April 28th - New Orleans Pelicans vs Phoenix Suns - GAME 6 - 3-2

[Pelicanidae]

That would be awesome but I think he maybe a weak link on defense and if Zion don’t improve that won’t be good on that side

I want you to be aware that we played Jaxson Hayes, Willie Hernangomez, and Garrett Temple for significant minutes at the positions 3-5 this season. Absolutely none of them could defend worth anything, and none of them boosted the offense like Zion can. Removing all or some of the minutes from those people and giving them to Zion is absolutely an improvement to the team and there's basically no way to convince me otherwise.

[PELSGIRL]

The thing I hate is I don't think Phoenix wins it all. Do you guys?

[Algiersraised]

Atleast we know we have a dog in Brandon and I think he will keep getting better just more and more smoother and don’t think he will ever just be a chucker

[Pelicanidae]

Yeah, Willie has to stop stuff like this. Playing Jax was too much and we lost that lead, then bringing in Graham too much just like earlier we lost alot of games b/c he had to play Temple. Somebody (maybe Monty) has to talk to him about not doing this. Going w/the hot hand and not worrying about playing your veteran guys. Makes no sense. He is a rookie coach so he will fix this. (prayers hands up). Lol.

For real.

No reason to force 10 man rotations in must-win playoff games. Play your best guys, play them together, for as many minutes as you can. That's the only way.

Oh, and when Jax gets killed in the PnR and in drop every game for like 5 games in a row, consider not starting him.

[Pelicanidae]

The thing I hate is I don't think Phoenix wins it all. Do you guys?

Nah, it's either the Bucks or like, a random Golden State year.

[Algiersraised]

No golden state is going on our side it will be bucks vs gs in my opinion

[PaKwAn]

And the draft is in less than 2 months!!!

Hopefully we hit on everything from draft, trades etc... just don't do a hawks mistake

[Algiersraised]

It wouldn’t be random injuries stopped their run and they are back healthy same big 3 same coach added key player , we need to that draft pick to not be another jaxson Hayes or Kira idc about potential we need someone who got that attitude of I’m ready now

[RobertM320]

Phoenix played damn near perfect basketball and we almost beat them.

Took a once in a lifetime game from CP3 to stop this going to game 7.

Phoenix shot 60% from the field, 40% from 3pt range, and only missed one of 18 FTs (94%), so basically as good as it gets, and they only win by 6.

[PELSGIRL]

Yeah CJ was very poor. It’s not a shock as Portland usually went out with a whimper every time they made playoffs despite getting good seeds here and there. Mentality changes once you hit the postseason

Yeah, it's funny to me b/c he always want's to talk about making the playoffs every year but I'm like bruh win them. Lol.
He can't be #2. Zion coming back would help but again we need a PG who can facilitate, taking pressure off of BI and another reliable 3-pt shooter.
Think we get this in the offseason but it's just gonna be a long offseason. Ugh.

[AusPel]

CJ got torched by not all that quick CP3 all game. He is a very bad defender

[PELSGIRL]

Atleast we know we have a dog in Brandon and I think he will keep getting better just more and more smoother and don’t think he will ever just be a chucker

For sure. He was great. Still has some work to do but I agree he will do the work to improve. If he can get his game to really be the closer, that would be tremendous but I'm very proud of BI.

[HoustonRox]

Pelicans were a bad matchup for the Suns because of the bigs that Pels have. We dominated the boards and made Ayton a scared little****.

Other teams in the West don?t have the type of bigs to dominate the paint and rebounding against the Suns. Mavs don?t. Warriors don?t. Suns will probably have an easier game against those teams than they did against NO.

Only other team is maybe Utah with Whiteside and Gobert but who knows if they advance.

[luckyman]

Seemed like they were really trying to get CJ going this game. And he just couldn't.

Make no mistake he is a very good shooter though.

Next season man. Next season.

[Freyfamilyreuni]

I want you to be aware that we played Jaxson Hayes, Willie Hernangomez, and Garrett Temple for significant minutes at the positions 3-5 this season. Absolutely none of them could defend worth anything, and none of them boosted the offense like Zion can. Removing all or some of the minutes from those people and giving them to Zion is absolutely an improvement to the team and there's basically no way to convince me otherwise.

