FIRST TAKE | Kevin Durant still the best player in NBA – Stephen A. on Suns’ gutsy OT win vs Nuggets

FIRST TAKE | Kevin Durant still the best player in NBA – Stephen A. on Suns’ gutsy OT win vs Nuggets

For Phoenix including eight in overtime and the short-handed Suns rebounded after blowing a 22-point lead in the second half winning 117 to 107 now with this win the Suns extend their lead over playing teams now a full game clear of the Kings Phoenix does have the hardest remaining schedule in the league so

Every win is absolutely crucial in fact two of their next four games are Boston we got JJ reick here and we got Austin Rivers here joining RC Austin start with you what did KD leading the Suns to a win prove to you about Phoenix well for

One what we already know KD can close games like no other we talk about longevity with LeBron James we talk about it with Stephen Curry a lot of times we leave KD out the mix this is a guy who’s in his late 30s still propelling teams to win um can get a

Shot off for anybody at any time big win in Denver last night without Devon book who’s probably I don’t want to say their best player but maybe their most important player um they’re dangerous you know this is a team that you don’t want to see first round we’re talking

About a team that’s a penin or possible bubble team uh they have shooting Grayson Allen is having a career year uh Eric Gordon can shoot the lights out uh Royce O’Neil has been a very slept on pickup a guy who can guard in today’s game one through four nurkic has size

And at least somebody who can bang around with jic down there and then obviously at the Hem you have Kevin Durant Brad Beal and Devon Booker this is a team that has firep power and in the playoffs when the game slows down and you need guys who can get a a bucket

On their own they have three of them um Brad B has to continue to find his way and find his fit I always like to compare him to Ray Allen that team in ‘ 08 to Boston he was a guy who was his own show when he was with Milwaukee and

In Seattle but then when he went to Boston was able to figure out a way to get shots off the catch and shoot I think Brad needs to be a guy who can do his ISO stuff but needs to continue to do Steph more catch and shoot and uh

Play through Kevin and Devon this is a team that you don’t want to see early on yeah I I’ve said this a ton this season and I said it yesterday on the show when we talked about Suns one of the issues when you decide to build a super team is

That you are giving up some roster flexibility and depth and so this team was always going to struggle in the win loss column if one of these guys got hurt Kevin Durant has missed seven games Booker now has missed 12 games Bradley Beal has missed 29 games they just

Haven’t had the depth Austin brings up Royce O’Neal look their top seven I put their top seven against almost any team in basketball when we talk about nurkic Grayson Allen Eric Gordon Royce O’Neal and the big three they all complement each other you can look at lineup data

Right and and of any fiveman lineup that has played over 250 minutes together they have one of five five of those lineups that have outscored opponents by more than 10 points per 100 possessions they are a good team when they’re healthy they’re an Absol absolutely good

Team the other thing that I like about their team right now assuming Health in the playoffs they can play a number of ways so they can play Big with nurkic use him as a hub offensively I think he’s had an outstanding season they can go small

With Kevin Durant at the five yeah and just outshoot you Grayson Allen has been a perfect complimentary player he’s having a career year leading the NBA in three-point percentage had another big night last night this is a really good basketball team mhm and we we spend so

Much time talking about the Lakers we spend so much time talking about the four best teams in the Western Conference we should not be overlooking the Phoenix Suns when it comes to real playoff runs and real playoff contention they are a damn good basketball but is isn’t that what happens like you when

The Boston Celtics put together the big three it was this phenomenon right we we felt like okay we hadn’t really seen anything like this you get these Superstars that come together to win a championship and then when we saw it in Miami we threw a parade before they

Earned an actual parade and so even in seeing Kevin Durant Bradley Bill dbook all get together there was that initial excitement but we’ve now learned that we have to wait and see and like you said JJ there were so many injuries especially Bradley earlier early on in

The year he couldn’t get on the court and so when I watch basketball to me it’s about chemistry right like the the the beauty in the motion of offense and when the ball doesn’t touch the ground when everybody get opportunities to get their shots you can’t develop that if

You don’t get time together and to me when you ask the question what did they show us by winning last night is that when KD wants to like he’s Unstoppable yeah right when KD makes a decision to get his buckets he could get those but my question is when you look at these

Lineup when lineups when you say when they go big with nkit can they can they score enough who is having a great year if you go small with Kevin Durant can you stop can you get enough stops in order to win against what you guys both says say is elevated competition in the

