2022 NBA Playoffs thread

It's astounding how quickly this went from "this is our year" to "we're screwed."

I fully expected the Suns to face the winner of Bucks/Celtics in the finals. And instead of a long playoff run, we get:

• Historic game seven failure
• "Superstar" Devin Booker doing nothing
• Chris Paul looking utterly cooked for the past several games
• Monty Williams getting wildly outcoached by Jason Kidd
• Deandre Ayton getting benched for "internal" reasons while contributing nothing while he's about to be a restricted free agent

I like the Suns but don't have the emotional investment that Cosmo and a lot of my friends and coworkers have. I feel bad for them. This was nuts.

On the plus side, it makes my job a lot easier. Playoff runs are a pain in the ass for me. This one's over and I'm not sweating the Cards, D-Backs, Coyotes or ASU making any noise soon.

I did order a Suns jersey that hasn't arrived yet. Woo hoo.

 

I know the Mavs are a better matchup for the Dubs than the Suns, but was looking forward to seeing my two old teams go at it.

 

This was a series. One.

Luca gets them passed the Warriors, then we can start talking about his greatness.

And check his age. He's really young to be doing this stuff. Probably a when-not-if discussion about his greatness.

 

Well @qtlaw you said you had questions? There’s your answers.

 

Now that the dust has settled and I had a nice two hour drive to the Eastern Shore this morning to sort through my feelings ...
* Posted upthread that championship teams win that Game 6 in Dallas. Instead, the Suns were a no-show for the third straight road game and opened themselves up to this exact scenario.
* The Suns played this series with unearned arrogance. What exactly did they accomplish in the postseason to warrant treating those three Dallas games like that? Everyone who said last year's Finals run was fluky got a ton of ammo for that argument last night. Even I admit that Phoenix probably doesn't win the Lakers series last season if AD doesn't get hurt. Lakers were cruising in that Game 4 when it happened.
* Chris Paul is a problem. He'll be 38 next year and has already shown he's incapable physically of deep playoff runs at his advanced age. Even with a month off prior to the playoffs, he fell off a cliff three games into round two. And he's basically untradeable, so the Suns are stuck with that contract for at least two more seasons. And behind him at point? Ugh. Payne I suppose has a chance to prove this postseason was a fluke, rather than last postseason. He's young enough. But he was essentially unplayable.
* Booker, Booker, Booker ... where to even start? He was unstoppable in Game 4 and the Suns lost handily. He was brutal last night. He's not capable of carrying a team by himself. He needs an elite distributor/playmaker with him.
* Ayton threw away millions of dollars last night. He played timid. He was not ready for the moment and wilted. The Suns can't possibly give him a big contract.
* The Suns didn't make the playoffs for 10 years and then had a startlingly short window. It's slammed shut. The West is going to be better next year. Minnesota, Memphis and New Orleans are on the rise and Denver will be fully healthy. Phoenix probably avoids the play-in tournament, but the ceiling probably isn't much higher than that. The Suns aren't a title contender with the roster currently as constructed.

 

In the end Booker got stepped on and squashed like a little stink bug. Men show up. Boys go home.

 

Zach Lowe has been pointing out that the Suns probably had a surprising amount of pressure on them to win this year, for the reasons you outlined. I know Paul is going to get the most crap because of his history, but it's really Booker and to a lesser extent Ayton that should wear this L to me. Okay, Booker was obviously struggling on offense - it happens. But the Dallas starting guards combined to shoot 23-for-38, and had two turnovers the entire game. Also, as with all things Phoenix - I'm interested in a long read post-mortem when its published, because I realize Sarver is Sarver, and could have fucked with a great thing in some way we don't realize yet.

Following the game online and seeing the score get out of hand, the only result I remember being equally surprising was the clinching game six for the Celtics in 2008, when they just obliterated the Lakers from wire-to-wire, winning by 39 points. It was the NBA championships, but Boston had home court advantage and for all of Kobe's "Black Mamba" bullshit, he also had plenty of playoff games where he just sulked or underperformed too.

 

When things weren't going well last postseason, Booker would become unhinged. This go-around he just seemed to shut it down.

Ayton was the guy who was content to peace out from Arizona by getting BTFO against Buffalo. That said, he's tough to replace but certainly not worth max money.

 

Players get max or nearly max deals every year who aren’t worth it. John Wall earning max money sitting home for a year. He’s logged more PlayStation minutes as a max player than as an NBA player. They’ll pay him not because he’s worth it but because they can’t replace his regular seasons contributions without paying it.

 

If the Suns let Ayton get away where are they. Chris Paul is breaking down. How far can Booker take them. I don't think Booker can take them, at best, past the first round of the playoffs. Then the Suns return to mediocrity. I realize that Sarver is probably willing to accept to save money but from a basketball player that young and talented leave.

 

Max money doesn’t mean they’re the best, it means are they worth the artificial cap on salary? Because LeBron is worth $100M or more.