Phoenix Suns Fail Test Against OKC As Kevin Durant Offensive Woes Continue

Phoenix Suns Fail Test Against OKC As Kevin Durant Offensive Woes Continue

A big game and a big opportunity squandered in what felt like deja vu on Sunday night at footprint Center as the Phoenix Suns fell to the Oklahoma City Thunder 118 to 110 on today’s episode of lockon suns what went wrong why it all felt so familiar and of course what it

Means let’s go you are locked on suns your daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day and we’re back and so am I this is lockon Phoenix Suns we are part of the lockon podcast Network and I’m your host Brendan clean a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons writer ATS suns.com and the host of the just basketball show wherever you

Get your podcast thank you for making locked on Sons your first listen here on this Monday following a disappointing Sons loss thank you for being here though spending your Monday your post game Monday with us no matter rain or shine excited to be back if you’re

Finding us for the first time hit follow or subscribe we’re free and available everywhere including YouTube so just hit that button get a new show in your feed every single Monday through Friday become an everyday or along with me and get locked on to the Phoenix Suns all

Season along with the show today’s episode brought to you by the FanDuel sports book make every moment more right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 150 bucks if your bet wins visit fanduel.com lockon to get started again final score 118 to

110 happy to be here with you guys just off the top going to get to the moment of the game here which uh actually was was very early on in the game was a sign of things to come but uh I will not be missing any more chunks of

The Season it is very unlike me if you are an every dayer you know that I have been doing this show solo since November of 2020 in some form or fashion since November of 2017 this is the only time that I have ever taken more than a day

Or two off in the middle of the season but it was sort of a delayed honeymoon with my wife and I we went to the United Kingdom we were able to visit London and Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands and really once in a lifetime opportunity

Had a killer deal on on flame uh flight prices that we could not pass up and wanted it to be during the All-Star break sort of ended up being a prolonged All-Star break that I created for myself but the content is back I am back the

Sun’s season is back and it’s a huge it’s a huge it’s a huge week it’s a huge test this week and the Thunder game was the first one and the Suns did not pass that test so far step one of that test was a failure so let’s get to the moment of

The game which was in my opinion the minute in the first quarter when Bradley Beal checked out of the game 5 minutes and 33 seconds to go in the first so about 6 and a half minutes into that into the game the suns were up 11 from that moment through the rest of

The first half the Suns would be outscored by 25 points and really if you extend that all the way through the middle of the third quarter or so when the suns were down as much as 24 I think 24 was the biggest lead then obviously you’re talking about being outscored by 35

Points from that moment that Beal checked out through the middle of the third quarter when the Suns finally got their head screwed on made their push which to me frankly I mean if I’m being honest this game even with the push the Suns made I don’t really think OKC was

Ever all that uncomfortable you know they they have a clutch weapon with Shay gilis Alexander that they were able to show but really Shay and and the the ups and downs of his game is is the biggest reason why I point this moment out okay so to rewind all the way

Back to the moment we’re actually talking about which is 533 of the first quarter when when Bradley b checks out of the game it was an impressive response by OKC okay because the Suns build this lead by I mean frankly getting a little bit lucky I would I would almost have to

Say like they get it it wasn’t as if one consistent thing was working over and over I guess right and even even at the point that I’m talking about you know they had 17 points with five minutes to go that’s pretty normal in the NBA these

Days so it wasn’t as if they exploded out of the gates they just kind of built their lead slowly but surely in the main thing that they did at the beginning of that first quarter was that they as a team executed really well guarding Shay all right I I think that’s the

Number one reason that they got out to their lead but around this point a little beforehand if we’re being honest maybe the the Chet homr bucket at 717 might have been when I felt this shift happening but really they get the ball out of Shay’s hands so they start

Using Jaylen Williams as a as an initiator around the 8 Minute Mark you see Shay get a a catch and shoot jumper off of a screen again you see Chad start to play bully ball a little bit take advantage of the matchup that he had against Royce

