Game 65: Phoenix Suns (35-29) @ Dallas Mavericks (33-31) l Sunday l 11:00am l ABC

[OneZilion]

Durant is really good.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

No he is not

You all know who he is!

Master class game by KD, 37 on 17 shots, insane hard shots and huge attention that open game for all other players

[sashaturiaf]

Durant is really good.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

No he is not

You all know who he is!

Master class game by KD, 37 on 17 shots, insane hard shots and huge attention that open game for all other players

In other words just another Durant game! As impressive as his game is, his consistency is the most impressive trait of all.

Now he's not flawless. But if you're not trying to make him the primary ball handler hes pretty damn close

[TeamTragic]

Still hasn't set in we got KD. Its just bizarre seeing the ball go to this 7'0" player and he pulls a few dribble moves and pulls up for a shot and the defense is trying their best but they can't bother his shot. Like wow, I've never seen that type of player on the Suns before. It's not normal for us.

There's a saying in the tennis world (my sport in high school haha) that goes like "the game is on [x player's] racquet" and what that means is something to the effect of that if you are more talented, better, etc., it's not about what the opponent does, but what you are doing that determines the match.

I feel like KD is the closest thing in basketball on offense to that. When he has the ball in his hands and wants to score, it's just about whether or not he released the ball correctly - he's going to get to his spots and his release is so high that it's not as much about what the defense is doing as it is what KD is doing.

Congrats, guys. You now understand what we’re missing and will forever miss but be gradually to witness. KD gifted us Nets fans one of the greatest Game 7s in NBA history.

For some reason, Jason. Tatum haunts him mentally but I can’t see a single guy in the West who could match him one on one. The only guy in the West who has gotten close is Dillion Brooks.

Outside of that, he’s going to dominate the playoffs. The defense chemistry will improve and you will see him getting weak side blocks, locking up the secondary scorers on a team one on one.

Thanks for the kind words and enjoy Bridges/CamJo.

They are both absolute treasures in the Valley

[BobbieL]

Very good win - Durant was fantastic - has been for three games. Very efficient with his shot

Luka is tough - gets to the line a lot but his FG % was pretty low - good to see

Suns bench still needs a bit more consistency - maybe it will be Shamet if he ever gets healthy

Suns have won 15 of their last 20 I believe and have 17 to go. Be nice to go maybe 12-5 or 13-4

[Frank Lee]

So Wainright is ‘awesome’ now?

Good to see the bench having different dudes stepping up. Need that

[Revived]

Read on Twitter

Idk understand how this is a foul…what’s Booker supposed to do here?

Side note, when did Hubie Brown become such a Suns hater? He kept whining for a foul here for Luka and then said Booker started the argument at the end of the game with Luka.

And he called Luka multiple times as “Jokic” in this game.

Mans needs to retire asap.

[bwgood77]

Also, since I'm a little ball of nervousness, I watch these games with the sound off, so I didn't realize KD had 37. I though the guy had like 12 points. He is INSANELY efficient and really quiet. I asked my Warriors fan friend if he was that quiet in GS from a fan's perspective, and apparently he was not. My friend said that KD was so ball dominant that it was tough for Steph and Klay to find their rhythm. I wonder if KD is trying to change, is still ramping up, just wants Book to get his, or what, but I really think KD needs to be our primary scorer, not Book.

Yeah, his points per shot are pretty amazing. In the last two he's scored 2 or more pts per shot. He had 37 on 17 shots today. For comparison, Book had 36 on 25 shots, which is still pretty good. If you can get 1.4 pps or more, that's pretty solid. But 2 or more? That's crazy. You either have to barely miss, hit a bunch of 3s, or get to the line a ton and knock them down. He did well with all of that.

[bwgood77]

I'm still laughing my ass off about that Mavs homer media dude saying "indirect taunt". You can't make that sh*t up.

Didn’t know Tim McMahon is BWGOOD! Wow


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Totally sounds like something BW would say lolol

He was, but it was in fun. They were both kind of smiling at each other while doing it, so it was actually more in good fun.

[sunskerr]

This is the year my friends. 2021 it was like we were playing with found money. Sucked to lose up 2-0 but we didn't have any expectations. Then in 2022 I know a lot of us were worried about the flaws on the team going into the playoffs and whilst we were real contenders it wasn't too shocking to see those flaws exposed, and we were kind of struggling headed into the playoffs anyway. So when we lost it was sad but it was more of "ah well, we had a great year".

