Can the Phoenix Suns, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker finish the 23-24 NBA Season strong?

Can the Phoenix Suns, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker finish the 23-24 NBA Season strong?

Hello everybody and welcome in to the phnx Suns podcast I’m Lindsay that’s Saul that’s flex and that is Gerald we’re gonna have to go back a little bit you guys we’re going to talk about last night’s game just a little bit one because we have a updates and

Two because I think it’ll set the stage for the final 10 games of the Season okay so even though I took a big heavy breath at the beginning of the show right I don’t think it’s gonna be that bad but who knows because we did get

This tweet awesome we did get this tweet from Amanda flu grad sideline reported for the Phoenix Suns and she said Frank Vogal says that both Bradley Beal and Yousef nage are questionable for tomorrow’s game both of them did not participate at practice today on a scale

Of 1 to 10 how concerned are each of you zero okay I’m not concerned at all okay no about the injuries or just life in general I mean listen guys do I need to like you know listen narrow this down you looked at the game last night they

Didn’t win they I mean listen they choked against the Spurs it was a bad loss uh whether they have Bradley Beal or Yousef nurkic I don’t really think it matters to be honest with you Yousef may be a little bit more than Bradley but Brad and KD were able to beat the

Nuggets now it’s going to have to be Devon and Katie okay okay all right I like the positivity Flex where are you at about these injuries right now on a scale of one to 10 yeah I’m pretty similar maybe one two I don’t think they major injuries if they were they’d be

Ruled out for tomorrow they didn’t practice today I don’t expect that you spray your ankle and spray your finger you’re not GNA practice 12 hours later um so I think they’ll be game time decisions and if they don’t play in this basketball game I believe dealing with some stuff there’s reports that Jamal

Murray and Aaron Gordon may not play them all um so it is what it is man I’m I’m serious it is what it is they they’ll be all right I need whatever the two of these guys have going on right now because I am not at a one or two I

Don’t know if you’re familiar with my brand of Comedy but I assure you it’s not going to remain this way for the whole show I man I’m at a seven with this and it’s not because I’m worried that these injuries are gonna sideline them for playoffs or anything like that but like

Right now you are trying to get to the playoffs you’re trying to get out of a playing spot and you know I know that they beat the Nugget short-handed very recently they might get out of a playing spot they might and find themselves not even in the playoffs oh stop they’re not

Gonna go that there’s the swing there’s the you guys want the swing there’s swing waiting for the shoe to drop there it is um no I I think like they beat the Nugget short-handed very recently but I’m pretty sure Denver is well aware of that um and they’re going to come out

With a different intensity than the last time that these two teams met and I think you know what was the sun’s record without nerk this season they four 0 and five and five like it’s not he’s important to their success Bradley Beal we’ve been talking about how he’s looked

Better recently not last night obviously but playing the point guard spot um and just the general thing that we keep going back to like you need to build continuity with this group you need these guys to be available even through terrible performances like last night you need to have those guys out out

There so not having them out there that’s one more game off the total that these guys have played together that’s concerning to me and like we’re starting this 10 game stretch so if this is something that keeps nerk and or Beal out for two to three games that could

Totally change where you wind up in the standing so I’m concerned I’m with you Gerald I’m probably at like a six um like you said not because I’m afraid that they’re going to miss games in the playoffs but because of what this final 10 games means for the rest of the

Season both as far as the standings go but also building the chemistry like they’ve played last night was their 30th game together the big three all healthy I was hopeful we would get to 40 and that they would be healthy the rest of the way through um but I guess if you

Have to deal with an injury late in the season 10 games before Playoff starts is better than when Playoff starts if we’re trying to take a positive approach here sure so I don’t know it’s not great it could be worse but we’ll keep you guys posted on everything we here injury uh

Reports TP can come out in the evening before a game but sometimes if there uh there are injuries they’re trying to like decide between they’ll hold off until the morning too but as soon as we know we’ll uh share it on social or if it comes out while we’re here on the

Show we’ll keep you guys updated as well so be sure to follow the show on social phnx Suns all right guys let’s talk about a a little bit about last night’s game we’ll go back it was a tough one it was not great uh what lessons do you

Think that these Suns can take from that really bad loss and apply to their final 10 games here if you get complacent you’re going to lose straight up I mean I I will say this because of all the injuries and the chemistry issues and all stuff they don’t have the luxury to

Just kind of coast in games even when they think they put it away like they went on that run and the third quarter looked like everything was all good then it fell apart before the end of the third quarter like they just don’t have the luxury to be able ble to just Cruise

They don’t they’re not good enough yet like and so hopefully they learned that lesson last night they got 10 tough games coming up and I’m actually more optimistic about this 10 games because I do agree with like Flex in terms of I do think that they rais their their play um

When they play the tougher teams but again you just hate to have to learn these lessons against the scrub teams in this league especially when they’re missing their phenomenal best player like it just it’s unacceptable yeah I mean yesterday was was bad it wasn’t a good it wasn’t a

Good performance was a terrible loss I think the positive you take out of this the lesson you learn from this is um if you just do what you’re supposed to do and not fall into the same damn traps you win this basketball game when I watched

The tape I found 10 plays that were self-inflicted that if you just reverse one of those plays you win the game like so that’s the good part of it is you was self-inflicting you corrected the bad thing is the Boogeyman keeps popping up they keep letting the boogeyman come pop

Up he shouldn’t be anywhere around but for some reason when they play lower competition with high level basketball players out they just think they can show up and their talent will succeed and outweigh everything and the other team’s going to lay down and and play dead and they’re just not was stba so

The negative is they gotta cut that out but the positive is they were a lot of self-inflicted things that I think are very correctable yeah it’s it’s one of those things where I struggle with this because they’re obviously not going to be playing a ton of losing teams if they

Get in the playoff field um but we’ve just seen it too many times where they play with their food or they don’t take care of an inferior team like we mentioned they’ve lost to the Spurs three times this season they’ve lost to the Nets they’ve lost to the short-handed Grizzlies like the Hawks

There’s too many games that you look at this season and like that’s five wins right there that I just named off the top of my head that you’re not even messing around with the play in right now if you just take care of business in some of those and it’s frustrating to

