Game Day: Suns (14-13) @ Nuggets (15-11), Mon 12/23/24

[Superbone]

Time: 8:00 pm AZ (7:00 pm PT/10:00 pm ET)
Place: Ball Arena, Denver, CO
TV: AZ Family 3TV/NBALP

Are you ready?! Are you ready to get embarrassed yet again? Outworked and outhustled? Should be a lot of fun. Not! Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

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

Go Suns!!!

Dis • cuss

[TOO]

Nuggets by 40.

[ShelC]

Nuggets played last night, might be a little taxed. Nurk tends to get up for Joker and can play him tough. They don't have a lot of athleticism but we need to matchup with MPJ and Gordon. I think we can keep this one close, maybe even get a nice win. Of course if we let Murray go off for 40 or Strawther/Braun get 20+ each...

[Superbone]

Nuggets by 40.

Only after they go up 55 and the scrubs are in do we pull it back to 40.

[Superbone]

Nuggets played last night, might be a little taxed. Nurk tends to get up for Joker and can play him tough. They don't have a lot of athleticism but we need to matchup with MPJ and Gordon. I think we can keep this one close, maybe even get a nice win. Of course if we let Murray go off for 40 or Strawther/Braun get 20+ each...

If it's like every other game, Denver will score on every possession down the court. Whether it's first or second or third attempt. Plus, we'll give them an extra 20 attempts.

[Superbone]

I don't sound bitter, do I?

[Superbone]

Since I'm a glutton for punishment, I'll probably watch late tonight after I get back from Tucson with family for Christmas Eve Eve. Cheers!

[Mori Chu]

I'm going to hate-watch this and hope that, win or lose, we get one game closer to figuring out how to fix this team. It will be awkward if they blow us out since we are going to rematch them again in 2 days for the Christmas Day NBA showcase. Although our game is the last of the night and maybe nobody will be up watching by then.

[ShelC]

Worst case is an early blowout, which will start the "Has Bud lost the lockerroom" convos same as last year.

[specialsauce]

We blamed the coaching staff last year and replaced them all. Nothing has changed. It's the roster makeup. We desperately need a shake up

[ShelC]

Bud and Vogel are two sides of the same coin IMO but the roster does suck. I think you'd need a real hardass who the players would respect to get the most out of it. I don't think Vogel or Bud fit that bill.

[TOO]

Bud and Vogel are two sides of the same coin IMO but the roster does suck. I think you'd need a real hardass who the players would respect to get the most out of it. I don't think Vogel or Bud fit that bill.

Your Bud hate is hilarious. That dude has been successful everywhere he's been. It's the roster, not the coach.

[Wally_West]

Play Ryan Dunn 30mins. No Book, no Grayson. Play Dunn 30mins idc if he ends up with 5 fouls and 1/7 from 3. Play the man.

Thank you.

[Split T]

Maybe we should’ve kept Monty haha…I too am on the side that this is a player issue. 3 really good coaches have not been able to make the Book/KD pairing work. Monty had the least amount of time and the worst roster construction around them…but he did at least get us to round 2 and a 2-2 tie on the eventual champs.

We’ll see what Bud does, but anything short of a competive WCF appearance and this team needs to be torn down. I wouldn’t be opposed to a small tear down this year if we can’t get Jimmy.

[specialsauce]

Bud and Vogel are two sides of the same coin IMO but the roster does suck. I think you'd need a real hardass who the players would respect to get the most out of it. I don't think Vogel or Bud fit that bill.

Your Bud hate is hilarious. That dude has been successful everywhere he's been. It's the roster, not the coach.

100% the players

[Wally_West]

Bud and Vogel are two sides of the same coin IMO but the roster does suck. I think you'd need a real hardass who the players would respect to get the most out of it. I don't think Vogel or Bud fit that bill.

Your Bud hate is hilarious. That dude has been successful everywhere he's been. It's the roster, not the coach.

This. You could tell early on Vogel was fuckin dork tho, the signs were all there, my dumbass was blind to them but they became clear by December. This year, for me, feels more like roster issues and trade speculation fuckin up the vibe.

You saw early on all the different line ups and combos, Bud was playing with, the different buttons he was trying to push, but right now it, it feels like he played all the cards he has and now we just wait for the trades to shake things up.

Maybe Book and KD are too in love with each other and not in love with the game of basketball enough.

[ShelC]

Bud's a fine coach but not the best coach for this roster. I'd be fine with him if we didn't have Nurk, Beal or KD.

[Split T]

The big differences for me last year to this year…

1. Got too small…we were borderline too small last year, but switched out Grayson for Tyus. That shifted Book/Beal to the 2/3 defensively instead of 1/2. The Tyus/Nurk pnr defensive combo is especially rough.

2. Nurk played a more important playmaking role in the offense that has been mostly taken from him. Now he’s just a screen and roll man and he’s the worst roll man in the league amongst starting 5s. No one guards him and he still can’t do anything. He’s a useless offensive player. I think our offense would actually be pretty great if we had just a solid roll man. Imagine Daniel Gafford instead of Nurk. We’d have an elite offense.

That’s it. I know we get frustrated by some dumb turnovers at times, but turnovers are down. We are actually top 10 in the league in turnovers…so while yes, KD and Nurk make some dumb turnovers, it’s not like last year. Tyus and Monte have helped. Booker also does not turn the ball over much.

[Wally_West]

The big differences for me last year to this year…

1. Got too small…we were borderline too small last year, but switched out Grayson for Tyus. That shifted Book/Beal to the 2/3 defensively instead of 1/2. The Tyus/Nurk pnr defensive combo is especially rough.

2. Nurk played a more important playmaking role in the offense that has been mostly taken from him. Now he’s just a screen and roll man and he’s the worst roll man in the league amongst starting 5s. No one guards him and he still can’t do anything. He’s a useless offensive player. I think our offense would actually be pretty great if we had just a solid roll man. Imagine Daniel Gafford instead of Nurk. We’d have an elite offense.

That’s it. I know we get frustrated by some dumb turnovers at times, but turnovers are down. We are actually top 10 in the league in turnovers…so while yes, KD and Nurk make some dumb turnovers, it’s not like last year. Tyus and Monte have helped. Booker also does not turn the ball over much.

This. Our center group might be the worst in league. Nurk outside of few good sequences, actively was the reason why other teams went on big runs against us all season. Plumlee and Oso are flawed but at least they bust their asses. Just having a perfectly mid center would go a long.

I know people don’t like him for the injury history but Robert Williams would just be so great for this team. He’s an elite defensive big man, idk if there is a realistic center trade target that would match what he could do for this team. I rather play the risk vs reward game with Robert Williams for a whole season than another season of Nurk’s bs.

[Cap]

Nuggets by 40.

Suns by 25.

It’s the most direct route to Denver.