Around the NBA - 23-24 Other playoff series

[Stix]

Pay attention to the Clips. This will be us next year with one of our "Big 3" sitting out like Kawhi.

[mkot]

Another superteam going down.

You can't win with 3 'stars' and a bunch of vet minimum guys anymore. Teams are too talented these days and superteams like the Clips simply get beat on the margin.

Don't think Clippers count as a superteam without healthy Kawhi.

Fact of the matter is this Kawhi and PG Clippers was put together during the 2019-2020 season, it's been 5 years and they only had 1 WCF appearance? The year both of them were healthy they choked away a 3-1 series lead to the puppy version of the Jokic & Murray & MPJ led Denver Nuggets. And then instead of making smart moves on the margin and improving their roster by finding guys that fit, they doubled down and got Harden by trading away even more draft picks.

There's no rebuild, the Clips and the Suns are already all in. The lesson to be learn here is that don't trade away decade of draft picks for an aging and past his prime star player. The year the Suns went to the Finals was the year with the homegrown boys. Good days.

[wheezy]

If we got tyus jones at trade deadline we wouldn’t have been swept

If my grandmother had wheels she would have been a bicycle.

I wish I could and1 this 50 more times

[SunsRback4Good]

Twolves murdering the Nuggets 12-2 early on. Now it all makes sense why Phoenix was swept. Minny is the real deal!

[bwgood77]

Maybe if the TWolves win 16 straight in the playoffs I won't feel so bad about our team.

[DroughtsOverPHX]

Twolves murdering the Nuggets 12-2 early on. Now it all makes sense why Phoenix was swept. Minny is the real deal!

That was an impressive destruction of the Nuggets at home. I had the same "no wonder" reaction watching that. They could sweep this series too. Jokic is going to get real tired.

[TeamTragic]

Book/KD/Beal had to deal with a Wolves team that really can win a championship.

I guess that they were in fact NOT a good first round opponent.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Maybe if the TWolves win 16 straight in the playoffs I won't feel so bad about our team.

Fair comment! Although the fact remains that IF our front office had not been so shortsighted and stubborn about things, And actually added more size with a long, mobile, athletic rim-protecting backup center and a decent table-setting point guard, then our size disadvantages and rebounding, rim protection (points in the paint disparity), as well as bench struggles might have been better mitigated. And our outcome might have been vastly different.

It just seems to me like they overlook the exact same issues we've carried for extended periods of time, then maybe at best occasionally shore one up while ignoring the others. Then those ignored areas get exploited, and we suffer an early exit below our goals. My point in this is that even if the draft doesn't yield a star-level talent at our ranges, it still can offer legitimate low-cost contributors or impact players with specific skill sets to help strengthen our weaknesses. It'd just be nice if our front office wasn't blind to this.

[darealjuice]

Wolves are really working the Nuggets right now. Stifling defense even without Rudy out there.

[SunsRback4Good]

Wolves- Celtics 2024 NBA finals. Celtics win in 6 games. Tatum 2024 Finals MVP. That’s all I know so far.

[Slim Charless]

Wolves are really working the Nuggets right now. Stifling defense even without Rudy out there.

This is absolutely shocking. They're down almost 30 points. At home. In a must win game. With the DPOTY missing the game.

Lol.

[TeamTragic]

Wolves are really working the Nuggets right now. Stifling defense even without Rudy out there.

This is absolutely shocking. They're down almost 30 points. At home. In a must win game. With the DPOTY missing the game.

Lol.

Absolutely insane!

[SunsRback4Good]

Wolves are really working the Nuggets right now. Stifling defense even without Rudy out there.

This is absolutely shocking. They're down almost 30 points. At home. In a must win game. With the DPOTY missing the game.

Lol.

Absolutely insane!

Absolutely mind boggling disasastrally insane!!!

[sunsbg]

Nuggets looking overrated right now after their easy path to championship last season. Wolves showing another gear in the playoffs, which we hoped Suns will do.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Wolves are really working the Nuggets right now. Stifling defense even without Rudy out there.

I keep remembering this saying a ways back from some notable NBA personality (can't remember exactly who said it, But it really looks to be true and accurate!

"Offense wins games! But defense wins championships!!

[Ghost of Kleine]

Nuggets looking overrated right now after their easy path to championship last season. Wolves showing another gear in the playoffs, which we hoped Suns will do.

The nuggets to me at least look tired, worn out, and maybe burnt out. Maybe putting so much into being a top team for so long, has taken a toll on them this year. It's also been said that once a team wins a championship, that team can lose that hunger a bit and start easing up more than before they had won it. I think that apart from those very rare absolute killer NBA champions with that relentless mentality to beat EVERYONE and completely dominate at everything like a Jordan or a Kobe, or some of the all-time greats.

Also factoring in this context is the malaise that sometimes follows from not only achieving your ultimate goal, and then losing your hunger, but amassing so much wealth and acclaim too. I strongly believe this is why you often see younger players and younger teams play consistently with greater energy, passion, and that hunger that comes out in exciting play and effort. Because they haven't yet proved themselves amongst their peers or established themselves at the highest levels and reaching that coveted pinnacle.That hunger can give them greater focus and purpose to excel.

[Hitachi77]

We did better against the Twolves in our 2 home games than the Nuggets have in theirs (lol).

[sunsbg]

Wolves are really working the Nuggets right now. Stifling defense even without Rudy out there.

I keep remembering this saying a ways back from some notable NBA personality (can't remember exactly who said it, But it really looks to be true and accurate!

"Offense wins games! But defense wins championships!!

This was always the saying since I started watching NBA in the 90s. Good it still applies at least in the playoffs.

Suns were not build with this in mind though. Three offensive stars of which only KD is above average defender when he tries. The other two starters who should cover for their deficiencies are even worse defenders.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Wolves are really working the Nuggets right now. Stifling defense even without Rudy out there.

I keep remembering this saying a ways back from some notable NBA personality (can't remember exactly who said it, But it really looks to be true and accurate!

"Offense wins games! But defense wins championships!!

This was always the saying since I started watching NBA in the 90s. Good it still applies at least in the playoffs.

Suns were not built with this in mind though. Three offensive stars of which only KD is above above-average defender when he tries. The other two starters who should cover for their deficiencies are even worse defenders.

Absolutely true! Our team is just so "finesse" and mentally soft. All symptoms of this premised culture instilled by Jones so we can try and repair our franchise's image by offsetting all the reports of Savers' toxic douchebaggery by having our rostered players embody this pristine model citizen/ choir boy mentality. And then furthered by Monty Williams too. Well, that's all fine and good to be the nerdy, nice guy type, but in life, as the saying goes........................ Nice guys finish last!

Now we might have had opportunities to actually offset those weaknesses by adding significant athleticism and a modicum of physicality to offset our opposition's dominance. But instead, we continually doubled down year after year in targeting only high IQ, players that basically have no real athleticism, no speed, no length, no real outlier traits aside from being smart, they're incredibly average. But that obviously doesn't do well in a league with the best athletes in the entire world! It's tantamount to being the small, meek, undersized nerdy kid on the playground having to fight that school's much bigger, stronger, and more aggressive bully with a very predictable outcome.

Jones desperately needs to go!! and our culture needs significant evolutionary change to turn things around.

[Saberestar]

The NBA just changed the rules and teams with physical players have an advantage now.