O’Neal and so the Thunder offense starts to click right so they score right before Bill checks out then right after that c gets another couple of buckets Hayward gets a jumper and suddenly it’s only a five-point game so it goes from 11 points to Five Points in about a

Minute and the other thing that started to happen at that point is the Suns really missed Beal’s energy he didn’t have the craziest strong start to the game I think when he checked out he had maybe four points and one assist I want to say may maybe yeah four points one

Assist I think that sounds right maybe not even an assist maybe just the four points but you felt his absence immediately because it turned into well look it’s a couple things right it turned into less ball movement ISO ball The Familiar issues we’ve seen the Suns have

When any one of the big three has been out of the game has been has been hurt but that wasn’t just because of effort or energy or things like that and I’ll get to the Durant side of it in a moment but the other thing we’re obviously seeing

This team deal with which happens anytime they have to go away from their core best lineups is that they don’t have enough depth they don’t have enough especially offensive depth right so by the point that be checks out of the game again 5 minutes and 33 seconds you are now already down to

So Gordon comes in for him and shortly after that you have Eubanks come in and then you know before long you have Sabin Lee come in about 2 minutes later so right there you’re already down to Lee and Eubanks who are not really offensive threats although they they connected for a couple of

Uh lob dunks somehow in this stretch Lee and Eubanks did that’s not exactly who you want to be really involved in the offense but hey kudos to them for making it work you did not get a very good bll bowl game here I did not understand the

David Rody minutes despite the fact that okay you know kogi is injured that’s fine you got to go somewhere I get that but you know I get that Rody and and Thad young do different things I might have just advocated for Thad young to play anyway

If it were up to me but that’s where you end up too right so the offense feels bogged down yes some of it is laziness some of it is a lack of energy especially when nurkic and Beal went off but some of it too is just what do you do when team’s default

Guarding uh defensive scheme against a Durant ISO or a Durant post up is to double at some point either on immediately on the catch either when he’s driving whatever the case may be late in the clock Etc and you have obvious guys to double from right it’s it’s just you’re giving

The teams and out when they’re already looking for one in a really tough way and so that domino effect spilled into the second quarter it happened at times in the fourth quarter and again from from the point that Beal checked out after that hot start to about Midway point of the third

Quarter the Suns got out scored by 35 points they make a run to close the third they keep things relatively close in the fourth and give themselves a chance but if those issues don’t bite them and they’re able to figure out some solutions I would say even if they had kept their

Defense pushed their defensive push and their defensive execution at a high level when Beal left the court they could have sustained the offensive drop off but they couldn’t even do that and it compounds into what eventually lost them the game but obviously I’m glossing over a little bit

Of what goes on in these moments when they are trying to get Kevin Durant going and failing and it’s not just tonight so I think it’s worth examining a little bit closer as we zoom out for our big picture takeaway of the game we’ll do that coming up

Next first Today’s Show brought to you by the FanDuel Sports Book Get Buckets with your first bet on FanDuel America’s number one sports book because right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 150 bucks if your bet wins so bet on all your

Favorite NBA players as the stretch run continues includ quick bets live same game parlays exclusive props provided by FanDuel and much more if we just look at the moneyline side of things here or the score line I should say Suns nuggets Tuesday night no line yet we do

Have on Monday here the Clippers are five and a half Point favorites on the road in Milwaukee that should be a very good game and the thunder only one point underdogs um on the second night of a back-to-back in Los Angeles that should be a good one as

Well so of course just bet straight up bet some of the fun stuff that FanDuel offers whatever it is go to fanduel.com lockon and shoot your shot FanDuel official partner of the NBA keeping it rolling here let’s talk about Kevin Durant so six of 15 from the field five

Turnovers just three assists 20 total points only gets to the line six times and the suns are outscored by nine points in the minutes that Durant is on the court compared with 10 plus 10 for nurkic’s minutes plus five the minutes that Beal was out there meaning very