See it happen this late in the season with all three available um because this is not a team that has the one seed or the two seed locked up already they’re fighting for their playoff lives so that lack of urgency is frustrating I think they will bring that more often with

This Gauntlet that they have coming up but like the thing that we’re me is the turnovers continue to be a problem against a Spurs team that’s not a good defense at all like a lot of them so many of them and I’m writing about this tomorrow at go phx.com breaking down

Their turnovers this season and what’s what the causes are behind it but so many of them are just sloppy careless passes it’s not not you know two to the ball and we’re being blitzed and double teamed and they’re throwing all these complex defenses at us it’s dude throws

A pass out of bounds 10 feet over his guy’s head or tries to make a crosscourt pass or gets in the lane and tries to feed a perfect like bounce pass to Yousef nerkish who not going to catch it at his knees like it’s just unforced errors and that’s the frustrating thing

Is they can these are correctable things they just continue to make those same mistakes and not correct them they’re a careless basketball team with quote unquote tons of potential like that’s what they are right now I mean you can’t look at this season and think anything

Else like they are just there are times where you just want to pull your hair out you really do and and I I watched this team and I was saying earlier today when we had our little meeting I said you know one thing that I really is like

My pet peeve is when people waste my time and when I watch this Sun’s team sometimes I’m like you [ __ ] are wasting my time like why are you not ready to play this game you know what I mean and it’s it’s super frustrating I know the fan base feels like that you

Just hope that you know hey I will say this I am kind of glad that these last 10 games are against the best of the best basically because I feel like we’re really going to find out like are they gonna are they going to be able to to

Lock in before the playoffs or was is this going to be just one of those wasted Seasons you know what I mean and they don’t have a lot of they don’t have a lot of time to waste a season to be honest with you then we got maybe one

More year after this so then who knows what’s gonna happen uh yeah that’s the the frustrating part because you could say oh hopefully it’s a lesson you learned from last night’s game the just lack of mental focus I suppose but then you could also to say or maybe like the

Game before or like three games ago or like 17 games like how many times do we have to play this Loop before the lesson is actually learned I don’t know yeah we’ll find out and all the words that we heard from the guys coming out of practice today through Dwayne Ranken

Who’s there reporting were that like we’re Hing we hold guys accountable we were holding them accountable on film today we had a good spirited film session um Kevin Durant was talking about how it’s all about actions not words because we keep saying it but we’re not doing it Bradley Beal had said something

Similar so it’s like we got to see it now we got to see they’re aware of it they know it’s a problem they’re saying all the right things but until we actually see it in action it’s just going to be words yeah yeah that’s a little concerning it’s a little concerning that

They would they they vocalized that like we need to it needs to be in effect as opposed to just talking about it because that means that they’re acknowledging that they have a problem that they’re not able to solve right now at the moment right and that’s that’s what’s

That’s what’s the most concerning for me and like how far back does that go you know what I mean like was this an acknowledgement a month ago two months ago when did it start is what I want to know because I will give them some Grace for the beginning of the Season through

Maybe December maybe middle December I say I middle December I’ll give them a little bit of Grace because you were dealing with a lot of injuries that you were not anticipating to have to deal with but from there till now when did we decide hey maybe we do have an issue that we

Need to address and what have you been doing since then because that that dictates a lot about how I feel if I had to guess I say it started on Christmas that was the that was the first time I heard of closed door meetings and people holding each other accountable and being

Fed up a little bit it was after the Dallas game on Christmas so yeah that makes me a little bit concerned then yeah how have you had that much time where it started at the end of December right so we’re 3 months in now MH how bad is it that you haven’t been

Able to figure most of it out or at least come to a good place within three months well I think they need to have another meeting like that then if that’s the case because after December they went on that tear where they had like the fourth best record in the league

From after Christmas to the all-star break and then Brad got hurt again and it felt like they took a step back in that regard and since the All-Star break they haven’t looked like that team that they were heading into the break so I hope hopefully what we’re hearing is

Something that’s going to be addressed but again we’ve heard this multiple times this season so it’s hard to put too much stock in it until we see like over this remaining 10 games them really put it together against High Caliber competition and honestly depending on how these next 10 games go really can

Swing entirely like we you could be the most down in the depths of Despair right now and if the Suns go8 and2 or seven and three in these final 10 games that could swing almost completely to the opposite end of the spectrum like it very well could for a lot of people uh

Mario not Bros 2 do you have a copy of my rundown because they sent us a Super Chat and they said okay call it now Sun’s record these last 10 games that’s exactly where we’re headed who wants to start well they’re playing you know some of the top teams in each conference and

So when I look at that and I and there’s a stat that I’ll bring up later on but they’ve been relatively 500 to this point against those teams and I think they’re going to stay about that I think they’re going five and five against these teams okay I don’t love that

Gerald you picked the same thing I did I’m going I’m going five and five they’ve got a three-game road trip coming up at Denver at OKC at New Orleans with Beal and nerk currently questionable for the first of those three then they got Fort home Cleveland Minnesota New Orleans LA and then they

Finish with a three-game road trip LA on the second night of a back-to-back Sacramento and Minnesota like that’s a tough stretch I think if they go five and five I would actually not be I mean my expectations have been lowered but like five and five at this

Point for me would be good considering who they’re playing I mean did this ain’t gonna change for me the before the Philly game I said seven and three in the last 10 so I’m not going to change based on what happened yesterday listen I look at this Gauntlet and I say listen

You’re gonna play Denver tomorrow we don’t know what’s goingon to happen with Brad B and nerk but they’re also dealing with issues in their lineup and we don’t know what they’re going going to do tomorrow so that could be a complete wash uh but I I do think I look at

Denver and I look at OKC and a lot of ways I feel like those are the two toughest games in these next 10 because you got Minnesota twice without Carl Anthony towns and you got the Pelicans twice without Brandon Ingram and then you got the Clippers who are falling off

The face of the Earth and nobody wants to talk about their coach called him soft didn’t he he did right so six of those 10 games are against teams that are ahead of you you can make up ground are and are currently dealing with some stuff now if the Suns can take advantage

Of that well I I I like their chances being seven and three you you’re dealing with you’re at home against a Cleveland team that may not have Donovan Mitchell like so this everyone’s dealing with things this we got to take a game to game but I would not be shocked at all

