FIRST TAKE | Phoenix are title contenders – Stephen A. on Booker & KD lead Suns to beat Cavs 122-101

FIRST TAKE | Phoenix are title contenders – Stephen A. on Booker & KD lead Suns to beat Cavs 122-101

So we’ll see if it’s a fracture or anybody that’s played Hoops knows you jam your finger it hurts like hell Phoenix looking to take advantage of the New Orleans loss they’re hosting Cleveland Kevin Duran and the home team welcoming Donan Mitchell in the mask on the floor for

Cleveland most of the Stars available for this one here defense turns to offense great hustle Carris Levert turns it over Bradley Beal with a deflection to Booker and the Suns look fantastic the first dozen minutes have a 14-point lead Durant that array of Unstoppable moves nothing in the world you can do

There Durant Booker and Beal scored or assisted on 61 of the 72 Suns first half points they had a 25o lead W oh look Durant to Booker 16-point lead Booker everything looks easy I’m not good at making list Steve I think he might be my favorite offensive

Player to watch okay I’m just saying Durant he’s on the list too Steve how am I list making da I’ll put it in the vault thanks Durant’s 388 30-point game passing Oscar Robertson for seventh most Oscar’s on a lot of lists you know Booker coming up a 50 plus Point Night

40 more with Cassidy hover afterwards here’s book with the win you move into sixth place in the west outside of the playin game you told me this morning that this team is ready how playoff ready do you feel like this group is right now as you attack the hardest remaining schedule of

The NBA I mean I say credit the NBA they did their thing with the play in tournament um these games are playoff games so you know we’re trying to get these wins and and stay in the top six you know to have to avoid those single elimination games so um we’re ready to

Go though Energy’s High as Cassidy mentioned Phoenix entered the evening 8th in the west now 6th that’s just how fluid things are in the absolutely loaded West that’s bananas man Sacramento Falls to eighth on an off night just a half game back of the coveted six which means you avoid the

Playin tournament Tim legler with us here in DC Phoenix looked dominant on Wednesday you have enjoyed what they’ve shown in terms of what their ceiling can be but you had concerns about right the level of consistency what stands out about the approach in this particular game a couple weeks ago I

Went in on them and and they deserved it with the egg they laided against the Bucks the way they played against the Spurs without wemy they deserved it and I think they have been better and there’s a style of play Scott that they get to that makes you think okay this is

What it needs to be and if they can stay like this you got a real chance in the west and that was great Sound by the way to lead to this touchcreen okay because Devon Booker talks about two things he talked about the ball hopping and he talked about Kevin Durant drawing

Attention and that’s exactly what we’re going to focus on right here so let’s just get right to it this is impressive Scott cuz there’s 14 seconds on the shot clock Kevin Durant’s taking the ball out of bounds on the side so and in 14 seconds they’re going to make seven

Passes on this possession out of the half court going to lead to something great so that’s the ball hopping component of it and this is just basic Flex basketball where the ball gets reversed you get a back screen a dive followed by a down screen like everybody

In the league runs some version of this when the ball gets reversed that’s the action run initially but that’s not what they’re really trying to get out of this they’re going to keep it moving around a perimeter comes back over here now this is the thing that I want to see Kevin

Durant do more and when he does this they’re very difficult to defend I don’t think Kevin Durant sets enough ball screens when he sets ball screens and he’s involved in the action and this ball handler comes off the way that he’s going to make these two Defenders react

To that and what’s open in the middle of the floor as a result is this and now he catches it and you can take a look you can see my man EU bang Sony here he wants a lot he’s got his hand up you can

Go there if you want you can go out here if you want to that defender came all the way down to your lap or you could go over here to the wing he’s got everything at his disposal created three passing Windows just because of his ability to set a screen dive to the

Middle and catch the basketball that’s the kind of reaction you get defensively for Kevin Durant here he makes the right read and this is the last component of this these guys are critical Royce O’Neal’s of the world the Eric Gordon of the world Grayson Allen when he plays

Wasn’t there if they’re making their share of corner threes after ball movement Phoenix Suns are legitimately a threat in the Western Conference to be that last team standing against Denver because that’s how I use everybody to describe him relative to Denver I think they’re going to be there in the end who

Will be that team the Suns have a chance when they play like this offensively I thought the first half tonight was as good as they can play offensively we don’t have Commandments on this show but if we did two of them would be don’t alar not just for the immediate future

Of the sun’s postseason hopes but also for long term in this franchise yeah the suns are a team that a lot of people are scared of but a lot of people are mystified by and I’ll bet their fans have had a roller coaster ride this season because they shoot the

Three-pointer very well but they don’t shoot that many of them when they pass the ball they’re pretty much Unstoppable but they’re among the league leaders in isos with those guys they have three guys who are probably going to be Hall of Famers in Booker Durant and Beal but

They’re 30th in offense in the fourth quarter they can beat anybody on any night they can lose to anybody body on any night and the problem is if this season is deemed a failure which I would say if they don’t get out of the play in

