- John Hollinger of The Athletic details how Suns star Chris Paul has been dominating the playoffs. Paul, who turned 37 today, is averaging ridiculous numbers through eight games: 22.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 9.9 assists (against 1.6 turnovers) and 1.6 steals on .580/.333/.970 shooting. He’s shooting 67.4% on twos. That is not a typo. Paul’s been arguably the best player in the postseason to this point, says Hollinger. (Side note: Paul has seven turnovers in the first half of Game 3 against the Mavericks, which is in progress. That figure represents a career-high for a half, Dwain Price of Mavs.com tweets. The Suns currently trail 51-44.)
- Suns head coach Monty Williams has been working with Cameron Johnson on his post play recently, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic relays. “Just teaching him how to use his strength a little bit,” Williams said. “He’s got some tools down there. Just talking to him about balance and footwork and stuff like that.” Johnson is eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer. He was a finalist for the Sixth Man of the Year award, which went to Tyler Herro.
Suns forward Dario Saric underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair meniscus in his right knee on Thursday, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets.
There’s no timetable for his return. Saric missed the entire season after suffering a torn ACL in his right knee during Game 1 of last year’s Finals.
The power forward made $8.51MM this season while on the mend and has another $9.24MM guaranteed for 2022/23. It’s a troubling sign that Saric needed another knee procedure 10 months after the initial injury, putting his status for training camp in some jeopardy.
Saric, 28, entered the NBA during the 2016/17 season with Philadelphia. He averaged double digits in points until last season, when he came off the bench in 46 of 50 regular season games. He averaged 8.7 PPG and 3.8 RPG in 17.4 MPG in those games, then appeared in 14 postseason contests.
The Suns were an NBA-best 64-18 during the regular season and are currently up 2-0 in their second-round series against Dallas. After Phoenix lost to Milwaukee in the Finals last season, it would have been easy to have a letdown, but Devin Booker says he’s driven to help the Suns win their first championship.
“I have shifted that energy from losing the Finals in a good way,” Booker told Marc J. Spears of Andscape. “It’s a good segue in the locker room to talk about and motivate. We talk about the details of the game. Even [the Pelicans’ series], offensive rebounding doesn’t sit with us well because it’s the reason why we lost [games]. Winning a championship is something I want more than anything in my life.
“… I dreamed about [the Finals] as a kid. But now it’s a reality and I have to make it happen.”
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Cydney Henderson of USA Today details JaVale McGee‘s evolution into a valuable role player for three championship teams — and possibly a fourth, if the Suns win the title. The backup center believes he was the missing piece to Phoenix’s championship puzzle. “They were the best team last year, they just lost in the Finals,” said McGee. “They need one more piece and I’m that piece. I feel it, this that year.”
- Andrew Wiggins is thriving in his new role as a small-ball power forward for the Warriors, writes Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. “I mean, it’s not easy, obviously,” Wiggins said, “because 99 percent of the time, I’m smaller. But I feel like I’m just as strong and athletic as anyone else. I love fighting with guys. I love the physicality down there. I feel like it just gets you going. You gotta wake up for this. You can’t just ease into it. If you ease into it, those guys are gonna push you under the rim and bury you.”
- Xavier Moon, who finished the season on a two-way contract with the Clippers, said in an interview with Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times that he’s going to work on getting stronger this summer in an effort to stick in the NBA. “Just my body. Improving my body, getting stronger, obviously add a little weight and that will help with every aspect of my game and other than that just being a student of the game, just learning to be an NBA point guard, facilitating and knowing when and where to score,” Moon said.
- Can Kings owner Vivek Ranadive learn from his meddling mistakes of the past and let GM Monte McNair make the final call on the team’s new head coach? James Ham of The Kings Beat explores that question and delves into Ranadive’s history of involvement in prior front office/coaching moves.
Suns assistant Kevin Young, Bucks assistants Darvin Ham and Charles Lee, Celtics assistant Will Hardy, Grizzlies assistant Darko Rajakovic, Heat assistants Chris Quinn and Malik Allen, and Warriors assistants Mike Brown and Kenny Atkinson are among the assistants around the NBA who are viewed as potential head coaching candidates by league insiders, according to ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz (Insider-only link).