If they go seven and three and I think it starts to off they can find a way they can find a way to split these two between Denver and OKC I think they give themselves good a good path I’m rolling with six and four for this one because

I’m trying to be positive um I think seven and three might be too much and five and five makes me feel bad so I went with a happy medium on this one but also again like they’ve been saying like we’ve been saying if there’s a time that

You’re going to flip that switch and turn it on it’s right now it’s these final 10 games of the season when you know that there are playoff implications on the line and you need to get a Groove going before the playoffs actually tip off yeah like it’s now or never really

In my opinion said that last week too I know but last week it was lesser competition yeah so you could in theory if you wanted to play this game you could make the argument that it’s lesser competition sure it matters just as much but again these guys are superstars they

Want to play the best of the best well here’s your chance yeah you know what I mean if you’re going to use that as an excuse at all it it’s out the door now yeah I I I get it I get what you’re saying but we did say this like two

Weeks ago and they still had the toughest remaining schedule when they had you know two games with Boston and Milwaukee coming up and they lost all three of those like I I we keep saying it’s go time it’s go time it’s go time I

Need to see it be go time 2 27 games were left after the All-Star break and we were like okay you know they got an opportunity here in the in the short term to be able to stack some wins and then they came out and they blew it twice against Houston

And now they just against Houston didn’t they lose twice one in Houston it was the second time I thought you talking about the back to back they play back to back and they split but you talking about before they did play three times in like one they L they lost two three

Yeah they play they played three times in one week right pretty much yeah it was like 10 days or so eight days so yeah so again like they they lost that opportunity St the hottest team in basketball by the way they lost two out three against the San Antonio Spurs who

Are not the hottest team in basketball so I mean like listen they had their opportunity if they’re in play then they deserve it like because they had their opportunities and they and they blew it we’ll see what happens these last 10 games I hope they can step up their

Their level of play um but you know I I think right now the numbers tell you that they’re G to be 500 in these games yeah Priscilla H said is the switch even in the room with us Lindsay I don’t know Priscilla great question remains to be

Seen we’re we’re still trying to uh find that switch for the Suns to turn on we’ll see I don’t know uh but what I do know is that we are gonna have a lot of fun not this weekend but next weekend because we are hosting some watch

Parties so no matter what the Suns do I can promise you on April 5th and April 7th we will have a great time because we’ll all be together hanging out it is the attorney championship week PHX Suns watch parties and you can join us at heila River Resorts and casinos Wild

Horse Pass for our watch parties both April 5th which is a Friday and April 7th which is a Sunday and you can also see the collection from Mike bbby a popup sneaker shop and Lounge as well out there at the casino so for more information and uh just to put it in

Your calendar head on over to go.com check out the events Tab and make sure you come hang out with us because it’s going to be an absolute blast also if you’re looking to make some money off of the Suns I highly recommend our friends over at prize pick prize pick is the

Largest daily fantasy sports platform in North America and they are the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports it’s just you against the numbers you know I absolutely love an easy interface and an easy game to play where you can win some big bucks

Especially on the Sun so instead of battling thousands of other players including pros and sharks all you got to do is pick more than or less than on two to six players stats and combo projections and watch the winnings roll in so it’s great because right now you

Can win up to 100 time your money times your money on prize picks with as little as four correct picks you can turn 10 bucks into 1,000 bucks with NBA NHL college basketball entries today on prize picks America’s number one fantasy sports app and of course you can be a

Part of the action on prize picks for both men’s and women’s college basketball so don’t miss this out on your opportunity to win some cash go to prize.com phnx use the code phnx for a first deposit match up to $100 that is prize.com phnx and use code

Phnx uh pick more pick less it is that easy espo won 120 bucks on Saturday yeah on prize picks that’s pretty good literally like that I mean granted espo has been winning a lot of money when it comes to the Suns lately but $120 by picking more or less not too bad y’all

You should check it out it’s pretty good it’s pretty good Gerald you uh just bought a house I did do you have a landscaper or do you trim your Hedges yourself why do they keep coming to me why like why does it have to be me even

On the show listen folks listen we’ve all we thank you ESO we’ve all been there especially uh you know us us gentlemen uh when we’re trying to you know spruce up the downtown area it gets a little it gets a little it gets a little hairy sometimes manscape just

Here to help you all out and listen they have the blades that won’t cut you you’ll be nice and smooth down there you check it out everybody likes a nice groomed area I’m speaking from experience and uh you can also have an ice cream area as well so go to

Manscaped this episode is brought to you by the spring cleaning Champions manscaped this season make sure to groom your carpets and the drapes with the leaders and below the waist grooming clear out that winter bush with manscaped lawnmower a lawn mower 5.0 and watch your confidence Bloom like the

Springtime flowers embrace the season and join the 10 million men worldwide uh who trust manscaped with our special offer go to manscape.com and use promo code phnx 20 for 20% off of free shipping also listen if you don’t like to you know trim the hedges on the

Ground you can use it in the shower CU it is waterproof and it’s fantastic and I actually prefer doing in the shower so that way there’s not big mess everywhere uh you that’s probably a little bit too much information for you all but Hey listen I’m okay I’m I’m confident in in

What I do so you can be confident in what you do as well and make sure you go get 20% off in free shipping with the code px20 manscape.com that’s 20% off and free shipping with the code pH nx20 manscape.com nothing like a little spring cleaning in your pants H Chris do

Thank you so much they said humor in the ads is our savior from this team I love it we appreciate you Chris thank you and Eli said Gerald ran right into an asbo trap yeah you did you did you should have known better I I knew it as soon as

He used that word landscaper because anything that rhymes with skape now gives me PTSD for listen like I I I’m not gonna ask Lindsay she own home I have to ask you and my man is is out on the East Side and he’s uh he’s finding a

Home that will be permanent I’m sure at some point so like you were the only one that I get it I had to be part of the transition but why is it always me I don’t know it just is just easy it’s just easy that’s fair all right

Guys it’s time for a little show and tell so we each have a good and a bad stat about this Sun’s team that we are going to share with the class Flex you want to start us off yeah all right you start with the good or the bad I’m gonna

Start with the good okay I’m gonna start with the good all right so the sons are fourth in field goal percentage in the entire NBA and fifth in three-point percentage in the entire NBA so what does that tell me they shoot the ball really well top in the league in field goal

