Series Review

Phoenix Suns vs Portland Trail Blazers

 

The Trail Blazers ended up winning in 4 games, and in this review I will go in more depth about game by game and what went wrong and what went right for each team. The series went about how I expected, even though Laddas has built a great team, the fully healthy Trail Blazers might just be the best team in the league. In the season series the Trail Blazers went 4-0 as well against the Suns, so it was known how tough this series would be for the Suns.

 

Game 1

In the first game of the series the Suns were up by 1 at the end of the 1^st half, but the 2^nd half went the Trail Blazers way leading to an 18 point win for Portland. In this game Jalen Brunson scored 25 points, but shot 33% from the field and Brandon Ingram scored 17 on 21% shooting. I think this game you saw the need the Suns still have to fill which is another scorer. Those two were the only two players to shoot double digit FGs in the game. Portland won how they do most times with outrebounding the other team amassing 13 more rebounds.

 

Game 2

The Suns made some adjustments moving Jaxson Hayes out of the starting lineup for Jaden McDaniels and Brandon Ingram moving down to PF and McDaniels playing SG. The Suns were outrebounded more than the last game with the switch, but the offense was more well rounded getting 5 guys to shoot double digit FGs. The Blazers didn�t switch anything up as they really don�t have to with the talent they have and the double digit win the first game.

 

Game 3

The Suns played the best offense of the series so far, but the only problem is they also defended the worst of the series with the Blazers shooting 58.8% from 3. The problem of rebounding from last game to this game hadn�t been fixed, but I it could just be they don�t have the rebounders to go against some of the top the Blazers have. So it�s hard to fault the Suns not making a change as there may not be a way to combat this lineup without having two top centers running the PF and C positions. It can be a good thing Brunson not shooting 30 shots like he did in the first game, but I believe he�s got to shoot more than just 15. It can be tough to find the happy medium. Laddas will likely tinker the roster and lineups this upcoming year to find the right mix of guys.

 

Game 4

This game was likely the best game for the Suns as the offense was just slightly better than last game for the best of the series. The defense was also better than last game the problem was again the rebounding, Shaedon Sharpe got some minutes in this one which is interesting. Makes sense down 3-0 to try and young guy you feel you might have something with. He was the only guy to end up having a + plus/minus despite it only being in 10 minutes of action it is a good sign. It was another time of Brunson shooting just 15 shots, which when he is the star player he should be shooting more for sure.

 

Congratulations to the Suns on a great season going from looking like a lottery team to fighting to get into the play-in to winning both games to be the 8 seed. With how much competition there is in the NSL right now making the playoffs isn�t an easy task. Also congratulations to the Trail Blazers who will go onto to play the winner of the Nuggets vs Timberwolves where the Nuggets are up 3-2 right now. With the trade block of the Suns already posted for the offseason they hinted at possibly shaking things up with the new PG. Seems it will be an interesting summer for the Suns fans.

 

What the teams could have done differently, with the Suns I think playing Bol Bol at PF instead of Brandon Ingram would have helped a little as Bol Bol has more size and helped on rebounding. That is about the only thing that could�ve given a better chance, but considering it was a sweep it wouldn�t have impacted who won the series. The Trail Blazers could have started Drummond, don�t know why he was benched, maybe JMac is rubbing it in, but there should be no reason Tristan Thompson is playing over Drummond in 2k world. Drummond although not even an all star was the talk of the league being so dominant and there seeming like no way of stopping him. We will see the true lineup at some point in the playoffs I�m sure.