NBA TODAY | Will Durant be able to save this season after loss to Spurs – Perks on Suns vs. Nuggets
They continue their fight to stay out of the playin visiting Nicola yic and the defending Champion Denver Nuggets cover luck on that one the night tips with NBA Countdown that’s at 7:00 Park to your point though tonight’s game it kicks off a really brutal stretch for the Suns
Every single game are against a team with a better record than Phoenix so in the latest edition of Bradley Beal’s andscape video diary with our very own Mark Spears he discusses how the scuffling suns are trying to find their footing yeah I think everybody wants us to all go score 30 at
Night in a perfect world but we realize this that won’t happen you know it’s very it’s very you know fine line like yeah we can look at it through that lens and kind of go with kind of the the the opinion of every like the whole world and the expectation of what everybody
Has for the situation where we can Embrace who we are as a team and embrace our versatility and embrace the need of everybody and not just bill Brook and Durant no no no I’m talking about we don’t expect them to go out each one of
Them at half 30 at night we expect them to win games at a high level consistently we expect them to actually look like a basketball team not a bunch of individuals out there getting their numbers and if the world have these expectations for you guys for the Phoenix Sons what are their expectations
In the locker room like Bradley Bill you left Washington DC got tra Tred to the Phoenix Suns with Kevin Durant arguably one of the greatest players to ever touch the basketball dein Booker he’s going to be in the Hall of Fame when he finish and y’all really the only team
That has a big three so what are we talking about right now yes the expectations are going to be High when they when they traded for Bradley Bill I know I was one of them that that set up here and said you know what they might
Be the favorite to come out of the Western Conference here we are now they fight to survive just to stay or or try to get into the postseason do they have enough time to fix it not with that schedule you just they just show who who laid that beautiful graphic out was it
No that was director cath I I love her but listen I’m telling you with that schedule is problems yeah so I I really I was thinking about I really do think their loss the other night to the Spurs without Victor was the worst loss in the
NBA this year I I had it with the S with the Bucks losing that game in Memphis right before the break remember that against um against a bunch of 10day guys but this is really the worst because of that schedule because they had to win that game and what I can’t explain and
Yeah they’ve had injuries absolutely and yeah they had a little bit of an unfortunate thing happened to them when they traded for Kevin Durant with all those picks and then the rules changed with the CBA it’s very intricate but that doesn’t explain why they are the
One of the worst fourth quarter teams in the NBA in the modern era did you hear what I just said they’re one of the worst fourth quarter teams in the modern era how do you explain okay they okay Durant Booker and be Miss games perk at
Least two of them have played almost all the time how do you explain being the most Dreadful offense in the fourth quarter right even okay you lost Chris Paul I get that I get by the way that graphic Chris Paul’s going to take that to his free agent meetings with teams
This summer going see what happened when I left the Suns that’s unexplainable unrecoverable situation unrecoverable and unexplainable that they are that bad in a fourth quarter with that kind of town look at Wendy throwing me aive and I’m going to go get it too because everything you just said point in the
Direction of leadership four quarter woes like they’re having being the worst in the league comes down from leadership you bought up Chris Paul what was he on that team the leader the floor General so these are the things that we’re watching right now and I if we see it damn it
They got to see it especially when it comes down to being in the film room so I’m not going to sit up here and point the f finger at Frank voger because this is not a young group of guys this is a veteran team Malika one guy has two
Finals MVPs two championships and Kevin Durant Devin Booker has been to the finals Bradley Bill he’s 30 plus like this is not a young ball Club it also might be though Kendrick a a stuck ball Club if you will because they do not have very many options to change the
Roster that they have right now so whatever improvements the Phoenix Suns are going to make not even just this season they’re likely going to have to be intrinsic they’re likely going to have to come from themselves am I wrong on that Brian they have no functional way to dramatically make over the roster
If you brought in like a basketball consultant and said what should we do with this roster that consultant would probably say considering consider trading Bradley Beal to rebuild this team a little bit but wait Bradley bills and no trade clause yep so they really are locked in they’re going to have to
Find a way though to help get some help point the Phoenix Suns might be a little bit stuck but there are several teams who are already flipping the calendar looking toward the NBA draft it’s just a couple of months away and speaking of we have a couple of the front office had
Other plans they didn’t want me and no matter what you want to say about his tactics he has delivered what he’s wanted I’m not a system player I am a system you’re watching NBA Today presented by Levis it’s kind of hard to believe it’s been nearly 5 months since James Harden forced his way out of Philadelphia and tonight he makes his return to his old stomping grounds to kick off our ESPN double header our reporter Tim bontemps joins us now from Philadelphia and Tim
If there is one thing that I know about Philadelphia fans is that they are so warm fuzzy and loving when a former player comes back into Wells Fargo Center I’m completely kidding of course what are the expectations that James Harden and the Clippers have for starting off this four game Road