Percentage and top of the league in three-point percentage but that leads to my bad you want to throw the bad up there here’s the bad they’re 26 and three-point attempts so they shoot the hell out the three but no one has told them to shoot you shoot it great but you

Don’t shoot it enough and so this is simple things that I think lead to focus and execution you can’t be that good at shooting the ball and not shoot the ball and I if they they correct those things G they get that number up to about 38 to

40 yeah makes a world of difference and the last thing I’ll say on this point is I believe their record is now seven and one when they actually shoot 43s because they’re very good at it so shoot more thre son simple as that I actually have one

That’s kind of similar okay you go next well listen in the in the spirit of optimism let’s go with the good the suns are shooting 41% from three against the top four teams in each conference averaging 30 attempts per game that’s pretty good hey I’m cool with that uh

However uh oh the suns are six and seven against those teams and in those losses are being outshot from three by 10% 35% % to 45% like the other teams are getting up more and they’re hitting more like that’s not good so listen you you

Know you you got to improve and as Flex said you got to get more shots up from three like I don’t I don’t understand this fascination with the mid-range not now not today not if you want to win a championship you better start jacking them up especially when you’re shooting

So well from Deep two like fourth and from in field goal percentage right Fifth and three-point percentage in the league like you’re it’s not like you’re just jacking up threes to jack up threes like you’re shooting well so there should be no reason not to up your volume of attempts and it’s crazy

Because the average attempts for those other teams is somewhere around the 38 to 40 range the average attempts for us in that 13 game stretch is only it’s like 29.9 they only they barely get 30 attempts per game against the best teams in the league like you got to get up

More like it’s just it’s unacceptable and it’s almost just pure negligence at this point like you got to get them up you got to get them up great word negligence yeah what do you attribute it to Kevin young sorry my bad my bad that was a straight KY my

Bad he just came out High I mean listen man you gota somebody’s got to tell them like you know I’m sure they talk about it and I’m sure they’re they’re emphasizing it but like listen man you got to get them up you gotta get them up and I think they’ve been so conditioned

Listen Devon Booker’s played a specific way his whole life and for for him to just switch over to being a more dominant three-point shooter that’s gonna take time KD has has not been a volume three-point shooter as well but he can but he can’t shoot the three and

He can shoot it at a high clip it’s just again training them and I feel like they’ve they’ve caught themselves in a moment where they realize like the league has transitioned so greatly to the three-point line that maybe it caught him a little bit off guard because of the prior success they’ve had

The last two or three years and now they’re having to almost retrain their brains midseason to jack up more threes because they’re not really that’s just not the way they’ve played their whole life they they’ve taken the smart shot they’ve taken the best shot that they can get and unfortunately in these

Instances unless you shoot 60% from that mid-range the other teams are going to beat you and that’s go no I just want to add a point to that cuz you went directly at K Kevin young I thought that was funny but but but I

Have no idea I just there I I will say this uh if I had to pinpoint why they’re not shooting enough threes I think they’re getting Bamboozled a little bit I really do I and and I and I mean that by yesterday’s film showed me something pop made an

Adjustment and pop gave them this false this this false sense of hope that they can run the offense through nerk and it’s almost like defenses are starting to trick them into the midrange we’ll give you that look at that nice little sweet spot book take that that’s what

You do hey KD same thing you go there we’re not gonna press that too much we gonna let you and invited and you gonna hit a couple and you’re gonna feel good about continuing to invite it but in the long run I’m stopping you from getting three-point attempts and I’m going to

Put up more and that’s how I’m going to beat you I do feel when I look at the tape they’re being tricked a little bit I saw Greg papovich do that with the seven second uh seven seconds or less Sons Amari averaged 40 for the series and everybody was running around saying

What a great series Amari had and little to do they know that they were ban boozo pop said let Amari dunk everything Quint Richardson ain’t taking 700 threes uh Nash ain’t taking all them threes Sean Mar so I feel like to answer the question they’re going to have to get

Out of getting enticed into the mid-range and say no we’re not getting Bamboozled anymore man we know we got to put up more threes and so that’s just my view on it from looking at T I can’t help but think if what’s his name big

Time on uh LA radio no no no no uh He Got Game he was like yeah if be calling me come on in Jesus like that’s he was talking about something different but go in there shoot that midrange and that’s that’s what NBA defenses are

Going to do now too and it’s it’s it’s a product of the way that they play Because all three of these guys are used to if I have a mismatch I’m going to attack that because that’s a good play for for me and for our team but I it

Feels like there does need to be a little bit more of a firm hand when it comes to no like we need to because when they run sets when they run their actions like they’re impossible to stop when the ball is moving when it’s swinging that’s when they’re generating

The threes you’re not generating a ton of Threes out of ISO or you know KD on the on the Block unless there’s a shooter one pass away ready for that double team like the ball is not moving ideally in those circumstances so I think that’ll help them when we

Transition the playoff ball and you need to hunt for those pigeons in the playoffs but like right now this is not a team that’s built for regular season success because they’re not getting it’s just the simple math of it you’re not getting up enough threes despite being a

Really good shooting team and they take some of the toughest shots in basketball and are still to your step one of the best shooting teams from the floor and from three so imagine if they just start generating more open looks how Unstoppable that offense is going to

Be yeah and to your point too of last night you guys brought up how when you look at Grayson Allen and and Eric Gordon and how many attempts they’re getting and how many points they have at the end of the game is a little bit indicative of how well the ball has

Moving and the flow of Sun’s basketball and we didn’t get to see too much from them last night at all and then um to that point there was something where I was going with that oh I would love to know the stats I’m going to look this up

After the show and see if we can find it I would love to know the stats of how like what is the threshold of Threes attempted by EG or Grayson um maybe you could put Royce O’Neal in there but you’d have to kind of separate it out from once he joined

The team and like the amount of attempts the sons have had and wins got like I would love to have a barometer of those two guys specifically yeah and how much of a difference that makes can i g i got a qu cuz you you you follow the stuff

Closely we talk about the sun’s turnovers and a lot of times they could be attributed to overpassing correct yeah another thing that I notic when I watch the tape is that to my point I think they’re getting baited into the mid-range a little bit and I think that

