Game 26 Phoenix Suns (21-4) @ Los Angeles Clippers (15-12) l Monday l 8:30pm l BSAZ l NBATV

[Mulhollanddrive]

Wipe that we just hit a wall, move onto tomorrow.

[Saberestar]

Once again, the commentator mentions the Clippers being shorthanded without acknowledging the Suns are more shorthanded. But whatevs.

Clippers starting 5 is supposed to include all of Kawhi, George, Batum, and Ibaka. All four are out (and nobody knows why Ibaka is out). Kawhi, George and Batum are the Clippers top three most important players. The only guy who played tonight who is supposed to be in the starting 5 is Reggie Jackson. And this of course is Reggie's first year as a member of the starters, replacing Beverley.

So no, Suns are not more shorthanded. Suns literally played the Clippers bench tonight, with one exception. But whatevs.

Sorry but no.

Leonard and Paul George are starters for the Clippers.Batum and Ibaka are bench players.

Reggie/George/Leonard/Morris/Zubac is the starting lineup when they are all healthy.

Ibaka is not fully healthy since 1 year ago and has so many minor injuries in his body to be an starter anymore.

[Saberestar]

This game was UGLY. We couldn't buy a bucket but we were only 8 down at the beginning of the fourth quarter. We lost momentum with a couple of bad plays and the game was over.

On the road and we were missing 6 players, this lose is not a problem at all.

[Calvin Klein]

That was the ugliest game in a while.

Didn't read the whole thing. Does anybody know what Ayton's dealing with? It's a bit strange he's ill but still on the bench (I know it's not covid).

[PittsburghSuns]

They need to get some bodies back it’s that simple.

[Revived]

I hate him as a person but gotta give credit to Marcus Morris, he took turns lighting up all our best perimeter defenders specifically Johnson, Crowder and Bridges.

[pj0tr]

Once again, the commentator mentions the Clippers being shorthanded without acknowledging the Suns are more shorthanded. But whatevs.

Clippers starting 5 is supposed to include all of Kawhi, George, Batum, and Ibaka. All four are out (and nobody knows why Ibaka is out). Kawhi, George and Batum are the Clippers top three most important players. The only guy who played tonight who is supposed to be in the starting 5 is Reggie Jackson. And this of course is Reggie's first year as a member of the starters, replacing Beverley.

So no, Suns are not more shorthanded. Suns literally played the Clippers bench tonight, with one exception. But whatevs.

Okay? lol you in here to gloat?

[pj0tr]

They need to get some bodies back it’s that simple.

I'd expect Booker to be back on Thursday against Washington or Sunday against Charlotte.

As for DA, I think he'll be back tonight.

[Mistwell]

Once again, the commentator mentions the Clippers being shorthanded without acknowledging the Suns are more shorthanded. But whatevs.

Clippers starting 5 is supposed to include all of Kawhi, George, Batum, and Ibaka. All four are out (and nobody knows why Ibaka is out). Kawhi, George and Batum are the Clippers top three most important players. The only guy who played tonight who is supposed to be in the starting 5 is Reggie Jackson. And this of course is Reggie's first year as a member of the starters, replacing Beverley.

So no, Suns are not more shorthanded. Suns literally played the Clippers bench tonight, with one exception. But whatevs.

Okay? lol you in here to gloat?

No gloating. It was a good odd game, matching up bench vs bench in an interesting look at guys who normally don't play that many minutes. But nothing to gloat about for either team in a game like this. It's not like this many guys being out for both teams is representative of something meaningful right? I just wanted to point out there was not some big imbalance between the two teams in injuries. Both teams were the walking wounded and not just one.

I expected a Suns win just on CP3 playing. I thought Cam Payne would go off too (he's a player I like).

[bwgood77]

Once again, the commentator mentions the Clippers being shorthanded without acknowledging the Suns are more shorthanded. But whatevs.

