Kevin Durant Slam Caps Off Suns Win Over Bucks Plus Frank Vogel Doesn’t Think Suns Need a Trade

Kevin Durant Slam Caps Off Suns Win Over Bucks Plus Frank Vogel Doesn’t Think Suns Need a Trade

The Phoenix Suns took care of business against an injured Milwaukee Bucks Squad at home on Tuesday night on national TV on today’s episode of lock on suns a strong fourth quarter The Big Three all show out why this win checked all the boxes you would want to see from the

Suns let’s go you are locked on suns your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your te Team every Day we are back this is locked on Phoenix Suns we are part of the locked on podcast Network I’m your host Brendan clean a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons writer ATS suns.com and the host of the just basketball show wherever you get

Your podcast a big thank you for making locked on suns your first listen post game after a big win 114 to 106 over the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis a TMO wherever you’re finding the show if you have not done so already please hit follow or subscribe we are free and

Available everywhere including YouTube just hit that button get a new show in your feed every Monday through Friday become an everyday get locked on to the Phoenix Suns all season long right here with the show today’s episode brought to you by prize picks the best place to play daily fantasy sports go to

Prize.com lockon NBA use the code locked on NBA all lowercase for a first deposit match up to $100 moment of the game as we always kick things off with 8 minutes 55 seconds left to go Kevin Durant catches the ball at the top of the key top of the arc drives it

Into the help defense in the paint where janisan TMO awaits him and what does Kevin Durant do Rises up and puts Giannis on a poster I tweeted this and I don’t know how much of a joke it actually was it’s a joke in that I don’t mean it in a in a

In a disrespectful way but it kind of sounds like it I mean it in the greatest way which is that Durant to me that might have been the moment he became a Phoenix Sun when you just sort of look at how the Suns how high they’re

Riding right now as a team seven and three in their last 10 games really cruising since the big three have been healthy and of course the history of that moment the 2021 finals and even separately the 2021 second round I’m sure you don’t need me to

Remind you but that Nets team that KD was on very easily could have been the team that faced the suns in the finals That season if not for you know some bad luck with a foot on the line and everything else so to to rise up in that moment and and just sort

Of you didn’t need to do that right I mean he had an open three he could have pulled up from mid-range or floater range and instead he think he understood what that moment was going to be and he finishes the play and certainly that moment was there what

I what I want to say about that moment too though is is where it came in the fourth quarter that was exactly what the Suns needed they outscore the Bucks 33 to 31 sorry 35 to 33 so a two-point margin of victory in that quarter specifically and another strong fourth quarter

Their recent stretch of doing that you know Washington they lose it by two but fairly strong even against Atlanta they only lost it by four Brooklyn they lost it by three Miami they lost it by 13 so I don’t want to get ahead of anything maybe it’s just too much to ask

For this team to be the 2020 2 version where in these moments they were just Killers but I think there’s also something to be said when you know you easily could have had a double- digit victory tonight you beat Washington by 28 you beat Brooklyn by 16 you beat by Miami by

13 where you know even in in that loss to Indiana they lose that fourth quarter by 11 and they still only lose by too if you’re going to win the first three quarters by this much and you at least get to a point where the mental issues

And the silly mistakes are gone in the fourth quarter that’s livable I do think this can sometimes come across as an excuse but in this case I don’t think it is the tons are also getting a lot of opponent’s best game right I mean Atlanta’s playing well period

But whether it’s Atlanta or Orlando or Indiana Dallas Chicago before that for a lot of teams the suns are a measuring stick game and they’ve been that for a few years but I think especially with the super team stuff now it’s like all right we got the Suns on the calendar I don’t

Think the Bucks need this you know their season’s in a little I don’t want to say a tail spin but some some some chaos right now so maybe not them but but a lot of these other teams it’s like you know the the Blazers a month or two ago when they

Beat the Suns it’s like yeah you you get the aame of of whoever you’re playing so when it does get to these fourth quarters and maybe the Suns do take their foot off the gas or you know other teams put their best lineups in when the suns are just playing their normal

Rotation and an effort to try to come back those all sound again it’s not an excuse but it is just a way to explain hey they’re winning anyway you you know if I go back to January 11th when they beat the clipp when they beat the Lakers

And I think that can be looked at as a turning point in the season Beal finally has a big game they get the monkey off their back so to speak of the Lakers bad matchup and since then they only have three losses they have I believe 11 wins

So that’s that that dunk is the moment of the game because of the history recently that went into it with Durant with the Suns against that Milwaukee team it’s also Durant dunking which I had this stat a while ago and I am having trouble finding it um right here

Again uh I don’t yeah I I’m not seeing dunks total I don’t know where I found that there it is he has now I think he had two tonight 49 he has 4 9 dunks on the season he has not had that many since he tore the

Achilles and we’re only 44 games in for for him 44 games played and he’s already Way Beyond any of his Brooklyn Seasons so all of that plus an exclamation point on a fourth quarter that once again showed that they’re not just going to collapse every game at the end

Anymore let’s talk about the big three finding a balance and showing frankly how simple it can be a lot of nights when all three of them have it going I want to do one thing first though longtime viewers on YouTube you will know that that I have