Clearly that the minutes in which only Durant was on the court out of the core players on the team were when the Suns lost this game so talked about that as the moment of the game but let’s talk a little bit about why that is going on and the broader

Trend that I think we’re seeing right because it’s not just this game since the break nine of 22 with five turnovers against Dallas on the road 10 of 22 not not as bad of a game still had eight assists only two turnovers on the road in Houston next night s of 20 you

Know a win against the Lakers I did watch that game just for reference and I do want to shout out uh the locked on suns Insider subscribers you can get my thoughts on all things Suns game day observations any news or rumors around the team my instant reaction my deep

Dive stuff that the podcast audience doesn’t get that my Twitter audience does not get that’s locked on Sons Insiders you can sign up at the link in the show description or go to join subtext docomo ons to sign up and I was sending my thoughts out while I was on

My trip to the locked on suns insiders I caught that Lakers game I caught that Rockets game caught the end of the of the Mavs game and some of this I have to say is especially in that Lakers game I would say missing easy shots missing um weird ones right layups blowing bunnies

Blowing mid-range jumpers and uncharacteristic stuff for Durant so I don’t want to bring the hammer down too hard but we’re talking about six games now where five out of the six since the break Durant has been below 50% from the field and in three of the six he has had five or more

Turnovers all right and and those are anomalies and so you could say okay ignore it or you could look at it and say something is going on and as we zoom in on the Thunder game I mean it’s a perfect example right whether it was Dylan Brooks in those

Rockets games or or Dort in this one it’s familiar issues and it’s it’s especially bad it it flares up worse when Durant sorry when the Suns don’t have all three of the big three healthy when they are relying on lesser players like a like a Sabin Lee like a Drew

Eubanks uh to step up do more than they are usually asked to do because again that allows the defense to help off of those players it just takes the offense out of rhythm in general it multiplies the amount of times where Durant has to make something out of

Nothing and whether you like it or not Durant is at a phase of his career where against the best defenses against the best teams against the best game plans there is going to be some number of possessions in a game where he is going to have to have opportunities

Created for him he is not in a position in his career anymore where he is somebody that you can toss the ball to and expect that you know a 30 to 40% usage rate you know 30 to 40% of possessions he can just manufacture a great

Shot at the highest level to win games he can do that you know against the rockets on certain nights right he can do that on you know against Utah before the break at home 14 of 23 from the field barely you know breaks his sweat and and the Suns

Win by 14 right you can do that but there are going to be games where he cannot and and I’m not saying it’s a problem I’m not saying that it is an every night thing e either even right like in a playoff series let’s say the sun Suns get the thunder in the

First round I would bet you there are one two three games in that Series where actually he just handles Dort like they he it looked the same but the shots just go in he doesn’t struggle but there are going to be nights when he does and that’s fine right Steph Curry LeBron

James whoever you want to point to guys at this age even Chris Paul during the sun’s finals year and and whatnot guys in their mid-30s are not the same players as they were in their mid 20s and that’s just the reality that the suns are being confronted with so let’s

Zoom in a little bit more on this game and and what happened because Frank vogle opened his postgame press conference by saying that they fouled the out of Kevin Durant I’m sure they did I’m sure they do I mean we watch right he’s getting smacked there were a lot of I think

Times when to the sun’s credit and I tweeted this out the first two possessions out of the second half you can tell that they broke down some ways in which Durant could get free similar to what I just said the Thunder did in the first quarter to get Shay open get

Him off the ball right exactly what I just said there are some nights where you play a l Dort and you got to get creative because you can’t just dribble the ball into his chest and expect good things to happen he has three steals so they do that right and even on

Those plays the second one the first one Durant catches the ball middle of the Court off of a pin down at the around the elbow catches it Isaiah Joe can’t really double him because Beal is being Joe’s man basically so if Isaiah Joe doubles toward Durant in the middle of

