Jazz 109-115 Sun
Facing the Jazz, who lacked the starting Five plus a main substitute, the Suns finally won at home with Chris Paul's forced takeover in the last quarter, and they finally had the thrill of beating the Jazz 115-109 to win seven consecutive games, extending the advantage over the Warriors to 3.5 wins, and sitting more and more securely at the top of the Western Conference.
After experiencing the baptism of last season's finals, the Suns' game temperament has been perfectly transformed. The sun not only abuses the dish steadily, but also plays the strong team unambiguously. Against teams with a winning percentage of more than 50%, the Suns won 12-5, with a winning percentage of 70.6%. Looking at the league, there may only be warriors and bucks worthy of sun vigilance.
Last offseason, the lineup of many strong teams changed greatly, but the Suns were the team with the highest lineup, playing continuity and stability. The Suns can win more than 75% of the games with their current lineup and playing style, but for the Suns who aspire to win the championship, they still have a problem - the five-position reserve is seriously homogenized. Against the 2020 champion Lakers and the 2021 championship Bucks, the Suns also need a high-level small-ball center.
The sun exposes a hidden danger
In the past two years of playoffs, the Jazz's defensive system with Gobert as the core has been repeatedly targeted, one of the reasons is that when Gobert rests or is targeted, no Jazz can reach the fifth position, especially when the opponent sacrifices a small ball lineup against Gobert, the Jazz can not make an effective response.
In order to solve this problem, last offseason, the Jazz introduced Pascal and Rudy Guy, just to be able to have one more tactical play, one more coping strategy, which is the same as the Bucks changing Tucker last season, and playing infinite changes in the small ball lineup.
In a battle with the Suns, although the Jazz lost, the details of the game showed that the Jazz's offseason thinking was fine. For most of the time, the Jazz still stuck to the traditional center presence, with Whiteside's size rivaling McGee and Billy Bienbo. In the rotation time, the Jazz either let Pascal play as a center or simply pushEd Guy to the fifth position.
In the first three quarters, the jazz played small ball more obviously, they can erase the double-digit point difference and take the lead at one point, which is inseparable from the play of the small ball lineup. The Suns insisted on the traditional center forward for 48 minutes, when Pascal and Guy's projection and mobility advantages were obvious. Defensively, the Jazz began to switch defenses, the Suns' offensive system was cut, and they fell more into a single fight.
The Suns are fortunate that they have Paul, the misplaced offensive killer. In the first half of the fourth quarter, the Jazz still had a slight advantage, but Paul suddenly took over the game directly, using experience (two big loop fouls on the free throw line) and accurate outside three-pointers to help the Suns turn the tide. In the fourth quarter, Paul single-handedly scored 15 points, scoring 27 points, 9 rebounds and 14 assists.
The suns are still missing a puzzle against the strong team
This season, the Suns are both the most stable team and the team with the highest winning percentage of the strong team. Facing opponents with a winning percentage of less than 50%, the Suns won 22 and lost 3, with a win rate of 88%. Against teams with a winning percentage of more than 50%, the Suns won 12 and lost 5, with a winning percentage of 70.6%. Among the other strong teams, the Bucks have a winning percentage of more than 50% of the strong teams with 11 wins and 6 losses, ranking second in the winning percentage, and the others with at least 60% win rates are the Grizzlies, Warriors and Heat.
The Suns have lost a total of nine games so far, including a loss to the Nuggets, Blazers and Kings at the beginning of the season. The Suns lost to the Heat, the Warriors (the Suns lost 2 games), and the Grizzlies were more representative, and all three teams belonged to the type that could be played by both the big lineup and the small ball lineup. In these 4 games, the Opponents of the Suns are the opening to insist on the presence of tall traditional centers, and the rotation time is replaced by a short inside line, while the Suns will stick to a rhythm most of the time, except for letting Crowder top the fifth position when playing the Warriors, the Suns rarely take the initiative to play small balls.
