Game 45: Phoenix Suns (18-26) @ San Antonio Spurs (20-23)

[SunsRback4Good]

Who: Phoenix Suns @ San Antonio Spurs

When: Fri, Jan 24th @ 6:30pm, FSNAZ

Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX







[b]Phoenix Suns starting lineup:

C- Ayton

F- Saric

F- Oubre Jr

G- Booker

G- Rubio


Reserves: Bridges/Baynes/Cam/Okobo




San Antonio Spurs starting lineup:

C- Lyles

F- Aldridge

F- DeRozan

G- Forbes

G- Murray



Reserves: Mills/Poeltl/White/L. Walker IV

Good luck charm

Spoiler:

No point, we never have any luck

[ATTL]

The suns are going to lose out and have a worse record than last season.
No point to this. No point in anything.

[Revived]

How many times do we have to lose to the Spurs in a one month span? Like 10?

[RunDogGun]

Start Rubio, Booker, Bridges, Oubre, and Ayton. Put Bridges on Forbes to start, and then switch up. Force Aldridge to beat us. Keep them off the three point line.
Give more time to Daillo. Okobo should be first guy off the bench unless foul trouble happens. He played pretty well with the above group.

[KLEON]

You know what always happen when you make a early game thread?

[SunsRback4Good]

You know what always happen when you make a early game thread?

We lose by 2?

[suns12345]

Start Rubio, Booker, Bridges, Oubre, and Ayton. Put Bridges on Forbes to start, and then switch up. Force Aldridge to beat us. Keep them off the three point line.
Give more time to Daillo. Okobo should be first guy off the bench unless foul trouble happens. He played pretty well with the above group.

I'm not here blaming oubre for our play, but its pretty funny that we went on a nice little two game streak without him, yet he gets gifted his starting spot back for two losses and two pretty bad performances at that.

We're undefeated with bridges starting... why not see that out for a bit. These bad starts are killing us.

[SunsRback4Good]

Monty should receive blame for not inserting Oubre back in the starting lineup. If it ain't broken why fix it? We had a nice little momentum going but Monty was too blind to see it. Bridges plays pretty well with Rubio so start him next game and have Oubre run with Carter/Diallo, Saric & Ayton/Booker at times.

[lilfishi22]

Start Rubio, Booker, Bridges, Oubre, and Ayton. Put Bridges on Forbes to start, and then switch up. Force Aldridge to beat us. Keep them off the three point line.
Give more time to Daillo. Okobo should be first guy off the bench unless foul trouble happens. He played pretty well with the above group.

I'm not here blaming oubre for our play, but its pretty funny that we went on a nice little two game streak without him, yet he gets gifted his starting spot back for two losses and two pretty bad performances at that.

We're undefeated with bridges starting... why not see that out for a bit. These bad starts are killing us.

Small sample which itself doesn't prove anything material but given what we've seen over those two games and the clear arguments for Bridges starting and Oubre providing scoring off the bench, it makes sense to at least give it a shot.

But I'm not confident Monty will try it. He had every excuse possible for bringing Oubre off the bench after sitting out with concussion symptoms but he decides to start Oubre anyway

[Jdiddy701]

Do or die


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[LesGrossman]

Start Rubio, Booker, Bridges, Oubre, and Ayton. Put Bridges on Forbes to start, and then switch up. Force Aldridge to beat us. Keep them off the three point line.
Give more time to Daillo. Okobo should be first guy off the bench unless foul trouble happens. He played pretty well with the above group.

I'm not here blaming oubre for our play, but its pretty funny that we went on a nice little two game streak without him, yet he gets gifted his starting spot back for two losses and two pretty bad performances at that.

We're undefeated with bridges starting... why not see that out for a bit. These bad starts are killing us.

Small sample which itself doesn't prove anything material but given what we've seen over those two games and the clear arguments for Bridges starting and Oubre providing scoring off the bench, it makes sense to at least give it a shot.

But I'm not confident Monty will try it. He had every excuse possible for bringing Oubre off the bench after sitting out with concussion symptoms but he decides to start Oubre anyway

The crazy thing is that a head coach seems to need an "excuse" to move a guy to the bench; a guy who isnt nearly an all star or someone relevant. A strong coach would just say "its my decision" and do it for some games. And he didnt seem to struggle to do it with Ayton. But somehow he cant seem to stand up to Booker and Oubre and get their heads adjusted.

[Saberestar]

I'm not here blaming oubre for our play, but its pretty funny that we went on a nice little two game streak without him, yet he gets gifted his starting spot back for two losses and two pretty bad performances at that.

We're undefeated with bridges starting... why not see that out for a bit. These bad starts are killing us.

Small sample which itself doesn't prove anything material but given what we've seen over those two games and the clear arguments for Bridges starting and Oubre providing scoring off the bench, it makes sense to at least give it a shot.

But I'm not confident Monty will try it. He had every excuse possible for bringing Oubre off the bench after sitting out with concussion symptoms but he decides to start Oubre anyway

The crazy thing is that a head coach seems to need an "excuse" to move a guy to the bench; a guy who isnt nearly an all star or someone relevant. A strong coach would just say "its my decision" and do it for some games. And he didnt seem to struggle to do it with Ayton. But somehow he cant seem to stand up to Booker and Oubre and get their heads adjusted.

