Game Day (IST): Suns (12-8) @ Lakers (12-9), Tues 12/5/23

[Mori Chu]

The stats from this game are crazy. The Lakers shot 37.3% from the field as a team (30% from 3) and beat us. That's because they put up 102 shots and we put up 75. We got absolutely destroyed on the boards, particularly the offensive boards. It was painful to see our guys giving the Lakers 2, 3, 4, 5 shots in the same possession multiple times. It just felt like we got outmuscled and bullied. And then on defense they were pushing and shoving us on every play with no calls, especially the guys guarding KD like Vanderbilt, Prince, Reddish.

I wonder if the NBA is trending in a "big" direction lately? Many of the league's promising teams have a size and strength advantage, like OKC, the Pelicans, Lakers, Wolves, and others.

I watch a lot of our games this year and last season and I wonder why we aren't chucking more 3s. Shouldn't we be basically drive-and-kicking for open 3s on every play? Book + KD + a bunch of 3-point bombers. But both Book and KD seem to love mid-range shots instead. If we aren't as big as the Lakers, we need to make up for that with our shooting. But it didn't feel like the shot was there last night.

I really hate the overall flow of our offense. I guess we're spoiled after having Chris Paul run things for a few years, but it's rough watching Book and KD just pound the ball for 15-20 seconds and then attempt a contested jumper. When we do run actual plays, like handoffs, P&R with Nurk, etc., we usually get good results. But there's way too much walking the ball up, barely getting over halfcourt by :16 seconds, hunch over near halfcourt, dribble dribble dribble, ok there are 7 sec left, let's start to go to the basket, uh oh, fadeaway, brick. Book and KD aren't getting clean/easy shots nor are they setting up others for easy shots. I really wish they would work on it and get more ball and man movement in the offense. If we have 2-3 plays in a row without a single pass, Coach should be calling a timeout and yelling at the guys for it.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401607490

[Uncle_Gene]

Every time Durant got double-teamed at the top of the key, Suns didn't have a counter for it. That's something I know Coach Vogel has to go over.

[specialsauce]

The stats from this game are crazy. The Lakers shot 37.3% from the field as a team (30% from 3) and beat us. That's because they put up 102 shots and we put up 75. We got absolutely destroyed on the boards, particularly the offensive boards. It was painful to see our guys giving the Lakers 2, 3, 4, 5 shots in the same possession multiple times. It just felt like we got outmuscled and bullied. And then on defense they were pushing and shoving us on every play with no calls, especially the guys guarding KD like Vanderbilt, Prince, Reddish.

I wonder if the NBA is trending in a "big" direction lately? Many of the league's promising teams have a size and strength advantage, like OKC, the Pelicans, Lakers, Wolves, and others.

I watch a lot of our games this year and last season and I wonder why we aren't chucking more 3s. Shouldn't we be basically drive-and-kicking for open 3s on every play? Book + KD + a bunch of 3-point bombers. But both Book and KD seem to love mid-range shots instead. If we aren't as big as the Lakers, we need to make up for that with our shooting. But it didn't feel like the shot was there last night.

I really hate the overall flow of our offense. I guess we're spoiled after having Chris Paul run things for a few years, but it's rough watching Book and KD just pound the ball for 15-20 seconds and then attempt a contested jumper. When we do run actual plays, like handoffs, P&R with Nurk, etc., we usually get good results. But there's way too much walking the ball up, barely getting over halfcourt by :16 seconds, hunch over near halfcourt, dribble dribble dribble, ok there are 7 sec left, let's start to go to the basket, uh oh, fadeaway, brick. Book and KD aren't getting clean/easy shots nor are they setting up others for easy shots. I really wish they would work on it and get more ball and man movement in the offense. If we have 2-3 plays in a row without a single pass, Coach should be calling a timeout and yelling at the guys for it.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401607490

This team just isn’t fun to watch. There’s no flow to the offense, no identity, no rhythm.

It’s a bunch of tough shots by KD and Book, and here and there we get a spot performance by the others that is promising. Tons of mental errors, lots of “we should have won by 20” games that we lost due to our own broken system.

We’re not just a PG away from fixing this either. Even when we win it’s not enjoyable. I don’t miss CP3, but I do miss how clean our offense looked in the last few years (only to look exactly like this against the Bucks in 2021 and then all of the last few playoff runs) We just need smarter players and an actual offensive system. Was Kevin Young all fools gold?