Trip well I’m sure it’s going to be a festive atmosphere as you pointed out Malika as it always is at the Wells Fargo Center here in South Philly but I also think it’s going to be kind of a weird vibe for this game right obviously there’s going to be some emotion about
James Harden coming back here to Philadelphia where we’ve spent most of the last two seasons resulting in a couple more second round exits from the playoffs but this is a matchup that just happened on Sunday in Los Angeles where the Sixers came away with a big win
Every bit win without Joel embiid right now is big and this is also coming 5 months after the trade so there’s been a lot of time for sort of everything to settle in for the departure to take place there’s also the fact that Joel embiid is still not playing and the
Sixers are really just desperately trying to get out of the play and mix in the Eastern Conference standings and this isn’t the kind of Titanic battle between the Clippers and a team with a healthy Joel and beid that we thought it might have been when the schedule came
Out so all that’s to say that I’m sure it will be a frosty reception for James Harden but I don’t anticipate this being anything like for example when Ben Simmons came back here a couple years ago for the first time just don’t think it’s going to that same level of
Animosity for all these reasons involved it’s just kind of a weird atmosphere and uh you know setting for this game to come so long after the trade happen absolutely well put let’s dive into Joel embiid a little bit more because it’s been about seven weeks since his surgery
And there’s only 10 games is left in the regular season so where is he at in terms of his recovery well things have been in a bit of a stasis with Joel embiid for a couple weeks now Malika where as Nick Nur said before the Sixers went on the
West coast trip which Joel embiid did not not go on with the team that he’s on the court doing some working out but has not been in any full contact situations has not been in a full practice yet with the team and so we’re still in a bit of
A holding pattern where as you said there’s 10 games left in the regular season three weeks from today we’ll be talking about the playin tournament in the Eastern Conference right now Philadelphia is sitting what would be a pretty juicy matchup in a 78 situation with the Miami Heat with the winner of
That game likely going on to play the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and the loser potentially having to win an 89 game just to get the right to play the team with the League’s best record the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs but certainly the first
Order of business for Philly is to get Joel embiid back on the court and now that they’re back around him for a couple of days I think we’ll get a little bit more of a sense of just how long it’s going to take to get him back
Out there but even if embiid does get out on the court leag I think it’s safe to assume there’s going to need some time for him to ramp himself up and get his conditioning back anywhere near where it was before when he was leading the league and scoring for a third
Straight year and playing at an MVP caliber level for the Sixers well as he continues to ramp up in the hopes of returning we will continue to update everybody at home Tim bonm thank you so very much enjoy tonight’s game but as Tim knows all too well even without Joel
Andd do not count out the 76ers tonight after all they went into Los Angeles they got a wire to wire win over the Clippers over the weekend and Los Angeles followed that up with a blowout loss to Indiana which caused tyo Kendrick Perkins to label this team as
Soft he didn’t lie so what do you need to see from Harden and and the Clippers starting tonight well first of all they need to get uncomfortable right especially yeah because James Harden is too comfortable and he’s still auditioning right he’s auditioning for this team he wants a a contract with
This team well this is the time of year going into the postseason where all eyes are on James Harden and with Russell Westbrook coming back I think tou has some leverage to have some competition within the locker room a lot of people look at it as is as if it’s a negative
When it’s actually not you actually love competition in the locker room because it holds guys accountable and I wouldn’t be surprised if James Harden doesn’t Elevate his game and pick his play up that if tyo wouldn’t roll with Russell Westbrook a lot more as that St as that
Point guard that they need to get Paul George and kawh Leonard going like they need to get going offensively look I don’t care if this is a Harden return game I don’t care if they’re playing the Washington generals at Rucker Park the Clippers have to win this game this is a
Must win game because they’ve got to stem the tide they’ve got to start this road trip off on a bright spot they got lucky last night that the Pelicans couldn’t take advantage of the Thunder uh playing at home and the Pelicans um took a loss and so the Clippers got back
Into fourth place but they’re still way too close to the play in than they should be they should be fighting to get out of the four seed into the three so they don’t have to potentially face the Nuggets of the second round instead they got to be looking in their rear view
Look at how close they are to the play in and not only that Beyond just where the standings are these recent losses that they’ve had are unacceptable they got to get a win tonight forget about what happens with Harden forget about the crowd they got to put together 48
Minutes of quality basketball to build some momentum they got way way bigger goals than being the four seed or getting J James Harden get back game they got to start turning it around now well and they’re not the only ones included in that sentiment on our ESPN double header tonight first you can
Catch James Harden’s return to Philadelphia which is Brian so perfectly You foreign spe got Moree for yeah for That for that For lete
NBA TODAY | Will Durant be able to save this season after loss to Spurs – Perks on Suns vs. Nuggets
