Small Ball Phoenix Suns Beat Kings In Important Western Conference Win

Small Ball Phoenix Suns Beat Kings In Important Western Conference Win

It was Deja Vu at footprint Center on Tuesday night as the Phoenix Suns once again beat the Sacramento Kings going small coming from behind once again on today’s episode of lockon suns why those lineups are working how they can get even better and what this win means as

The playoff Chase heats up let’s go you are locked on sun your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day we are back this is locked on Phoenix Suns we’re part of the locked on podcast Network I’m your host Brendan clean a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons riter sons.com I’m the host of the just basketball show wherever you get your

Podcasts thank you for making lock on Sons your first listen post game after a big Suns win at home 130 to 1225 over the Sacramento Kings if you’re finding us for the first time maybe you just have never thought to do it hit the follow button hit the Subscribe button

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To the Phoenix Suns all season long right here with this show again I know big might not even uh be the right word maybe it doesn’t capture how important these wins will be down the stretch of the season but the the Suns pull even in the season series with Sacramento 130

1225 and we’re going to zoom in on our moment of the game as we always do which was the start of the fourth quarter so Kevin Durant mentioned that closing the third quarter is maybe the real focus when you talk about these fourth quarters for the

Suns but this is the second straight one against this Sacramento team in which the Suns have appeared to be completely fine when it comes to what we thought of as one of the main issues on the team which was closing these games out and winning in the

Fourth quarter so the end of the third quarter the Suns go tiny they have all these guys who are like six seven or shorter with O’Neal Gordon little Booker maybe Allen to start the fourth quarter Durant is I think actually a kogi not Allen so then to start the fourth

Quarter the Suns go back to Durant back to Allen they keep little in they keep O’Neal in and they go on a 16-6 run to open things up which featured four three-pointers from Durant Gordon and little wait that’s only three and O’Neal and excellent ball movement

Almost every single shot in this run was assisted and that really decided the game obviously Sacramento was able to draw closer toward the end they even took the lead with about four minutes to go then again with 3 minutes to go then again with 250 to go and on and on but without

Being too simplistic to me this stretch decided the game whether you want to call it the start of the fourth quarter or really date it back to the third quarter although score-wise this the score was tied going into the fourth and the Suns really at the end of the third it

Was just staying afloat with that tiny lineup sort of a fun fact more than a deciding moment but this really opens the door for a few things right and let’s start with Durant these opens to the fourth quarter have been money for him all year it’s it’s really um

Honestly if you have been following this team longer than just this season it’s very refreshing that these stretches go well because the beginning of the fourth quarter in past years used to be no Booker and cand DeAndre Aon step up you know is is Chris Paul

Healthy can he Step Up will the shots go in the bench isn’t really doing much oh no suddenly book needs to save the day and to have Kevin freaking Durant be the guy to fix that is a luxury that goes beyond luxury this season in fourth quarters Durant is shooting and look

This is not too far off from his overall season numbers but 52 46 92 shooting splits and if that’s not good enough almost two blocks per 36 minutes he does have quite a few turnovers I would imagine that a lot of that you would attribute to early in the

Season although he already has 11 fourth quarter turnovers in February which is a weird stat and that’s before tonight although I’m not sure he had any tonight so that side of things has been a little Hit or Miss but it’s been that way for everybody actually I do think he

Had one in the fourth quarter today that time when Fox stole it from him at the top of the Ark when he was trying to read the floor so look that part is the blemish but the other thing I was going to say that brings us back to these small ball

Lineups with Durant at Center is that he has almost two blocks per 36 minutes in fourth quarters this season these units are fascinating to zoom in on first thing is the lasers lineup and I should now mention Bradley Beal left this game with a hamstring strain after a very very bizarre

Situation where he checked out of the game and looked fine and then all of a sudden we’re getting a note from Suns PR that he’s going to be out what the hell I don’t know what’s going on here can sign up for locked on suns insiders to

Get the alerts straight from me with the latest news about Beal as we monitor the injury through the All-Star break the link to sign up and join that community of sons lovers Sons insiders who are getting my fresh perspective on everything in Suns world and getting to

