4-3-24 Phoenix Suns Postgame Media Availability: Frank Vogel, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker

4-3-24 Phoenix Suns Postgame Media Availability: Frank Vogel, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker

Coach how do you like the way you guys closed the fourth tonight uh better I didn’t like the way we played in the third you know we wanted to go for a knockout punch uh something we’ve talked about and um you know we just you we

Didn’t make shots and we didn’t get back on defense and we fouled you know so I mean that stretch was the only negative part of the game but uh we never lost control of the game I I think when they went on that run uh we did a great job

Responding not panicking you know staying with what worked for us in the first half and got the game back back under control and uh we’re in control throughout and the play of Roy just him coming in obviously he started so many times before what you think of the game

Yeah he he was outstanding you know I think him and B and Eric all stepped out stepped up with uh with Grayson’s absence um but Roy knocking down five threes playing good defense um bringing energy to our offense with his movement um it was just was just really good and

You know obviously bowl and Eric uh contributed as well Eric you know only got three shots but he was plus 26 for the game his gravity means something for us uh he gives us a defensive disposition with his on ball defense where he’s a tough Defender with great

Hands and one of our best contest guys and uh Bow’s length and and uniqueness shows up you know in a game like this where you know they got a bigger team there’s good matchups for him out there and he made a number of uh solid defensive plays loose ball plays uh

Knocked down a few threes made some some offensive uh plays on a break you know I think all three of those guys really stepped up in Grayson’s absence when you look at the last two games and how you know from pretty much start to finish you guys have been in control of those

Games compared to some of the other games you’ve had recently what has been kind of the struggle to consistently play to that level it’s a 48 minute game I mean you know you don’t see a lot of blowouts uh you know in in this league me you see

Some but you know teams are especially with the schedule we have we’re playing good teams every night so I mean if you smack them knock them down early you know they’re not going to lay down the rest of the game they’re going to counter punch and they’re going to try

To get back in the game you know their effort intensity picks up and um you know we got to withstand Those runs like we did tonight and respond without panicking when you look at B in his three-point shot how important is that for him to punish defenses for being

Slow to close out or rotate over there when he gets those yeah it’s it’s it’s huge I mean obviously he’s got a great skill set in terms of putting ball on the floor his mid-range pull-ups and you know his finishing around the basket is really good uh but he hasn’t uh shot the

Ball as well as he’s shooting it right now throughout his career from from deep and um you know he’s shooting it at a at a great clip uh he’s just got a his um shot identification you know shot selection is a is a big part of that you

Know when he’s taking good shots and has time to get his feet set and everything he shoots the ball out of high clip so um you know that’s been a big part of this this you know recent surge when he’s been in the rotation uh how well

He’s shooting the ball frank uh I know you’re in the middle of this and this is kind of off game question but what’s your feeling about Phoenix being the center of the basketball world this weekend with you guys playing a couple of home games coming down the stretch’

Got the NCAA finals here the final four here you got a new campus that you guys are opening tomorrow yeah I I love it I love it for this town you this town is a is a big time Big Time Basketball City you know what I mean it’s just it really is the

Fans here love love their sons you know you could feel the passion about about uh Suns basketball um you know they’re fans of other sports but the sun’s been here a longest and there’s a big passion for our team and for the game of basketball and and uh you know with the

College basketball coming here obviously uh Tucson being a short short trip away and Arizona State being right here Grant Canyon making the you know NCAA tournament uh there’s a big college basketball fan base as well so uh I love that we’re the center of basketball Universe this weekend it’s amazing that

The whole Sports scene here started in 1969 with the sun there you go Frank you guys have had um some tough losses maybe some questionable loss or efforts at times but you you haven’t let those losses linger how how would you describe just the resiliency that you guys have

Shown as far as not letting that stuff go from game to game yeah you got to block out the noise I think you know it’s easy you know it’s a it’s a world right now where you know when when when you lose you the media and the fans and and everybody’s Twitter everybody’s

Going to jump on you and and try to kick you while you’re down and uh you can’t get too high can’t can’t get too low when you win a big game everybody’s going to put you up on a pedestal and you can’t pay attention to that stuff

