FULL ESPN SC| Suns overshadow LeBron’s return; Nuggets beat Warriors; Clippers lose to Kings- Legler

FULL ESPN SC| Suns overshadow LeBron’s return; Nuggets beat Warriors; Clippers lose to Kings- Legler

PH big game for both squads Suns and the Lakers and that West is loaded man top to bottom LeBron and the Lakers visiting KD entering Sunday LeBron 39,821 career points you got stars in the building Joe burrow Jamar Chase Odell Beckham Jr LeBron you can’t let

Yourself be numb to what the man is doing at this age it’s not it’s not normal neither’s that seven-footer with that kind of game and Durant’s like a re you going to put him on me you’re going to get that all day Grayson Allen knocks down a three to beat the buzzer Phoenix

Scores 45 in the first quarter that’s that’s a big quarter that’s the most they’ve scored in any quarter All Season let’s move to the third Suns nursing an 11-point lead Durant from the wing give me all three of these and the suns are up 14 then LeBron out in transition year

21 I mean I don’t love the LeBron MJ comparisons but at this stage in MJ’s career was a little more floor-based game that’s Devin Booker he had 21 and N toan Prince with a Miss Anthony Davis and the Lakers cut the deficit to two beautiful there Ron a little playby playay on the

Bench fourth quarter the Suns have expanded the lead and it will grow as Durant goes Baseline he had 22 and seven Sun’s now up 10 good find Grayson Allen he was ready to shoot right there in the pocket that was a quick release he had 24 6 threes LeBron spinning down

10 looking for a call Call’s not coming in transition Royce O’Neal All Alone LeBron had 28 12 and seven Lakers shot just eight free throws something that James was discussing afterwards a lot of coaches a lot of teams like that’s all the Lakers do is get to the free throw line it’s like

This narrative out there that’s all we do is get to the free throw line I mean we have attackers that’s what we do I mean we we have attackers yeah we shoot the ball from the from the perimeter but we’re not shooting 40 503s a game we’re

Not that team um we don’t have the luxury of being that team so you know we’re get to you know to the paint that’s that’s what we’re really good at so um you know have eight free throw attempts is definitely us it seems that the whistle for us is is is quick you

Know it it’s we’re playing defense or we play good defense someone falls down missed the shot as we’re getting a rebound the whistle goes off so it’s it’s just you know I’m not one to use referees as an excuse but it’s it’s it’s becoming increasingly tough because of the

Inconsistency they didn’t say it directly but to paraphrase it’s a complete crap all Phoenix cares about is the final result another home dub eight straight for them in the desert five of those have come against teams with winning records they’ll remain at home for each of their next three one more

Highlight to get to before we visit with Tim legler the Sunday n that we were following Clippers and the Kings third match up Sunday in La Clips have taken the first couple the mon sabonis one of five players this season averaging 20 or more on 50% field goal percentage and

40% from three Kevin Harter Flo game point Kings up six sabonis down low that’s a board and that’s a bucket Kings up four dearen Fox little pick and roll game had to be patient to get it but both Fox and sabonis were another good look at this one as Fox and sabonis

Scored or assisted on 46 of the Kings 58 at the half they led by seven let’s run sabonis herder for three I like turtles sabonis is 39 straight double double longest streak by any player since Kevin Love More Than A decade ago that was 20101 oh sabonis we appreciate Z sometimes you

Get got you jump in this league and it’s going to happen sabonis 1715 and 12 but then sometimes you get even actually that was Daniel K Steve Balmer I’m not going to hit the board for everything like I at some point you just have to host the show Fox down low off glass

Kings up nine and fox beautiful so many scores in this league man he had 337 and six and the Kings win by 16 Kings currently I mean this is pointless to show you other than just context of where we are at the moment they’re a five seat in a very very tight

West as it relates to to seeds 5 through eight just half a game separating those four meanwhile just two and a half games separating seeds 1 through four Minnesota and OKC the only 40 win teams at the moment treat to have Tim legler with us in studio on a Sunday and we’re

Going to we’re going to focus in on the west because a those are the highlights that we just had and B it’s the most compelling content at the moment and since we just did Sacramento let’s start with that I joked with you in the studio earlier they were The Darlings last year

You only get to be The Darlings once but they played a team last year that had been there and done that it had been a minute since Sacramento had been there now they’re clearly going to be a playoff team are they positioned to take what happened last year and with that

Experience build on it in your opinion I do think what happened to them last year could help them in a series and they’re going to be a tough out this is a very good team they basically ran it back though right with the exact same group

And last year if you recall they grabbed advantage of a situation where they had everybody healthy all year so they get the three seed a lot of teams had injuries they had guys sitting out large chunks their guys showed up every night and it shows you what can happen when

You do that you get a three seat your reward take on the Golden State Warriors get a 50 out of Steph Curry in game seven and you go home in the first round I look at them this year and I see a very similar team and I think ultimately