Stay in the know about the Suns all the time that link is in the show description below or you can go to join subtext dcom lockon Suns but that lasers lineup is the only one that’s played M played enough together to really get a read on so that’s part of it all these

Different you know there’s a lineup that’s played 16 possessions together where Bates deop is at the four instead of of Gordon or I guess actually in place of Beal Act is more what I should have said you know so that’s part of it but it’s also that lasers lineup the

Only one of these small ball units that’s been good that’s that’s really worked I sorted in cleaning theeg glass.com which has good lineup stuff I have it to filter only to look at lineups with Durant on the court and zero of Eubank nerkish asabuki or metu and

Still those lineups on the season have a minus 15 net rating they have not been able to defend at all and the offense has been hit or miss when aogi is out there for instance when Bates deop is out there little is out there things have gotten pretty ugly on the other hand

When the more shooting some of the bull bow lineups you can see some good numbers so definitely something to monitor in this game that they worked and obviously going forward as we saw tonight where Royce O’Neal is basically playing Point Center defending damont sabonis and initiating

Offense on each side of the floor that’s one ingredient that they did not have before being able to try it out with bow if the matchup calls for it is an ingredient that they haven’t had most of the season and of course thus Young Who

I will talk about um later in the week once we hear a little bit from vogle about him and then uh get an off day to really focus on it as the signing becomes official hopefully soon that’s another ingredient so there’s reason to believe this will get better

But the bottom line today as this stretch showed is that when you need to keep up with a high-powered offense when you need to match another team that maybe is going a little bit smaller and more spaced out the Suns have that option in fact I would say it is one of

The things that is materializing into what their identity is going to be I don’t mean to take a Victory lap here but I said this basically from preseason I felt decently about nurkic but I did not feel great about Eubanks or metu or BB as big man backups I still

Don’t think that’s really what bull would what you would consider him and I felt like this team was going to be offense first and their small ball looks were going to be a big Wrinkle in in what made them a special team what made them a different team what made them

Difficult in the postseason to match up with we have not seen the final ingredient in this which I assumed would be some junk defenses some zones some box in ones some you know over overh helped get the ball out of so and so’s hands for so and so to shoot types of

Things and we maybe are still headed toward that in a postseason environment we haven’t seen it much yet so the reality is these units do not defend very well but it it doesn’t really matter when they score like this this game drew the Suns even out of four games against Sacramento this season

With only 30 or so games to go in the NBA season we are rapidly approaching the stretch run and that means seaing is coming into play so let’s talk about what this win set the Suns up for and what to watch for there as our big takeaway from this Suns W next

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Because this was one of the teams that they played in the NBA cup coincidentally both of the teams they played in that tournament in The Knockout round ended up being division opponents so they also have five games against the Lakers of course which I believe the the the last one of

Is the Sunday after the All-Star break that’s not as pertinent because the Lakers are not winning right now but that is where the Suns stand with the Kings after tonight’s game they are a game and a half above Sacramento really two it feels like right I mean they’re one game ahead in

The L column two games ahead in the win column doesn’t that equal two whatever they have with this win separated themselves from the Kings they are even exactly an identical record to the Pelicans and the Mavs are the team sitting in between Phoenix and New Orleans and Sacramento and then the

Lakers and Warriors are another tick below that I wanted to use the opportunity though because this was both a tiebreaker type of game if the Suns had lost this it would have clinched the Kings having the tiebreaker in head-to-head but the tiebreaker that goes above that is division winner so

Let’s focus in on that really quickly the Clippers are going to win this Division if they stay even close to healthy and Kawai is missing Wednesday night’s game we’ll see if that lingers but I tend to feel like their depth is good enough to even survive that with a five game cushion against

Phoenix so that’s the number one tiebreaker even if the suns were to tie with the Clippers the head to-head is going to favor the Clippers point is that’s locked in so you would expect because of this other wrinkle which is that the Wolves the Thunder and the nuggets are all in the same

