Phoenix Suns Drop ‘Unacceptable’ Game In San Antonio Despite Huge Games From KD & Book

Phoenix Suns Drop ‘Unacceptable’ Game In San Antonio Despite Huge Games From KD & Book

On today’s episode of Locked on Suns Phoenix drops a road game to the Spurs that Frank vogle calls unacceptable they pile up two more worrisome injuries and oh yeah they’re just two games ahead of the Lakers for the nine seed in other words we have

Quite a bit to talk about let’s go you are locked on suns your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your 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 I’m also a writer at dime magazine the host of the just basketball show wherever you

Get your podcasts and I create writing and video content for the lock on suns Insider community at joins sub tex.com lockon Sons thank you for finding us wherever you are listening or watching we are free and available everywhere including YouTube so just hit that follow or subscribe button wherever

You’re finding the show or if you just have not done so already maybe it’s not your first time either way hit that button become an everyday or get locked on to the Phoenix Suns all season long from now through the playoffs through the offseason and Beyond again if you want to support the

Show you can also sign up for the locked on suns Insider Community by going to join sub text.com loock ons Sons or clicking the link in the show description below but we again have quite a bit to get to 104 to 102 the Phoenix Suns drop the fourth game of

This well second game of this road trip fourth game of the week that they really needed to go for an 0 in and of course losing means they did not go 4 and0 Today’s Show brought to you by prize pick the easiest most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports go to

Prize.com loock on NBA use the code locked on NBA when you make your first deposit to get it matched up to100 zooming in on our moment of the game as we do to kick off every single show I think this is the moment that decided the game just under three minutes to go

Backto back fast break buckets by Devin Booker one of them a drive all the way to the basket and a finish at the hoop the next one a steel by Booker himself into a leftwing pullup three put the Suns up one they go from down four to up

One thanks to a flurry by book but what happened between those two plays matters maybe more than even what those two plays were which is that Bradley Beal after the play where book got to the basket off of a rebound which Beal did get that rebound Beal comes up holding his right

Arm right hand right wrist we don’t know for sure what the whole detail of the diagnosis the prognosis might be misses the rest of the game so what do the Suns do from there they go small they get well they had already gone small with nurkic out which is

Something we will also get to they stay small is what I should say and O’Neal checks in for Beal but that lead would not last shortly after Booker makes that flurry as a scorer he gets into some trouble on the other end switches onto Zack Collins in a pick and

Roll contest that shot unfortunately Collins gets his own Miss they foul Collins gets to the free throw line that shot puts the puts the spurs into the bonus book misses a three Spurs come back book has to foul Collins once again and it’s an off ball foul that this time

Guess I shouldn’t say he had to but he does Collins gets to the line off of the bonus only goes one of two in both cases so the Suns have life we see a couple of traded off poor shot selection looks with Durant trying to make a pullup mid-range jumper on the

Left elbow over two Spurs Defenders and then Devon vasel pulling up early in the clock from three I don’t know what that shot is up one and with a minute to go I guess that is which uh will become a theme of this show I think that is what you have to

Take advantage of when you are playing a young team they’re going to make mistakes like that they are going to allow you to stay alive and and give you so many opportunities to beat them the Suns did not take those opportunities they get to the line book did get to the

Line after vel’s pull up three he got to the basket on pretty much another kind of created a fast break out of nothing type of scenario gets all the way to the basket gets fouled KD’s coming up behind him and has the putback dunk after the whistle so obviously doesn’t count but

Book makes both free throws suns are back up one we know what happens from there the Spurs are patient theel does not take a bad shot this time they work it they work it they kick it around the cell starts to collapse the defense a little bit the Suns play off

Of Jeremy soan which I think you would do 10 times out of 10 but at this point he had gotten into a decent Rhythm More on a a slashing type of scoring game but nevertheless was in Rhythm he makes a three from the right wing we

Get another shot that I didn’t love from KD with 10 seconds left and the sun’s down two I get that the Suns needed three I’m not taking issue with that necessarily but you can still tie the game overtime I think you probably trust your chances there either way book HS the offensive

Rebound and the Suns Miss he he gets the last shot the Suns missed that one as well so to zoom out after recapping all of that the Suns went from 2 minutes and 29 seconds to that was the last field goal they made the rest of the game they did not

Score another point until they were 51 seconds left so for almost 2 minutes in crunch time of a game that they had to have the Suns did not score a bucket they did not make a field goal for two and a half minutes and you couple that with some

Bad fouls some poor shot selection and some bad breaks admittedly sure yes the soan 3 and everything not 100% likelihood plays by any means but that is what happens when you allow San Antonio to go up Seven early you don’t put them away you have the

Injuries you lose a game on the road to a team that you are clearly better than and once again send your fan base into an absolute frenzy coming up next rather than a takeaway of this game or some big thing that decided it we just got to have some some therapy

I think some some honest conversation we’ll do that next first Today’s Show brought to you by prize picks the best place to play daily fantasy sports and it’s demon time at prize picks meaning you can now wi up to 100 times your money with this has four