Playoffs this team isn’t going to be judged by how many regular season games they can win so my question to you guys both is how much of a championship Contender are the Phoenix Suns right now well I want to go back to something you said you brought up the Boston Celtics

Big three you brought up the Miami Heat Big Three um I I would say this the depth of talent in the league right now is spread across multiple teams mhm that felt like to me in 08 and I was in my second year that the depth of talent was

So concentrated amongst a couple teams okay even when the Miami Heat first got together it felt like the depth of talent was concentrated amongst few teams we saw four straight years with the Warriors Cavs it was almost a forgone conclusion it’s particularly in the Eastern Conference that the Cavs

Were going to come out and then Kevin Durant goes to the Warriors it was a forone conclusion they were coming out of the West there’s no forone conclusion right now in the NBA because the depth of talent is spread across multiple teams and that’s why having a deeper

Rotation matters right that’s why having a deeper rotation matters in the NBA right now I I look at the Phoenix Suns as a as a title Contender they’re not in my tier one maybe they’re they’re towards the bottom of my tier two we brought up the Boston Celtics by the way

And their struggles at times in the fourth quarter with stagnation on offense the Phoenix Suns have been the worst fourth quarter team in the NBA all season M and to me to me it’s some of that default to ISO ball it’s that default to ISO you have such good

Players man how hard is it not to say if you’re a coach or if you’re like the other guy on the court go home get this rock you know what I’m saying I mean it it is hard because we’ve seen him come through in times or so many times him

And Devon but I I referenced the Ray Allen with Brad just because this is a new situation for someone like Brad Beal he’s always been the best player on his team now he’s not the first nor second option this is a whole new field for him that’s why I referenced the Ray Allen

Thing because this is now something for him to fall back on and become more of a catch and shoot player is he that sort of shooter though like all is one of the greatest I’m not saying he’s Ray Allen but he can he can I mean we saw last

Night even though he struggled he hit big shots uh and I also believe you know Devon Booker had to you know we talk about assist this year he he blew everybody out the water in terms of seeing his capability of playing the pick and role so we’ll see Brian if you

Look at Bradley Beal’s shot profile early in his career when he was playing with prime John Wall he was shooting well over 40% on catch and shoot three yeah towards the end of his tenure in Washington the vast majority of his threes became about self-creation and off the dribble threes and tougher shots

He’s in a position now as that third option where he can rely more on that catch and three catch and shoot three rather than self-creation got you uh I do want to mention because JJ you were talking about their fourth quarter struggles they remain last in points differential net efficiency offensive

Effic efficiency and assisted turnover ratio in the fourth quarter of this season Austin how deep of a playoff run do you think this Phoenix team can make well unfortunately for them if they are in the playing they’re going to end up matching up with like a Denver or

Something like that first round so if that’s the case I don’t know how deep they can go uh I think these last set of games for them is vital yeah we talked about it they had the toughest schedule remaining they got a big win in Denver

Last night if this team can close out strong and get a little bit better seating where they’re playing some of these middle pack teams they could make a run uh at the end of the day we all know how the playoffs goes the game slows down it gets more physical we got

Guys who we’ve seen done it before Kevin Durant however you like it has won championships he’s been there we have guys with playoff experience Devon Booker went to the finals we have Eric Gordon another season player they have players who have been in the playoffs vets who know how to play they have

Multiple like you said ways to finish games with lineups they can go small and switch or you can go big with nerkish depending on who they’re playing they have shooting that could spread the floor and in the playoffs you got to put the ball in the basket the game’s going

To slow down you’re not going to be getting all these fast break points you know that’s why we talked about with Milwaukee earlier how important it is for d to be there cuz they got a closer with Giannis cuz his inability sometimes to get in the paint this is they got

Guys who can make tough make and make tough shots time and time you know I don’t know I think they can win yeah if they run into Denver and that’s the other thing too like when you look at the the top of the West they’re so tight

Right OKC uh Minnesota Denver like you don’t know which of those teams you’d play but obviously getting the match up against Denver early seems like a def well yeah that’s you can’t have that yeah yeah for sure all right we’ll leave that one there coming up next on first fore foree foree spee

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FIRST TAKE | Kevin Durant showed that he’s still the best player in the NBA. – Stephen A. on Suns’ gutsy OT win vs Nuggets