Suns @ Lakers Thursday game thread, 10-26-2023

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Needed all of like 16 points in the 4th to win this game...

 

[BirdGangThing]

Wish we had better outings from Nurk and Allen

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[Cheesebeef]

I hate losing to the Lakers.

I put some of this on Vogel. Should have been able to solve some of the offensive problems in the 4th.

Said it at the top of the 4th that they needed Gordon to go on a little pop. No one stepped up next to Durant and Durant went cold and turnover happy in the 4th.

Tough loss. Especially because it’s the Lakers.

 

[AzCardsfan76]

Nuric was in a tough spot tonight as well. He had a bad game, got into foul trouble and really struggled.

 

[Mainstreet]

Some final stats. The Suns only scored 11 points in the 4th quarter and 9 were by Durant.

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[Germz249]

I hate the Lakers

 

[BirdGangThing]

KD tried but we've watched Book try a thousand times - you just can't do it by yourself in today's NBA

 

[Hoop Head]

I wonder what would it would take to get Brogdon from Portland? From what I understand, they really don't need or want him with their youth movement.

We have no one who can be dealt above the minimum contract guys to Portland. Can't even send them Little. Brogdan makes like $20m+ a year also so there's essentially no way to make it happen.

Hopefully we can find a way to flip Little for someone. If not then Allen may be moved. He surely has value. Just a matter of finding a target and deal.

 

[AzCardsfan76]

This loss sucks but not sweating it at all. Brand new group, tons of room for growth, Beal and Book, not playing. Gonna be crazy to see the “big 3” on the court soon. Phx is so scary.

 

[TJ]

Nurkic either looked like a guy who’d only been with the team for a month,or a guy who was scared of the moment. I could set better screens than him

 

[mjb21aztd]

Decent effort no book beal

suns will get nasty revenge in poffs with book beal

good growing pain gm... just hate losin to lebron...

 

[Hoop Head]

Nurkic either looked like a guy who’d only been with the team for a month,or a guy who was scared of the moment. I could set better screens than him

He was fine until he got in foul trouble in the 4th.

 

[TJ]

Agreed... there was no reason not to go deeper on the bench with Booker and Beal out. I hope we don't have yet another coach who's too stubborn for his own good.

All coaches are stubborn. I want one who’s not gonna be so conservative with his players that by the time he realizes what he has on the team, we’re like the 7 seed in the playoffs

 

[FB94]

11 pts in the 4th ain’t gonna do it. Very sloppy basketball and every possession seemed out of sync. With a full squad we win this by double digits

 

[Proximo]

KD tried but we've watched Book try a thousand times - you just can't do it by yourself in today's NBA

Actually if Book was playing instead of KD - we would have won this game IMO.

 

[TJ]

+/- is one of the dumbest stats in professional sports, but Gordon being -27 in a 5 point game is impressive lol

 

[Proximo]

11 pts in the 4th ain’t gonna do it. Very sloppy basketball and every possession seemed out of sync. With a full squad we win this by double digits

Sure, but the bench needs to be better than this.

 

[GatorAZ]

Can’t make any proclamations until we see 20+ games but I thought the bench would be better.

 

[TJ]

Suns tanking for a QBoF confirmed

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[Cheesebeef]

Actually if Book was playing instead of KD - we would have won this game IMO.

This I agree with. Book is just a much better creator at this point than KD.

 

[Raindog]

Absolutely no reason not to play Metu or Bates-Diop in a game like this. Did Vogel forget they are on the team?

Booker and Beal better be back by the next game.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

Can’t make any proclamations until we see 20+ games but I thought the bench would be better.

Do you think we'll even see KD, Booker and Beal in the lineup together for 20 games? I have serious doubts about it.

 

[Yuma]

We only needed Booker OR Beal to beat LA tonight. We didn't need both. I am not worried because the Lakers could barely beat us short handed. Hate to lose one we were winning. I think Vogel doesn't use enough of our bench. Metu was one of the best three point shooters for us in preseason. He should have got a few minutes with Nurkic in foul trouble, and us not playing Beal and Booker. Maybe you give a Bates-Diop a look. Our guys looked like they were dragging and unable to match the Lakers energy by playing a lot of minutes. That's my only criticism of Vogel. Otherwise he seemed to coach a decent game.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Can’t make any proclamations until we see 20+ games but I thought the bench would be better.

To be fair two of our best bench players were forced to start for Book and Beal. It will be hard to tell just how good the bench is until this team is healthy.

 

[elindholm]

Durant gave it his all, but he's past the point in his career where he can play 21 minutes in the second half and not run out of gas. The turnovers were due to fatigue more than anything else.

Players other than Durant shot 20-53 (.377).

Gordon is awful. He is 4-17 on threes so far this season. He still has some ability to get to the basket, but he doesn't do it nearly often enough. A guy who gets hot a few times a month isn't what the Suns need from a sixth man.

I'm glad to have been wrong about Okogie. He's my favorite player on the team. Unfortunately the Suns needed him to be able to assert himself in a way that he isn't prepared to do, but he'll be just fine as the fifth starter.

Allen didn't give the Suns anything offensively, but I liked that he didn't try to do too much.

Goodwin has the potential to be a more fundamentally sound Cameron Payne. He's built differently, but their games are similar. I wonder how much he can improve, given that he's already 25 years old.

Foul trouble has plagued Nurkic throughout his career. He just needs to play his game, and he fouls out, so be it.

Watanabe might be fine in an empty gym, but he's borderline useless on the floor.

I was surprised Vogel didn't try Eubanks in the fourth quarter. It should have been obvious that Durant wasn't going to be able to make it to the finish line.

Even though the bench was inept offensively, I liked how they competed on the defensive end.