Speed kills, but so do giants

Deandre Ayton and Jordan Poole bring the pain

May 3, 2022

BY DAVID THORPE

The Suns used their big man to dominate the paint against Dallas in Game 1. PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/GETTY IMAGES

Phoenix shows us the blueprint

Two weeks ago, TrueHoop launched an investigation into huge guys. We’ve been examining why some teams routinely choose to bench their centers and go small while others are sticking with their bigs. Guarding smaller, quicker men is hard. It appears that scoring against those same little guards is hard as well.

Our investigation will culminate next week with a dive into how teams can best take advantage of their big men when opponents go small. You got a perfect preview in Game 1 between Phoenix and Dallas.

The Suns refused to go small when the Mavericks did. Instead, the Suns punished them for doing so and dominated the boards 51-36. Deandre Ayton is not a great low-post scorer, but his team knows ho…

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