Division doesn’t have to end up this way but the Clippers are bound to finish higher than the Suns and the Kings the winner of the Northwest division is going to be at the top within those standings and the other part of it is the division winner clinches the

Tiebreaker even if you’re not in the same division little weird because again the top five teams are all out of these two divisions so it wouldn’t be impossible for the Northwest teams Minnesota OKC and Denver to all finish one one two and three and then Clippers four Suns five that’s legal in

Terms of how all of this stuff ends up looking we talked about the head to head the Suns do have three games left against the Clippers I believe so I guess that’s not fully decided but the Suns would have to sweep those in order

To get that and uh oh no they play they play two more games against the Clippers they’ve already played two so the Suns have to win both but again if the Clippers win the division you know so that’s where I’m at with that the next one after division winner and head-to-head

Record is division record so even if you are not the winner of your division how did you Faire in the games within your division so this is where things get a little bit interesting because the Suns have played four more of those games than the Clippers they have played five

More of those games than Minnesota and Denver and they’ve played the same amount as Oklahoma City but the Thunder are Off to the Races in that category with a 10 and4 division record as a reminder you play 16 division games so the Suns have already played 14 of those that doesn’t even sound

Right it’s different this year because they played the Kings and the lake Akers twice a piece so they played they will play 18 and they’ve played 14 of them so again two more against the Clippers they have one more against the Lakers one more against the Kings and that’s that’s going to be

That it’s hard for me to imagine that the suns are going to be able to compete with Minnesota who is s-2 OKC who is 10 and4 or the Clippers who is who are seven and three but again a lot of this only comes into play if you are tied with those

Teams the biggest Factor here is the suns are in the big picture of the overall standings four full games in the Lost column behind Denver five behind the Clippers and the Thunder and six behind Minnesota they are going to have to play absolutely Elite basketball to have a chance at any of these

Tiebreakers to matter to end up with an identical record to these other teams and the maybe more important thing is the Kings tiebreaker is likely to favor the Suns the Kings have a six and six division record that last game will be important as will the Lakers game

Soon the Pelicans the Suns I believe will play One More Time be nice to win that one and get that tiebreaker they already won the first game they match up well with that team and the Suns own the tiebreaker against Dallas as of now they are two- one against Dallas no they are

They are one- one against Dallas they do need to win that one and be able to assemble a advantage over the teams below them if it sounds like I am maybe being confusing I don’t think I am it’s just that this is so crowded once again the Western Conference was decided decided

By a handful of games last year it looks like it’s headed that way again this year and the suns are basically right where they ended up last time around right they’re going to be on the road to start the proceedings and they’re going to have to beat some great teams once

Again to get through it but there’s still hope to get into that top four even if it’s a long shot and you have to feel pretty good given the sun’s track record against New Orleans Dallas and Sacramento already this season that those teams are not likely to pass them

Up we might just be headed toward a sun five seed and the reason I broke down how those other teams stack up against each other and pointed out how Minnesota OKC and Denver are all are all in the same division themselves and will play each other more down the stretch is that’s

Probably the most important thing to keep track of who are the Suns going to play in the first round who might they play in the second round and how do those teams all look because five might be the destiny let’s close out the show with a nerk

Report from this game a box score odity from this game and a few other odds and ends first Today’s Show brought to you by hungry root honestly just a awesome company to talk about I don’t I don’t know if it’s just me but it sounds sounds delicious it sounds healthy I’m

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Closing out the show with a nerk report that is where I give you my insights straight from footprint Center about what on Earth Yousef nkuch was up to in this game in any game if you want more of my insights on game days you can sign up for lockon Sons insiders where

You get text messages straight to your phone with today I posted a photo for the locked on suns Insider Community just showing how tall Royce O’Neal is on a court so people can gauge it I believe he’s about 66 there are some nerkach op observations from time to time photos

Videos different little things that I see and here around the arena on game nights as well as just my takeaways my thoughts injury updates and more you can go to join sub.com lockon Suns or click the link in the show description below but it was interesting with nurich tonight right he at one

Point was not pleased with the foul call Early uh late in the first quarter I want to say and he’s standing on the free throw line using former Suns lottery pick Alex Len’s body to show The Ref how the contact affected him so him and Len are bodying each other for a