I hate comparisons like this but I'll give it a shot anyway:

This is the first year I feel like it is comparable to 2007. KD being here is like Stoudemire coming back in 2007. We've got the stars, creators, role players, and not really any super exploitable weaknesses that we can see. And we are starting to peak just at the right time. The pressure is **** ON like 2007.

[garrick]

Also, since I'm a little ball of nervousness, I watch these games with the sound off, so I didn't realize KD had 37. I though the guy had like 12 points. He is INSANELY efficient and really quiet. I asked my Warriors fan friend if he was that quiet in GS from a fan's perspective, and apparently he was not. My friend said that KD was so ball dominant that it was tough for Steph and Klay to find their rhythm. I wonder if KD is trying to change, is still ramping up, just wants Book to get his, or what, but I really think KD needs to be our primary scorer, not Book.

That's one of his greatest strengths. No superstar in NBA history is as versatile and portable as KD is, if you look at his time in possession stats it's closer to 2nd options than someone like Doncic or LeBron. By virtue of his offensive threat combined with his non ball dominance, KD elevates the star players next to him like nobody else in NBA history. It's shame that he spent much of his career with tunnel visioned Westbrook and half man half a season Kyrie, or hed have more than the 2 rings he's got

Consistency is KDs other hallmark. He doesn't really have bad shooting games nor does he have games where he explodes for 50+, it's not that he can't but it's not his style to be taking heat checks. I guess you're never really "hot" when you're as efficient as Durant is. A highly efficient 25-35 points is what you're going to get with KD 95% of the time

He's been consistent except in the playoff series against Boston but I think that's mainly due to really good defense by Boston and also an ill fitted Nets team but I do think OKC version of KD has enough athleticism to get by some of the defenders since he's obviously no longer in his athletic prime and has come off an achilles injury.

I'm pleasantly surprised just how efficient he is but just hope he can stay healthy for us given his recent injury woes.

[handsome salary]

The Mavs got a great whistle today.Don't think I've ever seen a game where a team got away with so many offensive foul.The entire 3rd qtr was just Luka baiting the refs into foul calls.It was a tough watch.I think the refs are intimidated by Luka & Jason Kidd.Without KD, the Suns probably lose this game by 10+ points.The amount of wide open shots he generates for teammates is absurd.That and his ability to hit timely shots under pressure.Last year Suns would have froze up & got blown out.Especially with Kyrie + the bad officiating.I'm certain this would've been a ugly loss without KD

I think it was the Kyrie trade to the Mavs that pushed Ishbia to trade for KD, without Kyrie we had a good chance to beat them with Cam and Mikail.

As great as KD and Book played our bench besides Cam and Ish were just horrible and the bench is still a pretty legit cause for concern because it looks like we have to ride KD and Book and give them heavy minutes because our bench is really bad.

I know Mikal and Cam both got much better this season but I still don't see us beating them in a 7 game series pre Kyrie/KD. They already beat us twice by a comfortable margin before this game and it just seems like they have our number.

There is no way Bookers deferring to Mikal for the last shot. He would have dribbled into a double team and super tough shot that probably missed. And there a slim chance Mikel would be taking a shot under this pressure.Passing, passing and Booker or CP3 chucking up some wild throw.

[King4Day]

Read on Twitter

Idk understand how this is a foul…what’s Booker supposed to do here?

Side note, when did Hubie Brown become such a Suns hater? He kept whining for a foul here for Luka and then said Booker started the argument at the end of the game with Luka.

And he called Luka multiple times as “Jokic” in this game.

Mans needs to retire asap.

Same question I have. He said it should have been a foul 3 times. I just see Booker bodying him up 3 times. Even on the call I don't know what he did. Reffing was very strange in this one.

[matt131]

Read on Twitter

Idk understand how this is a foul…what’s Booker supposed to do here?

Side note, when did Hubie Brown become such a Suns hater? He kept whining for a foul here for Luka and then said Booker started the argument at the end of the game with Luka.

And he called Luka multiple times as “Jokic” in this game.

Mans needs to retire asap.

