Game 2: Phoenix Suns (1-0) @ Los Angeles Lakers (0-1) l Thursday l 7:00pm l TNT

[enigmatics]

Eh if you remember, our offense didn't look good before CP3 and Rubio either. Having a table setter really makes your offense look a million times more coherent. Just like having Book and Beal out there and dropping 46 in a quarter looked pretty good too.

I didn't even feel bad with this loss.

It's just sad to see us gut a team completely losing our identity we built up over the years just because Ishbia is too impatient and wants to win now.

What you guys need to feel bad about is Nurk and how he was attacked by Lebron play after play. He's a liability. Just like I've been saying. Hopefully they can fix or cover up for the bum.

Other than that, nothing about that game worries me. Whiney posters like Puff are no surprise with the lack of basketball knowledge. Lakers should've killed us with only KD out there.

Repeat: the Lakers should've killed us. That they didn't makes me very optimistic.

At least he didn't give up 20pts, 12 rebs, and 4 blocks to Ivaca Zubac.

[NE1Care]

What a difference between the last 3 minutes in game 1 compared to Game 2. Game 1, Booker got others involved and was the decoy. Game 2, KD tried to match Lebron and go hero ball. He did not involve the rest of the team and the rest of the team did not space the floor well to get others involved. They just watched KD try to win this one alone. Very excited to see this team at full strength, we are giving the top teams problems not a full strength, just imagine. Hopefully I will not need to imagine long. Go Suns!!!

[sunsfan1o1]

What a difference between the last 3 minutes in game 1 compared to Game 2. Game 1, Booker got others involved and was the decoy. Game 2, KD tried to match Lebron and go hero ball. He did not involve the rest of the team and the rest of the team did not space the floor well to get others involved. They just watched KD try to win this one alone. Very excited to see this team at full strength, we are giving the top teams problems not a full strength, just imagine. Hopefully I will not need to imagine long. Go Suns!!!

These guys don’t care about regular season wins. They just play enough to make the playoffs. That’s the new thing. They think regular season means nothing. If they don’t care we shouldn’t care either.
We should just not go to any games until the playoffs start.

That’s why 90s era was better to me. The point is to go through the grind for 82 games. Then who’s the last team standing in June. That’s what makes you great. You had to be durable and skilled.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

I am just having a hard time enjoying watching this team as the ones of the past few years (at least prior to last year's injury marred team.

I thought I wouldn't enjoy this year's team as much as prior years, but I find I'm pretty glued so far. The energy is great. Hard to compete with a 64 win team from an entertainment perspective. The year before that was kind of a letdown before the bubble, with DA sitting the first 25.

Honestly I would be a lot more worried if I was a Lakers fan, that team is bad, like play in bad they have no shooting all and Lebron has to carry that team everynight for them to even be competitive. Going to be a long season in Laker land enjoy this one.

They have other shooters - Reeves, Vincent, and Prince. Russell is streaky. So it's not like they have nobody.

It's early yet so it's hard to judge these teams.

The WC team I'm looking at early on is the Clippers. Russ played a great first game after killing it in the playoffs. Kawhi and PG have been injured a lot, but all they need to contend is one healthy postseason.

Not sure they'd be better if they traded for Harden, but could you imagine? Russ-Harden-Kawhi-George. What was the last 4-superstar superteam? Only one that comes to my mind is the 03-04 Lakers.

As for this year's Lakers - they got no shot. They can't shoot.

[bigfoot]

There a lot of positives to take away from this game and the last game.

1) Both Lakers and Dubs have continuity in their players and coaching staff and playbooks. They should be far, far ahead of the Suns on that front. For two away games, winning one and keeping one close says a lot about the Suns.

2) Competing while not having Beal and Booker available and playing against Davis and LeBron says a lot about the Suns

3) Meaningful playing time for Goodwin and Little is absolutely necessary for the next three years. It will be hard to imagine the Suns can pull off repeated free agent acquisitions as was done this summer. More than willing to give up a few wins now so these two can be put into tough game situations.

4) The team plays extremely hard and mistakes are going to be more common until they get used to each other. I'd much rather have hard working players than the lolly-gagger we had last season. It easy to forgive mistakes when there is real effort.