Rebound under the basket nerk feels like he got fouled rather than just barking at the ref he like kind of rubs up against Len to show exactly what it looked like in real time to the ref as Len just looks at the basket waiting for the free throw that was a good

One um coming off of nerk versus Draymond part two the other night we got nerk versus sabonis part four and those guys bother the hell out of each other sabonis is one of the most frustrating players to play I know I’ve said that before cuz they’ve played each other so

Often this season but the dude honestly I think he’s one of those players where you could call him for a foul maybe 75 80% of the time whether it’s a rebound whether it’s him contesting a shot defending in the post going up for a shot himself and using his shoulder to

Create space there are no shortage of physical plays when you are going up against that guy and nurkic was over it nurk which was Fed Up um and let everybody know about it there was one play where uh I think it was one of the 50 there was a few that I

Don’t think the Suns used their challenge but there were a few where they could have and nkit just stared lasers through the back row of assistant coaches who normally are watching the video replay the the game had already started back up by that point and nkit is just entertaining the Courtside seat sitters

By very dramatically just dogging that row of assistant coaches like can you believe this is happening why did you guys not tell vogle to challenge this so those are some of the funny ones trust me if you ever go to a game you don’t even have to be sitting close just watch

This guy between plays when he’s on the bench whatever the case may be and you are bound to be entertained but the real thing to focus on and I might even just look this the the um stat what the heck do I call it why can I not think of the phrase probably

Because it’s 12:30 the stat of the day is that the Suns somehow limited Sacramento to only attempting 31 Theses they also attempted 31 themselves the Suns did and made four more that’s pretty impressive you add up the um 11 more three-point or 11 more free throw makes and 12 more free throw

Attempts which is basically just Devin Booker in a package and it’s pretty clear how the suns were able to win this game but to close out on the nerk side of this and and finish up our nerk report for the day the funniest thing about this whole

Game or the most uh honestly not even not even haha funny but most impressive thing about nerk which is that despite all the craziness he gets benched for the biggest stretch of the game where the Suns make that run early in the fourth quarter as I laid out

Earlier he comes back in in the fourth quarter I I don’t really know honestly why vogul did this um he he comes in at the 4 minute and 6c Mark the suns are down one he immediately gets a strip he then has a he made a play on the offensive end it

May have just been a good screen or a good pass and secures uh he gets another steel later against monk blocks dearen Fox on the very Drew Eubanks esque block and is just able to involve himself in a game that as I said with my main takeaway was

Defined Again by small ball stretches nurkic comes in for three minutes when the game is very much still undecided and is not only able to be playable quote unquote which is a word we throw around a lot but actually makes an impact like creates turnovers tangibly affects the outcome of the game and

That’s huge you know KD was asked about it postgame and he was like that’s what veteran players on great teams have to do they have to have that mentality to the game goes away from them they make mistakes their shots not falling whatever it is and they still need to be

Ready and engaged to come out and do what needs to be done and that might sound like well yeah great you no duh everybody has to do that but the reality is not everybody does do that so nurkic deserves some credit um he’s a goofball he does weird stuff he can he

Can let his emotions get the best of him from time to time it never gets out of control and he always is able to channel it into production on the court and that’s all you can ask for I don’t feel like I talked about Royce O’Neal enough

Tonight but it didn’t really fit I did do the point Center Point earlier I would imagine we will get a dose of O’Neal on Wednesday night when the Suns take on the Pistons and the second night of this back toback because Bradley Beal is again out Grayson Allen hurt his left

Hand I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up questionable all those injury updates at the lock on suns Insiders a recap show here on the locked on suns podcast feed sign up for both you know what to do more content to come enjoy the game on Wednesday and Monty Williams

Return to the valley and I’ll catch you guys after that

The Phoenix Suns rode Kevin Durant at center and their budding small ball identity to another big win over the Sacramento Kings that will go a long way in the Western Conference seeding race.

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down the W, what it means in the standings, and the way Jusuf Nurkic responded.

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