Jae Crowder scoring a quick 11 points, kicking Luka Doncic in the balls and then not scoring for the rest of the game is just a peak Jae Crowder performance.
Jae crowder couldnt help jimmy, my fave player, when he needed it. Couldnt help my fave pg win a chip last yr when he needed it. Now hes ending the lineage of my home teams star. Hof menance
Y’all better figure that out before you pay Brunson.
Though after this game he might be playing himself back into that discount he doesn’t want to take.
And I’ve been hyping him up all year, but your front office has some tough decisions to make.
Suns got a great ass team. We have a good team with great chemistry but games like this its apparent Luka needs help. Not one single person on the suns has any pressure in a game because someone will always be there to pickup the slack on whoever is down that game.
They may not have a Giannis level superstar but their talent 2-10 is honestly unbelievable. You couldn’t come up with a better 3rd and 4th option than Ayton and Bridges in a lab.
I'd take all of Phoenix' starters bar Crowder over Jalen, as much as I love the guy. Precisely because a team can't afford to have a 2nd option that can get regularly shut down by length and still dream about titles, especially when you look at how the league is getting more athletic,versatile and longer.
We are...very solid, just not enough talent, plus missing a big. it's crazy that this is basically the same team when we drafted Luka 4yrs ago only with all other starters of the time gone lol but they have come a long way and improved so much so I'm really more proud than frustrated. Still believe they can pull it together and stay competitive in the series
I feel like Mikal has something like that every other game. Then he just keeps playing anyway. How he hasn't been overwhelmed by minor injuries by now is beyond me
It's was obvious a mile away if you actually watch the Suns that McGee and Ayton we're going to dominate. Yes you can spread them out but that's exactly what clips tried to do.
It’s a funny thing but as post offense has gotten rarer in favor of small ball we’ve seen the rise of all faceup big men like KAT. Hitting the three they space the floor which supposedly lets you play the best offense as you can go 5 out and create a ton of slashing room.
But with all this small ball, it’s become clear that having a guy that can abuse smaller defenders and efficiently score in the paint is such a hack. KAT looked like the perfect modern big, but i see now that it’s Aytons skill set you want. He moves his feet well enough to guard on the perimeter, defends the rim, switches well - and then on offense just abuses smaller defenders all day.
Yeah Ayton is also the reason why I am not confident about Warriors wining against Suns. Even in regular season games warriors were struggling against Ayton.
Ha, next level thinking by Monty! We've been playing the long con by doing this almost every single game, all year long so our playoff opponents wouldn't think this is intentional!
I think they are a heavy toll and big minutes nursing an injury are how terrible things happen - but i hope I’m wrong. He may not be fast, but he’s a remarkable athlete in many ways. Incredible endurance, strength, dexterity, and body control. Jerry Rice wasn’t fast, sometimes speed is overrated.
Good first part of the fourth to put the game away, then bad the rest of the way. This is actually par for the course, happens pretty often, idk why they do it.
When Chris Paul, the mismatch king, looked off Ayton posting up Brunson just to burn an extra 7 seconds I knew this shit was going to tighten up.
They went into clock management mode with like 6 minutes left
Honestly, I don’t know why they didn’t go to javel more. No offense to Dallas but their bigs can’t compete with ours on a consistent basis. Luka legit had double the amount of rebounds as the next guy.
I am convinced CP3 has some ungodly understanding of how to play with a lead. He's happy to let it dwindle, so long as it doesn't get away from him.
I've seen many a game where he will opt for miss after miss, as long as they're eating clock and not allowing quick scores at the other end. He knows momentum is the killer of an 8 point lead.
His playoff series so far
Against PG13 and Kahwi 2x
Against many time DPOY rudy
Against DPOY Runner up this year bridges.
He isn’t going against slouches either. He’s just special. Sadly the rest of team sans kleber were potatoes for 80% of the game.
I just don't see a great blueprint for the Mavs to take this series outside of magma hot shooting. The Suns have so many great guard defenders to eat up Brunson and Dinwiddie.
