Game 7: Phoenix Suns (3-3) @ Oklahoma City Thunder (3-3)

[Revived]

At least there was history made in this game. We had the butt fumble in football and the butt pass was created in this game

http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/11/8/9694300/kevin-durant-botches-behind-the-back-butt-pass-gif

[rsavaj]

I know he's young(23) but I'm really not sold on Knight.

Still, not blaming the loss on him. Kieff was atrocious. We got outrebounded big time which is a team problem. Chandler and Tucker gave us nothing on offense. Archie looked like a rookie, but then again, I don't exactly have high expectations for him to begin with.

Bledsoe was really, really great.

[Matt1979]

Hornacek hasn't been fired yet. GODAMMIT!!

[Frank Lee]

So you are saying Washington would start Knight over Beal ?

Here... you take a look

http://espn.go.com/nba/depth

I'd probably give Keif the nod over one or two... Knight as well... but Tucker ??? hmmmmm

Point is.... in positions (SG/SF/PF) where there are many real good players, we rank in the bottom ten

I'm saying at the 2 guard spot, I see only 3 players as significantly better: Klay, Harden, Butler and maybe Wiggins. Then there is a wash Beal and Oladipo. Against everyone else I gladly take Knight. And that's not even mentioning some of the point guards who I'd start Knight over.

As for Kieff, if you want to eliminate Paul George, Tobias Harris and Draymond Green because they're SF playing small ball 4 and Cousins/WCS and Okafor/Nerlens are centers, there are Davis, Griffin, Bosh, Love, LMA and Ibaka who are hell yeah, I'll take those guys over Kieff, but then what else is there? Millsap/Favors/Faried/Mirotic do different things, but I wouldn't classify them as better than Kieff. All the rest are worse or rookies that could be big but could be average.

Wow.... didn't realize Knight was a top 5 or 6 2G... What was Kidd thinking? Apparently we owned him on that deal.
70 mil and a top 5 pick is looking like a steal eh? As for MoBro... there is nothing powerful in that forward. He plays a small ball role, but yet can't play SF, so he isn't even a classic 'tweener'. Ever wonder why he is so hard to trade, great contract and all??? nobody wants him and very few need him. Both these guys put up hollow stats as being the better players, offensive-wise, on mediocre teams.

And I thought my low assessment was extreme....

[Frank Lee]

Here Pack.... you can have these... I don't wear them anymore

I'm not sure you know the meaning of that emoticon.

Im not sure I care

[NTB]

Well, except Dallas game, we lost to teams that we were expected to lose. So, I don't see any reason to panic yet. Bledsoe is killing it this season. Markieff on the other way... We need to trade him IMO. It is not about shooting slump, he doesn't care games at all.

[NTB]

Dragic with 2 points 2 rebounds 3 assits in 26 mins btw.

[Qwigglez]

I caught most of the 2nd quarter, and some of the third quarter before falling asleep.
I woke back up to see we were down by 15 or so points so I went back asleep. Bledsoe is playing great so far and has definitely stepped up as the leader of this team. He needs help though. One thing I've been very critical of Bledsoe is his lack of a pull up jumper. Well he's been hitting the pull-up three and maybe he's just hot, but I'm liking his improvement so far.
He still lacks consistency throughout the game though. What I mean is, if he's hot he should continue attacking the basket relentlessly, kind of like how Westbrook always does that.

[Matt1979]

As mentioned above we've lost two games to teams we weren't really expecting to beat and one awful loss to a Detroit team on the up.

The manner in which we've lost is what bothered me. In last nights game a literally took our trousers down and adopted the position. Completely gave in and that's not acceptable from professional athletes earning millions per season.

[batsmasher]

As mentioned above we've lost two games to teams we weren't really expecting to beat and one awful loss to a Detroit team on the up.

The manner in which we've lost is what bothered me. In last nights game a literally took our trousers down and adopted the position. Completely gave in and that's not acceptable from professional athletes earning millions per season.

I disagree, I think we fought hard, particularly Bled. There was plenty of hustle in that game, we never stopped trying.

The problem is we execute so poorly. We saw the same stupid alley oop passes. The same stupid shot selections. Late clock offense initiations. Just really fundamental **** that you expect NBA players to know how to do. We pushed the pace and were exposed by the better team.

I'm now starting to think when Tom Leander said the only guy on the team who could spell Mirza Teletovic was BK, he wasn't joking. We actually have a team of idiots. Unfortunately it all begins with our starting forwards. Time is quickly running out before someone in the front office loses patience.

[NavLDO]

Looking across the league.... you may be right. Would Tucker, Knight or Keif start on any other team ?

Are you two f*cking serious? A guy who's averaged 15/3.5/4.5 on 42% FG and 36% from 3 for his career, who is still just 23 years old and has improved each season. That guy's not starting on any other team in the NBA?