A number of the names on Arnovitz’s list have been linked to one or more of the NBA’s three current head coaching openings. Ham and Brown, for instance, all believed to be under consideration by all three of the Hornets, Lakers, and Kings.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Harvard senior guard Noah Kirkwood, who declared for the 2022 NBA draft as an early entrant, has decided to remain in the draft and go pro rather than using his final year of college eligibility, according to agent Ronnie Zeidel (Twitter link via Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports).
- Rockets forward/center Usman Garuba said in an interview with Spanish outlet AS.com that he’s committed to representing Spain at this year’s EuroBasket competition, as Eurohoops relays.
- In an intriguing bit of international basketball news, an RMC Sport report indicates that Sixers center Joel Embiid is exploring the possibility of obtaining French citizenship and representing France in future international events. Embiid was born in Cameroon, but has family from France and has never suited up for the Cameroonian national team.
- Prior to the conference semifinals matchup against Dallas on Monday night, Suns All-Star Devin Booker said the hamstring injury that cost three games in the opening round is no longer an issue, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets. “Feels great. Ready to go,” Booker said.
- Deandre Ayton‘s ability to take advantage of frontcourt mismatches on offense and to capably switch onto perimeter players on defense makes him a potential X-factor in the Suns’ second-round series vs. Dallas, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic (subscriber link). Ayton will be a restricted free agent this offseason.
The Suns were the NBA’s most dominant team in 2021/22. Their 64 regular season wins were eight more than any other team compiled, and their +7.5 net rating ranked first in the league.
However, with Devin Booker banged up for part of their first-round series, it took the Suns six games to beat the upstart Pelicans, and they weren’t exactly blowout victories — Phoenix outscored New Orleans by just nine points across those six games.
While the Suns may have looked more susceptible to a playoff upset in the first round than they did for most of the season, one crucial stat carried over to the postseason. After registering a ridiculous +33.4 net rating in “clutch” situations during the regular season, Phoenix improved that number to +35.0 in the first round.
The Suns’ ability to score late in close games has been crucial all year, and could be a difference-maker as they look to make a deep playoff run. Having Booker back in the lineup will provide a huge boost as well. He missed three games with a hamstring strain, but returned to action on Thursday and has had three full days of rest before Game 1 of the team’s second-round series on Monday. Assuming he’s back to something resembling 100%, Phoenix will enter the Western Conference Semifinals at full strength.
The Suns’ second-round opponent will be a Mavericks team that has advanced beyond round one for the first time since Luka Doncic arrived in Dallas in 2018, having defeated the Jazz in round one. Like Booker, Doncic was unavailable due to a leg injury (calf strain) for three games in the first round, but the Mavs didn’t miss a beat without him, as Jalen Brunson took his game to another level by putting up 32.0 PPG and 5.3 APG in Doncic’s absence.
Brunson and Doncic, both healthy and ready to go for round two, will face more resistance against Phoenix than they did against Utah’s subpar perimeter defense. Defensive Player of the Year finalist Mikal Bridges has evolved into one of the league’s top shutdown defenders, and he’s flanked by a number of solid performers on that end, including Chris Paul and Jae Crowder. Doncic and Brunson are still capable of putting up big numbers, but they’ll have to work a lot harder to do so in round two.
Although Dallas finished the season 12 games back of Phoenix in the standings, the current iteration of the team looked as dangerous as anyone during the season’s final two months. From the time newly-acquired guard Spencer Dinwiddie made his Mavs debut on February 15 through the end of the regular season, no NBA team had a better record than Dallas (19-6).
The Mavs won’t enter their series vs. the Suns as favorites, but they’re an extremely dangerous team that should make life very difficult for the reigning Western Conference champs.
What do you think? Will the Suns make it back to the Western Conference Finals this season, or will the Mavericks pull off the upset? Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts and predictions!
Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic acknowledged that it will be difficult to play against Suns Defensive Player of the Year finalist Mikal Bridges, writes Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. Dallas and Phoenix will open their second-round series on Monday night.
“They have Bridges,” Doncic said. “I know he’s going to be on me. He’s the best, in the top two guards, him and (Marcus) Smart. But it’s really tough against him. His defense is amazing. It really impresses me. But then on the offensive end, he improved so much that he’s a really amazing player.”