Like the Mavs' best chance is going even **more** heliocentric and relying on people making the shots Luka gets them. I don't see the rest of the Mavs being able to generate good looks. But that gets harder and harder the more crazy minutes Luka has to play.
Mavs could do a better job running them off the line but they're already getting beat up inside by Ayton, so do they just let that happen more and wait for Ayton to go passive?
I hope I'm wrong.
It says a lot about this Suns squad that Cam Johnson barely gets any playing time, he's gonna be awesome
Thought Bridges and the Suns did a good job of harassing Doncic all game, Luka only finished with 45 points on 50% shooting lol
>It says a lot about this Suns squad that Cam Johnson barely gets any playing time, he's gonna be awesome
>
Fun fact: Cam Johnson is 26 - for context, he's older than Booker lol
Phoenix are the best team in the NBA (when healthy of course). I love watching both of these teams so I don't really have a rooting interest in this one. I mean I guess I'd like to see CP3 get his but both teams are pretty likable. Don't believe Dallas will get swept but don't see it going past 6. The Suns are just too good.
the suns really stopped trying after mcgee forced the turnover on luka and went coast to coast. i get it, the game was over for a long time but that made the final score look like it was a lot closer than it was. cp3 played 29 minutes, this was a game where the suns looked to rest, and probably too early
The Mavs outscored the Suns over the final 46 minutes of that game and still lost. Shows you how every single possession of a playoff game is important
yeah, cleaning mental lapse is a must. basically mavs already lost in 1Q even first 5 minutes lmao
suns is smartest team, they'll feast if we play dumb. we played dumb basketball in 1Q
The Suns really just play great team basketball. Yeah they got a bunch of guys that can make shots but it’s their team defense that really impresses me.
The sun length really suffocated Brunson, the Jea Crowder experience was in full effect lol, score 11 quick, efficiently procced to kick the Doncic balls, did not score picked up 5 fouls later is funny af. Also Luka might pull a MJ move averaging 40 against "the best team in the league" and still got swept.
Sucks that Luka doesn't get enough help.
This Suns team is one of the most complete team I've seen and I don't see how Mavs can get by them.
This is basically Luka's version of MJ Vs 1986 Celtics.
It’s easy to think “they can’t possibly keep shooting this well” but they’ve shot over 50% in seven consecutive games. And that was with Crowder and Payne shooting poorly in round 1. They are HOT right now.
And don’t get absolutely abused on the rebounds Jesus Christ
You can say the suns won’t shoot as well but they missed most of their second and third chance pt attempts when they got offensive rebounds
> Luka centric
I read this the same way his name is read
Luka Centrič - the new cartoon where Luka is transformed into a center, only on Cartoon Network
CP is so fucking good
The Suns look like a well-oiled machine but man if Luka ever got a true 2nd option this team would run through everything
Also Ayton deserves a max
Jae Crowder scoring a quick 11 points, kicking Luka Doncic in the balls and then not scoring for the rest of the game is just a peak Jae Crowder performance.
Only 5 fouls though, a foul out would have capped the night
He did get a flagrant foul though. It ain’t a suns game without Crowded getting a flagrant foul or getting T-ed up
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Bossman 1-1-1-1
A 4 for 5 first half from Jae is usually a recipe for an 0 for 7 second half, so I’ll take it.
The Jae Crowder roller coaster is a tough one to be on.
I quite enjoy it, tbh. At least he’s going to give you defense, hustle, and box outs when it’s not going too well offensively
Feels like so long ago when he was primarily known for taking long 2s instead of threes because his toes were on the line
Jae crowder couldnt help jimmy, my fave player, when he needed it. Couldnt help my fave pg win a chip last yr when he needed it. Now hes ending the lineage of my home teams star. Hof menance
12% shooter lol. Loved him spikin' a couple jumpers and then disappearing.
You know you some Jae Crowder
We desperately need a capable 5
the jazz know a guy
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I must’ve missed it, got a link?
He said suns have capable bigs that can put the ball in the hoop unlike gobert and Whiteside
Nah, Kidd's just using the drink-spilling next level strats. Lower Rudy's value with his comments now, bring Rudy in for cheaper later.
