Ayton the enigma
This would be a good experiment:
Every time Deandre Ayton gets near the ball, Phoenix Suns fans should look away from the screen. Maybe there is a way to blur him and only him out in a telecast. Whatever they need to do in order to just stop watching him play, do that.
Then, at the end of the game, have them look at the box score and judge his game based on that.
Throughout the game, much of Suns Twitter were pulling their virtual hair out at how tentative Ayton was playing. I even wondered if he was wearing mittens at one point because so many times he simply wasn’t able to grab the ball.
Then you look up and see he had 24 points, 12 rebounds, two blocks, oh, and his first two official 3-pointers of his NBA career and you think, “Wow, he had a really good game.”
At some point, Suns fans are just going to have to face it. Ayton’s way of being a double-double machine is just different than other dominating centers of the past like Shaq. The man is all finesse and very little power, but as any coach will tell you, two points is two points, and DA gets buckets, boards, and blocks his own way.
After the game, he described the win as, “Pretty lit.”
Agreed.