The championship teams in recent years have all belonged to teams that can play in both modes. The Bucks opened with Lopez playing center, and the rotation time allowed Antetokounmpo to play as a center, and Tucker could also play center when Tucker was on the team last season. When the Lakers won the championship in 2020, the fifth position had McGee and Howard, and Anthony Davis played center in the decisive moment. When the Raptors won the championship in 2019, Gasol Jr. was in the fifth place, and Siakam could play small ball center. The same is true of the Warriors, who won 3 championships in 4 years, and the Cavaliers in 2016, all of them have traditional centers in the no. 5 position, but their sharpest time is when they withdraw from the traditional center to play small ball.
Simply put, for championship-contending teams, small-ball centre-forwards are a necessity. You can not use it, but you can't do it without it, and you have to use it when you need to use it.
The problem with the Suns against these championship teams is that they now have only one rhythm. The Suns have Ayton, McGee and Biyombo in the fifth position, all of whom are prepared for Antetokounmpo, but the three are too homogenized, they all belong to the pie-eating inside line, and only Ayton has a somewhat low-level punishment ability. Saric and Kaminsky are both recuperating from injuries and whether they will return this season is unknown.
When the Suns are fully healthy, Monty Williams likes to stick to the traditional center for 48 minutes, and the block between Paul and the center is really sharp, and the opponent is difficult to defend. But the rhythm of the whole game is always a lack of change, especially when the opponent makes a targeted arrangement, or the sun is not in good shape.
Of course, the Suns can top Crowder or Mikaar Bridges and Cameron Johnson to the fifth position, but these 3 people have problems playing small ball centers, Crowder can fight but the height is not enough, 1 meter 98 height to play small ball center is not enough to see, especially when encountering bucks, Lakers, Warriors. Bridges is the same height as Crowder, and as a small ball center, his height and confrontation are all inferior. Johnson is 2.03 meters tall, but the confrontation is insufficient.
Originally, in the Suns' vision, their 2020 no. 10 pick, Jaren Smith, was the right person for the small-ball center, with a height of 2.08 meters and excellent athleticism, but in less than two seasons, the Suns had already decided to abandon Smith. Except for the time of the crowds, the Sun didn't give Smith a chance at all.
Will Spurs give the Suns an "assist"?
In the leaderboard, the sun rides the dust, and it is very difficult for the Warriors to catch up and surpass the sun in the second half. On the "card table" of the championship team, the sun has actually put all the hole cards in front of the competitors, the opponent knows what cards the sun wants to play, but the sun is too good to hold this card, and it is difficult for the opponent to find a breakthrough.
But from the perspective of competitive sports to win the championship, the Sun puts on the attitude of all the hole cards, which is somewhat of a big feeling (whether deliberately or not). Because in the targeted playoffs, the opponent will use various methods to weaken your advantage point, at this time you need to come up with a change of move. For example, when Ayton is targeted, the Suns need a different style of play, but sending McGee and Billy Biyombo doesn't change the way they play.
The Suns need a small-ball center who is both tall and confrontational, and because of this, there have been rumors since the beginning of the season that the Suns are interested in Spurs interior Thaddeus Young. This season, Young was sent to the Spurs by the Bulls to cut the scenes, averaging a new career low in playing time per game, and his stats plummeted by only 5.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game.
Yang is 2 meters 03 tall and weighs 106 kilograms, and is a small ball center that meets the needs of the Suns. Last season at the Bulls, he played as a center 28 percent of the time, and this season he has reached 95 percent at the Spurs. Whether it's finishing ability (nearly 70 percent from the basket) or defensive ability (2.2 steals and 0.8 blocks per 36 minutes), Young can meet the Suns' needs. Judging from Yang's resume, Yang in the Bulls era is a reliable low-post offensive option, and he has the ability to punish opponents by singles on the back.
If the solar energy uses Smith, Saric, and the future first round of signing in exchange for Yang, the sun has the last piece of the puzzle that is missing, whether it is rushing out of the west or facing the bucks in the future, the sun will be more confident.
However, I don't know if the Spurs, as the Suns' nemesis, are willing to send this key "assist" to the old enemy.