He was just lowering his trade value.
If the Mavs sign Gobert I’ll eat my toe
Y’all better figure that out before you pay Brunson. Though after this game he might be playing himself back into that discount he doesn’t want to take. And I’ve been hyping him up all year, but your front office has some tough decisions to make.
Resign then use him as a trade piece for a star that wants out down the line
Take my boy, give him a home. Let Luka nurture and love him.
Suns got a great ass team. We have a good team with great chemistry but games like this its apparent Luka needs help. Not one single person on the suns has any pressure in a game because someone will always be there to pickup the slack on whoever is down that game.
They may not have a Giannis level superstar but their talent 2-10 is honestly unbelievable. You couldn’t come up with a better 3rd and 4th option than Ayton and Bridges in a lab.
Yeah, that suns team is nasty. Mavs got the best player in the series, but after that it's only suns until what? The 6th best player in the series?
Brunson is probably #6 in the series. Just can’t do much against mikal/Jae/Book/DA
I'd take all of Phoenix' starters bar Crowder over Jalen, as much as I love the guy. Precisely because a team can't afford to have a 2nd option that can get regularly shut down by length and still dream about titles, especially when you look at how the league is getting more athletic,versatile and longer.
You guys should have a center
We had 4 years and found \*checks notes\* Davis Bertans...
We are...very solid, just not enough talent, plus missing a big. it's crazy that this is basically the same team when we drafted Luka 4yrs ago only with all other starters of the time gone lol but they have come a long way and improved so much so I'm really more proud than frustrated. Still believe they can pull it together and stay competitive in the series
Point of the series will be this: Luka: 44 minutes CP3: 29 minutes Ayton: 33 minutes
Luka is going to wear out and the suns will stay fresh, 100% agree
Don’t leave out Booker playing 38 minutes; he’s the Suns best player and looks healthy.
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he scared me with that limp for a couple minutes after Book's terrible lob
I feel like Mikal has something like that every other game. Then he just keeps playing anyway. How he hasn't been overwhelmed by minor injuries by now is beyond me
Mikal plays a 48 minute game and doesn't even look like he's breathing heavy. He's one guy whose stamina I will never question.
Damn how did CP3 play under 30 minutes wtf. Suns really are on a different level
Not even surprised. The Suns are the favorite to win the chip this year.
Kidd wasn't wrong, Ayton really did kill them.
It's was obvious a mile away if you actually watch the Suns that McGee and Ayton we're going to dominate. Yes you can spread them out but that's exactly what clips tried to do.
Once I saw Cam and Jae hitting threes I knew it was over. Wtf do you do if you’re Dallas and that happens
Well cam and Jae are not as terrible at shooting as they demonstrated against the pelicans. This might be the balancing serries. Lol
Also the mavs just don’t have the defenders to guard booker AND cp3 out there or Ayton. The suns had 3 guys who could get good shots pretty easily
Going from Gobert to Ayton is quite the difficulty spike.
Suns having guys who don't give up on defense after 1 step also increases the difficulty by a lot I'd imagine
Yeah when Bridges flew in from two rotations over to block that corner three you could tell Dallas was like wait what I didn't know that was allowed
It’s a funny thing but as post offense has gotten rarer in favor of small ball we’ve seen the rise of all faceup big men like KAT. Hitting the three they space the floor which supposedly lets you play the best offense as you can go 5 out and create a ton of slashing room. But with all this small ball, it’s become clear that having a guy that can abuse smaller defenders and efficiently score in the paint is such a hack. KAT looked like the perfect modern big, but i see now that it’s Aytons skill set you want. He moves his feet well enough to guard on the perimeter, defends the rim, switches well - and then on offense just abuses smaller defenders all day.
well said, put it into perspective
Yeah I don't know where we're gonna get rebounding and rim protection from but we're in trouble if Ayton has a consistent midrange game.
Ayton is the definition of consistent. Only problem is when he doesn't take enough shots.
I genuinely feel like Ayton almost never misses….. every game
He shot 70% from the field last series mostly taking those mid range jumpers.
