Game Day: Hawks (8-5) @ Suns (8-5), Sun 11/16/25

[Superbone]

You cannot take your foot off the accelerator in this league.

This.

[Superbone]

Book made multiple dumb errors at the end of that game.

He did. Disappointing. He knows better.

[Mori Chu]

Why, why does this guy Livers get minutes?

I thought his minutes were great. He was clutch.

Yeah he actually hit two 3s and played well tonight. I still wish we would play our rooks (Fleming) in his place, but I have to give him props tonight. He gave us good minutes. Clearly Coach Ott is seeing good things in practice and he's earning his spot in the rotation.

[JustWinBaby]

I guess all the KD stink isn't gone yet. Shame.

Exactly

This loss is on Book. Walking it up over the time line then doing his best KD impersonation by going one one on one. He took the air out of the room.

The guy that really needs more minutes, Goodwin.

Hopefully Ott learns from this.

[ShelC]

Disappointing loss but won't harp on it. The Hawks will be the kind of team that gives us trouble - a lot of size, length, defense. This is when the schedule gets tougher and we hung tough despite giving up a lot of size and not being able to hit shots. Royce was cold and not having Allen really made a difference in spacing the floor. Dunn was solid but he's not Allen. And while Brooks had a big scoring game, it's not ideal if he's taking more shots than Book. I know we switch on defense but I might've kept Brooks and Dunn on Johnson all night rather than switching guys like CG or Goodwin on him and having Dunn guard Daniels in the corner. At one point he was 9-10 and still finished 9-13. Keep your best defenders on the best perimeter players.

Just a weird game overall, we were down 13 right before the half, led by 1 at halftime, built a 20pt lead and lost by 2. Kind of flukey, the players had some issues with the refs and if we can't find some reliable offense while Allen and Green are out we'll have nights like this.

[specialsauce]

Our offense was not an issue. We gave up 47 points un the fourth quarter. Not going to win games doing that

[ShelC]

Our offense is an issue when we only make 10 threes, Royce is 1-9 from the field and Royce and Book are 1-12 from 3. Yea the Hawks went on a crazy run in the 4th but a few more shots made and the game is over.

[Furlanfufi]

Or we could let them score but not give and 1 after and 1...just a thougt.

[ShelC]

Postgame Quotes and Videos

Spoiler: show/hide

[O_Gardino]

Rough game and it feels like a let-down after the win streak, but I won't read too much into it.

Their starters were better than ours all night. I thought the Hawks did a great job of letting Brooks shoot, which took the rest of the team out of rhythm. Obvs I'm not mad a Brooks for making his shots, but it's something we have to watch out for as a team. Also thought the Hawks did a good job of getting favorable mismatches and pulling Williams out to the perimeter. We need backup plan for nights when switching won't work.

Props to the bench for keeping us in it and building a lead. Gillespie and Goodwin are like a smarter version of of Cam Payne and Jevon Carter. They are obviously too small and under talented blah blah blah, and yet they make it work by playing all out on every possession. I love watching those guys.

Last year we would have lost this one by 40. I feel like this year's team can take this back to the film room and learn from it - both the coaches and players.

[wpmiller42]

That technical ended up having a huge impact on the game. The Hawks should have just intentionally fouled to stop the game.

[Superbone]

I guess all the KD stink isn't gone yet. Shame.

Exactly

This loss is on Book. Walking it up over the time line then doing his best KD impersonation by going one one on one. He took the air out of the room.

The guy that really needs more minutes, Goodwin.

Hopefully Ott learns from this.

Yep. Eddie Johnson said when Book came in with 10 minutes to play in the 4th that he was in to finish the Hawks off. Quite the opposite. He had a couple sloppy turnovers and totally changed the momentum in the wrong direction. What is it with him and barely getting it over the half court in time? Ott should have stuck with what got us there.

[Superbone]

Our offense was not an issue. We gave up 47 points un the fourth quarter. Not going to win games doing that

Yep. Inexcusable. They let off the gas and I'm sure they know as a collection and they'll get to relive it in a film session. I hope it was more painful for them than it was for us.

[Superbone]

Our offense is an issue when we only make 10 threes, Royce is 1-9 from the field and Royce and Book are 1-12 from 3. Yea the Hawks went on a crazy run in the 4th but a few more shots made and the game is over.

I'll tell you one thing. The Gillespie shot near the end that danced around the rim before falling out was extremely painful. Could have been the difference but we shouldn't have been in that situation.

[Superbone]

Or we could let them score but not give and 1 after and 1...just a thougt.

Plus that bonus 4 point play thanks to Brooks. Hawks played a GREAT game down the stretch. Didn't make many if any mistakes.

[Superbone]

A couple observations after watching the postgame interviews: Glad to see the locker room so somber after that loss. Much more appropriate response than what we would have seen last season. And secondly, Brooks is going to get fined for his ref comments.

How do you guys feel about that play when the dude did the 360? Should Suns have stopped play or did they do the right thing to quickly inbound the ball and try to take advantage of the mismatch. Is that going too far and is it unsportsmanlike? Either way, I think the Suns players were right in that the ref shouldn't have then just stopped the game on the other end of the court just because the opposing coach ran out onto the court.

[ShelC]

I thought it's always on the other team to foul to stop play. The Hawks could've fouled right on the inbounds. And if Snyder was on the court, that's a tech.

Reffing is an issue every single year. The refs let their own emotions take over and it affects the outcome of games.

[Mori Chu]

Yep. Eddie Johnson said when Book came in with 10 minutes to play in the 4th that he was in to finish the Hawks off. Quite the opposite. He had a couple sloppy turnovers and totally changed the momentum in the wrong direction. What is it with him and barely getting it over the half court in time? Ott should have stuck with what got us there.

To my eyes Dyson Daniels did a good job making things hard for Booker. Book still put up decent numbers, but it seemed like he had to really work to get it across the half-court line, and we often took too long to get into our offense. IMO that's the recipe for beating this Suns team: have a nasty swingman defender with long arms who can stifle Booker, and then just stay home on our 3-point shooters and dare a bunch of guys like Brooks to try to beat us 1-on-1.

In games like this I think the need for other ballhandlers and initiators is especially prominent. Having Green would help a lot, or playing Gillespie more and running the offense through him rather than wearing out Booker playing "Point Book."

[Mori Chu]

How do you guys feel about that play when the dude did the 360?

I think it was fine. I was worried for the guy (and very glad he seems to be okay). But if play is live, you play on. If his team needs to stop play, they take an intentional foul.

[Charlie Smithy!]

I thought it's always on the other team to foul to stop play. The Hawks could've fouled right on the inbounds. And if Snyder was on the court, that's a tech.

Reffing is an issue every single year. The refs let their own emotions take over and it affects the outcome of games.

Shel (n anyone else), why does it always, to me, feel like it is always the NBA that has the most questionable and sometimes game-changing officiating?

Cuz in the other two sports that I follow (baseball and football), I just feel like the officiating/umpiring doesn't seem to quite have the same effect.