[In2ition]

The stats from this game are crazy. The Lakers shot 37.3% from the field as a team (30% from 3) and beat us. That's because they put up 102 shots and we put up 75. We got absolutely destroyed on the boards, particularly the offensive boards. It was painful to see our guys giving the Lakers 2, 3, 4, 5 shots in the same possession multiple times. It just felt like we got outmuscled and bullied. And then on defense they were pushing and shoving us on every play with no calls, especially the guys guarding KD like Vanderbilt, Prince, Reddish.

I wonder if the NBA is trending in a "big" direction lately? Many of the league's promising teams have a size and strength advantage, like OKC, the Pelicans, Lakers, Wolves, and others.

I watch a lot of our games this year and last season and I wonder why we aren't chucking more 3s. Shouldn't we be basically drive-and-kicking for open 3s on every play? Book + KD + a bunch of 3-point bombers. But both Book and KD seem to love mid-range shots instead. If we aren't as big as the Lakers, we need to make up for that with our shooting. But it didn't feel like the shot was there last night.

I really hate the overall flow of our offense. I guess we're spoiled after having Chris Paul run things for a few years, but it's rough watching Book and KD just pound the ball for 15-20 seconds and then attempt a contested jumper. When we do run actual plays, like handoffs, P&R with Nurk, etc., we usually get good results. But there's way too much walking the ball up, barely getting over halfcourt by :16 seconds, hunch over near halfcourt, dribble dribble dribble, ok there are 7 sec left, let's start to go to the basket, uh oh, fadeaway, brick. Book and KD aren't getting clean/easy shots nor are they setting up others for easy shots. I really wish they would work on it and get more ball and man movement in the offense. If we have 2-3 plays in a row without a single pass, Coach should be calling a timeout and yelling at the guys for it.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401607490

This team just isn’t fun to watch. There’s no flow to the offense, no identity, no rhythm.

It’s a bunch of tough shots by KD and Book, and here and there we get a spot performance by the others that is promising. Tons of mental errors, lots of “we should have won by 20” games that we lost due to our own broken system.

We’re not just a PG away from fixing this either. Even when we win it’s not enjoyable. I don’t miss CP3, but I do miss how clean our offense looked in the last few years (only to look exactly like this against the Bucks in 2021 and then all of the last few playoff runs) We just need smarter players and an actual offensive system. Was Kevin Young all fools gold?

I totally agree with this. I for one was hoping for a Will Hardy type of offense. it's been brutal to watch.

[Shabazz]

AD is in Nurkic's head. Nurk legit seems scared to shoot with AD around the basket. It's almost embarrassing to watch.

Also, Eubanks has been pretty bad lately. He's definitely been exposed on the glass and if he's not in dunking range when he gets it he's been super hesitant.

[Split T]

This is a good point…we shouldn’t let players engaged in action call timeouts.

[Mori Chu]

Can I say, I also think there should be a "No back-to-back timeouts by the same team" rule? Lakers called that BS timeout, the refs granted it to them. Then they try to inbound the ball, and we play great defense, about to force a 5-second violation or steal. So the Lakers call timeout AGAIN and get another chance to set up the play AND advance the ball. Why is a team allowed to call back-to-back timeouts? They should force them to inbound the damn ball. If they can't get it in after a full minute to plan a play, fuck 'em, they should get a turnover. It also helps avoid a huge delay at the end of the game.

[Superbone]

All ball.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I was indifferent about Cam Reddish before this season, but now I hate him. His only value on the court is fouling and he gets away with way too much because he's on the Lakers with LeBron.

[Split T]

I do want to point out that over the last 11 games the suns averaged 12.9 turnovers per game, which would be 6th best in the league…and yes that counts this game. There’s still been some issues, but it’s nothing like the first 10 games.

[Carno]

I noticed the turnover problems seemed to have mostly gone away when Booker returned. Book was bad this game. Hopefully, it's just an outlier and isn't the norm going forward. I wonder if Books ankle was limiting his movement.

[JJ Slim]

https://www.si.com/nba/2023/12/06/laker ... tournament
This is the statement in the first paragraph that I noticed:

With a trip to Las Vegas and a spot in the semifinals on the line, both teams played playoff-caliber basketball on both ends.

I don't think either team was playing "playoff-caliber" ball.

[England Sun]

I was indifferent about Cam Reddish before this season, but now I hate him. His only value on the court is fouling and he gets away with way too much because he's on the Lakers with LeBron.

Agreed. 2 serious fouls and possibly flagrant ignored along with others. And the announcers played it down both times like Book was wrong to complain he got smacked in the head.