There’s times that they realize it and that’s where the overpassing comes yeah it’s like okay cuz how many times this week did we see bradby or two feet from the basket you should just take a layup and steady he tries to force that a pass somewhere else and it’s almost like

Something in their head says y’all are falling into it again don’t do it and then that turnover comes so I this is why I’m screaming inside like this is so fixable guys like they’re not as far as it looks but they got to get out their

Own way and they just have to figure some things out yeah and one of those things they got to figure out is taking care of the ball a little bit more so I’m going to start with the bad stat sure the suns are 25th in turnovers right now this season averaging

14.9 per game but on a kind of good note on my good stat the Suns have a 12 and or 20 and 12 record when committing less than 14 turnovers this season so their 25th in turnovers at 14.9 but if you just limit it by like one and a half two

Your middle of the back now yeah so so we’re not asking for much is what we’re saying here and that that small margin can make a world of difference so just just one or two less yeah simple as that it’s one or two bone head plays a game

Eliminate Focus it’s different yeah the the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is just that little extra they’re extraordinarily awful when it comes to turning the ball over so how about we stop it’s a thin line no Lind I I love I mean we were talking a little

Pregame and when I saw the angle you were going I loved it because it’s something past couple days I’ve been looking at I’m like just the other day right they went to 149 after yesterday but going into yesterday at 14.1 and I’m sitting here and I’m like

Man if you just go to I know I know I know it’s a lot but if you go to 121 just two turnovers that puts you in the top eight in the NBA MH so it it’s like it’s just one or two plays Lindsay’s right it’s just if you could turn that

14 to 13 I wonder what that record would be you said that 20 and 12 when they at 14 or less less than 14 13 or less yeah yeah so 13 or less less than 14 13 or less 2012 okay I mean yeah I wonder yeah it’s like yesterday did they have

15 yes they had 15 yesterday honest honest question m is it fair to say that if you had 14 turnovers yesterday you win that game or if you you have the potential it a two-point game on the last possession and and one turnover that turnover we’re talking about

Probably led to a basket on the other end they gave up like 17 or 19 points off turn there was one in particular where they got a turnover Brad got a steal and then was on a break with k 2 on1 and gave it right back up yep right

That play right there if they just finished that two of the best players in the world yep finish that turnover maybe you don’t lose yesterday but whatever maybe Gerald what you got good and bad all right so mine is going back to continuity and Reps because that’s my

Thing this year uh let’s start with the good stat so the good stat is that the sun starting five has a plus 8.2 net rating and that is seventh in the NBA among all five man lineups that have played at least 350 minutes together this season so when the sun starting

Five has been on the court they’ve been really good they’ve been one of the best fiveman groups in the NBA unfortunately as we will see with the bad stat of the 2003 man lineups that have played at least 600 minutes together the Suns big three ranks 70th in net rating 182nd

In minutes played together and 198th in games played together so I I narrowed it down to 600 minutes for those three-man lineups because I wanted to see okay this is the suns are at like 600 and some with their big three on the court so where do they rank a net rating well

They’re not great they’re good but they’re not great where do they rank in time spent together damn near near the bottom of the pack which is wi yeah that is the biggest thing for me like I I know that this team should be better two things can be true at once this team

Shouldn’t have lost so many games when they only had two of The Big Three available like there were games that they lost that we were like doesn’t matter that Bradley Beal was out or that Devon Booker was out they should have won that game but at the same time their

Fundamental problem is that they haven’t had their guys available like and we knew that this could be an issue we knew that’s why I kept saying from the start of the Season we need like 60 games of these dudes together at least for me to feel confident about them we’ve gotten

31 games of it like it’s just it’s not enough and you’re going to struggle against the Denver Nuggets of the world or even you know the Minnesota Timberwolves or Oklahoma City Thunders who have been together for the last season or two that is a tough thing to overcome I disagree I disagree high

School basketball season’s 32 games long they should be able to figure it out they’ve had a whole high school basketball season high school basketball season man what are we doing with our Lives 25 and six that’s not much ask sh out goodness well Gerald that’s sad it is it is because

Despite all of that if they just take off one to two bad turnovers per night and if they just get up threes like they can overcome all of that because they’re they’re 26 and seven when they at when they tie or win the three-point battle in terms of Threes made 26 and seven

When they lose the three-point battle they’re 16 and 23 like just you just have to tie your opponent in made threes to give yourself a chance and you can win those games you know what what stressed me out about this exercise was that we we were all everyone was doing

Their research and I’m sitting here and I’m going through a ton of stats and God the Sun stats are not bad like they’re good in so many major categories they’re like top 10 in a whole bunch of [ __ ] that tells you that’s a championship team but yet the

End result the Lost column ain’t making sense and so I didn’t have enough time I I was I was chopping up true transparency Lindsay cut me off she doesn’t know this no no no no no no no I’m keeping got thrown under no no it wasn’t it

Wasn’t about that I was in the middle of looking at something and then I think Lindsay asked a question I got but the point I was trying to make I was looking at games at the Suns lost five or less and I was only like maybe twoth

Thirds of the Season through and I was at 12 I didn’t even finish counting but I’m sitting and I’m like that’s two possessions man they lost 12 this there’s more I’m sure of it I didn’t finish counting right but I got to 12 and I’m looking at the games and I’m

Like damn man like if you just let’s say the number’s 15 and you just curved let’s say you stole five of those where are you you’re like a whole different situation you’re like third in the west yeah that [ __ ] is insane to me I know we’re looking at the entirety of of of

These games right because we didn’t single out any quarters but uh and I was I I should have done this I should have looked at their fourth quarter efficiency oh you know um because like for all the great things that the sun’s off you know on paper and statistically the

Fourth quarter is quite the opposite of all of those categories right and that’s been their demise that has been their demise this season like even with the turnovers even with the threes like in the fourth quarter if they could just figure their [ __ ] out they’d probably

Win a a majority of these games but for whatever reason they go to defunct mode and just they forget it’s like the [ __ ] there’s a glitch in their head or something the boogy man the fact that they are 12 games above 500 despite being arguably the worst fourth quarter

Team since they started tracking those stats in the history of B is crazy and I think it also speaks to you’re hoping that because they’ve been up by double figures in some of these games that they go into the fourth that it’s just a product of like the first Spurs game was