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On NBA for a first deposit match up to $100 prize picks pick more pick less it’s that easy keep at rolling what on Earth just happened okay so after the game Frank Vogal called it unacceptable that they lost this game you think yes pretty clear right I mean I said going into the

Week like I don’t even have to try to kind of like do this thing and be prisoner of the moment here because they lost this I said after that Bucks game that you need to go 4 and0 this week they did not so this is losses on back-to-back

Sundays oh and I haven’t even mentioned because I was breaking down the you know beat by beat this the Spurs did not have Victor Wiman Yama so it is back-to-back Sundays on the road where you have lost to beatable teams without their best player that you are better than with

That version of those teams rosters right the suns are better than the Giannis lless bucks the suns are better than the wanyama less Spurs they just have to be better than those teams only they lost to them so the Bucks loss was unacceptable that was really I would say the final straw

For me I think you guys sensed that I brought Brandon dwas on the show I feel like he was trying to be an optimist I was not really having of it that that loss to me was okay this is um it is a a tremend it will be a

Tremendous long shot for them to win anything close to a championship if with plenty of reps now under their belt with these three stars a Health Advantage a Do or Die type of environment happening with the standings and everything else that you would still lay an egg against the bucks

So if that game with still Damen on the other side and and everything else is a final straw for me I don’t even know what to call this right I don’t know what to call this I don’t know what words are strong enough I probably you know considering our shows go over um

You know major news Airwaves at times and things I I’m not pretty sure I’m not allowed to say some of the words that might be useful to get across just how just how ugly this is there are explanations right and maybe that’s why not what not maybe that’s why I feel comfortable saying

That it’s not happening or a final straw or any of those types of that type of language I feel that way because it’s not unexplainable right the center position was a problem from the minute free AG gency closed I spent days at the end of the offseason talking about guys like wancho not

Wancho Billy Hearn and Gomez and Wan Gabriel and just clamoring for a center talking about PJ Tucker as a small ball option if he were to get bought out talking about trading for Andre Drummond nope nope nope nope nope nothing happens Drew Eubanks is too inconsistent

To be a key part of a championship team talked yesterday with Brandon dwas that has to be 10 to 15 minutes of execution and effort and energy from Eubanks and they do not get that frequently enough so when you have a nkit injury that is magnified but it’s

Magnified no matter what to have one of the 10 spots you need to have solidified on your team consistently be a weakness not to zero win on Eubanks but he is a problem the lack of size and lack of defensive intensity we figured that would be a problem and it is still a

Problem and you know at this point some of the things you might call fixable I’m tempted to not call them that lazy turnovers boneheaded decision making lack of togetherness either awful starts to games or ends to games where it just feels like they are sleepwalking I just rattled off how many explanations right

So if we all know what’s wrong and it’s not getting better then what do you do then but despite all that what I think is the most defeating thing about this right just watching this team and I don’t I’m I don’t live and die that’s that would be an exaggeration you

Guys listen if you’re everyday or as you know that I’m not the type to sit here and you know shed tears over losses and I’m also not the type to you know they win a big game and i’ say they’re going to win the title like that’s not my vibe

But I care I I watch every game often more than once and it matters and if it matters to you at all like it matters to a lot of us what’s so bothersome about this whole thing is just the the apathy like what on it and that I think as a fan right

Like that is the most exhausting thing to watch the most exhausting thing to deal with because whether we should or we shouldn’t whether we like it or not we put a lot of our time and energy into this hobby this passion this thing Sports specific teams that we like

Within Sports and when it feels like they’re not giving that back that is it’s just like it’s almost embarrassing it’s it’s defeating I mean I think that’s the best word I can think of and that keeps happening it’s like you’re rested you guys have I’m you know

Talking to the team here right get get me in the locker room this team is is rested is facing a a a lottery team in a genuine bad team to the point where their coach Greg papovich on Saturday leading into that game made a joke of

Saying that the Spurs were going to beat the Suns this week because they had obviously beaten them back in October he knows the season is about development he knows their Slow Rolling Victor and everything else and to him it was like yeah we’ll see good good luck

With that guys to his own team and they did that they actually did it they did the thing he joked about that is what what you’re talking about here on top of that from a sun standpoint this team is up against it from a standing standpoint facing down a

Final 10 games that are a murderer row of murderer rows knowing how valuable every game is it’s not news when I say they needed to win all four of this week’s games against Bad teams they know that and this is the type of performance that they put together

Right so it’s explainable it’s staring Us in the face but at the same time that part does not make a lot of sense it’s not so obvious it’s harder to wrap your mind around and it’s going to be the looming big picture concern around this group no matter what happens the

Rest of the way and this type of game slaps you in the face with that fact let’s close out the show talk a little bit about the injuries and some of the good stuff that did happen we got in my opinion perhaps the best Devin Booker game of the season individually I