Clippers starting 5 is supposed to include all of Kawhi, George, Batum, and Ibaka. All four are out (and nobody knows why Ibaka is out). Kawhi, George and Batum are the Clippers top three most important players. The only guy who played tonight who is supposed to be in the starting 5 is Reggie Jackson. And this of course is Reggie's first year as a member of the starters, replacing Beverley.

So no, Suns are not more shorthanded. Suns literally played the Clippers bench tonight, with one exception. But whatevs.

Yeah, I can't really use the shorthanded excuse...because we have become accustomed to playing shorthanded teams, but just missing Kawhi and George is more than Book and Ayton.

But the other starters are big misses too, certainly more than Saric, Kaminsky, Nader and Smith.

But our problem was no depth at C which really hurts.

I didn't expect to win. We pulled out a ton of close games. We were not going to keep winning everything.

And at least our injuries (at least to the starters) are not that serious...Ayton not even injured outside of healing leg contusion...was just sick and hamstring for Book so we should get them back.

Not sure if Clips even expect Kawhi back this year.

[sunsbg]

Haven't even watched YT 9 min highlights of this game, but I guess only positive is Jones may look around to upgrade the bench after a big loss.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

A few takeaways from this loss:

- McGee's flaws appeared. When matched up with a real starting center, he can no longer dominate with height and length alone. Going against Robert Williams and backup C's, he's dominant. Against Zubac and Hartenstein? Not so much. Deandre would have had much more success, because he's got the size to really fight those guys.

- Cam Jo stepped it up when the team needed him, as he did in the playoffs. He's got a bit of that clutch gene. Love to see it.

- Everyone mad at Cam Payne needs to check themselves. YOU try running an offense where your perimeter threats include Elfrid Payton and Ish Wainwright. He's a good backup PG, but when we're down so many scorers, he's relied on to do too much. Doesn't help that no one else in our backup unit can create for themselves. Thought he did a pretty good job defensively. He's better than Bledsoe, that's for sure.

- Mikal didn't step up. He may be our most valuable player, but if he's got that extra gear bw thinks he has, he keeps missing opportunities to show it.

- Ish Wainwright, Chandler Hutchison: It was fun, but yeah. An NBA player needs your spot. FWIW, Jalen's better than those guys, so my guess is he'll stick in the league.

- I've seen enough to know that Landry Shamet ain't worth $10 mil per.

Ayton, Smith & Kaminsky for Turner and Sabonis are in the process of a mega trade. Not many know about this trade but its almost done.

Is it weird that what makes this implausible to me is the inclusion of Kaminsky? lol we're never trading that guy.

[lilfishi22]

A few takeaways from this loss:

- McGee's flaws appeared. When matched up with a real starting center, he can no longer dominate with height and length alone. Going against Robert Williams and backup C's, he's dominant. Against Zubac and Hartenstein? Not so much. Deandre would have had much more success, because he's got the size to really fight those guys.

- Cam Jo stepped it up when the team needed him, as he did in the playoffs. He's got a bit of that clutch gene. Love to see it.

- Everyone mad at Cam Payne needs to check themselves. YOU try running an offense where your perimeter threats include Elfrid Payton and Ish Wainwright. He's a good backup PG, but when we're down so many scorers, he's relied on to do too much. Doesn't help that no one else in our backup unit can create for themselves. Thought he did a pretty good job defensively. He's better than Bledsoe, that's for sure.

- Mikal didn't step up. He may be our most valuable player, but if he's got that extra gear bw thinks he has, he keeps missing opportunities to show it.

- Ish Wainwright, Chandler Hutchison: It was fun, but yeah. An NBA player needs your spot. FWIW, Jalen's better than those guys, so my guess is he'll stick in the league.

- I've seen enough to know that Landry Shamet ain't worth $10 mil per.

Ayton, Smith & Kaminsky for Turner and Sabonis are in the process of a mega trade. Not many know about this trade but its almost done.

Is it weird that what makes this implausible to me is the inclusion of Kaminsky? lol we're never trading that guy.