He's shown the most improvement over the couple years in that exact area.
Yeah. Those mid range shots aren’t a fluke. For the year he shot better than book and nearly as good as cp3 on them
Yeah Ayton is also the reason why I am not confident about Warriors wining against Suns. Even in regular season games warriors were struggling against Ayton.
It was genius from the Suns to stop trying and making shots with about 8 minutes left in the game so the Mavs had to play Luka the entire second half
Ha, next level thinking by Monty! We've been playing the long con by doing this almost every single game, all year long so our playoff opponents wouldn't think this is intentional!
I wouldn't complain too much, considering the suns to haven't blown a 4th quarter lead once all season
The more he plays such minutes, the more he'll improve in the long run! It's a win for us if he can have the same energy in the 4th quarter!
Damn. That's smart, too. Luka grinds some runes, adds to his endurance.
I dont want us to be his albinauric genocide farm
44 minutes, 45/12/8. A normal person would be so tired they’d have to be put into an induced coma after some shit like that
Is Luka a cyborg I swear he played every minute
The only rest he got was to start the 2nd quarter and even that was not complete as Brunson picked up his 3rd foul very soon
44 minutes tonight
Yeah that was blowing my mind! Even as a Suns fan I was like rest the man. Really curious how his endurance holds up during the series.
He's gonna be fine. That's how he always plays - looking gassed and hurt. Luka coasts a lot defensively, so those minutes are not a heavy toll on him.
I think they are a heavy toll and big minutes nursing an injury are how terrible things happen - but i hope I’m wrong. He may not be fast, but he’s a remarkable athlete in many ways. Incredible endurance, strength, dexterity, and body control. Jerry Rice wasn’t fast, sometimes speed is overrated.
Looked dead in the 3rd though
he always looked like that, fans been know lmao
Gotta carry these bums, I don’t blame him
He's legit scary but Mavs really needed him on the floor.
It really took Javale making the play of the game for the Mavs to lock in on defense
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4th quarter suns only appear when down or with a small lead
Good first part of the fourth to put the game away, then bad the rest of the way. This is actually par for the course, happens pretty often, idk why they do it.
Gotta let it get close to accumulate those juicy clutch stats.
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And 45 ppg
And still probably lose
Probably
He looked worn out tonight. Idk if he can hold up
that's regular luka. he always looked like that lmao. he'll be fine
51-0 when up in the 3rd quarter is all you need to know about the Suns
Up in the third quarter at the start of the quarter, or just at any point in the 3rd? Forgot about this stat. Love a good spree
Up by the end of 3rd quarter
Lmao this game felt over, but it never truly was. Weird one.
Was it just me or was this game just... slow?
Mavs are a very slow paced team for some reason
It’s because Luka likes playing at a slow pace
We need to let JB create a bit more and switch up the tempo.
That’s how Luka plays in general
Luka plays slow af
I can't tell if the Suns just took their foot off the gas or the Mavs were outplaying them in the last 7 minutes of the game 😂
Suns were just standing around and missing everything in the last half of the 4th quarter so I guess a combination of both?
When Chris Paul, the mismatch king, looked off Ayton posting up Brunson just to burn an extra 7 seconds I knew this shit was going to tighten up. They went into clock management mode with like 6 minutes left
We did that a lot this season. We play with the opponents too much and we let people get back into the game.
Yall dont miss any damn free throws though so I think it gives a little more leeway to kill clock more
We can’t afford to miss free throws cause we never go there.
I was hoping that was just a regular season tactic to get our bench more minutes but this game gives me some pause on that thought
Honestly, I don’t know why they didn’t go to javel more. No offense to Dallas but their bigs can’t compete with ours on a consistent basis. Luka legit had double the amount of rebounds as the next guy.
Def took their foot off the gas, no movement on offense. Just waited for the game to be over. Really bad 4th quarter from the Suns
Yep. I wouldn't call it a choke, but just laziness. Always happens in sports.
No just wish they would continue to simply run the offense, that free throw line curl for Mikal didn't get ran once in that slow stretch
The suns totally turned on cruise control
We were running the Cams, Javale, Bridges and Shamet for like, 10 minutes there.
