Game Day: Suns (42-30) @ Nuggets (51-21), Wed 3/27/24

[Superbone]

Suns' bench made the difference.
21 rebounds combined from Young, O'Neale and Bol.
All bench players in the plus column for +/-.
Suns' bench outscored Denver's 29-15.

My favorite play of the game and biggest smile was when Young skied for a rebound in the 4th taking it alway from Gordon. I had no idea he could still jump like that.

You really need to clarify Gordon’s lol…. From Eric Gordon? Not impressed…. Aaron Gordon, now that’s impressive!

Does this answer your question? And note the Gordon on Gordon action right under the basket.

[virtual9mm]

Lol, this team makes absolutely no sense at all.

I think they are checked out with regular season stuff, only the postseason matters. They get up for the big games...sometimes.

It bodes well for the playoffs. But can they really turn on the jets that easily?

[Split T]

They rarely checked in for the regular season

[ShelC]

Much needed win. You could tell the team came to play and stayed locked in. We had that bounce in our step, the Nuggets didn't. Murray was out so that affected things for them and it's still frustrating seeing the team play like this after dogging it against the Spurs. They're capable of playing this well every night, so what's stopping them? Really good Thad minutes, he brings a different dynamic with his length and skillset. Vogel would be wise to work him into the rotation.

[Split T]

This was our first win without Nurk, right?

[ShelC]

Postgame Quotes and Videos

Spoiler: show/hide

[Mori Chu]

This was a nice win. One of our best wire-to-wire games of the season. KD had a wonderful game. Book and Beal couldn't really find their shot, but they did a great job distributing (9 and 7 assists respectively) and we made things work. The much-maligned Eubanks had a really solid game and actually gave Jokic a bit of a challenge; the Eubanks haters have been unfair to the guy, IMO. Our bench also really showed up: Eric Gordon had 10, Bol Bol hit two 3s, Thad Young finally got a real shot and really filled the stat sheet with 6 points, 9 big rebounds, and 2 assists.

[bajanguy008]

Good stuff
I've been as optimistic as any but I not gonna lie, I had a post for the Spurs thread that I kept editing taking forever to properly express my disappointment but Alas
The page timed out so back to regular schedule programming lol

I keep saying that I trust this playoff rotation (top 8) more than last year's group and maybe I'm just still hanging on to how awesome Book was before he tweaked his ankle last Playoffs and then how easy it was to just leave our role players open......
I just think we have more solid guys and can put together a run

It's one thing to play hard but know that the guys are limited and you just hoping they find the bucket
Right now we have more talent but just lack of focus so I'm gonna keep believing that once they lock in, results should come and again games like this keep my Glass Half full mindset

[bajanguy008]

Player wise
I mentioned Top 8 above but glad to see the other guys play well also

I was on the Thad is a smart vet who Bball IQ would benefit us even if he's old now but ohhh man, couldn't fault those who wondered y we even signed. Happy to see he still can be effective and it was so clear that the guys were ready to give him on the short roll but still don't trust Eubanks there.....
Sigh

Man I don't even have to say anything about Bol
Such an awesome development

Of the regulars
I'm gonna reference it again, Grayson being effective when he doesn't have 5+ makes from behind the arc is a great sign. Numbers might not jump off the screen but his getting in the lane and making something happen when teams desperately trying to take away the 3 is good stuff

Brad was inefficient but dude just keeps battling
Gotta respect it
I didn't watch ESPN feed so he was the post-game interview on Suns and basically said he really didn't pass all the requirements to play as the hand is far from ideal but felt he could still help

[Superbone]

This was our first win without Nurk, right?

Yup.

[Superbone]

I was glad to hear that Vogel "got on their ass." These guys need to be held accountable.

[AmareIsGod]

Bol Bol continues to blow me away. Can we keep him? I'd love for him to return and see more consistent minutes.

[AmareIsGod]

Answers my question!

https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2024 ... x-suns-nba

[Wally_West]

Thad Young > Ewwwbanks

[Wally_West]

[Split T]

Answers my question!

https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2024 ... x-suns-nba

I think it’s slightly below but this paints a pretty good picture. I think Bol was on a 2-way his first year and I don’t think that counts towards his years in the league. So he’s slightly under 3 million(2.9). I also think we are limited to 5% raises for him.

[Mori Chu]

Thad Young > Ewwwbanks

+/- is pretty misleading here. Eubanks got his minutes defending Jokic, while Thad Young mostly got to play against Denver's very questionable bench. I thought both bigs played really well last night; no need to slam Eubanks in order to praise Thad.

[Mori Chu]

Answers my question!

https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2024 ... x-suns-nba

I think it’s slightly below but this paints a pretty good picture. I think Bol was on a 2-way his first year and I don’t think that counts towards his years in the league. So he’s slightly under 3 million(2.9). I also think we are limited to 5% raises for him.

The gist of the linked article is, we can only offer him 120% of the minimum for a player with his experience level, which is $3.1m. That isn't great, and he can get more than that on the FA market. But if he stayed one more year in PHX, we could then offer him a much bigger raise. So a possible hack would be, offer him a 2-year deal with a player option for the second year. If he plays well as expected, he could opt out after the first year and get a much bigger contract from us.

[Split T]

Yes that’s correct..I was just saying they say he’s a 6 year player, but he’s only a 5th year player. So it’s 2.9 million instead of 3.1 million. That’s all..

I don’t know that Bol is going to get a big offer though. Someone would probably offer him more than the minimum but perhaps he will take a 1 year discount that we can pay him back for in year 2.

[Superbone]

► Show Spoiler

Thad Young > Ewwwbanks

Somebody has to teach Young that you have to bat out those rebounds to nobody in particular.