They were up by 2530 and so they lost the fourth quarter so that hurts your net rating but like the game was over they’ve had several of those but you’re right there have been too many games especially early in the season where they were up and then they just let it

Slip away and you cannot do that at all if you have a lead in a playoff game like going into the fourth yeah yeah it’s imperative absolutely I you get to the playoffs listen if they’re in the playin or in they’re they’re in that 36 range like that first game when they hit

That fourth quarter it was going to be a lot of tightness around here there’s going to be a lot of anxiety and you just know you just know that they’re going to be thinking about that and so they’re going to have to have a game listen if there’s nothing else that

Comes out of these next 10 games they have to have a game where they rise up and overcome in that fourth quarter and prove everybody wrong just so that way they can prove to themselves that they can do it I think that’s the bigger thing is like even though I think this

Team is confident just in general I do think there is something to be said about having an extra boost of confidence knowing that you can do it because have we seen that at all this year like a big fourth yeah like when they’re down that’s what I was

Just about to ask you so how much of that is between the ears because it’s like they have these fourth quarter collapses when they’re playing well and they just let the game go but I’ve been I’ve seen plenty of examples where they’re going into a fourth quarter down

And they make a big run and they come back have we had a big fourth quarter that was dominant with Sao outside Chicago Milwaukee the other night see they made a run I’m having short-term memory just blocked out all the good parts it’s it’s like it’s hard

To figure this team out and it goes between to me it’s between the ears it’s some type of psychological glitch that they just have to get through because I know they can do it like I know they’re good enough to do it it’s just a matter of actually getting the damn thing done

And then I I do hope this in the playoffs you shorten the rotations the minutes change you may get lineups in the fourth quarter that you would never dare play in a regular season because you don’t want to burn somebody out but you probably get that and maybe that

Helps in the fourth quarter I don’t know but I will say we haven’t had like a disastrous fourth quarter where we P looked at a game and said that’s the reason they lost in a while which is good and I think part of that comes with being able to iron out the bench

Rotation a little bit more because for especially in the early portion of the Season you were just trying to figure out who the hell you could throw out there and who was going to be on the trade block for you know the first two three months um now I think there’s a

Little bit more continuity there than we’ve had but it’s one of those things that you could easily see pop up again and be like damn it we hadn’t we hadn’t heard from that Achilles heel in a while yeah H I don’t know all I know is for

These final 10 games make sure you’ve got your inner circle your support system if you will uh and if you don’t have a we are that for you guys we’re happy to be that for you guys and so are our friends over at Circle K with their

New Inner Circle it is a free membership program where you can save 25 cents per gallon on your first fivey Phillips you save three cents per gallon every day once you reach a the VIP like sa and ESO status you can up that to 5 cents per

Gallon that you save on gas at Circle A very very important person oh it’s like double never heard though all right yeah exactly see now you’re vvp you’ve made it all right you’ve you you’ve reached the Pinnacle go you Sal you also get I didn’t mean that as condescending as it

Sounded I’m sorry I did not mean that good job s you also get every six free on a selection of Circle K products like pizza coffee and ice cold Fountain drinks and of course it’s super simple you got the app on your phone it tells you sometimes there’s coupons in there

Often if there’s promos going on specialty promos you get hooked up when you are part of the Inner Circle uh so join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today terms and conditions apply at participating locations visit circlek.com for details I won’t be here tomorrow okay just so

You know you going to fill up on gas and snack CU I plan on winning this [ __ ] money tonight in Arizona Lottery oh if I listen folks if I don’t if you don’t see me tomorrow if you win I need one because I’m in La covering U OFA but

Outside of that if I don’t show up to La you know why there you go I’m just saying so if you win I just need one one mil y a going see me I just need one mill that’s all I’m asking for just you can get your lottery tickets at Circle K

Or if you want to play in a different way the Arizona Lottery is introducing a new uh unique ticket promotion called Arizona adventures and there are three ways to play and win big so first and foremost uh you play Arizona Adventure lottery tickets featuring three iconic Landscapes now we’re talking

Picacho Peak Monument Valley and Camelback Mountain and those tickets have prizes up to $50,000 you can also check in at geolocated Adventures at 10 destinations across the state from Flagstaff to Yuma it’s super easy just go to AZ adventures.com for details and directions on how to check in at

Destination coordinates on the website or if you don’t really want to get Outdoors as much you can enter tickets online for a chance to win 1 million in cash and Arizon Iona travel prizes the Arizona Lottery is not just about playing games and winning prizes it’s

Also about giving back to the state and its community so visit a adventures.com for more information on how you can take an adventure for a chance to win a million dollars in cash and Arizona travel prizes all right let’s do a couple super chats here okay we’ve got two from psycho blue so

You want to take these ones sure uh basketball culu understands these things take time at least continuity is being built I’m thinking 48 and 34 for the season 2014 Vibes o that’s not good I hope not that team missed the playoffs they most win at the time most wins ever

And then the next one is the curse of cthulu is real between Washington Portland Detroit and Golden State everyone from last year’s team has turned their new squads to Great Mighty Poo so is the curse of cthulu just a son’s thing that it are we the only ones that

Have to deal with based on 56 years of experience I would say yeah yeah I need to know who who caused this like who upset cthulu in first place who who made us have the curse it’s a good question uh Colton sent us one with the salute Emoji thank you Colton appreciate you

Being here and then black Mason sent us one as well and they said who in the world made this schedule this has got to be the hardest last 10 games in the history of the NBA thank you for all your dedication appreciate you I mean it’s not easy last 10 games that’s true

Man you’re not like it man I I I I just feel like having control of your own destiny at this time is always preferred I don’t want to be the team that’s got to win game 10 and then hope two other teams lose yeah like you really have it in

Front of you if you could just win some of these games you can chop down some trees yourself so I like it I’m I’m not that uh I’m optimistic I I like it in the sense that it’ll give us a real like up close look at what

This team and we’ve we pretty much know what this team is already but like right before the playoffs we’re going to have a real good idea of what to expect um because right now I think we’re vacillating between oh wow look at this team look how good they look and then

It’s oh God we lost to the Spurs for the third time so yeah all right guys this segment is brought to you by Eric Ruby behind the ma we play Tri here to have some fun on this Tuesday afternoon Eric what have you prepared for us at I looked at uh stats basically