5) The rebounding problems experienced in the last few season appear to be resolved so far.

6) Defense looks pretty darn good for learning a new system.

[lilfishi22]

I didn't even feel bad with this loss.

It's just sad to see us gut a team completely losing our identity we built up over the years just because Ishbia is too impatient and wants to win now.

What you guys need to feel bad about is Nurk and how he was attacked by Lebron play after play. He's a liability. Just like I've been saying. Hopefully they can fix or cover up for the bum.

Other than that, nothing about that game worries me. Whiney posters like Puff are no surprise with the lack of basketball knowledge. Lakers should've killed us with only KD out there.

Repeat: the Lakers should've killed us. That they didn't makes me very optimistic.

At least he didn't give up 20pts, 12 rebs, and 4 blocks to Ivaca Zubac.

Also yes Nurk's foot speed is a weakness but every team has a liability. There isn't a single team without an exploitable weakness. And yes, Slim is the ONLY one to ever point out Nurk's foot speed in the history of ever

[lilfishi22]

What a difference between the last 3 minutes in game 1 compared to Game 2. Game 1, Booker got others involved and was the decoy. Game 2, KD tried to match Lebron and go hero ball. He did not involve the rest of the team and the rest of the team did not space the floor well to get others involved. They just watched KD try to win this one alone. Very excited to see this team at full strength, we are giving the top teams problems not a full strength, just imagine. Hopefully I will not need to imagine long. Go Suns!!!

I don't think it was a matter of KD trying to match Lebron and go hero ball. It's what teams with stars do, they lean on their stars to step up in the clutch. Lebron outplayed KD in the clutch, that's it.

[lilfishi22]

What a difference between the last 3 minutes in game 1 compared to Game 2. Game 1, Booker got others involved and was the decoy. Game 2, KD tried to match Lebron and go hero ball. He did not involve the rest of the team and the rest of the team did not space the floor well to get others involved. They just watched KD try to win this one alone. Very excited to see this team at full strength, we are giving the top teams problems not a full strength, just imagine. Hopefully I will not need to imagine long. Go Suns!!!

These guys don’t care about regular season wins. They just play enough to make the playoffs. That’s the new thing. They think regular season means nothing. If they don’t care we shouldn’t care either.
We should just not go to any games until the playoffs start.

That’s why 90s era was better to me. The point is to go through the grind for 82 games. Then who’s the last team standing in June. That’s what makes you great. You had to be durable and skilled.

Who's gives a F? That's like saying 70's basketball was great because the average NBA player back then had to grind even harder as their salary were good but not exorbitant like 90's NBA players

[enigmatics]

Also yes Nurk's foot speed is a weakness but every team has a liability. There isn't a single team without an exploitable weakness. And yes, Slim is the ONLY one to ever point out Nurk's foot speed in the history of ever

He's quick to point out Nurk's lack of foot speed but conveniently leaves out ExaggerAyton's lack of mental processing speed.

To your point teams have weaknesses and they build around them. There was NEVER any point of time they convinced themselves they acquired a defensive MVP candidate. Even having a guy who had that kind of talent never won them a championship. It got them one whole season that will forever be tattoo'd in the brains of apologists though.

[sunsfan1o1]

What a difference between the last 3 minutes in game 1 compared to Game 2. Game 1, Booker got others involved and was the decoy. Game 2, KD tried to match Lebron and go hero ball. He did not involve the rest of the team and the rest of the team did not space the floor well to get others involved. They just watched KD try to win this one alone. Very excited to see this team at full strength, we are giving the top teams problems not a full strength, just imagine. Hopefully I will not need to imagine long. Go Suns!!!

These guys don’t care about regular season wins. They just play enough to make the playoffs. That’s the new thing. They think regular season means nothing. If they don’t care we shouldn’t care either.
We should just not go to any games until the playoffs start.

That’s why 90s era was better to me. The point is to go through the grind for 82 games. Then who’s the last team standing in June. That’s what makes you great. You had to be durable and skilled.