Don’t know if that’s even reasonable to say we’ll get into it in just one moment first Today’s Show brought to you by better help sometimes we all need the opportunity to get things off of our chests big or small certain things can really start to get to you it’s

Important to let them out especially to someone who’s unbiased about your life I think that’s the big key for me just another third-party external person so today I want to let you know how I really feel about something you might even be thinking about the same thing

This week uh I mean honestly it’s a coincidence that ad read would come up that entire previous segment was basically me getting something off of my chest but I’ll just say it again it is demoralizing and a little bit embarrassing to put energy into something that does not feel like it is

Giving energy back and that has been the curse and the disappointment of this Sun Season regardless of your expectations going in or anything else there can be therapy can be different for everybody most of us have bigger problems than our favorite sports teams and it’s important

To get things off your chest every once in a while if you’re thinking of starting therapy to do that give better help a try it’s entirely online designed to be flexible and suited to your schedule and you can access it try it out for yourself by visiting

Betterhelp.com lockon NBA to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com locked on NBA closing out the show all right so let’s go here so the Phoenix Suns pretake let’s start there I think people may be tempted to put a kabash on the entire Sun season after this

Game we’ll see we’ll see how but but the reason I say it is not because this loss really should shock anybody but more so if these injuries are even significant enough to take Beal or nurkic out for the rest of the regular season and again you’re only talking about 10 games so

Maybe unlikely to be 10 games that you would see a guy Miss for a finger sprain and it he’s questionable or he said he expects to play Wednesday I’ll kind of believe that when I see it with Beal no offense to him on a personal level but we’ve heard that before

He told Dwayne Rankin he plans to play but is that going to happen is he 100% of himself we shall see and then with and I will pull Dwayne’s Twitter feed up as I’m talking to double check if anything has come down about nurkic but right ankle

Sprain misses the rest of the game there doesn’t appear that Dwayne has anything from nerk so if you’re getting a hobbled be if you are getting any missed games by nurkic starting with look no further than Wednesday against the Denver Nuggets a game a matchup where nurkic has been

Incredibly valuable for Phoenix all year if those things pile up on top of a crazy difficult schedule and now being only two games ahead of the nine seed really only one game because the Lakers have the tiebreaker over Phoenix you’re talking about a road game in the first round of the playin

At best right now people will start to make the case that the season is over so there’s a pre-take-off threes on off the catch in the fourth quarter and then that mid-range pullup late if he had made the threes and not taking the midi or what like whatever if if that

Goes a little more close to what you would have expected based on how sweet of a rhythm he appeared to be in you’re talking about you know what did he shoot 12 12 of 17 that is 71% I mean you’re talking about what like 75 80% from the field six assists just three

Turnovers I believe late into the third quarter he only had one turnover and yes partially as a result of his own mistakes his own missed shots the Suns end up wasting that and 298 and six on 71% shooting ends up being one of the worst coming in one of the worst

Losses of the sun season but on top of that as I said I think that this was one of the better games we’ve seen from Devon Booker this season he didn’t have the high assist numbers like he’s had at times but I would say that the fact that he was just getting off

The ball like he was was really solid so Beal and Durant having six assists a piece makes it a little more tenable that book only has four yeah five turnovers for book isn’t great maybe that holds it holds it back from you know obviously I know we had Huges huge

Point totals at various points the Pelicans game the 60 whatever but I thought playing within a flow playing within a balance for most of this game was really good but even before went out with the hand injury he did not take a shot in the fourth quarter I

Believe his offense was a little weird they did not get up a lot of Threes so it did start to stagnate in that fourth quarter and got a little ugly maybe that takes you off of saying it’s his best game whatever it doesn’t really matter if it is or isn’t it’s just kind

Of uh it’s subjective anyway I like that Booker took 10 threes a lot of them pullup threes which is a shot he needs to take and I thought defensively he was attentive he had three blocks he had a steel that steel was late in the game in that chunk I

Broke down to open the show he was purposeful and physical when he did have to switch onto more difficult assignments bigger players I thought on ball he fought I think this was one of the more complete games is maybe the best way to put it that Booker played and deserves a

Shout out but nevertheless you get 65 on Elite efficiency from 36 we’ll call them to go with 14 rebounds and 10 assists literally does not matter because you lost to San Antonio on the road without their best player doesn’t matter that’ll wrap up the show don’t forget to sign up for the

Lockdown Suns insiders where you can get my written and video content I will have at least I will have a watchback from one of the two Spurs games a video breaking down one of the quarters one of the eight quarters from this backtack in San Antonio written analysis of every game

My reaction to all Suns news and rumors all at joins subtext doccom locked on suns or just CL click the link in the show description below it’ll take you there you put your phone number in you confirm it and Away you go that is a great way to support the show get a

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Free agency and trades and all that I will have you covered for until next time enjoy your Tuesday and I will catch you guys Wednesday

The Phoenix Suns blew an easy win to the Spurs despite 65 points combined from Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down how injuries to Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic led to the Suns’ loss, plus what this loss says big picture.

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