Some Decor back here on my wall behind me that not all of you love I’ve taken it down from its prominent location it’s typically hiding behind my back now so I don’t get the comments but tonight it calls for something special so just one second that is my anisan TMO Jersey it

Is in fact signed which is why I keep it I understand you guys don’t like that tonight it is getting crumpled and it is going into the trash can it’s over he doesn’t deserve it he takes the L throw that down there and that’s what he

Gets on to the big three and how they are finding their groove first Today’s Show brought to you by Nissan are you the kind of driver that likes to push things a little further do you ever wonder what Adventure could be around the next Corner well our friends at Nissan have a

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Range turnovers were a little bit High 10 compared to eight assists weird game for the Suns I mean lowc scoring overall in in general compared to most modern NBA games but also low assists low three-pointers but that’s that’s why I said the two-point percentage first Durant 10 of 16 from two Beal

Eight of 14 from two book 10 of 15 from Two and all three guys got to the line at least five times the Bucks were without Brook Lopez in this game they were also without Chris Middleton who is a can be an impactful Defender and I believe was guarding book early

Maybe could have been a guy to guard Durant you had to have Jay Crowder play 40 minutes and Beasley play 36 and Giannis play 39 so look I’m not going to overreact to beating this version of Milwaukee from a defensive standpoint and say that it was some sort of massive

Effort but that’s actually the point here this sort of became a take care of business type of game and the Sun had a weird first half everybody was cold and they score a 66 in the second half to take home the victory Milwaukee was actually up one at

Halftime and that’s the other aspect of this game is in particular Durant and Beal had a very quiet first half actually I didn’t I didn’t pull the numbers of exactly what it was at what it was at halftime but I know Beal in particular was four of 14 at one point

Meaning he closed the game six of eight from the field I want to say Durant was somewhere similar book had it going early helped steady the offense early on when they needed that and the other two guys really took it home the Suns as a team had 50 points

In the paint they had 14 fast break points but more importantly 23 points off of turnovers again the Bucks did not have their full team but the Bucks are supposed to be the team that’s a dominant transition Squad the suns were that tonight so that’s how simple this can be

The the the the opponent whoever it is not just the Bucks tonight but these teams you can already feel can already see they’re just trying stuff they are just throwing things at the wall at this point against the Suns it’s obvious that there are no good answers

Again it’s Robin Lopez playing in this game it is a lot of Malik Beasley it is a lot of campaign I get it but take whatever game you want from the recent past nobody has had an answer for this Sun’s team they’ve scored at least 110 points now in every game since Monday

January 1st when they scored 109 the last time before that would have been a month before that game where they scored 105 uh 106 I should say against the Lakers they had a the Portland game was 109 as well um so both Portland games Portland has a good

Defense but it’s getting to the point where it is just incredibly hard to really quiet down this Sun’s offense everything was trending toward it being one of the nights where they might first half they were in the 30s field goal percentage wise two of their three stars were not in Rhythm you can

See a broken down Milwaukee team when Middleton leaves early and all these guys are already out and you know the fourth quarter is looming as a as a Bugaboo for this team and yet uh yeah I did just say Bugaboo I’ve had people comment before on YouTube did he really

Say Bugaboo yeah it’s a goofy word I’m not saying it every day that’s just the best word to use sorry but it wasn’t any of those things they just snapped their fingers and sort of figured it out this team now on the season is sixth in offense they’re

Fourth in offense in the past two weeks and that includes tonight’s game the Bucks try to Zone not going to work we’ve seen teams Blitz doesn’t really work we’ve seen teams try to switch but if the Suns run the right pick and roll combinations typically including Durant or

Nurkic that’s not a winning winning formula we’ve yet to really see something outside of the Suns beating themselves that can really slow this offense down that is why after tonight’s games they are sixth in the west still but but effectively tied in the standings with the Kings and significantly ahead of

Sacramento when it comes to average Point differential they’re now not too far away from Denver in that category and again seven and three in their past 10 which is as good of a record in that stretch as anyone in the west outside of the Clippers this team is rolling even if it

Feels inconsistent and you have ugly losses like Atlanta and Orlando and and everything else and games like tonight really are why because it is just so difficult to beat when in any given quarter let alone any given game all three or even just one of

These dudes can go off and that can be enough let’s do a bench mob Vibe check looking at the seven-footer who is reestablishing himself in the sun’s rotation plus because it is deadline week I don’t want to let a day go by where we do not address that elephant in

The room and Frank vogle had some interesting comments pregame about the team’s mentality from a big picture level heading into the deadline so we’ll cover all of that in just a moment first Today’s Show brought to you by prize picks the best place to play daily fantasy sports because simply put

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That’s prix.com lockon NBA or use the code locked on NBA when you make your first deposit to get it matched up to $100 prize picks pick more pick less it’s that easy closing out the show quick benchmob Vibe check bub 17 minutes played plus eight in the box score is

The most important stat that I would point to right now but if that’s not your cup of tea if you don’t always believe plus minus that’s fine four points six rebounds one assist one block that’s good too but more important than even that stuff because frankly put uh frankly he

