Game 12: Phoenix Suns (7-4) @ Memphis Grizzlies (6-6) l Monday l 3:00pm l TNT

[SunsRback4Good]

So we were trading Ayton yesterday and now Book today?

Crowder tomorrow, Bridges day after tomorrow, CP3...

Monty will be fired too


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I wouldn't mind to see what Jeff Van Gundy can do with this team.

[Revived]

Hypothetically if we miss the playoffs again even with all these roster “upgrades” then what happens?

We just run it back with an even older CP3 and Crowder or we blow the whole thing up?

[grumpysaddle]

Hypothetically if we miss the playoffs again even with all these roster “upgrades” then what happens?

We just run it back with an even older CP3 and Crowder or we blow the whole thing up?

Seattle Suns.

[bigfoot]

Just watched the game.

Ayton with a fine game.

Nothing to blame on Booker. All of his shots were definitely within the flow of the offense except two back-to-back attempts which happened near the end of the 1st quarter. He wanted a call from the ref and didn't get it and then got angry on the next one. Normally he makes those shots he took during the game. He was more than a willing passer in the fourth quarter and had several passes that resulted in wide-open shots that were missed by his teammates.

CP3 played well other than the horrible back-to-back turnovers at the beginning of the fourth.

Suns lost the game in the fourth quarter because of six turnovers and missed free throws. It's that simple.

[lilfishi22]

Gonna channel some optimism in an otherwise forgetfully frustrating game

1. Booker stunk nd hasn't been good this season but I also think he has the talent, skill set and IQ to figure it out. Another point on Booker, he was 5 for 21 with zero trips to the line, that is fairly rare for him.

2. CP3 played a little more off ball than he usually does. He's picked up the pace and the way he's played it seems like he's realised he can't be the ball dominant, slow walking PG with this team.

3. Monty isn't afraid to make changes, even if it impacts the vets on the team. He swapped out Crowder for Cam and he subbed out CP3 earlier than normal.

4. Ayton was very good. The higher pace seems to have done a number on him. That being said, he's expected to dominant against a team missing their two best bigs (JJJ, JV)

[Revived]

Read on Twitter

Time for him to get on Booker now. It’s either a million turnovers or a horrible shooting night for Booker in every game this season.

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

Time for him to get on Booker now. It’s either a million turnovers or a horrible shooting night for Booker in every game this season.

He was decent in his last 5 games....only one did he have a lot of turnovers (5) but he also hit 5 3s in that one. He got to the line a lot.

Of course that 5 game stretch was also our worst stretch, and some of those stats came when games were out of hand, like against the Clips or Wizards.

[SuperSunsFan]

suns didn't just lose rubio for CP we lost Oubre too who is a much better player than Crowder. i haven't watched any suns games after probably game 6 or 7 because even though we were winning i kind of feel that team would regress to the mean. Ayton/CP/Booker just didn't click and the wins were obtained due to the outrageously unsustainable performance from bench and role players. The games were also super boring, the suns this year is no fun to watch unlike the dynamic and fun bubble suns or suns in the beginning of last season when baynes was healthy, the ball movement and incredible passings are all gone.

[Revived]

For all the talk about bad the Warriors are this season, their now just 1 loss away from the Suns lol. Even without KD, Klay and even Draymond missing handful of games earlier in the season.

I should’ve put down some money on them making playoffs when they looked cooked in the water earlier.

[SuperSunsFan]

you need a few weapons at end of game to keep the opponent guessing, iso book has become too predictable, the CP/Ayton pick and roll has to work at the level of malone/stockton or Nash/Amare in order for this team to be any good, seriously nba basketball is nothing complicated, all depends on how many high percentage cheat code you have to spam play after play down the stretch, iso book's success rate is average at best depending on it to counter the likes of bron/AD, Jokic/Murray or Lillard/CJ is just a pipe dream.

[Barkley6]

What's truly insane is that Chris Paul is making $45 million a year to basically be a worse Ricky Rubio for us.

Plus any chemistry he develops with Ayton is gone after next year.