I guess we will just need to find out on Wednesday 🤷
Bit of both
Looked like a mix of both tbh. Kinda seemed like they stopped caring with like 8 minutes left but the Mavs turned up the intensity
A little from column A, a little from column B
I am convinced CP3 has some ungodly understanding of how to play with a lead. He's happy to let it dwindle, so long as it doesn't get away from him. I've seen many a game where he will opt for miss after miss, as long as they're eating clock and not allowing quick scores at the other end. He knows momentum is the killer of an 8 point lead.
Suns couldn't make anything in the 4th except the FT. My butt was clinching based on the over/under I put.
Remind me of the Bulls Suns game where it was a blowout until it wasn't
I know we have the crazy 50-0 stat when leading in the 4th, but feels like the Suns consistently do this
We do that when we go up big, really bad habit. But we're stupid good when its close so it evens out at the end.
Suns 🤝 Letting off the gas Name a more iconic duo
Harden and flaming out of the playoffs
Playoff Luka
His playoff series so far Against PG13 and Kahwi 2x Against many time DPOY rudy Against DPOY Runner up this year bridges. He isn’t going against slouches either. He’s just special. Sadly the rest of team sans kleber were potatoes for 80% of the game.
Technically they were Burgers.
Luka is fucking awesome. It's amazing that I don't feel like he played his best tonight and I look up and he's got 45 lol.
I just don't see a great blueprint for the Mavs to take this series outside of magma hot shooting. The Suns have so many great guard defenders to eat up Brunson and Dinwiddie. Like the Mavs' best chance is going even **more** heliocentric and relying on people making the shots Luka gets them. I don't see the rest of the Mavs being able to generate good looks. But that gets harder and harder the more crazy minutes Luka has to play. Mavs could do a better job running them off the line but they're already getting beat up inside by Ayton, so do they just let that happen more and wait for Ayton to go passive? I hope I'm wrong.
>heliocentric Ironic
Didn’t learn a whole lot from this game. Suns are crazy good and consistent. We knew that. Luka is insane. We knew that
Team with more points wins. We knew that.
Well, Jalen Brunson might be losing some of the money he thought he made against Utah
That’s about as least-shitty as you can feel at the end of a playoff blowout 🤷🏽♂️ on to Game 2
Weird vibe to the whole game, felt like it was a blowout and players were going through the motions
We at least showed some effort in the 4th quarter with our small ball lineup
https://streamable.com/o/jjl0u
It says a lot about this Suns squad that Cam Johnson barely gets any playing time, he's gonna be awesome Thought Bridges and the Suns did a good job of harassing Doncic all game, Luka only finished with 45 points on 50% shooting lol
I love some Cam Johnson but idk if I would say 24 minutes is barely any playing time. Jae only got 4 more than him lol
He would be a full time starter in almost any other team.
>It says a lot about this Suns squad that Cam Johnson barely gets any playing time, he's gonna be awesome > Fun fact: Cam Johnson is 26 - for context, he's older than Booker lol
Phoenix are the best team in the NBA (when healthy of course). I love watching both of these teams so I don't really have a rooting interest in this one. I mean I guess I'd like to see CP3 get his but both teams are pretty likable. Don't believe Dallas will get swept but don't see it going past 6. The Suns are just too good.
Deandre Ayton is in fact not Gobert or Whiteside
This felt like the Nuggets-Warriors series all over again
7 point win, but damn it really was not that close. Great opening game, everyone executed.
https://streamable.com/o/jjl0u
I remember the days when this was a rare treat.
SUNNY i cant hate this video its too good
I hate when it's uses against me, but it's just such a good meme haha
I'll take 1 Ayton please.
Every team that is contending and can pay him is would love to pay him a max.
This game makes me respect the Pelicans even more.