Scott what it comes down to for me as great as sabonis is and I love sabonis he has some limitations offensively that when you look at the other top teams in the west and there’s eight teams chasing 50 wins this year right when you look at

Those teams like that second guy is just more Dynamic offensive player in terms of getting their own offense getting their own shot he’s an incredible power player and he will punish you inside as hard as he plays takes the occasional three you just mentioned his three-point percentage doesn’t shoot very many

Though um 6 and half% foul shooter but it’s the stuff he doesn’t do in the middle area of the floor I feel like every other team in the west has a second guy that can kill you from that area of the floor so there’s a limitation there and last year if you

Recall he got bottled up in the Golden State series he averaged 16 points a game they had a good defensive game plan against him everything came to the defense they were walled up against him and he struggled to figure out another way to beat them I kind of feel like

They’re running they will run into the same thing whoever they get this year and who knows how these parents are going to play out sure they’re dangerous they’re good on a given night yes and could they win a first round series probably I wouldn’t bet on it based on

The relative competition that they’re going to face you mentioned last year last year very early on you said Denver Nuggets that’s the squad right there and they had a parade I feel like we’ve been guilty of ignoring them largely on our show I think mostly cuz we know what

They are and there’s some other teams that we’re maybe trying to figure out but we’re going to hit March at the end of this week and at some point it’s time to talk about these reigning Champs and their performance on Sunday invites some some an opportunity for you to tell us

What you see with Denver right now yeah I love the the way you put that with Denver it’s like you you we’ve opened every door in that house we know what that house looks like right so we’ll get to it at some point well here we are now

We got a stretch run this is the point it’s going to get serious now they’re 3 and0 since the break it’s not a coincidence they’re averaging 36 assist a game in those three all right their offense is is precise again here’s what I still see out of them though despite

The fact that there’s no doubt The Edge wasn’t quite there in the regular season as you wouldn’t expect it to be when you win a title it’s just natural what is there though this is a number one rated defensive team in clutch time they execute because they communicate do not

They do not make mistakes on defensive assignments late in the game they’ve got great versatility which means they can switch a lot of things that a lot of teams in this league can’t and they don’t make mistakes on those Swit es a lot of that is the quarterbacking of

Joic defensively but then it’s it’s Gordon Porters improve that way they get into guys when they have to and then offensively they’re right there their net rating is mindboggling in those situations how good they are on both ends of the floor when they have to be and when it’s required it’s still the

Most precise team in the NBA Boston has more versatility within that starting group all five of those guys would play both ends of the floor and they could beat you anyway offensively but this is the group if you have to trust somebody body late make a play defensively

Execute a game plan or run something to get a quality shot when you have to have it I trust Denver still more than anybody in the league so in short still loves them we’ve just been giving the attention to other teams that are the newer stories just out of curios because

We don’t know what they are just yet and you made the point to me in the hall I always trying to take the hall and bring it to to the set that this West is going to invite like whatever you see today to be a referendum on what a team is and

You resist that and yet there was something that Phoenix showed even without Beal on Sunday that caught your eye as they beat the Lakers it was what this was the one game I would submit if I wanted to say this is what an offense that Phoenix can run can look like that

Could be unstoppable I just thought this was a flow to it fewer difficult shots and I feel like when I watch the Phoenix Suns a lot of nights it is it is Booker it is Kevin Durant Bradley Beal when he plays making a lot of tough Shots tonight it was incredible inclusion with

Everybody and it started with nurkic the touches that nurkic got but for making teams pay where they extend out when guys come off down screens the way they extend out on ball screens that ball needs to get into the middle of the floor and nkit really made them pay

Tonight Grayson Allen has been Sensational for them all year I have praised him because he is more than just a shooter he’s a very good basketball player that has found its perfect spot and then this addition of Royce O’Neal Scott was one of those ones that just

Kind of slipped under the wire at the trading deadline great pickup because ultimately he can guard as well as a kogi but he’s a much more consistent shooter and you saw that today they had in outs today offensively meaning they beat guys off the dribble and it wasn’t

An automatic pull-up 15-footer or it wasn’t a guy trying to finish at the himim it was middle area of the floor collapse kick out make teams Chase multiple of those on the same possessions that’s when now you start to look like Denver at their best you look

Like Boston at their best like you look like some of these teams I haven’t felt that way about Phoenix that much I did today and they didn’t have Bradley Beal but the flow was what it takes to to play play against these teams and get to

The number you have to every night and it’s interesting in this game neither Durant nor Booker went crazy exact and to your point about the Kings earlier about who’s your second guy we know both of those can are capable of hanging a 40 piece on your head and they didn’t have

To in this game I think that’s interesting and to your point also be a didn’t play the West is just Madness bers yeah love it though this is why he’s your favorite NBA player’s favorite NBA analyst it’s Tim legler you’ll be back Wednesday I will this is time to Fe First

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FULL ESPN SC | “Suns overshadow LeBron’s return; Nuggets beat Warriors; Clippers lose to Kings” – Tim Legler