I think that Monty is gonna start Bridges and sit Oubre for tonight's game. I have that feeling....we will see.

Monty is a great communicator and he understands players. He knows how to treat players, and you can't treat every player the same way. Different personalities, different mindsets and as a coach he needs to adjust a bit to all of them.

Obviously the NBA is not like a regular job or the army. It would be naive to think otherwise. It is a player's league and they decide where they want to play and when they want to give his absolute best effort on the court. In that sense coaches are really important as a recruiters and motivators, and it looks like Monty is very good at that. That a big plus on his side.

I get and I agree with all that you are saying about team play and sharing the ball, and hopefully we play our sets more seriously and a bit more disciplined. BUT at the end of the day you need talented players to develop any system and some "out of the box" plays are always needed to break defenses that are ready for every set and system. It is a difficult balance to have, but the talent and natural ability that players like Booker and Oubre have is much needed for team to succeed at this high level.

What I want to say is that all things can coexist and we can be successful. We are not that far away from that needed balance. Monty needs to figure out, and I think the first step in that direction would be to sit Oubre and put a more disciplined role player as Bridges in the starting lineup.

[SunsRback4Good]

Our next 10 games are brutal with 8 coming against playoff teams. @SAS, @MEM, @DAL, vsOKC, @MIL, @BKN, @DET, vsHOU, vsDEN, @LAL

[handsome salary]

Our next 10 games are brutal with 8 coming against playoff teams. @SAS, @MEM, @DAL, vsOKC, @MIL, @BKN, @DET, vsHOU, vsDEN, @LAL

Last time Suns had a 7-4 record they then hit the skids going something like 3-16. Didn't they just go 7-4 when Ayton returned completely?
They'll be 8-10 games out the last playoff spot by the end of this list.

[hollywood6964]

Suns just have no heart. Play no defense. Can't win with this passive, react to the offensives players moves defense. You need to be proactive on the defensive end, get them off their spots, make them pick up the dribble, swat at the ball. Only a couple players do any of this, this is why we lose.

[RunDogGun]

Start Rubio, Booker, Bridges, Oubre, and Ayton. Put Bridges on Forbes to start, and then switch up. Force Aldridge to beat us. Keep them off the three point line.
Give more time to Daillo. Okobo should be first guy off the bench unless foul trouble happens. He played pretty well with the above group.

I'm not here blaming oubre for our play, but its pretty funny that we went on a nice little two game streak without him, yet he gets gifted his starting spot back for two losses and two pretty bad performances at that.

We're undefeated with bridges starting... why not see that out for a bit. These bad starts are killing us.

Gifted? He is an 18/6 player. Currently he is our second best player looking at the stats. He went out for a concussion. I agree we should start Bridges, but move Saric to the bench. Our biggest problem has been three point shooting. Either we have a tough time guarding it, or we are having trouble hitting it. Our best lineup involves both Bridges and Oubre. I am just suggesting we should lead with our best, not wait until we are down to go to that lineup.

And while I am not here to argue against Bridges to start, I totally want him in the starting line up, but he has started five games, and the first three we lost, one was against SAS.

Saric is the odd man out. He just doesn't provide as much as Oubre. Oubre's offensive threat gives Booker and Ayton more room, and forces the defense to be more honest. Oubre is a better defender than Saric, better at rebounding, better at steals. We are faster, and get to those outside shooters quicker.

[Revived]

I'm not here blaming oubre for our play, but its pretty funny that we went on a nice little two game streak without him, yet he gets gifted his starting spot back for two losses and two pretty bad performances at that.

We're undefeated with bridges starting... why not see that out for a bit. These bad starts are killing us.

Small sample which itself doesn't prove anything material but given what we've seen over those two games and the clear arguments for Bridges starting and Oubre providing scoring off the bench, it makes sense to at least give it a shot.

But I'm not confident Monty will try it. He had every excuse possible for bringing Oubre off the bench after sitting out with concussion symptoms but he decides to start Oubre anyway

The crazy thing is that a head coach seems to need an "excuse" to move a guy to the bench; a guy who isnt nearly an all star or someone relevant. A strong coach would just say "its my decision" and do it for some games. And he didnt seem to struggle to do it with Ayton. But somehow he cant seem to stand up to Booker and Oubre and get their heads adjusted.

It’s cause he’s too much of a players coach. Maybe he wants to actually start Bridges over Oubre but he’s scared of hurting Oubre’s feelings. It was perhaps easy for him to do it with Ayton because Ayton’s a sophomore player that was coming off missing so many games so he probably told Ayton he’s only being benched to help his conditioning or something.

Maybe I’m off on this but from every interview and practice and on-court demeanor I’ve seen from Monty since he got hired, he seems like the guy who tries way too hard to be well-liked by everyone and that’s more important to him than actual basketball success on the court.

I don’t think we’ll see Bridges starting over Oubre unless Oubre suffers another injury.

[ducler]

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[Saberestar]

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[Revived]

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It’s likely gonna be another one tonight, the Suns are the easiest game for Pop to prepare the Spurs for.

Just hope to see Ayton bounce back from the Pacers game and continue to develop. Very favorable matchup for him tonight with old LMA defending him.