BTW, change that guy's name to Bradley Beal, and suddenly he's an all-time stud.........

I looked it up man, and it's clear you are way off base here. Beal has a legitimate and clear case over Knight--.005 FG%, .004 EFg%, .3 TRB, .5 PTs/gm and .040 3PT% with .09 less TOs/gm.

Don't even try to come at me, bro, with Knight's advantage in .15% 2PT%, .01% FT%, and 1.5 AST per game. The fact and truth of the matter is, Knight's not even close to Beal.

Oops...there I go again 'box score' hunting. Results don't matter...only intangibles do...

In all seriousness, yes, Beal is the better player, but for anyone to suggest that Knight wouldn't start on any other teams in the league is ridiculous.

And as I posted a few days ago, the Suns are 'earmarked' for a 32 to 42 win season, depending on which media outlet you ask, and we are on pace for that right now.

Point being, why get upset? Frank and some others here have 'beat the drum' all offseason that McD and Horny need to be shown the door. If we keep up at this pace, you all might get your wish, so you all should be HAPPY, not SAD, because then we can get a better GM and/or Coach, just like you all wanted, AND this type of play proves your points, so there's that other nugget of goodness to go along with it, right?

[Saberestar]

So you are saying Washington would start Knight over Beal ?

Here... you take a look

http://espn.go.com/nba/depth

I'd probably give Keif the nod over one or two... Knight as well... but Tucker ??? hmmmmm

Point is.... in positions (SG/SF/PF) where there are many real good players, we rank in the bottom ten

I'm saying at the 2 guard spot, I see only 3 players as significantly better: Klay, Harden, Butler and maybe Wiggins. Then there is a wash Beal and Oladipo. Against everyone else I gladly take Knight. And that's not even mentioning some of the point guards who I'd start Knight over.

As for Kieff, if you want to eliminate Paul George, Tobias Harris and Draymond Green because they're SF playing small ball 4 and Cousins/WCS and Okafor/Nerlens are centers, there are Davis, Griffin, Bosh, Love, LMA and Ibaka who are hell yeah, I'll take those guys over Kieff, but then what else is there? Millsap/Favors/Faried/Mirotic do different things, but I wouldn't classify them as better than Kieff. All the rest are worse or rookies that could be big but could be average.

Wow.... didn't realize Knight was a top 5 or 6 2G... What was Kidd thinking? Apparently we owned him on that deal.
70 mil and a top 5 pick is looking like a steal eh? As for MoBro... there is nothing powerful in that forward. He plays a small ball role, but yet can't play SF, so he isn't even a classic 'tweener'. Ever wonder why he is so hard to trade, great contract and all??? nobody wants him and very few need him. Both these guys put up hollow stats as being the better players, offensive-wise, on mediocre teams.

And I thought my low assessment was extreme....

I agree with you here.

I don't care about cold stats...when you watch the games you know who are the better players. No way Knight is compared to Beal or Oladipo around the league. Come on....Beal is a tremendous SG who is probably Top 5 at his position and Knight is a good combo guard like a ton of players in the NBA that can put numbers and stats but they are not effective for their team.

We pray for him to improve his ball-handling, court vision, decision making and shot selection....but at this point I don't think he would be much better than he is now. He is perfect in a sixth man role like Jet Terry was for Dallas a few years ago, but Terry was better than he is too.

[Jarlaxle0204]

I'll add my two cents because everyone else is.

This game was at times frustrating but I wasn't nearly as upset with this performance as I was with opening night. I saw a lot of positives actually. Bledsoe looks to have really taken another step forward and is playing consistently outstanding to start the season. He's taking good shots, less turnovers, and playing with a lot of energy. The whole team seems to be playing tough, and scrappy with a lot of energy (besides Keef). Knight had a bad game. It looked like he was trying to get us going though and trying to do too much. I think he's overthinking things instead of letting the game just come to him. When he has the ball, I tend to flinch a little because he just pounds his dribble so hard and looks a little out of control. I do like his spot up shot though and if he can play more like a 2 that I believe he actually is, instead of trying to be a PG the team and he will be better off. Chandler is playing with tons of energy and gusto and it's nice to see a little attitude from this team that I haven't seen in a long time. I also like what I've seen from Len the last two games. He looked aggressive and his post move is starting to look a little better. He looks to be slowing down a little instead of rushing. Our rebounding and defense had been pretty decent leading into this game and for everything that went wrong in the fourth quarter, there was a point where we were still only down by 7....against the thunder....with all of our turnovers.....in OKC.....giving up the rebound battle big time. That to me is encouraging. Yeah, we fell apart at the end but there's no shame. OKC came out needing that win more than we did. They're championship contenders. We're just trying to make the playoffs and I feel like there's been a huge improvement from last year even though our record doesn't look great right now.