Shamet and Bridges were the two guys I had high hopes for this season but they've both disappointed. Despite Bridges being my favourite Suns player and the opportunities being there for the taking, he hasn't stepped up. He's shooting less than last season, he hasn't really evolved much as an offensive player (still efficient but still highly reliant) and while he has looked awesome defensively, we need him to be more than just a finisher on offense.

[suns12345]

A few takeaways from this loss:

- McGee's flaws appeared. When matched up with a real starting center, he can no longer dominate with height and length alone. Going against Robert Williams and backup C's, he's dominant. Against Zubac and Hartenstein? Not so much. Deandre would have had much more success, because he's got the size to really fight those guys.

- Cam Jo stepped it up when the team needed him, as he did in the playoffs. He's got a bit of that clutch gene. Love to see it.

- Everyone mad at Cam Payne needs to check themselves. YOU try running an offense where your perimeter threats include Elfrid Payton and Ish Wainwright. He's a good backup PG, but when we're down so many scorers, he's relied on to do too much. Doesn't help that no one else in our backup unit can create for themselves. Thought he did a pretty good job defensively. He's better than Bledsoe, that's for sure.

- Mikal didn't step up. He may be our most valuable player, but if he's got that extra gear bw thinks he has, he keeps missing opportunities to show it.

- Ish Wainwright, Chandler Hutchison: It was fun, but yeah. An NBA player needs your spot. FWIW, Jalen's better than those guys, so my guess is he'll stick in the league.

- I've seen enough to know that Landry Shamet ain't worth $10 mil per.

Ayton, Smith & Kaminsky for Turner and Sabonis are in the process of a mega trade. Not many know about this trade but its almost done.

Is it weird that what makes this implausible to me is the inclusion of Kaminsky? lol we're never trading that guy.

Shamet and Bridges were the two guys I had high hopes for this season but they've both disappointed. Despite Bridges being my favourite Suns player and the opportunities being there for the taking, he hasn't stepped up. He's shooting less than last season, he hasn't really evolved much as an offensive player (still efficient but still highly reliant) and while he has looked awesome defensively, we need him to be more than just a finisher on offense.

Yep, he's got no juice off the dribble unfortunately

[bwgood77]

A few takeaways from this loss:

- McGee's flaws appeared. When matched up with a real starting center, he can no longer dominate with height and length alone. Going against Robert Williams and backup C's, he's dominant. Against Zubac and Hartenstein? Not so much. Deandre would have had much more success, because he's got the size to really fight those guys.

- Cam Jo stepped it up when the team needed him, as he did in the playoffs. He's got a bit of that clutch gene. Love to see it.

- Everyone mad at Cam Payne needs to check themselves. YOU try running an offense where your perimeter threats include Elfrid Payton and Ish Wainwright. He's a good backup PG, but when we're down so many scorers, he's relied on to do too much. Doesn't help that no one else in our backup unit can create for themselves. Thought he did a pretty good job defensively. He's better than Bledsoe, that's for sure.

- Mikal didn't step up. He may be our most valuable player, but if he's got that extra gear bw thinks he has, he keeps missing opportunities to show it.

- Ish Wainwright, Chandler Hutchison: It was fun, but yeah. An NBA player needs your spot. FWIW, Jalen's better than those guys, so my guess is he'll stick in the league.

- I've seen enough to know that Landry Shamet ain't worth $10 mil per.

Payne hasn't been good this year. He has a 48.1% TS%, barely shooting over 30% from 3. His ast/to ratio has dropped from like 3.6-1 to under 2 (like 3.1-1.6)

He usually plays with Shamet, Cam, McGee and a starter so he should be doing better. He was our best 3pt shooter last year at 44%.

The sample size is growing.

I just hope his #s from last Aug-July were not the one year anomaly.

I don't think so..I think he is better than he has played and it's great we have the record we do with him playing like this, but he needs to be better if we are going to contend.