Would've been nice for Booker, Ayton, Bridges to play with a point guard for 5+ years building team chemistry along the way. The trio of Amare, Marion & Nash played together for 4-6 years building somewhat of chemistry while Booker and Ayton seem to have a new pg every other year. Once Paul leaves in a few years, our two best players would need to build new chemistry with another pg. Wish we had spurs system who kept their main core of Duncan, Ginobili and Parker for over a decade.

PG is a must draft position for me next year. Need to get the heir apparent in there with enough time to adjust and learn the guys and system.

[Barkley6]

suns didn't just lose rubio for CP we lost Oubre too who is a much better player than Crowder. i haven't watched any suns games after probably game 6 or 7 because even though we were winning i kind of feel that team would regress to the mean. Ayton/CP/Booker just didn't click and the wins were obtained due to the outrageously unsustainable performance from bench and role players. The games were also super boring, the suns this year is no fun to watch unlike the dynamic and fun bubble suns or suns in the beginning of last season when baynes was healthy, the ball movement and incredible passings are all gone.

I actually think the ball movement has been incredible this season, it moves quickly and we more often than not find the open man.

The issue we have, in general, is when we are cold from 3, what's plan B? If we get the Ayton we got tonight we should be okay most games, even if our shots aren't falling at a high rate.

As for yesterday, Book had a bad game and we lost. It happens. There were plenty of positives, Ayton's play being at the forefront, but also the return of Cam Payne, Kaminsky giving some quality minutes, Carter finding his shot again. Saric will be back and we'll get it cooking again.

[Barkley6]

suns didn't just lose rubio for CP we lost Oubre too who is a much better player than Crowder. i haven't watched any suns games after probably game 6 or 7 because even though we were winning i kind of feel that team would regress to the mean. Ayton/CP/Booker just didn't click and the wins were obtained due to the outrageously unsustainable performance from bench and role players. The games were also super boring, the suns this year is no fun to watch unlike the dynamic and fun bubble suns or suns in the beginning of last season when baynes was healthy, the ball movement and incredible passings are all gone.

I actually think the ball movement has been incredible this season, it moves quickly and we more often than not find the open man.

The issue we have, in general, is when we are cold from 3, what's plan B? If we get the Ayton we got tonight we should be okay most games, even if our shots aren't falling at a high rate.

As for yesterday, Book had a bad game and we lost. It happens. There were plenty of positives, Ayton's play being at the forefront, but also the return of Cam Payne, Kaminsky giving some quality minutes, Carter finding his shot again. Saric will be back and we'll get it cooking again.

Also, let's have a little perspective....we missed a week of games, guys were out of their usual rhythm and we are only a game back from 1st in the loss column. If we rattle of a little 3-4 game win streak, we're right there. No need to push the panic button just yet.

Remember, it's mid January and we are used to seeing a team be settled and knowing who is in contention and who is looking to next season as the trade deadline approaches in most years, but we are only about 15 games into the season, which would, under a normal NBA schedule have us in the first week of December or so.

[King4Day]

Watch on YouTube

[Revived]

suns didn't just lose rubio for CP we lost Oubre too who is a much better player than Crowder. i haven't watched any suns games after probably game 6 or 7 because even though we were winning i kind of feel that team would regress to the mean. Ayton/CP/Booker just didn't click and the wins were obtained due to the outrageously unsustainable performance from bench and role players. The games were also super boring, the suns this year is no fun to watch unlike the dynamic and fun bubble suns or suns in the beginning of last season when baynes was healthy, the ball movement and incredible passings are all gone.

I actually think the ball movement has been incredible this season, it moves quickly and we more often than not find the open man.

The issue we have, in general, is when we are cold from 3, what's plan B? If we get the Ayton we got tonight we should be okay most games, even if our shots aren't falling at a high rate.

As for yesterday, Book had a bad game and we lost. It happens. There were plenty of positives, Ayton's play being at the forefront, but also the return of Cam Payne, Kaminsky giving some quality minutes, Carter finding his shot again. Saric will be back and we'll get it cooking again.

The bolded is it. We need to shoot an outrageous percentage from 3 to win games or to even stay in games. Every Suns game is like a 3pt contest where we just dribble and pass it around to find someone an open 3 instead of just trying to find the best shot that the defense is giving up.

