Game Day: Suns (9-3) @ Thunder (10-2), Fri 11/15/24

[specialsauce]

So everyone can easily shut down Hollywood Devin, but God forbid we take SGA out the game and make the rest of the whack ass Thunder beat us

[specialsauce]

Yall keep overreacting to Book’s season

Those numbers include his player of the week or whatever hot stretch. He's been a bit garbage since just before KD went down.

"Excuse his garbage ass start because he always starts out hot garbage"

[LazarusLong]

Not understanding why Nurkic played so much against a quick team.
His size helped only with the opening tip.
He was blocked at the rim or stripped of the ball in the paint about a half-dozen times.

[Superbone]

Not understanding why Nurkic played so much against a quick team.
His size helped only with the opening tip.
He was blocked at the rim or stripped of the ball in the paint about a half-dozen times.

And also Plumlee didn't play a second.

[ShelC]

Don't even know where to start with this one. Yea we're down KD, Beal and Allen but that's still no excuse for not showing up. Bud was grasping for straws midway thru the 1st. I think starting Okogie was a mistake. I don't know why he didn't play Plumlee at all. No off-ball action for Book to quickly catch and shoot/score; instead it's PnR at the top of the key where he's doubled 35ft from the basket. OKC lost Holmgren and SGA is their only real threat, but he does what he wants with no doubling and they fly around with 5 guys under 6-6 shutting teams down. Why don't Dunn, Okogie, Allen and Monte fly around doubling and recovering like that?

Overreaction: We were never as good as our 9-1 record, just had KD winning close games for us. This team feels like last year's except things have broken our way a few more times in the 4th. Vibes have been off since the KD trade and Monty was fired. Book and Monty had a connection and Monty brought out the best in him, now Book looks like he's dealing with some substitute teachers. I don't think he's fully bought in on Bud.

[ShelC]

Postgame Quotes and Videos

Spoiler: show/hide

OKC Thunder highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gtl2QLvtUsI

[bajanguy008]

Well I made my long post in the Kings thread regarding my thoughts on Book needing to find ways to navigate traps and also Bud and the offense having better wrinkles to help him.
Last night was brutal again and not too sure bout this sound byte...
..

[Mori Chu]

Don't even know where to start with this one. Yea we're down KD, Beal and Allen but that's still no excuse for not showing up. Bud was grasping for straws midway thru the 1st. I think starting Okogie was a mistake. I don't know why he didn't play Plumlee at all. No off-ball action for Book to quickly catch and shoot/score; instead it's PnR at the top of the key where he's doubled 35ft from the basket. OKC lost Holmgren and SGA is their only real threat, but he does what he wants with no doubling and they fly around with 5 guys under 6-6 shutting teams down. Why don't Dunn, Okogie, Allen and Monte fly around doubling and recovering like that?

Overreaction: We were never as good as our 9-1 record, just had KD winning close games for us. This team feels like last year's except things have broken our way a few more times in the 4th. Vibes have been off since the KD trade and Monty was fired. Book and Monty had a connection and Monty brought out the best in him, now Book looks like he's dealing with some substitute teachers. I don't think he's fully bought in on Bud.

We're not as good as 9-1 and not as bad as we've been on this stretch. Any team will struggle if you take away 2 of its best 3 players. We'll get through this.

[Superbone]

Don't even know where to start with this one. Yea we're down KD, Beal and Allen but that's still no excuse for not showing up. Bud was grasping for straws midway thru the 1st. I think starting Okogie was a mistake. I don't know why he didn't play Plumlee at all. No off-ball action for Book to quickly catch and shoot/score; instead it's PnR at the top of the key where he's doubled 35ft from the basket. OKC lost Holmgren and SGA is their only real threat, but he does what he wants with no doubling and they fly around with 5 guys under 6-6 shutting teams down. Why don't Dunn, Okogie, Allen and Monte fly around doubling and recovering like that?

Overreaction: We were never as good as our 9-1 record, just had KD winning close games for us. This team feels like last year's except things have broken our way a few more times in the 4th. Vibes have been off since the KD trade and Monty was fired. Book and Monty had a connection and Monty brought out the best in him, now Book looks like he's dealing with some substitute teachers. I don't think he's fully bought in on Bud.

We're not as good as 9-1 and not as bad as we've been on this stretch. Any team will struggle if you take away 2 of its best 3 players. We'll get through this.

One way or another.

[djy2j]

Scheduled loss but Nurkic is unplayable. Teams want him to shoot and we're playing into their strategy. Guy can't even make a 2 ft shot.

[ShelC]

I think he still holds value against teams with legit centers. He shouldn't have been out there last night.

[Superbone]

I think he still holds value against teams with legit centers. He shouldn't have been out there last night.

I think Plumlee would have been a better fit last night. I think Bud was off on that one. But maybe we're showcasing Nurk or something. If that's the case, he didn't show well!

[ShelC]

I think everyone knows what Nurkic is and isn't.