Has strung together enough productive games at this point dating back before the foot injury and now a couple since where I don’t I don’t really think that you need to monitor it night toight until the Suns get a better option and you know we’ll see if that

Happens he’s cemented himself in my view more importantly than him playing well again I expect that now tonight we saw some up and game plan Intrigue related to Bull so obviously the number one thing you have to game plan for with Milwaukee is Giannis he’s unguardable in a lot of different situations

But when you have size you can at least start to force him to play in crowds make him uh settle for non dunks and layups make him a passer make make him more turnover prone maybe get him to the line more because you have extra bodies to

Foul him all these other all these different types of things and Frank vogle was very candid that he went out of his way to try some of that stuff and B was a big part of how he did that so we saw tonight lineups where rather than

B mostly playing next to Durant or Eubanks or nurkic as a four or you know with Durant maybe you would even say as a five they played all together at times meaning Durant at the three B at the four nurkic at the five and that meant that as he often is bow

Was sort of guarding a wing but then being asked to be a helper he was guarding monan or Crowder or whatever and look everything with bull is is in spurts but I thought it worked pretty well it’s simply anything you can do to simplify what he’s being asked to do and

Take advantage of what he’s good at is a victory because being as big as he is being as skilled and athletic as he is at his size I’ll say mob maybe more than athletic whatever you want to say if you can bottle that up and unleash it in specific aspects of the

Game you’re GNA you’re GNA you’re going to be rewarded and so hey help at the basket in this specific instant when yanis breaks toward a drive to the basket great I believe his one well I believe he had a block on Giannis but he also had a block on a

Three-point shot and the box score is only showing one block so whatever you know take open threes set screens be a ball mover get out in transition it’s like you do sort of have to put training wheels on him but instead of 8 to 10 minutes tonight he played 17

So Fogle did say that was because they went into this game knowing they wanted to try the jumbo lineups and that’s why aogi played a little less and bu got those minutes instead but hey it’s at least a signal that if you want to try that again in the future he acquitted

Himself pretty well and he can handle that and it’s an option in your toolbox speaking of a toolbox we know that the sun’s trade deadline toolbox is pretty shallow they do not have a lot to triade trade Frank vogle was asked a few different questions about this

Pregame and the one that jumped out to me the most was how he is looking at the way the way that this team’s been winning and improving since they’ve gotten healthy versus the obvious Temptation and opportunity to get better and I’m not quoting him EX exactly but

Effectively what he said is we are not looking at this season as we need to make a trade in order to be where where we want to be you know a championship Contender basically it’s easy to look at that quote and say well he’s playing the coach card really you know he

Is navigating the politics of the locker room or the you know the pr of the locker room whatever you want to say and just if you go out there and you are overly hyped up about a trade it’s like you’re subliminally you’re telling your guys they’re not good enough so I get that

But the thing with vogle is he doesn’t say much even in the positive most of the time you could ask him to describe why a player was effective in a game and unless it’s a star or somebody who has demonstrated a track record of doing that thing in more than just that one

Game you’re not even going to hear him praise that guy right like I asked him about bull post game how is he hoping to kind of build up from interesting few minutes here and there to every night in the rotation and he barely gave me anything so the fact

That he said this about the deadline makes me buy it and at least that it’s his point of view I I don’t I wouldn’t suggest or pretend that he speaks for James Jones or Josh bartlein and certainly not the ultra aggressive Matt ishia but it sounds like that’s vogel’s point of view vogel’s

Opinion is that this team doesn’t absolutely need a trade in order to get to win a title that tells me that he sees an opportunity to coach them up that he sees an opportunity to try some lineups like that jumbo one today to you know execute some different defensive schemes

And and junk it up a bit take advantage of the Personnel to maybe Circle back on some players in the rotation like a nir little potentially or a I don’t know a Jordan Goodwin even or that he just thinks that the eight nine guys who have been playing between the starters

Eubanks B Gordon and aogi maybe he just thinks they’re good enough either way it’s an important thing to flag because we don’t get to ask James Jones or the owner that question we get to ask the coach that question and he was reserved in his answer you know Doc Rivers was

Asked about it pregame and he said yeah I I get it we need he say we need to upgrade it but he said I get that our front office is going to explore that and we just have to keep guys even killed in the meantime that’s not what

Vogle said vogle said we’re not looking at it as a must trade type of situation I still think there will be a trade sorry Frank that’ll wrap us up for the day more trade deadline rumors news and more throughout the week two more well one more show to go before the

Deadline and of course I’ll have a reaction to what happens at the deadline as soon as I possibly can when that buzzer sounds at I believe it is 300 p.m. eastern time on Thursday 1 p.m. Arizona time so hit follow or subscribe if you have not already get all those

Shows in your feed and more as the season hits its stretch run I will talk to you guys tomorrow

Kevin Durant finished off a big Phoenix Suns win over the Milwaukee Bucks with a poster dunk on Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down the W including recent fourth quarter improvements, what a Big 3 win looks like, and Bol Bol gaining steam. Then, a closer look at Frank Vogel saying the Suns don’t need a trade to win a championship.

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