Stephen A. sounds off on the ‘HOT GARBAGE’ Suns 🔥🗑️ & previews Lakers vs. Celtics 🏀 | NBA Countdown

Stephen A. sounds off on the ‘HOT GARBAGE’ Suns 🔥🗑️ & previews Lakers vs. Celtics 🏀 | NBA Countdown

Playing in his record 18th Christmas game today LeBron James is the all-time Christmas leader in points while ranking second in assists three-pointers made and steals his 10 wins on the holiday are also tied with his good friend Dwayne Wade for the most on Christmas but today LeBron and the Lakers they

Face their shared enduring rival the Boston Celtics W has more the Epic and enduring rivalry of LeBron james’ career is not with a particular player it is with basketball’s Epic an enduring franchise the Boston Celtics family every single year no matter where I go I find a way

To play Boston so I would have 20 Seasons plus Now Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce giving way to Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown and somehow for his 100th career game against the Celtics today LeBron James is still the biggest star in the gym will defend oh LeBron James

With no regard for human life H James whoa blind right here like those Los Angeles Lakers before him Weston Baylor magic and Kareem Kobe and pow James has absorbed his share of playoff pain from the Celtics this is going to be AIT to a season as you can possibly have when

Boston’s big three kept beating him James left Cleveland for Miami who construct his own Championship Ensemble and has never again lost to the Celtics in the postseason faced with playoff elimination in his career James has delivered four 45o performances three of them against Boston LeBron James put the

Heat on his shoulders and carried them to this dominant Victory this is the best game I’ve ever seen LeBron James play to stake himself in Lakers lore LeBron James delivered a 17th Championship Banner in 2020 catching the Celtics in the way that Dr Jerry bus always dreamed I told Genie when I came

Here that I was going to put this franchise back in a position where it belongs we just want our respect the Laker Nation want their respect and I want my damn respect too and what would be a Prelude to the ultimate June finals it is the NBA’s two fiercest rivalries

Aligning on Christmas Day LA Boston and for the 100th time for the ages LeBron James against the Boston Celtics great work on that WJ perk you’ve been on both sides of this you’ve been LeBron’s teammate and you’ve been a part of a championship Boston Celtics what gives us extra juice for LeBron

Well you know I I don’t want to use this word on Christmas day but damn it I have to hate the Celtics hate LeBron the city hate LeBron and the feelings are mutual LeBron hate the city of Boston the organization so much that I never seen

Him go outside for dinner when he’s in the city of Boston and I’ve been part of his team and he goes to dinner a lot with Team meetings and things to that nature he don’t even go foot he hates it hates everything about the organization it’s real beef there that’s nice I

Appreciate that on Christmas Day I expect a a a a furious battle because of it I don’t think Jason Tatum cares I don’t think Jaylen Brown cares I think they got the game to back it up I think they got the squad to back it up with Drew holiday and Derek white defending

On the perimeter as well so let’s get that out the way it comes down it’s not about LeBron because we know how phenomenal and great he is it’s not even about Anthony Davis to some degree because I expect him to show up who the hell else is going to show up for the

Los Angeles Lakers you know at some point in time we got to bring this into consideration I talk about places like La Miami something and the distractions that exist okay these players some of them act like it is a distraction they distracted from playing basketball because too many nights they don’t show

Show up I’m not talking about ad and LeBron James here I’m talking about the rest of you know y’all wear Laker uniforms too could you give the new the Su to beat 39 year old man some help could you have some pride and say damn rather than making those goat noises in

The locker room you show up and take some of the pressure off of him that would be nice it would be nice so Stephen A’s questioning who’s going to show up for the Los Angeles Lakers Christoph porzingis was listed as questionable will we see him this afternoon yeah spring dangle for

Porzingis I’m told he’s going to go through his pregame shooting but there’s optimism around the Celtics that porzingis will be available what is the temperature inside Phoenix right now well start with Kevin Durant you talk to people in Phoenix and around that organization you know they can feel the

Frustration with Durant part of that certainly uh is the Miss games for Brad Beal this team was built around those three stars uh The underwhelming Supporting Cast that comes from those massive trades for Durant and Bradley Beal that really gutted uh the organization and left them you having to

Sign a lot of minimum players to fill out the payroll and then and then understanding uh that they lack the assets the draft picks the the trade Capital to go out and really improve this team this is something they’re going to have to manage in Phoenix with

Kevin Durant you’ve seen it before and it reminds you it is a stark reminder of how short of a window and how this team has to win big and they have to win big quickly uh based on how it was constructed and having Kevin Durant

Still playing at an all NBA uh level and a healthy Kevin Durant and there’s a lot at stake for this organization it’s got to change soon okay mayor of Scottdale you know this team inside and out given all of that how confident are you that they’re going to figure all this out not

First of all they can’t get on the court and W is so right start with Bradley Beal this team was construct you knew going into this that their three starters their three stars had to be Stars pillar or post all right but this this is a reminder how many times are we