It would be there’s not a lot of options to change you can’t really trade Booker you can’t trade Durant those are Superstar players Beal has a no trade clause there two other highlevel role players Royce O’Neal and Grayson Allen are free agents you don’t have much there and now you’re dealing with down

End of the bench guys it’s going to be very difficult to improve this roster under the rules and under the spending that they’ve put themselves into yeah this to to me is the most crucial stretch of the Thunder season really we already know it’s the hardest stretch

Coming up oh sorry yeah excuse me yeah of the Suns but we already know it’s the hardest stretch but it’s going to be the most crucial and to me what I’m watching for is how they really finish the season strong more importantly when you look at

This squad you look at okay say they’re able to go and win three or four more games okay all right now you go into the playin scenario potentially in the seven or eight position and you go and win you certify yourself and then you get a favorable matchup in the west where you

Can advance the post season whether it is one or two rounds to me that’s a decent outcome given that their big three have only played around 35 games so far this season that’s not how they wanted to start but more so how are you going to finish you don’t want to lose

But if you lose well meaning maybe in the second round or the thir agree with you but you’re giving a lot of giv there from a team that has no giv this year that is true they don’t have wiggle room especially based off of the aggregation

Of stars that they have within the Suns well well Wendy number one I didn’t I didn’t get the memo that teams around the league was afraid of the Phoenix uh Phoenix Suns cuz I don’t believe well the Pelicans are Booker put up 50 on them three times that’s fine but that

Don’t mean that they’re afraid of them I don’t think no one is fearing matching up with the Phoenix Suns number two it’s life a death do or die when it comes down to the Phoenix Suns and how they finish the rest of this season because they’re only one game out of being in

The six spot okay so you could get out of the playin tournament also it’s a defining moment right now for de I mean for uh Kevin dur no Bradley Bill excuse me we we didn’t seen we didn’t saw over the couple years what Kevin Durant and

Deon Booker has done in the p in the postseason Bradley Bill supposed to be the Difference Maker he was added here the reason that they’re topheavy the reason that they got the what’s that the first apron or second apron or whatever cooking apron I don’t I don’t even give

A damn he was brought here to be the deciding factor into for them to take that jump in the Western Conference not granted I understand they hav’t been together they haven’t been together for uh majority part of this season but at the end of the day when you talk about a

Team if they underachieve or if they fail it’s going to be some I mean it’s going to be some smoke in that organization and we can you really trust Katie and if he’s going to be loyal I mean oh the Loyalty yeah when he did say

When I asked him if Phoenix was going to be his his last stop when we sat down over Allstar he said well today I can say that but I’m going to be realistic in that I don’t have the same sort of sentiments about changing teams that I

Used to so he was a bit non-committal with three straight games of 50 plus points against the same opponent he also had nine assists in the Suns 124 to 111 win over the Pelicans in New Orleans all right Shannon sharp is also here with legs and Stephen A Shannon I’m G start

With you should we expect more come playoff time from the Suns big three well we demanded more all season long we can’t understand why a team with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker now we know Bradley bill has been in and out of the lineup due to injury but you got a you

Got a Kevin Durant who’s a generational Talent who’s a walking bucket Devin Booker the exact same thing and here we are and here you guys are in the what seventh eighth spot that’s unacceptable yes we we don’t expect it we demand it we demand any team to have a Kevin

Durant and a Devon Booker oner on it to make a deep playoff run and to be in the Western Conference Finals because you’re talking about two of the elite offensive players in all of basketball you got Yousef nurkic who can rebound the basketball one uh I think earlier this

Year he had a 31 rebound game a couple of 20 rebound games at 19 to 19 last night I think thus far the Suns have underachieved there is no way Stephen A their record should be what it is given the fact of who we’re talking about

Bradley Bill has played I think the last uh like the last 10 15 ball games he’s been there but when you look at book and you look at KD and you looking at guys that on a given night both guys can give you 30 and they

Can give it to you in an efficient manner we should require we should demand that guys y’all got to go further than be be out in the first round you guys got to be further than uh Western Conference semi-finals you guys need to be in the Western Conference Final and

Then that might not be enough given a who nobody has two guys on the offensive end that can match the Firepower that those two guys have well see did well and there’s a couple of people to point the finger at I’m going to you know

First of all I’m going to look at Frank vogle because Tim legler you know this in the fourth quarter uh they have been highly suspect uh particularly defensively we can’t ignore that number two you got Yousef nurkic and again he’s not DeAndre Aon you can actually trust

And rely upon him I’m not trying to throw shade on DeAndre Aon but he wasn’t happy in Phoenix you know he was a bit temperamental to say the least some days not nights he showed up some nights he didn’t he wasn’t reliable in that regard

But nurkic is in terms of who he is whatever he is he is you see what I’m saying you don’t have to worry about his temperament getting in the way the game is either there or it’s not but you don’t have to worry about stuff that you