Bridges placed second in Defensive Player of the Year voting this season, trailing only Smart. Phoenix could have its forwards defend Dallas’ star backcourt (Bridges and Jae Crowder on Doncic and Jalen Brunson), or it could task Chris Paul with defending Brunson. While he’s still a good defender, Paul turns 37 years old later this week.
Here are some other notes from the Pacific Division:
- Warriors star Draymond Green was ejected in Game 1 against the Grizzlies on Sunday. Green committed a Flagrant 2 foul and riled up the crowd before exiting, as Kendra Andrews of ESPN tweets. The ejection decision was met with outrage from many fans, players and league observers. Players are automatically suspended by receiving four flagrant foul points in the playoffs, meaning Green would receive a one-game suspension with one more Flagrant 2 or two more Flagrant 1’s. He was famously suspended in Game 5 of the 2016 Finals for this same reason and later declared it cost the Warriors a title.
- Marc J. Spears of Andscape.com examines where Warriors guard Gary Payton II got his athleticism from. Payton attributes it to his mother, who participated in track, high jump and long jump. His father, of course, is recognized as one of the league’s all-time great defenders and a stellar athlete himself. Payton received his first playoff start against Memphis on Sunday, finishing with eight points and six rebounds in just over 23 minutes.
- The Timberwolves realize that progressing after this season isn’t a guarantee and growth isn’t always linear, Dave Campbell of The Associated Press writes. Minnesota gave the No. 2 seed Grizzlies a run for their money in round one, but they ultimately lost in six games. The team has a young nucleus of Karl-Anthony Towns, Anthony Edwards and others that could be competitive for many years to come.
As a Hall-of-Fame point guard, Mavericks coach Jason Kidd understands the challenge that Chris Paul presents, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Paul, who will turn 37 this week, is coming off one of the best playoff games of his career, making all 14 of his shots from the field and scoring 33 points Thursday as the Suns closed out the Pelicans.
“He’s perfected the point guard position,” Kidd said. “As you get more reps and you see different defenses, you start to understand what you have to do, and he knows how to move the pieces to get that advantage. When you talk about IQ, it’s off the charts and his competitiveness is off the charts and his will is off the charts. All the things that are off the charts, you’ve just got to make it tough on him.”
Dallas will counter with All-Star point guard Luka Doncic, who was also dominant in the first round after returning from a strained calf. Doncic indicated that the Mavs will try to be physical with Paul, but there’s no set way to contain him.
“It’s hard to slow him down,” Doncic said. “Like you saw in the last game, he didn’t miss. That was pretty crazy.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
- The Suns were fined $25K for not disclosing Devin Booker‘s status for Game 6 against New Orleans in “an accurate and timely manner,” according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Booker missed three games in the series with a strained right hamstring before returning on Thursday.
- In an interview with TMZ Sports, Lakers swingman Kent Bazemore defended LeBron James against his critics and said he would like to re-sign with the team in free agency. Bazemore only played 39 games after signing with L.A. last summer, but he said there’s something special about playing for the team. “What I’ll say is nothing ain’t much better than being a Laker, right?” Bazemore said. “So, getting to see (Kobe Bryant‘s) numbers on the wall every day I went to practice was good inspiration for me. … There’s nothing like it, man. It’s a storied franchise.”
- Warriors forward Andre Iguodala has been ruled out of the first two games of the team’s second-round series vs. Memphis, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic. Iguodala is dealing with a cervical disc injury in his neck.
5:05pm: Booker will play tonight, according to coach Monty Williams, Andrew Lopez of ESPN tweets.
4:40pm: The Raptors have ruled out guard Fred VanVleet for Game 6 against the Sixers tonight, according to coach Nick Nurse, Tim Bontemps of ESPN tweets.
VanVleet had been listed as doubtful. The Raptors will be looking to stave off elimination once again and even up the series at 3-3 with a win in Toronto.
VanVleet suffered a left hip flexor strain in Game 4 on Saturday. Toronto emerged with a 103-88 win in Game 5 without him as Nurse used an unconventional rotation without a true point guard.
Meanwhile, the Suns will look to close out their series with the Pelicans with their leading scorer back in action. Devin Booker is expected to play in Game 6 tonight, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
Booker will test out his strained hamstring in pregame warmups, and assuming all goes well, he’ll be back on the floor after missing the past three games.
Phoenix has gone 2-1 without Booker, who is officially listed as questionable.