Game 42: Phoenix Suns (21-20) @ Cleveland Cavaliers (35-6) l Monday l 1:30pm l AZFamily

[Maze]

Mitchell shoveling a couple extra pounds of dirt on top of the grave.

[Saberestar]

A couple things:

1.
CAVS 15/34 triples.
SUNS 8/18 triples.

2. I can't believe how well th Cavs are playing with meh players on the court.

Merrill, Ty Jerome, Mitchell, Dieng and Tristan Thompson a good amount of minutes together on the court...are you kidding me? Props to them.

[Saberestar]

And BTW...Beal in invisible out there.

At this point I think we play better without him. More minutes for Dunn, Royce and Allen.

[schnakenpopanz]

Watch on YouTube

[TeamTragic]

And BTW...Beal in invisible out there.

At this point I think we play better without him. More minutes for Dunn, Royce and Allen.

Beal knows he is gone so minimum effort.

[bwgood77]

Dang I made this poll before I knew Mobley, LeVert and Okoro were out. Probably wouldn't have put it up at 20 had I known they were out.

But I guess it didn't matter much.

[sunsbg]

We are gonna win this one.

I don't think this is going to be an easy W. Cavs could win the East this year.

It was easy...for the Cavs.

[Frank Lee]

This should quell any more contender talk around here… As well as put to rest the big three label… I’ve seen enough of these costars.

About the only joy I get watching this hapless squad is through FanDuel…

[bwgood77]

Flex said this would be a good test of the Suns against Cleveland

Welp! Down 20 in the third

If Beal wasn't playing we'd be winning for sure. Butler would be worth 30 pts differential at least.

[sunsbg]

Camera shows Booker at background while Damion was shooting FTs and the guy was laughing. He had like 5 dumb TOs in this game. Hitting the rim on a pass, throwing the ball at opponents hands, bad passes to Richards on fastbreak. Then you watch Cavs role players sticking to fundamentals and that's the result - 30pt win.

[Puff]

Nurk's poor play caused this team to fail.

[BobbieL]

Flex said this would be a good test of the Suns against Cleveland

Welp! Down 20 in the third

If Beal wasn't playing we'd be winning for sure. Butler would be worth 30 pts differential at least.

Pretty much - Butler would have been the difference

[lilfishi22]

17 turnovers. 15 offensive boards for the other team. It's almost a minor miracle it only led to 18 more shot attempts for the Cavs

Can't win when we can't protect the boards nor take care of the ball

[sunskerr]

Dont worry guys once we get Patrick Williams we'll be true contenders

[SunsRback4Good]

Dang I made this poll before I knew Mobley, LeVert and Okoro were out. Probably wouldn't have put it up at 20 had I known they were out.

But I guess it didn't matter much.

I knew that I didn’t make a poll. But I kept questioning myself thinking I did and lost my mind for a good few hours.

[SunsRback4Good]

Dont worry guys once we get Patrick Williams we'll be true contenders

Pinky square?

[SunsRback4Good]

It’s a Christmas miracle.

[SunsRback4Good]

Can't wait for the game tonight

You’re gay!

[Ghost of Kleine]

Dont worry guys once we get Patrick Williams we'll be true contenders

Veiled sarcasm aside, it's not all about some player miraculously making us a true contender because honestly we are too far away for any of that to be a possibility for us. But what it could do is to swap a large bad contract not being used at all for a much younger player that actually could fill a positional need for us that we've been looking to fill since Okogie was traded.

And it's also a reclamation of value swing on a 23 yr old lottery pick that has size, athleticism, strength, and positional versatility and perceived upside potential that might possibly still be extracted. And even if he doesn't pan out, it's obviously not going to change our trajectory as a fringe play in team on the verge of a long, painful rebuild.


But even as a minimal or non factor if he doesn't show out here, everyone should still realize that at worst he'd represent an 18 million filler salary that could be utilized in trading for another player or possibly in a consolidation trade with multiple players coming back to us.

It's basically just swapping Nurkics' salary for another position that we're shallow at and seeing if we can turn it into something if we can. Sometimes players just need a change of scenery/ new environment situation to ball out and recoup perceived value. And of course you seek to glean an asset back in return for taking back that longer salary.

And if you finally do decide to blow it up too! You still lose nothing by having that salary to exchange or just develop during a bottom.out rebuild. Sometimes though, getting something to work with is much better than nothing at all.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Camera shows Booker at background while Damion was shooting FTs and the guy was laughing. He had like 5 dumb TOs in this game. Hitting the rim on a pass, throwing the ball at opponents hands, bad passes to Richards on fastbreak. Then you watch Cavs role players sticking to fundamentals and that's the result - 30pt win.

You saw that too with around 5 minutes left,
KD and Booker just sitting there joking around. Laughing and looking indifferent:

36' unbothered!!!