The Court he’s leaving an easy pass to be for three and Durant gets a bucket out of that plenty of wide open space around him Works to Perfection right right away next possession they try to do something similar Dort blows it up and not only

Dort but guys in the Realm of the off ball screen that Durant is trying to come off of are just in his way they’re they’re you know getting physical they are using their hands there’s definitely contact happening and it’s a turnover and that happens I mean of

Course and and especially if you want to talk about the isos and the post-ups of course like these younger ath more athletic Defenders are resorting to whatever they can figure out that’s going to work I mean it’s not unlike what Bruce brown or Russell Westbrook or

Eric Gordon even were doing to Durant in last year’s playoffs for this Suns team we we’ve seen it you know you want to go back to the first round against the Celtics in 2020 uh2 Durant was uncharacteristic and it led him to want to leave that team

Because it got so ugly that was a similar situation right the physicality of the opposing defense really affected him that’s going to happen and so not every team has a lud Dort but the best teams do right you know Denver has Aaron Gordon even the wolves have Jaden

McDaniels and Anthony Edwards and on and on Rudy goar at the basket the Thunder have Dort the Clippers have kawhai and Paul George and you know any number of other Terren man type guys the Suns need to be ready for this it should not come as such a surprise

Every single time or require such a low low before you can return to the highs that you need to hit in order to beat these teams and the result is you’re going to keep losing to them it’s not just because of this Durant situation this Durant performance that the sun’s

Lost but in a night without Booker where Beal was 10 of 14 nurkic had 14 and 31 and the Suns won the minutes when those two guys were on the court made a good amount of Threes yes the turnovers were a huge issue but the turnovers go

Along with this forcing the ball to him in in poor position not having things ready to go for how to get him open what to run to maximize a certain matchup they want to attack or a certain area of the court that they want to go to and just sort of

Hoping that the same stuff will work that’s how the turnovers happen so it’s all connected it is a little bit of a pattern against the best teams and in certain stretches of the season and yes Booker coming back will help it but it’s happened too often to not be worried and

It may be the Suns cryptonite that undo their season is not having enough structure and consistency and I guess I don’t want say IQ like the the players don’t play with a high IQ but the collective team IQ and cohesion not being there that might be what it is

That we look back on as the problem let’s hope they bounce back two big tests the rest of the week Denver and of course the Celtics on Saturday but let’s dive into some of the more specifics as we close out the show with our usual rapid five Fire recap

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Picks pick more pick less it’s that easy closing out the show the nerk report that is the segment where we break down all things Yousef nurkic and this was a crazy one I mean he had 12 rebounds in the first quarter when he checked out ends up with 31 which I

Believe was not only a season high for a career high for him I believe it was a franchise record if I’m not mistaken and the season high in the NBA so record breaking in a whole bunch of ways and they needed it they needed it because you know again

Even when they were able to get some clean looks off they were taking so many threes and some of their core stuff was a little off whether that was Allen or Durant that there were a lot of loose balls there were a lot of offensive rebounding opportunities and nerkish was able to

Get 13 obviously that’s a weakness of OKC in general is the glass the Suns out rebounded them on the offensive glass defensive glass and overall by nine and I think you would even have to say that nurkic’s presence on the court just helped the flow of the offense too

In a game where the sons were in in need of it he mentioned the foul situation postgame as well and look the Suns did score did get to the line more times than the Thunder the only guy and we’ll get to this in a second the only guy who would

Attack the Basket Bradley Beal in this game got rewarded with 10 free throw attempts so it’s hard for me to really dissect the the foul situation too much personally but nurkic mentioned hey I got 13 offensive rebounds he’s he’s fighting tooth and nail on all these possessions on the

Defensive glass as well and somehow zero free throw attempts and hey that’s fine uh Chad got five so maybe you could look at that and say hold on you know Chad spends a lot of time away from the basket certainly was not as in evolved possession to possession on the glass as

