2024 NBA Season and Playoffs

[Donoghus]

Hilarious that despite missing half their guys, Thanasis truly is the 15th guy on the roster. Even the commentators are laughing at him being out there now with that "hustle/spark" 

There was someone on this board in the last year or so extolling the Bucks depth and listing Thanasis as an example of how deep the roster was.  Probably was last year I guess before they dumped a bunch of guys to make room for Crowder.  I still chuckle.

I have a couple of good guesses 😉

[Who]

Booker and Durant have 34pts of the Suns 51pts.
Nurkic & E Gordon have another 12. That is 46 of 51pts.

Bradley Beal is scoreless.

O'Neale has 3pts. Okogie 2pts. Little 0pts.

Similar story as last game for PHX. They are getting so little scoring out of their supporting cast with Grayson Allen lost to injury. 4 guys contributing & 4 guys not contributing. Same as last game. Only surprise is Beal is one of those guys not contributing. Maybe that should give them some hope for the 2nd half. That Beal will come good and they will have 5 guys.

But the ... the question, no, the criticism, is why are the Suns best players not able to create any easy offense for their supporting cast. Why can't they get any of these guys going. Whether it is easy layups for their big men rim rolling to the basket or easy 3s for their spot up shooters. They do so little to help their teammates.

It is a combination of a lack of offensive firepower in the supporting cast once they lost Grayson Allen + the lack of playmaking from their stars to create easy hoops for offensively limited role players.

[Who]

By the way, Myles Turner top scorer for the Pacers in back-to-back games with 29pts in each game. He had 22pts in Gm 2 and 17pts in Gm 1. So averaging 24.3ppg for the series.

I call this the Brook Lopez effect. This is what happens to any moderately talented perimeter orientated offensive big man when a slow footed plodder like B Lopez tries to defend him. They become a star!

[SparzWizard]

By the way, Myles Turner top scorer for the Pacers in back-to-back games with 29pts in each game. He had 22pts in Gm 2 and 17pts in Gm 1. So averaging 24.3ppg for the series.

I call this the Brook Lopez effect. This is what happens to any moderately talented perimeter orientated offensive big man when a slow footed plodder like B Lopez tries to defend him. They become a star!

I remember we were always in the trade rumors trying to acquire Myles Turner, TJ McConnell, and Domantas Sabonis for a package like Jaylen Brown, Timelord, and Horford...now I wonder what could have been.

[Who]

Edwards has heated up.

[Who]

Beal just picked up his 4th foul in 22min midway through Q3. He has 5pts now after being scoreless for almost all of the first half. But what is interesting is the rest of his box score. Only 1 rebound. 0 assists. 0 steals. 1 blks. 2-10 FGA.

A disaster of a game.

[Who]

PHX's lack of scoring diversity continues to be a problem. Durant and Booker have 55 of their 77pts. Beal, Nurkic and E Gordon have 5-6pts apiece for another 17pts of the remaining 22pts. Then O'Neale with that 1 three and Okogie with 1 bucket.

It is a two-man attack. Nurkic, E Gordon and Beal need to step up and give Durant and Booker some more help.

Minnesota have a much more balanced attack. Ant and Towns have 20 and 21 points respectively. But they also have McDaniels with 13, Gobert with 9. Then 3 more guys with 4, 5, 6 points. Their two low man scorers are Conley with only 1pt and Naz Reid with 2pts. And those two guys will probably have their say before things are done.

PHX's supporting cast have to help Durant and Booker if they are to have any chance of winning this. They were only ahead because Ant was struggling to much in the first half. He ain't no more. Momentum is all going Minnesota's way.

[Goldstar88]

Nurkic must have one of the worst vertical leaps in the NBA. Barely gets off the ground.

[Who]

Booker = 37pts 10-14 FG 15-16 FT with 6ast
Durant = 31pts 11-14 FG 7-9 FT with 5ast

How much longer can these hot streaks last?

[Who]

That Nurkic layup a few mins ago was the only basket (no FTs either) scored by a player other than Durant or Booker in that third quarter for PHX.

PHX had 31pts in Q3. Durant and Booker with 29 of 'em.

[Atzar]

Don't really like that play by Reid.  Hustle all you want but diving at guys' knees is borderline dirty.

[Who]

Conley had 1pt through three quarters. Then he drills 2 threes early in the fourth. Mental toughness.

[Who]

Scott Foster is getting a lot of abuse on T'Wolves boards. They are convinced he is trying to fix the game to extend the series with some of these foul calls he has been making.

Towns is one of the guys they think Foster is targetting.

[Who]

Oh man, what a finish by Durant!

Taking it hard to the rim. Then Gobert slides over. Durant puts the ball in his hand well behind his head away from the shot-blocker and shoots a floater from behind his head over Gobert and in. Beautiful shot.

[Who]

I don't think Gobert has scored in the 2nd half. Still on 9pts. He has gotten quite a few good touches in the paint and near the rim. Come up empty a bunch of times.