Game Day: Suns (3-4) @ Bulls (3-5), Wed 11/8/23

[Split T]

Ya it was right as Caruso banked in that 3

[specialsauce]

Yuta was bad too…Here’s who I trust right now:

1. Book
2. KD
3. Beal
4. Allen
5. EG(just won’t have it every night)
6. Nurk
7. KBD
8. Eubanks

That’s my playoff rotation right now.

Agree

[specialsauce]

The less Okogie we see, the better. We can’t have someone playing the weak side 3 who just will not take it. Can’t count how many times he passed it up tonight and just drove into his defender.

[Split T]

Ya and it’s clear teams just won’t guard him in the playoffs. That just kills our spacing. He’s just a situational guy if that’s the case…Goodwin is more willing to shoot it.. I don’t think he’s in my playoff rotation either though if we’re healthy.

[djy2j]

That lady ref has had another tough game. It's as if she received an eye transplant from Dick Bavetta.

The Okogie Goodwin mins aren't going well. They should be impactful like the Caruso Carter mins were but they just haven't been. Okogie has been making some really dumb decisions on defense.

When EG is bad he's really bad.

Caruso gets away with quite a bit of holding and hand checking. I didn't look up the rules of basketball but I believe that is advantageous.

I'm not sure what Yuta does. Feels like he makes 1 or 2 threes. Misses a bunch and makes mistakes on D.

What a bad BBIQ game from the Suns overall. Yeesh.

[Split T]

Nurkic up to 10.5/9.4/4.8 with 1.5/1.0 stl/blk

And he broke 40% from the field haha

More games like tonight from him and we’ll be ok.

[Flagrant Fowl]

I don't see why he can't keep it going against the Lakers if Davis misses the game. They started Wood at Center tonight.

[Split T]

That lady ref has had another tough game. It's as if she received an eye transplant from Dick Bavetta.

The Okogie Goodwin mins aren't going well. They should be impactful like the Caruso Carter mins were but they just haven't been. Okogie has been making some really dumb decisions on defense.

When EG is bad he's really bad.

Caruso gets away with quite a bit of holding and hand checking. I didn't look up the rules of basketball but I believe that is advantageous.

I'm not sure what Yuta does. Feels like he makes 1 or 2 threes. Misses a bunch and makes mistakes on D.

What a bad BBIQ game from the Suns overall. Yeesh.

Carter and Caruso can shoot, that’s the big difference between them and Okogie/Goodwin

[Split T]

I don't see why he can't keep it going against the Lakers if Davis misses the game. They started Wood at Center tonight.

Ya the Lakers shouldn’t be a difficult game if AD can’t go. We should be just fine, even with no Book

[Shabazz]

KBD was really good tonight…a huge 3 and some really great defense…not to mention he had the game winner in regulation that the refs took away on a bogus foul

Seconded.

[Shabazz]

This was an absolutely bizarre sub in the 4th on the heels of a 9-3 Suns' run when our offense looked like it was clicking.

6:03 Eric Gordon enters the game for Grayson Allen 100 96
6:03 Josh Okogie enters the game for Keita Bates-Diop 100 96

It left us with the Goodwin Okogie combo that should rarely play together and never in crunch time.
Brought EG in the game when he clearly didn't have it.
Took out Grayson, who was on fire, and KBD who was contributing across the board.

Not sure if those two guys just needed a quick breather, but it was right after a time out.

Totally killed our flow on offense. We made one more FG in regulation from that point on. Step it up, Frank.

[Nodack]

The Suns turnovers need to be addressed. Lazy passes and double team turnovers. What’s with not being able to score in the fourth quarter? Is it me or does KD score a lot of his points in the middle of the games and not so much in the fourth quarters?

[ShelC]

Postgame Quotes and Videos

Spoiler: show/hide

Allen

[ShelC]

Glad we got the win but not happy with how we played. Shouldn't have taken overtime, shouldn't have let Caruso have such an impact on the game, can't let the offense turn to shit when the bench comes in. It was Beal's first game back so there were going to be some bumps, but we need some action/movement with the others instead of just standing around. Can't go 6minutes without a field goal to close a game. Last year when it was just Book or KD I could see that happening. Now we have Beal, KD, Allen, Gordon - any coach should be able to run a play to get them a good shot.

Good to see KBD play well on both ends, hopefully he's emerging as our reliable swing at the 3/4. Great job defending DeRozan. Nurk probably had his best game yet for us, need to find a way for him to matchup against Vuc every night. Too many minutes on the starters tho, especially KD. EG needs to get to the basket when his shot isn't falling, same with Okogie. I think Yuta will be more effective with the Big 3 out there when he'll get more open looks. Thought we could've used Okogie more on Caruso, even with the lack of offense.

[Flagrant Fowl]

Kind of a funny game for Beal in retrospect. He looked great to start and was totally spent after 6 minutes. I’m sure he’ll be reliable on the ball in a week or so as long as he doesn’t have an injury setback.

[Mori Chu]

Game ball goes to Nurk, but Grayson Allen snuck up on me. I didn't realize he'd hit 8 3s; that's crazy. Allen brings a MUCH needed ball-handling and ability to run an offense to a team that sorely needs it right now. Beal had an okay debut but didn't contribute much in the second half. As others have said, he looked like he's still getting his stamina back. Eric Gordon had a really rough night; shot 1-9 including 0-8 from 3. If he hits even 40% of his shots the game is over before OT. Seemed like the length and strength of the Bulls really bothered him, or maybe he just had an off night.

Refs were letting the Bulls be really physical with us; several frustrating plays with no-calls or questionable officiating. That one woman ref seemed to blow several calls; she was not my favorite. It just seemed like overall the refs weren't keeping the game under control. I felt like Caruso in particular was allowed to basically pound and shove KD on almost every play.

Phew; tough win, shouldn't have struggled that much, but I'll take the W anyday.

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401584790

[Split T]

This was an absolutely bizarre sub in the 4th on the heels of a 9-3 Suns' run when our offense looked like it was clicking.

6:03 Eric Gordon enters the game for Grayson Allen 100 96
6:03 Josh Okogie enters the game for Keita Bates-Diop 100 96

It left us with the Goodwin Okogie combo that should rarely play together and never in crunch time.
Brought EG in the game when he clearly didn't have it.
Took out Grayson, who was on fire, and KBD who was contributing across the board.

Not sure if those two guys just needed a quick breather, but it was right after a time out.

Totally killed our flow on offense. We made one more FG in regulation from that point on. Step it up, Frank.

Must have just wanted to give them a breather. Either that or Vogel quickly realized he made a mistake. Allen came back in at 4:52 and KBD at 3:58

[TOO]

Big fan of KBD after getting inserted into the starting lineup, that length is very helpful, hopefully he can keep hitting from the corner.

[Split T]

He makes a lot of sense against certain teams. He really defended Derozan well. He could be a good option on Luka too. I do worry about what happens when we play teams like GS or Sacramento. Who guards Curry/Fox? Do we really want Beal/Book taking that on?

[O_Gardino]

Nurkic is the new Saric. The offence flows really well when we can play through him, but we flounder when he is overmatched physically.