Nurkic and he gets five well the ball’s in his hands more I I think you would have to say as a scorer you know he had a couple and ones and whatnot but sure maybe there’s something to be said there I guess I just look at it from the

Other standpoint and this is really the purpose of the nerk report is not to get a granular on the X’s and O’s but really to discuss the uh the sillier elements of the Yousef nkuch experience and I look at it and to me the complaining and and exaggeration to try to get these

Calls is is not what you want okay it’s not a good situation to be in and at the end of the day the Suns I think they’re getting enough calls right I think that they’re that’s not a problem to me I get the frustration I get whatever but if you’re

That type of player and and credit to Yousef nerkach for buying in and becoming that type of player but if you’re going to be that guy the Dirty Work guy the hustle guy the whatever you’re not going to be the player who gets a bunch of 50/50 foul

Calls right like that that’s just not necessarily going to be the case and he had a couple of situations where he had opportunities to score and and you know bobbled the catch or turn the ball over or missed some interior opportunities not saying that automatically gets you

The free throws you want but that certainly would go a longer way toward the type of impact that I think you were hoping to have on top of being the rebounder in this game that you were so I guess that’s what I would point to is

You just got to put your head down and and and commit to it and those fouls won’t always get there for you and that just is the reality of the situation you it it that wouldn’t have been the difference between winning and losing I guess is my point

Box score odity we’ll round out here both the Suns and the Thunder were relatively low when it comes to efficiency at The Rim in this one which is a little weird but it’s interesting right kind of bouncing off of the free throw thing that I just talked about

With both Durant and with nurkic the Suns got five they drew five fouls when they they drove to the basket only one for the Thunder despite OKC actually drive getting one more shot off at The Rim so that should be I mean that should be all the evidence you need from a sun

Standpoint that hey it may not be easy it may not be anybody’s default setting on this roster in terms of the scorers on this team to put get ahead of steam and drive down to down Hill to the basket it might not be natural but it’s necessary to generate those

Shots to generate threes on the backside and to generate free throw attempts and get this offense flowing the way that it needs to I think the best moments from this Sun’s offense in this game were Beal getting downhill to the basket like just point blank and you know he had a

29.8% usage rate in this game I think it actually could have been higher a lot of those foul uh sorry a lot of those at Rim attempts are more likely to be offensive rebounded which showed up in the stats for him 6% of his misses basically were offensive rebounded

Because he had a focus on the interior I want to see that again from him on Tuesday against Denver I want to see it all season long because he is the only guy on this team who really consistently does it Booker can but it’s not where Booker wants to

Be and it is another way for him to make his impact felt so there’s a little bit of a a shout out to Beal to end the show because look it was a little bit of a negative one because I think Suns fans are feeling negative and it was a

Disappointing game but Beal was great outside of the seven turnovers which I think I spent plenty of time time on 10 of 14 from the field three of five from Deep eight of 10 from the free throw line and 31 total points in a game where

You got to ejected you coming off this hamstring and Booker out that’s exactly what you would have wanted to see from him and he showed up and especially getting downhill trying to score in the paint and creating opportunities for your teammates off of that is

Exactly what you need to see more of and really what’s going to help this team’s consistency which has has not been there that’ll wrap us up for the day great to be back again don’t forget to sign up for locked on suns insiders get all my

Thoughts on game day on off days with news and rumors and we’re going to start doing some q&as some mailbags some video content as that list grows I’m five away from a a milestone a round number and I will commit to you guys that if we can

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Right that will wrap us up enjoy your Monday I will be back with an episode Tuesday and then again Tuesday night post game following Suns nuggets I’ll talk to you then

The Phoenix Suns couldn’t hold on against the Oklahoma City Thunder as another top West team outclassed Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Co.

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down how the Suns fell apart in the first quarter on both ends, why KD’s offense is down since the All-Star break, and Jusuf Nurkic’s huge performance.

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