[bwgood77]

suns didn't just lose rubio for CP we lost Oubre too who is a much better player than Crowder. i haven't watched any suns games after probably game 6 or 7 because even though we were winning i kind of feel that team would regress to the mean. Ayton/CP/Booker just didn't click and the wins were obtained due to the outrageously unsustainable performance from bench and role players. The games were also super boring, the suns this year is no fun to watch unlike the dynamic and fun bubble suns or suns in the beginning of last season when baynes was healthy, the ball movement and incredible passings are all gone.

I actually think the ball movement has been incredible this season, it moves quickly and we more often than not find the open man.

The issue we have, in general, is when we are cold from 3, what's plan B? If we get the Ayton we got tonight we should be okay most games, even if our shots aren't falling at a high rate.

As for yesterday, Book had a bad game and we lost. It happens. There were plenty of positives, Ayton's play being at the forefront, but also the return of Cam Payne, Kaminsky giving some quality minutes, Carter finding his shot again. Saric will be back and we'll get it cooking again.

The bolded is it. We need to shoot an outrageous percentage from 3 to win games or to even stay in games. Every Suns game is like a 3pt contest where we just dribble and pass it around to find someone an open 3 instead of just trying to find the best shot that the defense is giving up.

The bad thing is it's a double edged sword, because if we are cold from 3 they can double Ayton more daring us to shoot.

Ultimately we need good ball movement and open looks, to get it to Ayton when not double team..Paul get him nice passes like he did last game.

It should be rare, with SO many good 3 pt shooters, that everyone is cold, and a reason we should utilize our deep bench more. I think Moore is a 39% career 3 pt shooter with a nice floater as well.

Galloway could play more.

But in games we haven't shot as well from 3 we generally haven't been moving the ball as well either.

[Revived]

I actually think the ball movement has been incredible this season, it moves quickly and we more often than not find the open man.

The issue we have, in general, is when we are cold from 3, what's plan B? If we get the Ayton we got tonight we should be okay most games, even if our shots aren't falling at a high rate.

As for yesterday, Book had a bad game and we lost. It happens. There were plenty of positives, Ayton's play being at the forefront, but also the return of Cam Payne, Kaminsky giving some quality minutes, Carter finding his shot again. Saric will be back and we'll get it cooking again.

The bolded is it. We need to shoot an outrageous percentage from 3 to win games or to even stay in games. Every Suns game is like a 3pt contest where we just dribble and pass it around to find someone an open 3 instead of just trying to find the best shot that the defense is giving up.

The bad thing is it's a double edged sword, because if we are cold from 3 they can double Ayton more daring us to shoot.

Ultimately we need good ball movement and open looks, to get it to Ayton when not double team..Paul get him nice passes like he did last game.

It should be rare, with SO many good 3 pt shooters, that everyone is cold, and a reason we should utilize our deep bench more. I think Moore is a 39% career 3 pt shooter with a nice floater as well.

Galloway could play more.

But in games we haven't shot as well from 3 we generally haven't been moving the ball as well either.

It shouldn’t just be Ayton, our other players should drive more and take more 2pt shots when the 3s aren’t falling as well instead of forcing up a bunch of 3s.

[bwgood77]

The bolded is it. We need to shoot an outrageous percentage from 3 to win games or to even stay in games. Every Suns game is like a 3pt contest where we just dribble and pass it around to find someone an open 3 instead of just trying to find the best shot that the defense is giving up.

The bad thing is it's a double edged sword, because if we are cold from 3 they can double Ayton more daring us to shoot.

Ultimately we need good ball movement and open looks, to get it to Ayton when not double team..Paul get him nice passes like he did last game.

It should be rare, with SO many good 3 pt shooters, that everyone is cold, and a reason we should utilize our deep bench more. I think Moore is a 39% career 3 pt shooter with a nice floater as well.

Galloway could play more.

But in games we haven't shot as well from 3 we generally haven't been moving the ball as well either.

It shouldn’t just be Ayton, our other players should drive more and take more 2pt shots when the 3s aren’t falling as well instead of forcing up a bunch of 3s.

I agree...they should go for easier buckets...Ayton would have to move out of the paint to open it up, so that's the primary reason he should continue to try and improve his 3 ball.

Defenses also might cheat more off 3 pt shooters when our shot isn't falling so it could make driving tougher, but they should try and get some easy buckets to get their confidence back up.