Who's gives a F? That's like saying 70's basketball was great because the average NBA player back then had to grind even harder as their salary were good but not exorbitant like 90's NBA players

Bro. What r u talking abou?.
Your favorite player is soft. It’s ok. The whole league is soft.
Nobody talking about the 70s bro.

[lilfishi22]

Also yes Nurk's foot speed is a weakness but every team has a liability. There isn't a single team without an exploitable weakness. And yes, Slim is the ONLY one to ever point out Nurk's foot speed in the history of ever

He's quick to point out Nurk's lack of foot speed but conveniently leaves out ExaggerAyton's lack of mental processing speed.

To your point teams have weaknesses and they build around them. There was NEVER any point of time they convinced themselves they acquired a defensive MVP candidate. Even having a guy who had that kind of talent never won them a championship. It got them one whole season that will forever be tattoo'd in the brains of apologists though.

+1

Nurk is certainly exploitable and that is something we'll need to work/build around but he also brings other assets like his passing, his decision making, his rebounding, his boxing out, shooting from range etc etc. On the whole, I think he's a net positive which is really what you want from him, and at essentially half of what DA cost. Like, you can be content with Nurk while acknowledging his defensive issues

[lilfishi22]

These guys don’t care about regular season wins. They just play enough to make the playoffs. That’s the new thing. They think regular season means nothing. If they don’t care we shouldn’t care either.
We should just not go to any games until the playoffs start.

That’s why 90s era was better to me. The point is to go through the grind for 82 games. Then who’s the last team standing in June. That’s what makes you great. You had to be durable and skilled.

Who's gives a F? That's like saying 70's basketball was great because the average NBA player back then had to grind even harder as their salary were good but not exorbitant like 90's NBA players

Bro. What r u talking about. You sound ignorant.
Your favorite player is soft. It’s ok. The whole league is soft.
Nobody talking about the 70s bro.

Ain't nobody talking about 90's either mate

[lilfishi22]

On the whole, I give the Suns a C+

Plus:
- Suns looked pretty good defensively.
- Good progress from Goodwin getting good burn out there
- Good challenges by coach (2 for 2 I believe)
- At times, offensively it looked coherent.
- For a team with so many new players, new coaches, new system, it's starting to get but it will take time.
- Running out of gas in the clutch against a near full strength Laker team with a clear familiarity advantage sucks but I see it as encouraging.

Minus:
- Relied far too heavily on KD
- Got very little from the 2nd best scorer out there which led to the point above
- Felt the defensive pressure on Goodwin got turned up and his second half was largely forgettable
- Beal and Book out this early isn't what anyone wants but better now than April+ I suppose.

[Slim Charless]

What you guys need to feel bad about is Nurk and how he was attacked by Lebron play after play. He's a liability. Just like I've been saying. Hopefully they can fix or cover up for the bum.

Other than that, nothing about that game worries me. Whiney posters like Puff are no surprise with the lack of basketball knowledge. Lakers should've killed us with only KD out there.

Repeat: the Lakers should've killed us. That they didn't makes me very optimistic.

At least he didn't give up 20pts, 12 rebs, and 4 blocks to Ivaca Zubac.

Also yes Nurk's foot speed is a weakness but every team has a liability. There isn't a single team without an exploitable weakness. And yes, Slim is the ONLY one to ever point out Nurk's foot speed in the history of ever

His foot speed is only part of the problem. There's numerous other issues that he brings to the table and none of them are good. But he's not Ayton and that's all that matters to some people. I swear that the Suns could've signed Jake Tsakalidis back-all 44 yrs of him and some guys would be loving it.

[grumpysaddle]

Also yes Nurk's foot speed is a weakness but every team has a liability. There isn't a single team without an exploitable weakness. And yes, Slim is the ONLY one to ever point out Nurk's foot speed in the history of ever

He's quick to point out Nurk's lack of foot speed but conveniently leaves out ExaggerAyton's lack of mental processing speed.

To your point teams have weaknesses and they build around them. There was NEVER any point of time they convinced themselves they acquired a defensive MVP candidate. Even having a guy who had that kind of talent never won them a championship. It got them one whole season that will forever be tattoo'd in the brains of apologists though.

