Game 37: Suns (13-23) at Kings (12-22), Friday, Dec 29, 8PM, MST

[NTB]

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[Qwigglez]

^Yeah people mention we have one of the easiest schedules so far, but we have beaten the Wizards, Wolves x2, and lost some close games against Nets, Blazers, Bucks (OT), Spurs, Raptors, and one close game against the Wolves. Also, Booker was out against the Spurs, Raptors, and Wolves game so maybe those games could have been wins had he been playing. This team may be winning ugly, but they are grinding out wins, and that's part of the process of growing as players.
Their confidence should be getting higher as every day passes, imagine after the first 3 games when we had Earl what their confidence level was at. Then on top of that, our veteran starting PG says he doesn't wanna be here basically saying our team is trash. And finally, having to adapt to a new coach and squeeze in a mini-training camp during the season. For them to have endured through all this and still pull this many wins is actually quite impressive, despite the weakness in the competition we've been facing.

[darealjuice]

^Yeah people mention we have one of the easiest schedules so far, but we have beaten the Wizards, Wolves x2, and lost some close games against Nets, Blazers, Bucks (OT), Spurs, Raptors, and one close game against the Wolves. Also, Booker was out against the Spurs, Raptors, and Wolves game so maybe those games could have been wins had he been playing. This team may be winning ugly, but they are grinding out wins, and that's part of the process of growing as players.

I wouldn't forget that our Bucks OT game was without Giannis and the close game with the Spurs was without Kawhi, Danny Green, and Tony Parker either though. We're taking steps and playing some better basketball, but our only wins against non-tanking/terrible teams are the Wizards (who are notorious for playing down to the opposing team's level), Sixers (who are still a young team that's shown it's struggles), TWolves, and arguably the Jazz (who were playing very poorly when we met them and didn't have Mitchell breaking out). That's not to say we won't string together some of those wins in the 2nd half of the season, but games against the likes of the Bulls, Kings, Grizz, and Lakers are about to become far and few between.

[NTB]

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[alldayeveryday]

no ****... if he or/and bender don't pan out to anything more than a 7-8th man.... we are just two turds swirling for another couple years. Need some talent to surface from somewhere. We've had a gaping hole at PF since Stat left.

I hope that isn't the case and do agree with w/ you in terms of our PF hole.

STAT could put up points but let's be honest, Chriss/Bender have a better chance of playing D than STAT ever did. This is even pre-Amare before the micro because he was a beast with block shots and had somewhat lateral movement at that time.

****

read what you just wrote.

We wont see the likes of Prime Amare again... the league might not either.

I stated that I hope Bender/Chriss "do not bust" and have a better chance to play any resemblance of defense compared to STAT. Yes, there will be only STAT in this era of the NBA. No one has come close, I agree.

[jcsunsfan]

This team seems to be maturing and coming together before our eyes. I think a couple of things have led to the change.

1. Cutting Mike James. I am not sure he was well liked as a player. The second team has just stabilized with Canaan, even when he does not play well.
2. Booker is just doing it every night now. He is a star/superstar player at this moment. We have a player that you can give the ball to in the last 15 seconds and he puts fear into opponents. We have not had that since, well, ever. Even Charles Barkley was not this kind of clutch player.
3. TJ has found his niche. He scores, rebounds, and his defense has been very good lately.
4. Troy Daniel's shooting has helped alot off the bench.
5. Marquise has somehow come alive. Not sure what happened. Triano says he is finally in shape. Wow. If that is the case, he game is REALLY dependent upon his athleticism. Bender is playing pretty well too.
6. The center position is solid.

The rest of the season is a pretty tough schedule, but this team might surprise I think.

[LukasBMW]

I like what I've seen from Chriss lately.

It's not just his productivity, it's his lack of mistakes. Sure he had 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists last night, but he did it on 5-6 shooting with only 2 fouls and 1 turnover.

2 fouls and 1 turnover??? Who is this dude?

Granted his productive streak has been against bottom 5 teams. The key is to see if he can keep it up against more talented teams.

[Jdiddy701]

So happy we are not watching Mike James anymore. And boy Devin Booker is really good. I wouldn’t trade him for anyone in the NBA.


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[jcsunsfan]

I like what I've seen from Chriss lately.

It's not just his productivity, it's his lack of mistakes. Sure he had 14 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists last night, but he did it on 5-6 shooting with only 2 fouls and 1 turnover.

2 fouls and 1 turnover??? Who is this dude?

Granted his productive streak has been against bottom 5 teams. The key is to see if he can keep it up against more talented teams.

Its better than playing badly against bottom teams. Isn't that the team progression.

1. Bad team.
2. Competitive against other bad teams, lose to good teams.
3. Beat bad teams, competitive against good teams.
4. Beat bad teams, beat good teams.

Regarding Chriss improvement. Its huge for the Suns. His trade value was in the dumps, but it can be rebuilt pretty quickly. We need a lot of good pieces and options to get to the next step. One might be trading one of Bender, Chriss, TJ or JJ in order to get the pg we need by a direct deal or to move up in the draft.

[Qwigglez]

^Yeah people mention we have one of the easiest schedules so far, but we have beaten the Wizards, Wolves x2, and lost some close games against Nets, Blazers, Bucks (OT), Spurs, Raptors, and one close game against the Wolves. Also, Booker was out against the Spurs, Raptors, and Wolves game so maybe those games could have been wins had he been playing. This team may be winning ugly, but they are grinding out wins, and that's part of the process of growing as players.

I wouldn't forget that our Bucks OT game was without Giannis and the close game with the Spurs was without Kawhi, Danny Green, and Tony Parker either though. We're taking steps and playing some better basketball, but our only wins against non-tanking/terrible teams are the Wizards (who are notorious for playing down to the opposing team's level), Sixers (who are still a young team that's shown it's struggles), TWolves, and arguably the Jazz (who were playing very poorly when we met them and didn't have Mitchell breaking out). That's not to say we won't string together some of those wins in the 2nd half of the season, but games against the likes of the Bulls, Kings, Grizz, and Lakers are about to become far and few between.

The Spurs have been without Kawhi/TP all year though, plus they still have the best coach in basketball, so for us to play as well as we did without Booker is still quite impressive.