Also, at the end of the game with Durant shooting free throws, it was stated that Durant needs to hit both to put the game away (put the Suns up by 4). The color commentator said "And Durant is a 93% free throw shooter" to which Hubie responded "Unfortunately". lol straight up rooting for a specific team

[King4Day]

This is the year my friends. 2021 it was like we were playing with found money. Sucked to lose up 2-0 but we didn't have any expectations. Then in 2022 I know a lot of us were worried about the flaws on the team going into the playoffs and whilst we were real contenders it wasn't too shocking to see those flaws exposed, and we were kind of struggling headed into the playoffs anyway. So when we lost it was sad but it was more of "ah well, we had a great year".

I hate comparisons like this but I'll give it a shot anyway:

This is the first year I feel like it is comparable to 2007. KD being here is like Stoudemire coming back in 2007. We've got the stars, creators, role players, and not really any super exploitable weaknesses that we can see. And we are starting to peak just at the right time. The pressure is **** ON like 2007.

I still worry about what our bench will do. The first half today, they let the Mavs come back from 9 down and build a lead. They were better in the 2nd half.
The inconsistency there will be the biggest concern for us. Some games they will show up and others they won't. Hopefully Monty continues to make adjustments like he did today. Breath of fresh air.

[lonea]

This is the year my friends. 2021 it was like we were playing with found money. Sucked to lose up 2-0 but we didn't have any expectations. Then in 2022 I know a lot of us were worried about the flaws on the team going into the playoffs and whilst we were real contenders it wasn't too shocking to see those flaws exposed, and we were kind of struggling headed into the playoffs anyway. So when we lost it was sad but it was more of "ah well, we had a great year".

I hate comparisons like this but I'll give it a shot anyway:

This is the first year I feel like it is comparable to 2007. KD being here is like Stoudemire coming back in 2007. We've got the stars, creators, role players, and not really any super exploitable weaknesses that we can see. And we are starting to peak just at the right time. The pressure is **** ON like 2007.

I still worry about what our bench will do. The first half today, they let the Mavs come back from 9 down and build a lead. They were better in the 2nd half.
The inconsistency there will be the biggest concern for us. Some games they will show up and others they won't. Hopefully Monty continues to make adjustments like he did today. Breath of fresh air.

As long as Monty is willing to put in different role players in the game come playoff time, I don't see any issue with it.

The issue with Monty for the last few years is the predictability of his rotations.

Today at least he tried putting in Ross, Warren in when Hardaway and Kyrie was killing them. Letting Ish finish the game is a nice surprise.

You live and die by your roster. Nothing you could do about that. Coaching and rotation is one thing they can always adjust.

[thamadkant]

The suns corner 3pt play is going to be the double edges sword for suns... Ayton is basically ignored in favor of Okogie or another wing to shoot the corner 3. This is fine if the corner 3pter is someone like Lee or one of the suns sharpshooters... Ayton at 60 to 70% near the rim is a much safer shot than Okogie or Craig taking 3s out there. Monty will get exploited here as teams would give those shots to Okogie and Craig and it would be a hard swallow if Suns lose because goe 20% or below from those spots...

[insomniac00]

Why is it a criticism that Booker only talks smack when the Suns are up or about to win?

Do people want him to talk smack prematurely? Or when they're losing? Because I'm pretty sure he'd take even more heat for that.

Seems like Luka and Dallas fans are just salty.

[thamadkant]

With that said, Okogie is a shoe in rotation player for sure. He has awaken. Just need to pass out half of those 3pt attempts... he should never shoot more than 4 or 5 shots from out there even if open.

[thamadkant]

Why is it a criticism that Booker only talks smack when the Suns are up or about to win?

Do people want him to talk smack prematurely? Or when they're losing? Because I'm pretty sure he'd take even more heat for that.

Seems like Luka and Dallas fans are just salty.

No only those hack casual redditors or twitter posters that say those things. Booker for good or bad... has always been a trash talker even when Suns were a 19 win team. It's one thing I don't really like because he does it or did it too much.

[insomniac00]

Why is it a criticism that Booker only talks smack when the Suns are up or about to win?

Do people want him to talk smack prematurely? Or when they're losing? Because I'm pretty sure he'd take even more heat for that.

Seems like Luka and Dallas fans are just salty.

No only those hack casual redditors or twitter posters that say those things. Booker for good or bad... has always been a trash talker even when Suns were a 19 win team. It's one thing I don't really like because he does it or did it too much.

Maybe but who doesn't. Curry cant make a shot anymore without showboating or doing some stupid little dance that would be considered a taunt if Booker did it.

I dont have any issue with him petitioning the refs for that last call when Doncic was in their ear all game.