+1

Nurk is certainly exploitable and that is something we'll need to work/build around but he also brings other assets like his passing, his decision making, his rebounding, his boxing out, shooting from range etc etc. On the whole, I think he's a net positive which is really what you want from him, and at essentially half of what DA cost. Like, you can be content with Nurk while acknowledging his defensive issues

Nurk was also hamstrung early with some very ticky-tack calls. I'd say maybe 2 of his fouls were legit, but it's pretty hard to play aggressively on D at all when you get 3 early fouls and they give you a 4th early on after that. Meanwhile, KD was manhandled the entire night, and while he got his share of calls, I'd hardly call it a fair share. But that's the problem with two of the three best players out. Other teams will double and triple team the one remaining star player. We need to find the x-factors that can step up. Would have loved to see more Yuta and Metu given some burn.

[garrick]

At least he didn't give up 20pts, 12 rebs, and 4 blocks to Ivaca Zubac.

Also yes Nurk's foot speed is a weakness but every team has a liability. There isn't a single team without an exploitable weakness. And yes, Slim is the ONLY one to ever point out Nurk's foot speed in the history of ever

His foot speed is only part of the problem. There's numerous other issues that he brings to the table and none of them are good. But he's not Ayton and that's all that matters to some people. I swear that the Suns could've signed Jake Tsakalidis back-all 44 yrs of him and some guys would be loving it.

4 points, 5 fouls, 4 turnovers and 9 rebounds in 28 minutes is just really bad whatever way you look at it and it's the second time he put up a statline like that against the Lakers although one was in preseason.

If Little and Grayson are going to struggle like they did the first two games I can't call the Ayton trade a win for us but it's still early on in the season and they have time to improve so I don't think they will play as bad every night.

Nurkic though I don't think he's the answer at C due to him just being a complete liability on both ends on some nights and that's not even discounting the injury history either. If he can get 10 points and 10 rebounds at half the cost of Ayton I would find that acceptable but stinkers like the other night don't have me hopeful and he is almost 30 so it's not like he has much potential to get better.

[lilfishi22]

At least he didn't give up 20pts, 12 rebs, and 4 blocks to Ivaca Zubac.

Also yes Nurk's foot speed is a weakness but every team has a liability. There isn't a single team without an exploitable weakness. And yes, Slim is the ONLY one to ever point out Nurk's foot speed in the history of ever

His foot speed is only part of the problem. There's numerous other issues that he brings to the table and none of them are good. But he's not Ayton and that's all that matters to some people. I swear that the Suns could've signed Jake Tsakalidis back-all 44 yrs of him and some guys would be loving it.

[lilfishi22]

Also yes Nurk's foot speed is a weakness but every team has a liability. There isn't a single team without an exploitable weakness. And yes, Slim is the ONLY one to ever point out Nurk's foot speed in the history of ever

His foot speed is only part of the problem. There's numerous other issues that he brings to the table and none of them are good. But he's not Ayton and that's all that matters to some people. I swear that the Suns could've signed Jake Tsakalidis back-all 44 yrs of him and some guys would be loving it.

4 points, 5 fouls, 4 turnovers and 9 rebounds in 28 minutes is just really bad whatever way you look at it and it's the second time he put up a statline like that against the Lakers although one was in preseason.

If Little and Grayson are going to struggle like they did the first two games I can't call the Ayton trade a win for us but it's still early on in the season and they have time to improve so I don't think they will play as bad every night.

Nurkic though I don't think he's the answer at C due to him just being a complete liability on both ends on some nights and that's not even discounting the injury history either. If he can get 10 points and 10 rebounds at half the cost of Ayton I would find that acceptable but stinkers like the other night don't have me hopeful and he is almost 30 so it's not like he has much potential to get better.

He needs to do better but I'm not ready to judge a dude based on 1-2 games.

[Hitachi77]

What’s the deal with Beal? He get hurt in practice? Sorry been overseas for a while.

Btw Aytons value would go up if he’s only playing with 1 star, but be significantly diminished if playing with all 3, offensively at least.

[sunskerr]

Yall gotta watch wemby if you have the time. just crazy.