Losing Frye last year hurt this team more than most actually realize and are willing to admit. I wouldn't mind Morris if he tried a little harder. He always looks like he's just going through the motions out there. There's no fire. If we could trade for an above average PF who can shoot from the outside, I think you'd really see this team take off. I know that saying, just add a star sounds like a "duh" comment but I really believe that we have a pretty good squad here and we're just missing that all star piece. How we get that all star piece while retaining Bledsoe, Kinight, Booker, Warren, Chandler, and Len is beyond me though.

[Saberestar]

I think that we have on our roster some good players that can be a part on a contender team....but they need to be used in a proper way.

Bledsoe has improved his overall game and he can be our only PG for the next 4 years....we don't need another one next to him. At least we have an starting PG for years to come.
Warren can put 18- 20 points per game if he plays minutes, and defensively he is good enough. I love his personality too...he can be our starting SF already.

Chandler and Len are a good tandem for the next few years at C. We are set at that position.

Tucker is a good hustle/defensive guy to come of the bench and play around 18 minutes per game.Not more than that.

Booker has huge upside and can be our SG for years to come. We need to develop him, give him 15 minutes per night an a clear role on this team. Our backup SG.

To me the other players are not essential and we can trade them for the right package. Markieff would be a great option like a sixth man for the next 4 years....but he probably doesn't want to be here.

[MrMiyagi]

So you are saying Washington would start Knight over Beal ?

Here... you take a look

http://espn.go.com/nba/depth

I'd probably give Keif the nod over one or two... Knight as well... but Tucker ??? hmmmmm

Point is.... in positions (SG/SF/PF) where there are many real good players, we rank in the bottom ten

I'm saying at the 2 guard spot, I see only 3 players as significantly better: Klay, Harden, Butler and maybe Wiggins. Then there is a wash Beal and Oladipo. Against everyone else I gladly take Knight. And that's not even mentioning some of the point guards who I'd start Knight over.

As for Kieff, if you want to eliminate Paul George, Tobias Harris and Draymond Green because they're SF playing small ball 4 and Cousins/WCS and Okafor/Nerlens are centers, there are Davis, Griffin, Bosh, Love, LMA and Ibaka who are hell yeah, I'll take those guys over Kieff, but then what else is there? Millsap/Favors/Faried/Mirotic do different things, but I wouldn't classify them as better than Kieff. All the rest are worse or rookies that could be big but could be average.

Wow.... didn't realize Knight was a top 5 or 6 2G... What was Kidd thinking? Apparently we owned him on that deal.
70 mil and a top 5 pick is looking like a steal eh? As for MoBro... there is nothing powerful in that forward. He plays a small ball role, but yet can't play SF, so he isn't even a classic 'tweener'. Ever wonder why he is so hard to trade, great contract and all??? nobody wants him and very few need him. Both these guys put up hollow stats as being the better players, offensive-wise, on mediocre teams.

And I thought my low assessment was extreme....

Since when are we shopping Markieff? I haven't read or heard anything. I've heard Kieff say he wants a trade, but nothing from Management saying we're looking to ship him away.

And yes, Brandon Knight is in the second tier of 2 guards in the league right now. Jason Kidd traded Knight for MCW, Tyler Ennis and Miles Plumlee... If you think that's a great move, you might want to get LASIK. And if you really think that the Lakers won't get a top 3 pick this season, keeping it, you're fooling yourself.

[bwgood77]

This is a solid team but as we see year after year being solid gets you nowhere and is more annoying and pointless than being a bad team. It's the same damn conversation we have every season with this franchise being in a constant state of purgatory.

11' - .488
12' - .500
13' - .305
14' - .585
15' - .476
16' - .500

In the East we make the playoffs 5 outta those 6 years.

Lol all teams in the Eastern conference are always in playoff contention because of that.

To add to those stats I was just looking at team pt differentials and we have been outscored and average of .1 pts. It's the closest pt differential to zero. So we are the MOST average team.

[bwgood77]

As mentioned above we've lost two games to teams we weren't really expecting to beat and one awful loss to a Detroit team on the up.

The manner in which we've lost is what bothered me. In last nights game a literally took our trousers down and adopted the position. Completely gave in and that's not acceptable from professional athletes earning millions per season.

I disagree, I think we fought hard, particularly Bled. There was plenty of hustle in that game, we never stopped trying.

The problem is we execute so poorly. We saw the same stupid alley oop passes. The same stupid shot selections. Late clock offense initiations. Just really fundamental **** that you expect NBA players to know how to do. We pushed the pace and were exposed by the better team.

I'm now starting to think when Tom Leander said the only guy on the team who could spell Mirza Teletovic was BK, he wasn't joking. We actually have a team of idiots. Unfortunately it all begins with our starting forwards. Time is quickly running out before someone in the front office loses patience.

