live that a young kid was trash talking CP3, so Paul said he'd get his son to come fight him if he didn't shut up lol
The play that stood out the most to me tonight.
CP3 realllly wants the ball. Cam takes it alone. It's hard to say no to a guy like CP3 & the younger guys showing that confidence could be really important down the line.
Mike Schmitz traveling to Australia to watch fringe NBA prospects & assistant coaching in Uganda but please tell me how you are indeed more of a basketball person as you sit on Twitter.
Devin Booker has spent his entire basketball career adjusting & adapting. It’s literally the plot of his story so far.
Shouldn’t have taken slapping USA on his chest instead of PHX for a lot more people to notice but I’m glad it did.
Uh oh. The bad man has found a new level of bad man things, Monty seems to have found the rotation & guys are stepping up into their roles.
Do we have a series?
Devin Booker - Back To Back To Back.
1. Elbow into PnR - engages Ayton & hits Nurkic on roll.
2. Same play - corner defender rotates early this time to stop roll, so just skips to corner shooter instead.
3. PnR same spot again - Nurkic re-screens, Booker rejects. Cash.
Phoenix Suns star Chris Paul received an X-ray on his right hand following the Game 2 victory and results came back clean, league sources tell
@NBAonTNT
,
@BleacherReport
.
The Phoenix Suns traded for a PG who was ALL NBA last season and signed a PF who played 30MPG on a FINALS team.
Two off-seasons ago they traded for Ryan Anderson to play PF and signed Jamal Crawford to play PG.
A small thing that says a lot to me.
This isn't a called play. It's Payton noticing something & going out of his way to set Holiday up for his first 3 as a member of the Suns.
A guy who could take his spot in the rotation.
Cam Johnson's scoring injection showcased the return of a lot of Phoenix's offensive staples that had been missing while the Suns were shorthanded.
🧵Let me illustrate...
How does Bradley Beal help the Phoenix Suns?
Well, let's start with the spacing the starting lineup can provide while having another on ball threat like Beal lead the attack.
Taylor Jenkins has a really great case for COTY but let’s just get one thing straight…
Suggesting any old coach could’ve taken the Suns to 60+ wins as your main argument is incredibly fucking insulting to Monty Williams.
Chris Paul & Devin Booker are collectively generating 16.5 assists a game from 86.6 passes made.
Doesn’t sound like a lot? They are no. 1 & 2 currently in the NBA for assist to pass percentage.
When Devin Booker gets his statue outside the arena in Phoenix, I hope they can find a way to capture the signature freeze frame he has on his pull up jumper.
Fun fact: Giannis Antetokounmpo has scored more points in his last 2 Finals games (83) than Kendrick Perkins scored in all of his 17 Finals games (81).
Carry on....
Just watching game now. Don't think I'll clip too much from this one but I did want to share this.
Mikal is visibly shaken up. The genuine care Monty & CP3 show really struck me watching for the first time. We are so lucky those two are the leaders on the Suns.