Going to keep going back to a model cuz it worked twice of this big three situation where you could just throw people together and because of their names they’re going to be great they haven’t played together and even when they have first of all they should be

Better with two of them and they’re not it’s a flatline team you watch them and you wonder where’s the emotion where is it well personalities matter perk knows is when you’re building a team as opposed to just slapping one together temperament matters personality matters chemistry matters we talk about Draymond

Green right and the instigation and why is it worth it despite all the suspensions and the drama to have him because you still have that in the mix the sons have none of that and when you watch them play you’re like my my goodness Stephen A and I were talking in

The commercial break about pace of play that’s reflective of what they don’t have where’s the fire they’ve been bottom five in Pace of play when you got those those players if they’re on the court and they’re not where is the pace of play what is that about where’s the

Fire with this team watching them Flatline through games and blow double digit leads no I have no confidence you know what the big three having played together and they got KD and Devin Booker they could save the excuses a lot of people make more excuses for the

Phoenix Sons than the brother going to jail and I don’t even want to hear it okay and when it comes down to it is you talk about the pace how about getting stops cupcakes is what I see them they creamy in the middle they lack physicality Stephen A they lack

Physicality Willborn they lack mental toughness if you want to get out transition how about getting deflections and steals how about forcing turnovers so when I think about this locker room and I think about Eric Gordon comments Malika right he talked about oh he’s a offensive weapon basically right he

Should get more touches be more involved in the offense he’s on a vet minimum that shows lack of leadership and when this team formed I said that Kevin Durant just like when he went to Golden State and Draymond and steep was a leader to him he needs to be a vocal

Leader to these guys in this locker room because they don’t have one and when you lose games like to the Portland Trailblazers it goes to show you that you don’t have a voice that’s extension of Frank vogle and that’s why I always say your best player is not your leader

All the time your best player is not the one that’s in the locker room that’s that’s giving the voice of holding people accountable 2008 on the Celtics kg wasn’t a vocal leader Paul wasn’t a vocal leader it wasn’t uh Ray Allen it was James posy you need a vocal leader are you

Ready for this the Phoenix Suns are a team are you ready for this they’re a team when it comes to there’s a whole bunch of people that sh have blame ain’t just one person there’s a whole bunch of blame to go around let’s start with ownership doing your homework on the

Availability of Bradley Bill this ain’t the first time he’s been injured no all right so you got to take that into consideration we know it’s not on purpose it’s not his fault that he lands somebody twist his ankle stuff like that it’s not his fault but the reality is is

That durability and availability have been things that he hasn’t had uh you know at his disposal that’s number one okay the recommendations for Frank vogle Frank vog could coach he’s a champion as a coach I’m certainly not here to cast the the asures on him but there is

Something to be said about being able to touch on the pulse of your team okay that was a question mark for him with the Los Angeles Lakers wasn’t a question mark with him when he was the coach of the Indiana bases years ago but it was a

Question with him with the Los Angeles Lakers thereafter winning the championship it’s a question now as you watch these things these matters unfold then we have to get to the Superstar Kevin Durant who’s the league leader in three-o percentage shooting at over 47% who’s one of the top three scorers in

The league averaging over 30 but it appears to me nothing why because leadership ain’t with how you perform on a basketball court it’s your ability to Galvanize the people around you to maximize their potential he doesn’t seem to be able to do that Devin Booker is averaging 27 a

Game so you’ve got a superstar averaging 30 you got another one averaging 27 and y’all still three in and eight over your last 11 games or something like that this is a team that appears to be leaderless this is a team that doesn’t appear to have any kind of Direction any

Kind of motivation whatsoever they certainly don’t have Health on their side you already brought up their bench W there’s nothing to look forward to in Phoenix because I’m looking at the rest of the Western Conference and some of these young thorough breads going to come up the reigning defending champions

In Denver M LeBron leading the Los Angeles Lakers you can’t count them out and then I’m looking at the Phoenix Suns hot garbage hot garbage how patient is Kevin Durant willing to be with all of this well listen we you you’ve seen certainly in Brooklyn there were very

Different factors uh with the Nets and their inability uh to ever put that together but the one thing you came back to in Brooklyn was uh the players that he came to play with and that he helped bring in James Harden Kyrie Irving they never played together I think they

Played 17 games together the three of them and I think that’s going to be the question I think for the Suns is Bradley Beal getting healthy and then Durant and Booker staying healthy because we haven’t seen what these three look like together but they’re going to have to be markedly better NBA on

Is

Stephen A. sounds off on the ‘HOT GARBAGE’ Suns 🔥🗑️ & previews Lakers vs. Celtics 🏀 | NBA Countdown

On NBA Countdown, Stephen A. Smith puts the blame on multiple individuals for the Phoenix Suns’ slow start to the season.

0:00 LeBron on Christmas Day
2:36 Celtics-Lakers preview
4:29 Suns’ outlook
8:47 Stephen A. sounds off

#ESPN #NBA #NBACountdown

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