That mid range shot is money. Such a demoralizing play against the defense. They can cut off our water, get it to him late in the clock and he just flips it up there, doesn't seem to matter who it's against and it's a bucket. Love that he outplayed Gobert twice already. He's doing the little stuff really well, more so than we've seen since the Suns made their run. The screening has been huge for Austin and will be big time for Luka too.
He’ll be fine, I’m sure. Not a serious injury, but it’s good he took some time off as a precaution. Hayes did well in the second half. He was moving the ball surprisingly well for a big man.
I, for one, would like him to turn into a better defender. His basketball IQ is very low on that end and picks up fouls quickly because of it.
Was it my imagination or were we utilizing Deandre more creatively when AR had to be the 1st option? Still lots P&R from him but wasn't AR also just feeding the ball into him in the high post where he could play make a bit himself. It was giving me flash backs of where Marc Gasol was getting the ball in the offense, or other centers that have some passing game. Breath of fresh air. Or I was hallucinating.
No, we saw it too. Reaves and Ayton were developing great chemistry and scoring at a great clip when running their two man game. It’s crazy to type this, but JJ needs to show a montage of these plays to Luka and tell him to do more of that.
Ayton has been fantastic. Hope he's good to go for this b2b against Miami/POR. It really opens up Luka/Reaves game as well when they have a guy like Ayton in the middle...he sets great screens, and he can pick and pop for the mid-range or roll hard to the rim for a lob or an easy bucket. I think we can convince to re-sign here on a cheap deal (but more than $8M per year obviously). I'm thinking maybe in the $14-16M range per year to stay here and play a major role on a championship-caliber team and play with 2 of the best playmakers in the league in Luka and Reaves.