Know in terms of his personality and all of that stuff getting in the way right so if you know you’ve got that reli that person to rely upon just being a big body that can go out big body that can go out there give you a little points give you some prod productivity

Rebounding wise then that’s less for you to have to be worried about you Frank vogle you got to figure things out defensively that’s the reason you’re a head coach in the NBA and a head coach because if you’re offensive brilliant as a as a mastermind on the offensive side

Of the ball you’re there because of what you did in Indiana defensively what you did in Los Angeles defensively what the hell is going on with the Phoenix Suns so we got to look at it from that perspective I’m looking at Bill Booker and KD together when they played in

Games together their record is 21 and 13 I’m sorry I expected better than that ex three of y’all in the lineup what’s 21 and 13 I mean damn just just eight games above 500 you can’t do better than that I think you should that’s number three number

Four Shannon legs knows how I feel about Devin Booker I don’t know if you know I’ve often used the analogy he’s kobees I love this brother I’m one of the biggest fans in the world of Devon Booker this brother is the truth okay he is something special and got the game

And got the attitude that goes with it and doesn’t shrink in big moments he might be more effective than he is at other times but it ain’t cuz he’s shrinking and wilon beneath the pressure it’s either your shots falling or it’s not but he doesn’t have any lack of

Confidence he continues to come at you KD can we see that please you are two-time Champion you are two-time NBA Finals MVP once upon a time we were comparing you to the to to Goat James according to Shay Shay you understand I’m saying I call him LeBron not goat

James but the point is is that that’s what you did all right what’s up with that this is your team you understand it’s Devin Booker’s team too but you KD you the champion you’re the two-time NBA Finals MVP you one of the greatest scorers in NBA history what’s up with

This okay Bradley Bill really nice to see you in a playoff kind of atmosphere because God knows it’s been a long time since the nation’s capital has had that to enjoy so you being in this situation we’d expect more from you too in the end

They got a roster they got the roster to get it done if you’re the New Orleans Pelicans I don’t know what the hell is up I know that Devin Booker what is it saying here you know you know he was a a native of Moss Point Mississippi located

About 100 to 10 miles from New Orleans had about 40 relatives in attendance I mean damn I mean can you stop him three straight 5050 plus games against you New Orleans everything is saiding looking at y’all and thinking that y’all are Championship Contender I mean damn that

Just goes out the window all you got to do is put your Kryptonite in front of your face which happens to be dein Booker and you’ll F like a cheap 10 I mean damn get it together New Orleans but in the end last Point Tim y five of

The son’s final seven regular season games are against teams ahead of them Shannon two against the C two against the t-wolves one against New Orleans and then only a game behind New Orleans for the six blot which would take them out of the playing game so if

There was ever an opportunity as Shannon was saying legs for Phoenix to step up it is now well listen the segment started with should we expect more from the Phoenix Suns the answer is hell yes and look people people in Phoenix know because they’ve been all over me because

I have been crash in the Suns for the last few weeks when I saw them played to Milwaukee Bucks on national TV and had no interest in competing in the game they gave up 140 points 24 made threes to the bucks without yanis Tumo without Giannis and the Suns had everybody at

Their disposal and then they follow it up with a loss to the San Antonio Spurs sitting Victor wanyama I’m sorry man but a 52-point game out of Devin Booker and a win against New Orleans is not enough to wash those two games out of my memory bank so to answer the question yeah

Because at minimum they should be considered a legitimate title Contender nobody is talking about the Phoenix Suns in that vein there’s a number of teams we’re going to start listing before we would get to the Phoenix Suns and when you have that level of offensive Talent

At the top of your roster and they’re all together you have to expect this to be a team that can make a run all the way through all the way through even compete with a team like Boston in the finals but we don’t talk about him in that vein because something is missing

Something is missing and look even Bradley Beal he’s gone seven straight games under 20 points what’s the point of having three guys like that if you can’t figure out how all three guys can be great on the same night they have not been able to discern that this year and

That to me has been the biggest head scratch I get you I’m not I’m gonna come to you shay but I’m I’m not going to hold Bradley Beal that accountable if you got Devin Booker dropping 50 like sometimes you’re differential because somebody else got it going but you’re talking about one

Game I just said he hasn’t been over in the 20s in the last seven games this is this is a guy who averaged 30 points a game in Washington thir yeah but he but legs you have to understand he was the first option he’s third option now no no

And Shan listen I’m not even blaming him I’m not even saying what I’m saying is they haven’t figured out how the three of them can e and flow right to make them Ard because two of those guys are cooking on the court we looking at then is it Frank

Vog then because listen one thing we have to say complimentary about by the way about Kevin Durant who’s just a superstar and the future Hall of Famer is this he’s spe for for for for for e for for hey fore for yeah back for no to go fore Speee fore speeech Spee spee fore fore fore For fore speech spe spee speee [Applause] speech speee Spee for

FIRST TAKE | “Phoenix are title ccontenders” – Stephen A. on Kevin Durant and Devin Booker lead Suns to beat Cavs 122-101