You have a steady you have to have a steady mindset there’s es and flows throughout the the course of a season you know sometimes you get you get your butt beat because the other team just shot the heck out of the basketball and you didn’t play that bad sometimes you

Win a game and you didn’t play that good you know and you just got to have a steady steady mindset a growth mindset with our daily work removing the result uh of the the previous game and focusing on our execution pieces each day and you keep keep uh moving the needle forward

In third some of the struggles that you were mentioning how much of a luxury was it to rely on Kevin and their shot to keep the off up yeah those guys were were great both those guys made a lot of shots and I would put Brad in that that

Basket too I mean he didn’t have the the high point total but he’s generating so much offense for us whether he’s getting the assists or not you know he’s our best paint toucher and um you know he’s got seven assists tonight he very easily could have 13 14 assists without he’s

Touching the paint and spraying it back out and um so I think all three three of those guys really contributed during that stretch how do you like those Second Chance points uh tonight guys won the rebounding battle and basically got extended possessions and got points

Against a team that’s one of the best of Bing those yeah we only got eight eight offensive rebounds but I think we scored on most of them and they’re had a a huge play in the first half uh where he offensive rebound we’re trying to get

Him and all of us really to to recognize when we offensive Rebound in the crowd to throw it out and and you know punish the defense with threes and uh that was a huge play for nerk early and um you know but we want to get more than offense more than eight offensive

Rebounds we want perimeter Crashers and we want our fives hitting the boards hard going pretty much at the same time and Le the off it’s fun um I team makes feet off of it everybody in the arena fees off of it um shot making is fun you

Know so we was able to get to our spots tonight knock them down and you see Roy the way he came came in and play what’s stuck out to you the most about his play tonight um it’s harder to narrow it down to one thing cuz you know he just does a

Little bit of everything while he’s out there um defensively taking on his matchup um just being ready also not even know he was starting until right before the game um and he’s just that good or that great piece where you know he’s running up slipping out moving the ball

And then knocking down open shots you keeping the hot hand um was that something you noticed early with you the shot still carry over from the last game I think it’s just an energy throughout our whole team you know understanding what’s at stake what time

Of year it is and um the ball’s hopping around we’re defending at a high level so you know everything’s hidden question for the two you just ask the same thing to Frank what do you guys think about Phoenix being the center of the basketball world this weekend with

The final four coming and you guys playing two big games down the stretch you’re opening a new campus here tomorrow new campus yeah oh okay yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I mean final four one of the biggest events in the world um Phoenix always been a great host these type of

Events uh I know it’s going to be a lot of young players out here as well that’s going to come try to check us out while we have two games so it worked out uh I got a lot of friends from all over the college basketball world coming in town

So it should be some good energy in the city B with your history here what do you think I love it you know ever since I’ve been here the the city’s been on a Rise um and people told me that my first day here that um it was one of the you

Know most growing City in the United States and then once Co hit everybody moved out here and you know we have Allstar in a few years um Super Bowl just a couple years ago so like Kev said it’s a great place to to host it’s great weather it’s everything you need plus

You guys were in the finals time backs were in the World Series y one thing after another let’s get it Deon when you and Katie both have massive games like tonight how do you balance feeding him when you’re going off and being aggressive while he’s going off just

Playing in the flow you know taking the best available shot um but still understanding where where he’s at on the court at all times um I mean most of the time he you know he he gets open shots for all of us out there you know causing

So much attention so you know just just realizing that and rewarding them for it Kevin Frank was talking about how Brad over these last weeks has been more of an offensive initiator kind of sacrificing shots to create offense you seen from that balance between the three of you in terms of initiating the

Offense yeah I mean I think um it’s going to be times where we all going to have our chances to initiate and get guys going and um Brad has done a good job of you know making the extra pass getting into the lane finding guys uh we definitely want him to be more

Aggressive I think he could shoot more but um his approach to the game has been team first and that’s uh only helped us out but I think moving forward being more aggressive is what we like to see there’s been a lot of talk about the whistle over the last few weeks letting

A lot more contact go have you felt that as a guy who normally has to deal with Defenders trying to get up under you and kind of root you for your spot yeah I don’t I haven’t felt it at all felt normal to me look with the threes and the assists