[TOO]

I think everyone knows what Nurkic is and isn't.

Handsome and athletic?

[Superbone]

Overreaction: We were never as good as our 9-1 record, just had KD winning close games for us. This team feels like last year's except things have broken our way a few more times in the 4th. Vibes have been off since the KD trade and Monty was fired. Book and Monty had a connection and Monty brought out the best in him, now Book looks like he's dealing with some substitute teachers. I don't think he's fully bought in on Bud.

I know it's an overreaction but I was with you until the last sentence and a half. Something is off with Booker as he seems to have lost his edge but he has earned the time to turn it around. He will be monitored closely by us all, as we have seen, but I hope he turns it around and gets back to the old aggressive Booker and away from passive Booker. That may work with the Olympic team of great players but we need Superstar Book to step up like he has in the past. Especially with Beal and KD out.

And I don't think your event timetable is very accurate. Book had periods of complacency with both Chris Paul and KD while Monty was still coaching. I agree that he didn't connect with Vogel but I'm not ready to say he hasn't fully bought into Bud yet. Plus, Book is responsible for his own play anyway unless the coaches are specifically telling him otherwise which I have a hard time believing.

[Wally_West]

Book clearly bought into Bud’s system. His struggles are clearly from adjusting to it. Hes shooting way more 3s, his middy almost all disappeared.

Im not saying hes not struggling but it’s crazy hearing people talk like hes not gonna get better and be his old self again. Like how shit he’s playing currently is permanent. That is just crazy. There’s no reason to believe hes going to be playing like ass all year. This type of shit literally happens every year with the same type of post asking what’s wrong with him then he’s goes off.

We’re a top heavy team missing their top players, in a system that depends on 3s with it’s current players is a shooting slump. Yeah it looks terrible. Might keep looking terrible for a few more games but that’s the NBA.


And yeah, I do believe we are as good as that 9-1 team look. Not saying we gonna win the west but that doesn’t mean when healthy we ain’t a top team in the west still. We clearly are, Bud is a great coach and players are buying in. Healthy KD and Book, a WCF birth wouldn’t be surprising at all. I think OKC is in a tier by themselves but we are, imo, in the second tier behind them with a few other team.

[SunsRIt]

Well I made my long post in the Kings thread regarding my thoughts on Book needing to find ways to navigate traps and also Bud and the offense having better wrinkles to help him.
Last night was brutal again and not too sure bout this sound byte...
..

Are you kidding me Booker? I left those in my early years?? I’m not in the business to score on double and triple teams?? Isn’t that what a maxed out team leader is supposed to do? I’m really close to being done with this guy.

[Ring_Wanted]

Booker struggled (always has) against traps because he plays like he has the handles and the first step of a top iso player, but he just does not. Or the strength to bully his way to the basket.

His best option when two defenders come to him is to never never 'play it cool' and let them come, don't let them get in position. Just receive, put the ball on the floor and go straight to the basket. If they are coming at half court when he is the one handling the ball, make a quick pass, explode to the basket and have the receiver give it back to Book fast while he is in movement.

It's a matter of awareness, knowing your limitations and anticipating because teams are going to keep throwing doubles at him, specially without the other two stars.

Also, and this is on the coach, when Booker is having these bad nights, a good way to try to get out of it is to have him play off the ball a little; let the PG handle and have something run so he just needs to catch and shoot. Instead of trying to be Kobe, play like Ray Allen for a while.

It's also true (but not an excuse) that at the beginning of the game he was making good passes to open guys who just couldn't make any shots. Had they hit threes at a normal rate, probably OKC changes they defensive strat. But it was what it was and this is a terrific opportunity to learn some much needed lessons if they are serious about contending.

[Ring_Wanted]

Also, we just can't go to war with Nurkic as our best center. We just can't have the largest guy on the floor be nullified by athleticism and quickness if we want to go far in the playoffs. I was not aware of any injuries to Plumlee, but if he was available, he should have played the bulk of the C minutes. Oso is interesting to develop but right now he is not ready (although his floater feel as authomatic as Richaun Holmes' and I envision it as a pretty good weapon against certain defenses).

I know some guys here don't like to talk about trade scenarios, but at some point we must entertain upgrading. Considering the limitations from the second apron, probably our best chance is using Allen (whose value is decreasing along with his 3pt% btw) for a big who, if not overall better than Nurk, at least is more athletic and can finish (seriously, we have zero tools to play pick and roll and that's a huge gap come crunch time); then depending on what you can find, moving also Nurkic for athleticism at forward.

[ShelC]

Good points about Book.

I'd still keep Nurk for the time being but I think Bud needs to implement a center-by-committee approach. Some nights it'll be Nurk, some nights Plumlee, some Oso. They all need to accept it and understand that there might be games where they might not play. And I still think Allen for Stewart makes sense for us provided we can trust Dunn, Royce and now Okogie to hold up their 3pt shooting.