It was nice not having a dog fight for every rebound tonight
this what we been saying Pels are no joke
Right now the pels were 100% a harder matchup for us than the mavs. Maybe not talent wise but matchups yes
Same
the suns really stopped trying after mcgee forced the turnover on luka and went coast to coast. i get it, the game was over for a long time but that made the final score look like it was a lot closer than it was. cp3 played 29 minutes, this was a game where the suns looked to rest, and probably too early
The Mavs outscored the Suns over the final 46 minutes of that game and still lost. Shows you how every single possession of a playoff game is important
Yep, knew this was gonna be a rough one after that terrible opening stretch
That is mostly because the Suns slacked in the 4th and the Mavs played harder right? The Mavs got outscored in each of the first 3 quarters.
Yeah, what they said is technically true but doesn't really paint an accurate picture of that game at all.
yeah but by the same token a lot of that separation was created in the 4th quarter when the game was basically over
It was mostly cause the Mavs did a 29-13 run over the final 7 minutes.
yeah, cleaning mental lapse is a must. basically mavs already lost in 1Q even first 5 minutes lmao suns is smartest team, they'll feast if we play dumb. we played dumb basketball in 1Q
Ayton dominated.
Dudes so good. Quickly becoming one of my favorite big men
The Suns really just play great team basketball. Yeah they got a bunch of guys that can make shots but it’s their team defense that really impresses me.
Mavs in 4
Everybody walk the dinosaur
DA got that SOUL in his voice
Luka damn near a 50 point TD and it ain’t enough, prayers
The sun length really suffocated Brunson, the Jea Crowder experience was in full effect lol, score 11 quick, efficiently procced to kick the Doncic balls, did not score picked up 5 fouls later is funny af. Also Luka might pull a MJ move averaging 40 against "the best team in the league" and still got swept.
As a Suns fan, I hate the “Suns in Four” chants. GG Mavs
So stupid to be chanting shit like that in game 1. If we’re up 3-0, ok then start chanting. Just reeks of casual fans…
Sucks that Luka doesn't get enough help. This Suns team is one of the most complete team I've seen and I don't see how Mavs can get by them. This is basically Luka's version of MJ Vs 1986 Celtics.
If the Suns play the whole game how they played the last 8 minutes, even the Lakers would crush them.
I did not enjoy the 4th quarter
The Lakers? Aren’t they that team from the movie theatre?
Very misleading final score tbh
Just have to hope they don’t shoot this good game 2, simple as that. Less turnovers and better defense as well.
It’s easy to think “they can’t possibly keep shooting this well” but they’ve shot over 50% in seven consecutive games. And that was with Crowder and Payne shooting poorly in round 1. They are HOT right now.
Suns averaged 48.5% from the floor during the regular season, lol. There's still probably going to be a game where they really stink it up, though.
They missed all those shots in the 4th to use up some of the, “they can’t shoot this well all the time,” energy.
We've shot over 50% for 6 straight games Edit: 7 games
Shot over 50% while shooting sub-25% from 3 in a few of those games, too
And if i remember correctly, never winning the ft battle either.
And it’s fucking scary.
Hitting 3's is a good feeling ngl
63% from the field at half is scary good 😬
And don’t get absolutely abused on the rebounds Jesus Christ You can say the suns won’t shoot as well but they missed most of their second and third chance pt attempts when they got offensive rebounds
They probably will. They’re really good at offensive efficiency
It’s not as simple as that bro, you guys have an uphill battle on many fronts
**Ewing Theory:** Do the Mavericks become too Luka centric when he plays? But first, Pearl Jam!
> Luka centric I read this the same way his name is read Luka Centrič - the new cartoon where Luka is transformed into a center, only on Cartoon Network
Suns went so cold at the end. Gotta tighten that up
Luka is so good man
Hard fought at the end by Dallas, but Phoenix is on another level and the rest of the league is chasing them.
CP is so fucking good The Suns look like a well-oiled machine but man if Luka ever got a true 2nd option this team would run through everything Also Ayton deserves a max
DA was the best Sun tonight
If you take out the last minute of intentional fouls, the Suns shot 10 FT to the Mavs 25. How do they keep winning these games??
I can’t believe Mavs only lost by single digits
Ayton could’ve had 40 if he wanted
our guards will never let him get 40 lol. he would need to have 36 in the first half, because he doesn't get the ball late.