From just this season alone so we’re not going to dig too deep I’m a little worried that some of them are too easy for you so we’ll start with one that I think is relatively easy but don’t let me down guys okay question number one

How many games has one of a non big three member or Grayson Allen led the Suns in scoring so first question is how many games has that even happened and question number two is can you name who did it uh I am going to say three

Times and two of them were Grayson one of them was nerk no Grayson Allen yeah oh not say okay then one ner one nerk yeah I feel like that might be it hold on maybe twice I I’m trying to think of I’m gonna say I’m gonna say I’m going to say twice

I’m going to say EG EG and nerk we’re going to go two times e okay I’m just going n i I’ll ride with FX the answer is happened two times once was December 1 Yousef nurkic put 31 points on Nicole jokic’s head in Denver and the second

Time was January 29th against Miami Eric Gordon scored a team High 23 points so you guys got that well Flex got that right sa you were the only one who held out I’m sorry uh here’s question number two though sa you can go first it’s just a this or that who has

Taken more total shots this season Yousef nurkic or Grayson Allen oh Yousef yeah I’m a roll of nerk on that one I feel like it’s a trick question it’s tough but I wouldn’t my inclination is to lean nerk but I feel like it’s a trick question think about

How many times at The Rim nerk has missed a layup and got his own rebound that’s his shot attempt each time I’m I’m going with Grayson I feel like it’s a trick question I kind of want to say it’s grayon there’s been times when Grayson has like two shots I know but

Then there times where he has like 17 he he’s going to shoot he’s he’s plus 353 alone I know that I was looking at I was looking at it the other day he’s creeping up on 4003s alone that’s not counting the rest of his shots yeah I’m

Going with I’m going with my man Grayson he takes more shots than nerk I think yeah I’ll go Grayson but I think it might be close it’s actually extremely close they’re only separated by Two Shots 582 shots to 580 Grayson Allen takes it over Yousef nurkic all right [ __ ] you

Eric fair enough it was a tossup all right guys uh question number three suns have won 42 games this year uh it seems like less but they have won 42 games how many of those wins have been by double digits and how many of those wins have

Been by 20 or more points oh my two goodness hold on hold on hold on 42 so I’ll say out of the 42 double digit I feel like 16 yeah I was going to say somewhere in 15 range I’m going say 12 that’s what I was thinking 12 it was

The first time but I don’t want to copy you so I’ll go 13 and then by 20 I’d say five I would say six so I I say 12 and six I’m gonna go 13 and nine I’m saying 16 and five okay I’m going to say 20 by double

Digits and then I’m going to say 20 oh okay and then I’m gonna say nine by 20 or more okay you guys might be surprised by this 24 of the sun’s 42 wins have been by double digits I believe Flex nailed the 20 or more it was five wins

By 20 or more so it had 20 two double digit wins 2 24 wow okay not again not as bad as we think right this is crazy are we gonna end up in like revision not not you know when you’re too close to it that you can’t yeah you

Can’t take a step back and look at the big picture are we going to end up having that moment no okay in the moment this is exactly how it feels is it as bad as we think I think how it finishes will make us I think if they make a run

To the Western Conference finals and compete and you know get knocked out I think we can look back and be like Dam you know maybe we’re a little too harsh in the regular season they weren’t as bad as they were it’s either that or this is going to be the most the most

Complex team of all time if they get bounced in like the playin or the first round you look you’ll look back you’re like dude the numbers tell you it should not have gone like this yeah you’re right speaking of numbers here’s the last one this is by far the weirdest one

So bear with me out of these four players who has the most total steals this season for the Suns BB Nasir little Sabin Lee or chimzi metu I’m riding with B I’m riding with bu come on give me bu B all day oh man I might go bull just by default but

Man this is gonna sound really I’m going I’m going n i mean he did play quite a bit at the beginning of the season and didn’t yeah so they kind of reverse that’s true I hope it ain’t my boy with the beautiful jumper no way I feel like it’s

Going to be someone I’m I’m going it probably is probably is I’m going n though well you guys will be sad to know that Bub is actually in last place out of all those players bullbull this is why I picked the stat has only recorded six steals for this entire

Season Sabin Lee Sabin Lee has seven seven steals for Sabin Lee in third place is Nasir little at 10 leading the way by far Chi metu 19 steals lapping the competition we got we chamei the glove you know this D was out here straight up Rob 19 whole steals it was

Probably because of early in the season he played more than any of those three I would imagine that’s yeah good for I should have known that cuz this guy he that was he’s a trickster sometimes a trickster that was a question for your guy I know it’s my guy I he’s probably

Pissed off at me like what are you doing I’m disappointed in you for I got magical hand that’s hilarious is that the last one that was super fun thank you Eric for putting together a little Sun’s trivia for us cheers to you but make sure you’re cheersing with our

Friends over at Michelob Ultra take some time to enjoy life happiness is essential to living an exceptional life and Michelob Ultra offers an exceptional taste it’s refreshing and balance flavor and it’s only 2.6 carbs and 95 calories you know we love that and uh michol Ultra also has an organic Seltzer

Essential collection now these are made with coconut water and real fruit juice so you know it’s always going to have a refreshing and Superior taste and these are still only 90 calories and they have zero added sugar so no matter what you’re kind of looking for or in the

Mood for michlo Ultra has your back and they also want to hook you up with some exclusive NBA prizes so head on over to mlob ultra.com to find how you can win Superior NBA prizes and to find a mob Ultra near you it’s only worth it if you

Enjoy it and we ask that you enjoy responsibly sorry guys I’m running out of voice here but I told you guys at the top of the show that we’re going to have some watch parties out at hila River Resorts and casinos on April 5th and April 7th

Hila River Resorts and casinos no one does it better it is a fantastic experience whether you are there to you know play on one of the over 800 slot machines or the 15 blackjack tables and live table games that they have or if you want to take in the largest uh

Casino sports book in Arizona grab some food go check out a show hang out with ph& sons have a watch party no one does it better than heila River Resorts and casinos and if you want to check out more you can head to heila River Resorts and casinos and uh

