Game Day: Suns (41-29) @ Spurs (15-55), Sat 3/23/24

[Superbone]

There is no way the end of the bench can blow a 25pt lead with 5min left right?

Right.

[Superbone]

Play IT!

Right?!

[Superbone]

I've got a little action on today's game. Wish me luck. I have no choice but to use Bovada's numbers. Here's what I need. Book 25.5+ points, Durant 24.5+ points, and Allen 3.5+ threes.

Allen with no 3s?! Sorry he let you down, man!

No worries. I don't blame him. They didn't give him any space. Luckily, I made individual bets for all three as well. Everything at $20 for a total of $80 of bets on the line. Got $74 back. So only lost 6 rather than losing 20.

[ShelC]

Postgame Quotes and Videos

Spoiler: show/hide

[ShelC]

Finally a blowout! Maybe the best we've played start to finish all year but of course it was against the Spurs. Hopefully this can be a turning point where things start to click? The team was in sync, the ball was moving and we rotated and scrambled well on defense all night. Good minutes from Bol again, Eubanks helped and was a better matchup, EG hit some shots and Allen pushed the ball well and got the rim early on. Wemby was a non-factor and Bol is getting some love on social which is fun to see.

[LazarusLong]

I don't know if Bol is actually 7'2" or if Wemby is really 7'5" because Bol looked markedly shorter than Wemby next to each other.

I did some Google research. Bol is 7-1 3/4 w'out shoes. Wemby is 7-3 1/2, so about two inches taller than BB.

[Mori Chu]

I was worried when we traded away a lot of our bench depth for Royce O'Neale. But it does seem like we've sharpened the roles for the remaining players and made the rotation (mostly) more clear. Guys like Gordon, O'Neale, Bol, Eubanks know they're going to get minutes and are ready to contribute.

I also like what I am seeing from Beal lately. He seems to get that what we need from him is not quite what he's done in the rest of his career. We need solid perimeter defense, and passing / facilitating on offense. He's trying to give us that. I'd rather see him try to bend into that role than see Book do the same. Not that Beal is much better a PG than Book, but I think the drop-off from having him do that is less than the damage doing so does to Book's game.

[Split T]

The bench depth we traded was mostly unplayable…but it also helped unleash Bol like you said. We ultimately traded Metu, Goodwin, Yuta, and KBD for Royce, Roddy, Thad, and IT and unleashed Bol in the process. Major win

[TOO]

I don't know if Bol is actually 7'2" or if Wemby is really 7'5" because Bol looked markedly shorter than Wemby next to each other.

I did some Google research. Bol is 7-1 3/4 w'out shoes. Wemby is 7-3 1/2, so about two inches taller than BB.

The discrepancy seems much larger.

[TOO]

The bench depth we traded was mostly unplayable…but it also helped unleash Bol like you said. We ultimately traded Metu, Goodwin, Yuta, and KBD for Royce, Roddy, Thad, and IT and unleashed Bol in the process. Major win

I know it was total junk time but Thad looked much more mobile than he did his previous outing.

[TOO]

I was worried when we traded away a lot of our bench depth for Royce O'Neale. But it does seem like we've sharpened the roles for the remaining players and made the rotation (mostly) more clear. Guys like Gordon, O'Neale, Bol, Eubanks know they're going to get minutes and are ready to contribute.

I also like what I am seeing from Beal lately. He seems to get that what we need from him is not quite what he's done in the rest of his career. We need solid perimeter defense, and passing / facilitating on offense. He's trying to give us that. I'd rather see him try to bend into that role than see Book do the same. Not that Beal is much better a PG than Book, but I think the drop-off from having him do that is less than the damage doing so does to Book's game.

Now if they can get away from KD being the defacto back up PG when Book and Beal sit they could start making some real noise.

[Split T]

There should never be any minutes with both Beal and Book on the bench

[TOO]

There should never be any minutes with both Beal and Book on the bench

You are correct, but we get KD/Gordon/Bol/Eubanks mystery man pretty much every game.

[Split T]

Ya I never understood that

[bajanguy008]

Good stuff

This was one of my favorite Grayson games. Fitting it comes against the Spurs also because Pop was running our shooters off the 3pt line all back since 7secs or Less

We've had some guys who would not be as dangerous in those situations when having to dribble drive but that's what keeps my belief up for Grayson impact. It's impossible to try take away the others and the Big 3 too but those driving opportunities gonna be always there, he's shown the ability to both drive and dish or finish so this bodes well

[bajanguy008]

My boy Brad.....



He said it from the press conference about it being Book n KD's team, that he about doing the little things and look forward to playing meaningful games.

Most have realized that he's usually the one giving the Real Talk sound bytes from the locker room/ practice so full respect to him for adjusting how he's been looking to impact games

[Superbone]

Durant: "I love playing. I don't really be tripping, but it's always good to see us play good, solid ball from 1st quarter to the 4th."

I see the problem here. Notice how he says to the 4th and not through the 4th? Sometimes the solution to an issue is very simple.

[Superbone]

Bradley Beal has averaged 8.2 AST per game his last 6 games, and had a season high 12 AST tonight.

He's only taken 23 shots in the last 3 games compared to 28 AST, and he deserves a lot more credit for being such an unselfish team player

I agree with this but like I've been saying, he needs to shoot the ball when he's open and not be too unselfish. Basically, he needs to make the right play. Same for KD. All three including Book need to be offensively aggressive when they have an open shot but pass off when they don't. Make. The Right. Play!

[Split T]

Durant: "I love playing. I don't really be tripping, but it's always good to see us play good, solid ball from 1st quarter to the 4th."

I see the problem here. Notice how he says to the 4th and not through the 4th? Sometimes the solution to an issue is very simple.

Well we didn’t play the starters in the 4th

[Superbone]