Tonight how would you evaluate the spacing as a whole uh good you know it’s been uh work in progress throughout the year and you know I think a lot of things are clicking right now but you you know I always say it starts with the defense um and then our space and

Transition allows us to you know play get one-on-one looks without the defense set um which is our best brand of basketball i’ say has the hardest part to get down been the initial spacing or moving around once guys start moving and reestablishing it uh I think you know

Team’s game plan against us is to be physical um muck things up and you know grab and hold you know to be completely honest so um with spacing in the ball jumping around um it’s hard to keep up with it as a Defender so um was good

Tonight you were talking about the hdle in the first half on those doubles you were trying to sort out sping on those I talk in most huddles so I can’t pinpoint that one mention Roy when he’s coming up and slipping out like those ghost screen actions where it

Looked like he’s about the seven doesn’t that still confuses the defense despite come do it so many times yeah I love that action then you know if teams get used to the slip out then he can actually set it um and then teams will try to throw a lesser defender on him

And it puts him in a bind too so you know he’s good at manipulating the defense that way book is uh is Brad maybe not being as aggressive the past couple games that op you up at all offensively um no you know I think the more aggressive he is it opens up for

Everybody uh I think he’s been aggressive he’s been getting to the paint a lot um he’s honestly been doing a lot of Dirty Work offensive rebound tip outs tonight um just last game he had the match up of Zion to guard and that’s not an easy task so you know he’s

He’s doing a little bit of everything out there at the same time is setting us up for to get open looks Kevin you talked about Bowl when he initially started giving his opportunities what you think of his game tonight uh incredible um you know um B’s growing every single

Time he gets on floor he’s understanding more and more what his job is uh and he’s a great shot maker as well you know three for four from the three-point line you know cutting to the rim so using his length a lot as well so um it’s all

About building on these performances and you know um continue to keep getting better um and you’ve seen that throughout the season with B you guys combined for more than half of you guys’ points tonight in but the Cavs had 60 which was more than half of their own

Points so is that a point of emphasis that you guys are trying to you know stop for one of you guys faced on Minnesota and having do a bear out there on Friday uh just about being aggressive you know some games every game might be a little different you know somebody

Else might step up and score you know so um we not predetermined anything we just going out there and playing and playing within the flow and taking the shots that the defense gives us and um well still also while also still you know playing forceful as well you know so

That’s the beauty of a team when you could just you never know how the game is going to go and you but you prepare for every single scheme and coverage that they throw at you points in the paint is just something that was wondering about what you think of you

Know stopping because you guys are like 25th and then even Frank said before the game that that is kind of a misconception basically some things that the way they turn out in more context to that you’re saying we give up a lot points in the paint well you guys ranked

25th basically scoring points in the paint say the caves and the temp rules are basically right to the top 10 oh cool yeah I mean we’ll figure it out I think we adapt to the game and this a long we played you know it’s going to be

Two teams in a row with long athletic guys so um you know we’ll be prepared has a question for book try bips got into Hall of Fame today and you grew up as fan of course coming up in Detroit so you have any memories of that 2004 team

And looking up to them and Chanty uh Big Shot um big part of my childhood um the glue to that team um just ultimate leader ultimate guard um glad you know I’ve got to develop a relationship with him he’s still around the game um to be in Portland so um you

Know they were just the essence of Team you know so following following them growing up I wouldn’t want it any other way what did it mean have Coach C in the house yeah it was nice it was a surprise too I didn’t know he was going to be

There um Tyler uus is also there on the Baseline so you know two guys have a lot of memories with

Frank Vogel, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker speak to the media following the Phoenix Suns win on April 3, 2024.

#ComingInHot

Subscribe to get all the latest Phoenix Suns Content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLxlWVVHz2a8SdCfxzVXzQw

Connect with the Phoenix Suns online and on Social:
🔵 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suns/
🔵 Twitter: https://twitter.com/Suns
🟣 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suns/
💻 Website: https://www.nba.com/suns/?tmd=1
🟢 TikTok: @phoenixsuns
🟡 SnapChat: phoenix suns

🎟️ PayPal Sixthman Season Ticket Memberships https://www.nba.com/suns/tickets/sixthman/membership