Suns (17-24) at Celtics (27-13) Game #41 1/18/20

[Atzar]

I wish we would get back to playing that hard for 48 minutes, rather than just in the last six when things are desperate.  Good attempt at the end, but it still goes into the L column.

[Tr1boy]

Celts in the month of Jan must be the worst defensive team in the league

Teams abusing the inside outside game due to no interior presence

[Somebody]

Watched the final 5 minutes of the game and man we botched so many chances

[nickagneta]

If not for Smart's career game we wouldn't have been in it at all.

If not for Mikal Bridges career game, Suns probably lose this game.

They kinda balance things out.

[gouki88]

GWill can't guard bigs like Saric or Ayton wake up CBS this small ball is crap.

He's got to be an above average shooter to make for his lack of size. Right now he's a poor shooter. So this is starting to look like a whiff of a draft pick.

Ainge cannot draft...he has no strategy in drafting.

Huh? Some of his recent picks have been pretty strong

The misses have been awful though. There just does not appear to be a particular strategy.

I just don’t see how he has more misses than any other random GM.

What kind of strategy would you implement?

A more risky strategy especially since we have had an amazing amount of picks. I just dont think he has taken enough risks in his drafting. I am not a personnel expert but why dont we have shooting on the bench?

What kind of risks? Romeo seemed like a risky pick (high upside). Brown was a risk. Trading for Tatum was risky.

That second question however, is one that bothers me too. Surely a shooter would be more useful than VP

[JohnBagleyValueMeal]

the bench is poor even when they're healthy. when we're relying on wanamaker, gwill, green and ojeleye to play non-garbage minutes we're going to be in big trouble.

those are players who wouldn't get run on many teams in the league.

[ozgod]

They showed a lot of heart. Speaking of heart, mine broke for Hayward after seeing how much that miss affected him. Bridges shot rools around and in, Hayward's hangs on the ring for a second and falls out, otherwise, it may have been a tie game there near the end.

This team has got so much more heart than last year's team. And they're together, you can see by how quickly Smart and Waters - a vet and a rookie - went to Hayward after he missed. That type of togetherness wasn't there last year.

They just need to figure out how to start better and get more contributions from more people than our top 5. Last year our bench had too many players, this year we clearly don't have enough. It's a shame Romeo got injured and never got into the rotation, he could be the off the bench scorer we need with Kanter when Smart is in the first unit.

Also Smart is definitely the leader of this team.

[Chief]

first game i’ve missed all season. i know brown and kemba were out but we should have been able to handle the suns at home. anyone mind giving me some insight on what happened? same slow start, anemic offense, and listless defense?

Apparently the only way this team is ever gonna be really good is if they have all of their players healthy and playing. If even one guy is out, the rest of them don't know how to overcome that.

It's sad that our 2 way player is better than most of the bench.

[ViolentGhandi]

lackin of productions from GWII and the bench. Kanter had 5 or 6 6 rebounds and below 10 points.

Aiton was dominating inside.

[Chief]

the bench is poor even when they're healthy. when we're relying on wanamaker, gwill, green and ojeleye to play non-garbage minutes we're going to be in big trouble.

those are players who wouldn't get run on many teams in the league.

It's time to start trading those draft picks for bench help.

[keevsnick]

If not for Smart's career game we wouldn't have been in it at all.

If not for Mikal Bridges career game, Suns probably lose this game.

They kinda balance things out.

So they balance out to.... a loss?

All in all I just can't get too upset about this game. I mean Hayward didn't look great but he wasn't awful either. I guess the problem is you need him to be better than not awful. But with Brown and kemba out this was going to be a tough one to win, as top heavy as this tam is playing without 2 of your 7 competent guys is too much.

[radiohead]

Is this the game that forces Danny to do something before the trade deadline? I don’t know what but this team needs a change in my opinion. The bench certainly needs to be upgraded. And I don’t think Theis is the answer either for starting center.

[Kuberski33]

the bench is poor even when they're healthy. when we're relying on wanamaker, gwill, green and ojeleye to play non-garbage minutes we're going to be in big trouble.

those are players who wouldn't get run on many teams in the league.

The bench has G-League level talent after Smart & Kanter.

[Chief]

Is this the game that forces Danny to do something before the trade deadline? I don’t know what but this team needs a change in my opinion. The bench certainly needs to be upgraded. And I don’t think Theis is the answer either for starting center.

Maybe change the rotations.  Let Hayward come off the bench again.

[ozgod]

Anyway TPs for those of us who stuck around to the bitter end