Visit play ail.com for more detail the cool thing about this next week and you know she Lindsay had mentioned it earlier is that uh it’s the collective is what it’s called the collective by Mike Bibby uh and his entire shoe collection will be there it’s the the

Whole Top Golf space has been redesigned for this one weekend uh it’s going to be a lot of cool stuff and rumor has it some Suns players are going to show up too so if you come to the watch party maybe you’re G to run into some Suns

Players uh which would be really cool and then on top of that there’s a bunch of concerts going on next door so maybe Ice Cube will pop in or something there you go so come out Friday and Sunday toila River out of Wild Horse Pass I’m struggle busing right now y’all you okay

Yep but let’s round out the show looking at the Western Conference standings and games to watch tonight so we got the Suns fli to eth obviously with the loss to the Spurs there they are half a game back from Dallas and Sacramento in that seven and six spot

They are still two and a half up on the Lakers I think they’re only two up on the Wind column on La now uh and they’re still five up on the Warriors so they’re not going to fall out of I don’t think they’re going to fall out of the top

Eight but with this 10 game stretch coming up uh they got to put in some work here yeah you got you got you got to at least go four and six in this last 10 like man I know that’s I mean that’s asking that’s not asking a lot four and six should happen

Yeah uh with this team so but if you find yourself in that two three range you you might end up looking at that 910 spot all of a sudden especially if the Lakers can can find a way to win some of these games down the stret so that would

Be disastrous if they fell out of the top eight like just being in playing is bad enough but like if if they go four and six like sa just said they’re playing team yeah they they’re 100% playing team right I think five and five honestly still think just playing 500

Bar they’ll still be a playing team I I think six and four minimum is is what they need to potentially be at six that’s minimum that’s and that’s hoping you got be the that’s exactly you you need you need the Kings and the Mavericks these two games

To go perfectly in your favor and so that’s why I’m saying seven and three is where you want to be you got to get to that six spot um and at the V at least here’s another thing that people need to understand like the seven eight thing is

Tricky but it’s more tricky if you’re eight like if if you tell if you’re seven at least you guaranteed two home games to win one but if you eight you lose that 7A game you’re going to you’re going to you know you mess around you might mess around you still

You’ll be home for that game but you mess around run into LeBron or Steph and yeah we might be going to Puerto Rico early this year me I’m saying might I’m like what road trip uh all right guys well thank you all for hanging out with us uh

Brent hilarious moment in the chat said Lindsay chokes on her words more than bub get Steals and Then followed up and said as soon as I made that joke I started coughing out of nowhere it’s karma hilarious all right well thank you guys for hanging out with me sorry about

The coughing fit uh I’m working on I’m trying to get it all out but they’re still a little bit lingering from that one time that I died like three weeks ago not even two weeks ago yeah this show’s over year this show is over y

This was fun this was a good show like dis we appreciate you all for being here hit that thumbs up button on your way out if you are watching on YouTube if you are listening wherever you get your podcast rate review And subscribe we appreciate it a lot and until we see you

Tomorrow with our pregame and postgame show be sure to give the show a follow on social at phnx Suns you can also follow me at Lindsay Smith a you can follow s allore Bookman you can follow Flex at Flex from Jersey and you can follow Gerald at Gerald gay uh anybody I

I’ll take it listen I I know we’re all frustrated and you know things will get better they will eventually and if you don’t believe so you can watch my Wildcats tomorrow in the sweet 16 on Thursday let’s go Down we all sitting like the May

The Phoenix Suns, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker have 10 games left in the 2023-24 NBA regular season. How will they finish? What lessons can the Suns learn from their loss to the Spurs? Plus! On today’s PHNX Suns podcast we’ll have some fun with Suns trivia and we’ll look at the Western Conference Standing and games to keep an eye on tonight. Join us for the latest around the team and don’t forget to follow the show on social @PHNX_Suns.

0:00 Intro
1:00 Injury updates on Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic
5:30 What lessons can the Suns take from their Spurs loss
13:30 What will the Suns record be through the final 10 games
23:00 Showing good and bad stats we picked from this season
47:00 Looking at super chats & trivia time!
58:00 Western conference standings check

An ALLCITY Network Production

SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube: https://bit.ly/phnx_youtube

ALL THINGS PHNX: http://linktr.ee/phnxsports

PHNX Events: Get your tickets to Suns Takeovers, Coyotes & Suns Watch Parties at BetMGM, and MORE here: https://gophnx.com/events/
Arizona Lottery: Visit http://www.AZAdventure.com for more information on how you can take an adventure with the Arizona Lottery and for a chance to win $1 million in cash and Arizona travel prizes!
PrizePicks – Download the PrizePicks app today and use code PHNX for a first deposit match up to $100! Pick more. Pick less. It’s that Easy!

Desert Financial Credit Union: Open a free checking account online with Desert Financial Credit Union and get $200 in bonuses https://www.desertfinancial.com/200

Michelob ULTRA: It’s only worth it if you enjoy it. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly.
https://www.michelobultra.com/

Empire: Schedule a free in-home estimate with Empire Today! Receive a $350 OFF discount when you use the promo code PHNX. Restrictions apply. See https://empiretoday.com/phnx for details.

Manscaped: Get 20% Off and Free Shipping with code PHNX20 at https://www.Manscaped.com

Gametime: Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code PHNX for $20 off your first purchase.

Circle K: Join Inner Circle for free by downloading the Circle K app today! Head to https://www.circlek.com/store-locator to find Circle Ks near you!
OGeez!: OGeez! is not your average cannabis-infused gummy. Head over to https://www.ogeezbrands.com to find where you can purchase. Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly.
Four Peaks: Follow them on social @fourpeaksbrew & @fourpeakspub! Must be 21+. Enjoy responsibly.

Someburros: 20% off your order of up to $100 when you use code PHNX at checkout for the whole month of March at https://www.someburros.com/

When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

#KevinDurant #Durant #KD #DevinBooker #Booker #Book #BradleyBeal #Beal #PhoenixSuns #Phoenix #NBA #basketball #Big3 #hoops #sports #BolBol #GraysonAllen #JusufNurkic

SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKaPEqS_Mc6eGNNBQN1QgQw

Website:

Home

PHNX Locker:
PHNXLocker.com

Social
Twitter: @PHNX_Sports
Instagram: @PHNX_Sports