Game Day: Hornets (8-27) @ Suns (18-19), Sun 1/12/25

[Superbone]

Time: 7:00 pm AZ (6:00 pm PT/9:00 pm ET)
Place: Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ
TV: AZ Family 3TV, NBALP

Can we make it three wins in a row and four out of our last five?! If we want to have any hopes of making the playoffs, now is when we need to make a push. The Hornets haven't played since they beat us in Charlotte due to LA wildfire postponements. Their first two games of a five game road trip were affected. They finally hit the court again tonight against YOUR Phoenix Suns. Suns should have revenge on their minds. One player to keep an eye on is potential Nurkic trade target Nick Richards, or as RW likes to call him, Nick Smith.

https://www.nba.com/gamenotes/hornets.pdf
https://www.nba.com/gamenotes/suns.pdf

Go Suns!!!

Dis • cuss

[Mori Chu]

No way we can contend with the sheer mass of talent Charlotte is putting out there. Hornets by 20.

Reverse jinx incoming babyyyy!!

[Mori Chu]

In all seriousness, though we still suck, it is interesting to see some of the trends in the last few games where we've played better and gotten some wins. Some not-so-novel observations:

- Booker has been playing a lot better. Maybe his best stretch of the season so far. That has been huge so that we aren't reliant on just dumping the ball in to KD every possession.

- Grayson Allen is way, way better than he was playing for most of the season. Unclear if it's because he is finally getting back to normal after the birth of his child, or if it's health-related, or maybe it's just that he is getting more minutes with Royce O'Neale out. What will we do once Royce comes back?

- Playing the rookies a big chunk of minutes has been an unabashed success. It seemed like Coach did this during the first ~ 10 games of the season (almost all of which we won), and then he sort of went away from Dunn and Oso after that. Coincidentally we started losing almost all of our games around that time. Now the rooks are back heavily in the rotation and voila, we have much better energy and are playing better. Keep playing both of them please Bud?

- Beal off the bench seems to be a good change. Beal has put up very good numbers in this new role as a microwave scorer off the bench rather than trying to play off of Book/KD and set them up. I have wanted this for us for a long time and think we should stick with it.

- Nurk isn't playing, and we are playing better. Nuff said. Don't come back, Jusuck. Just don't play this guy any more.

- Despite all of the above nice positive signs, overall we still basically suck. Our defense is poodoo and our offense too often is still about watching KD or Book cook on iso plays. I would like to see them sustain and build on these good recent changes, but in no way do I think this team is on track to become a scary playoff opponent. I still very much want them to big changes, trade KD, blow it up, etc.

[Ring_Wanted]

Jusuck

hahaha

[Superbone]

Who here this summer would have thought our late first round rookie would be starting for this team?! Pretty cool and a testament to Ryan Dunn. Also, a huge win for Jones and our scouting department.

There are actually a couple holes that if we could fill, would go a long way to making us a much more competitive and winning basketball team.

• 1. Cut way down on the stupid, careless turnovers. Yes, I'm looking at you, Kevin Wayne Durant! Also, stop making cross court passes and trying to thread the needle on pick and rolls.
  
  2. Box out your man! Stop allowing multiple opportunities for our opponents to score. This applies to the whole team.

[ShelC]

The crosscourt passes are just disgusting. Pretty much the whole team is guilty of it.

And I'm going to (try to) count how many times KD doesn't box out tonight.

Even going back to SL, you could see Dunn and Oso were at least competent basketball players who could contribute. They weren't projects, weren't overwhelmed by the speed of the game or needing to get stronger. Even in that setting and with their offensive limitations, these two stood out. I only wish Bud integrated them into the lineup/rotation sooner. I'm sure the veteran names/salaries played a part and Bud needed to finesse things a bit but hopefully now he really leans into them.

[Superbone]

Jusuck

hahaha

Did you notice your mention in my first post?

[Ring_Wanted]

Jusuck

hahaha

Did you notice your mention in my first post?

Yes!

[Superbone]

Jusuck

hahaha

Did you notice your mention in my first post?

Yes!

Ha ha. Just having fun with you.

[Ring_Wanted]

Jusuck

hahaha

Did you notice your mention in my first post?

Yes!

Ha ha. Just having fun with you.

Haha all good!

[Wally_West]

Nurk is out, huh?

Does Nick Richards even leave Phoenix tonight?

[Superbone]

Ooh. O'Neale back. Nice. Although how it affects Grayson will be interesting.

[ShelC]

Not just Grayson but also Dunn. Would hate to see Bud cut back on Dunn's minutes. Or it gives Bud another option to go super small at the 4 spot with Royce.

[Superbone]

[Kryptonic]

Nurk is out, huh?

Does Nick Richards even leave Phoenix tonight?

Illness…. Yea, sure bud. lol

[TOO]

Nurk is out, huh?

Does Nick Richards even leave Phoenix tonight?

Illness…. Yea, sure bud. lol

Suns are sick of his shit. Definitely ill.

[Mori Chu]

It sounds like Nurkic really does have the flu. It's that time of year. I actually hope we rest Royce unless he's certain he's back to 100%. I don't like players rushing back from ankle injuries because they usually tweak it again.

[Cap]

You don’t get the flu, the flu gets you.

[specialsauce]

It sounds like Nurkic really does have the flu. It's that time of year. I actually hope we rest Royce unless he's certain he's back to 100%. I don't like players rushing back from ankle injuries because they usually tweak it again.

I really really hope they hold Royce out until he's 100%, then one additional game to ensure he never gets injured again

[Cap]

It sounds like Nurkic really does have the flu. It's that time of year. I actually hope we rest Royce unless he's certain he's back to 100%. I don't like players rushing back from ankle injuries because they usually tweak it again.

I really really hope they hold Royce out until he's 100%, then one additional game to ensure he never gets injured again

And one more after that to change the timeline and erase his previous injuries from history.

And one more after that to injure Pat Beverly.

Watching this game is going to be like seeing how long you can hold your hand over a flame.