I tend to agree with this. Zion can't be any worse than starting Hayes defensively. Hayes probably also does better coming off the bench. And if we still have Nance next year he can come in with Hayes and help him from getting too lost. The thing I'm concerned about is whether the team wants to commit itself long term to Zion. His off court habits aren't good and aren't conducive to having a long term NBA career. He's also showed a good bit of selfishness this year.
And the elephant in the room may be how he and Brandon coexist on a team. On paper you would think they'd complement each other, but they really don't seem to. To truly turn the reins over to BI and build a team around him, do you have to part ways with Zion?

[luckyman]

It wouldn’t be random injuries stopped their run and they are back healthy same big 3 same coach added key player , we need to that draft pick to not be another jaxson Hayes or Kira idc about potential we need someone who got that attitude of I’m ready now

Kira was playing very well right before his injury.

[PELSGIRL]

Nah, it's either the Bucks or like, a random Golden State year.

Yeah, I think Memphis or GS beats Phoenix.

[Fedupfan]

Seemed like they were really trying to get CJ going this game. And he just couldn't.

Make no mistake he is a very good shooter though.

Next season man. Next season.

I think what was pretty wild was the amount of hand checking allowed on CJ.

[luckyman]

I tend to agree with this. Zion can't be any worse than starting Hayes defensively. Hayes probably also does better coming off the bench. And if we still have Nance next year he can come in with Hayes and help him from getting too lost. The thing I'm concerned about is whether the team wants to commit itself long term to Zion. His off court habits aren't good and aren't conducive to having a long term NBA career. He's also showed a good bit of selfishness this year.
And the elephant in the room may be how he and Brandon can coexist on a team. On paper you would think they'd complement each other, but they really don't seem to. To truly turn the reins over to BI and build a team around him, do you have to part ways with Zion?

We don't know anything about Zion's off court habits. All we know is he broke his foot in a very unfortunate spot, and it takes a long time to safely come back from that.

And from what I saw, if it weren't constant do-or-die games going on, he'd have been back out there this year.

Let's just relax and let the kid come back next year please.

[Pelicanidae]

I tend to agree with this. Zion can't be any worse than starting Hayes defensively. Hayes probably also does better coming off the bench. And if we still have Nance next year he can come in with Hayes and help him from getting too lost. The thing I'm concerned about is whether the team wants to commit itself long term to Zion. His off court habits aren't good and aren't conducive to having a long term NBA career. He's also showed a good bit of selfishness this year.
And the elephant in the room may be how he and Brandon coexist on a team. On paper you would think they'd complement each other, but they really don't seem to. To truly turn the reins over to BI and build a team around him, do you have to part ways with Zion?

By all accounts, BI and Zion get along fine and the offense with both of them on the floor last season was volcanic. I don't think there's any real issue with playing both of them at the same time, and it helps that they need similar types of support on the court to do well: wing defense, rim protection, shooting.

I am as sure as I can be that the team will offer Zion the max extension, and I'm fairly sure he will take it, and I am also fairly sure that this is the right decision on both sides.

[Freyfamilyreuni]

We don't know anything about Zion's off court habits. All we know is he broke his foot in a very unfortunate spot, and it takes a long time to safely come back from that.

And from what I saw, if it weren't constant do-or-die games going on, he'd have been back out there this year.

Let's just relax and let the kid come back next year please.

Just don't be too surprised if Griffin pulls the trigger on a trade.

[PaKwAn]

CJ got torched by not all that quick CP3 all game. He is a very bad defender

To be fair cp3 torched everyone tonight

[Coreyinthe504]

Well nobody has any serious injury so i think we made out fine.

[Nichols]

I tend to agree with this. Zion can't be any worse than starting Hayes defensively. Hayes probably also does better coming off the bench. And if we still have Nance next year he can come in with Hayes and help him from getting too lost. The thing I'm concerned about is whether the team wants to commit itself long term to Zion. His off court habits aren't good and aren't conducive to having a long term NBA career. He's also showed a good bit of selfishness this year.
And the elephant in the room may be how he and Brandon coexist on a team. On paper you would think they'd complement each other, but they really don't seem to. To truly turn the reins over to BI and build a team around him, do you have to part ways with Zion?

Ingram and Zion are both willing passers. Both have demonstrated good playmaking ability. With a competent coach I see no reason why they can't coexist.

Some don't like hearing it but I'm unsure about Zion's longevity, with that much athleticism, explosiveness, and high flying theatrics coupled with that much weight. But if he can manage it, I don't see any reason to move him or Ingram.

[Pelicanidae]

CJ got torched by not all that quick CP3 all game. He is a very bad defender

CJ and like, every other defender in the NBA for the last decade.