Did he really say that? Wow, that's sad. The thing that confuses me is that Brandon Knight, by all accounts, a smart guy, sure doesn't play very smart.

[Revived]

I'm saying at the 2 guard spot, I see only 3 players as significantly better: Klay, Harden, Butler and maybe Wiggins. Then there is a wash Beal and Oladipo. Against everyone else I gladly take Knight. And that's not even mentioning some of the point guards who I'd start Knight over.

As for Kieff, if you want to eliminate Paul George, Tobias Harris and Draymond Green because they're SF playing small ball 4 and Cousins/WCS and Okafor/Nerlens are centers, there are Davis, Griffin, Bosh, Love, LMA and Ibaka who are hell yeah, I'll take those guys over Kieff, but then what else is there? Millsap/Favors/Faried/Mirotic do different things, but I wouldn't classify them as better than Kieff. All the rest are worse or rookies that could be big but could be average.

Wow.... didn't realize Knight was a top 5 or 6 2G... What was Kidd thinking? Apparently we owned him on that deal.
70 mil and a top 5 pick is looking like a steal eh? As for MoBro... there is nothing powerful in that forward. He plays a small ball role, but yet can't play SF, so he isn't even a classic 'tweener'. Ever wonder why he is so hard to trade, great contract and all??? nobody wants him and very few need him. Both these guys put up hollow stats as being the better players, offensive-wise, on mediocre teams.

And I thought my low assessment was extreme....

Since when are we shopping Markieff? I haven't read or heard anything. I've heard Kieff say he wants a trade, but nothing from Management saying we're looking to ship him away.

And yes, Brandon Knight is in the second tier of 2 guards in the league right now. Jason Kidd traded Knight for MCW, Tyler Ennis and Miles Plumlee... If you think that's a great move, you might want to get LASIK. And if you really think that the Lakers won't get a top 3 pick this season, keeping it, you're fooling yourself.

I don't think LA gets that pick. They won't even have a bottom 4 record this year IMO.

At the very least Brooklyn, Philly, Sacramento and Charlotte will all be worse than them IMO.

[Revived]

As mentioned above we've lost two games to teams we weren't really expecting to beat and one awful loss to a Detroit team on the up.

The manner in which we've lost is what bothered me. In last nights game a literally took our trousers down and adopted the position. Completely gave in and that's not acceptable from professional athletes earning millions per season.

I disagree, I think we fought hard, particularly Bled. There was plenty of hustle in that game, we never stopped trying.

The problem is we execute so poorly. We saw the same stupid alley oop passes. The same stupid shot selections. Late clock offense initiations. Just really fundamental **** that you expect NBA players to know how to do. We pushed the pace and were exposed by the better team.

I'm now starting to think when Tom Leander said the only guy on the team who could spell Mirza Teletovic was BK, he wasn't joking. We actually have a team of idiots. Unfortunately it all begins with our starting forwards. Time is quickly running out before someone in the front office loses patience.

Did he really say that? Wow, that's sad. The thing that confuses me is that Brandon Knight, by all accounts, a smart guy, sure doesn't play very smart.

Knight is a very high IQ guy. He's probably top 5 in the entire league in that. When in his interviews, you can tell that he's quite smart.

The thing is that it hasn't translated to basketball IQ so far.

[bwgood77]

Wow.... didn't realize Knight was a top 5 or 6 2G... What was Kidd thinking? Apparently we owned him on that deal.
70 mil and a top 5 pick is looking like a steal eh? As for MoBro... there is nothing powerful in that forward. He plays a small ball role, but yet can't play SF, so he isn't even a classic 'tweener'. Ever wonder why he is so hard to trade, great contract and all??? nobody wants him and very few need him. Both these guys put up hollow stats as being the better players, offensive-wise, on mediocre teams.

And I thought my low assessment was extreme....

Since when are we shopping Markieff? I haven't read or heard anything. I've heard Kieff say he wants a trade, but nothing from Management saying we're looking to ship him away.

And yes, Brandon Knight is in the second tier of 2 guards in the league right now. Jason Kidd traded Knight for MCW, Tyler Ennis and Miles Plumlee... If you think that's a great move, you might want to get LASIK. And if you really think that the Lakers won't get a top 3 pick this season, keeping it, you're fooling yourself.

I don't think LA gets that pick. They won't even have a bottom 4 record this year IMO.

At the very least Brooklyn, Philly, Sacramento and Charlotte will all be worse than them IMO.

They might not get the pick, but have you seen how bad their shooting percentages are across the board? Look at this....and this is against the Knicks. Sacramento and Charlotte will easily be better. I think Philly might too.

But even if they have any of the worst three records they could drop to 4th to 6th in the draft based on the lottery. Usually at least one team jumps into the top 3, sometimes 2.