Suns @ Magic Tuesday Game Thread, 3-31-2026

[Phrazbit]

True but Booker needs another threat to pull guys away too. Most guys getting doubled are not going to do much. Green who is likely the 2nd most feared player on the team was nowhere and none of the other guys on the team were a consistent threat this game. My biggest issue wasn't with his close. It was the easy shot attempts he passed up after he drove and the two free throw misses in a row. His overall FT numbers are really good still but FOR HIM, he seems off on FT's this year.

I realize my opinion is not a popular one... but I think the opposition is perfectly happy to let Jalen Green have a blank check. They don't ball deny him, they don't throw doubles at him... ever...

He scores a lot... he takes a ton of shots... on most nights he is wildly inefficient.

He has talent, he's young, if we can get him to play in the flow of the offense, he'd be very good, but he isn't doing it.

I've seen a lot of chatter that he's been great in march... he's averaging 22 points on 19 shots... that is bad, very bad. No roster player on our team sniffs that inefficiency as a scorer and his appeal is allegedly as a "scorer". He's flashy, he's more explosive athletically than anyone on the roster, but he's been a huge detriment to the team. He just doesn't play winning basketball.

 

[taz02]

That was ugly....Chalk it up to re-integrating Brooks.

Can't wait to see how these guys perform in the playoffs. We've looked pretty discombobulated lately, but no matter how this season ends the team has a bright future, something I didn't expect until 2030.

 

[Bada0Bing]

Not wild about that end game rotation.

Yeah that was weird. I’ll give Ott the benefit of the doubt since he’s done such an amazing job this year, but these rotations were nuts.

They seemed really out of sync.

 

[leclerc]

Magic are mildly irritating with Bane & co. Annoys me that we choked on this one.

 

[Cheesebeef]

True but Booker needs another threat to pull guys away too. Most guys getting doubled are not going to do much. Green who is likely the 2nd most feared player on the team was nowhere and none of the other guys on the team were a consistent threat this game. My biggest issue wasn't with his close. It was the easy shot attempts he passed up after he drove and the two free throw misses in a row. His overall FT numbers are really good still but FOR HIM, he seems off on FT's this year.

Not shooting those shots and missing clutch FTs is part of his inability to close.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Not gonna lie, this one hurt.

Don’t know wtf book was doing repeatedly drinking int no mans land with no plan.

 

[Mainstreet]

What helped is the Trail Blazers won at the Clippers on Tuesday.

They are still three games behind the Suns in the loss column.

The Suns are currently in 7th place in the West and the Clippers 8th.

If I understand it correctly, they would meet in the play-in either way but if Phoenix finishes 7th, they host the one game series and vice versa.

The winner would advance directly to the playoffs and the loser would play the winner of 9 versus 10.

 

[leclerc]

Oh, I see, to ensure #1 seed still gets a low seeded team in the first round. I mean they're all low seeded, but I was wondering why #7 plays #8 and not #7 vs #10 and #8 vs #9. Also, loser of #7 or #8 gets a second chance.

 

[clyde2tw]

Oh, I see, to ensure #1 seed still gets a low seeded team in the first round. I mean they're all low seeded, but I was wondering why #7 plays #8 and not #7 vs #10 and #8 vs #9. Also, loser of #7 or #8 gets a second chance.

Imagine #10 and #9 both won, who'd play whom the next round? The current arrangement is clearer in structure.

 

[Mainstreet]

Oh, I see, to ensure #1 seed still gets a low seeded team in the first round. I mean they're all low seeded, but I was wondering why #7 plays #8 and not #7 vs #10 and #8 vs #9. Also, loser of #7 or #8 gets a second chance.

I had similar thoughts initially, but the loser of 7 vs 8 in the Play-in, still has another shot to make the Playoffs automatically.

It comes down too, the Suns really need to beat the Clippers in the one game Play-in to advance.

Hopefully the Suns can keep 7th place for home court advantage in that game.

 

[Superbone]

Ott is struggling to reincorporate guys back into the lineup. He can't forget what worked with our young crew. Fleming, Dunn, and Maluach along with Goody were disruptors and could turn games around. I don't care how young they are. Don't go away from what is working. And please yank Brooks when he is shooting the ball over the backboard while falling out of bounds. He's a veteran and should know better not to force things with this team.

And remember what we talked about Main? This team can't afford to turn it on and off. They may get away with it with lesser teams but playoff teams will eat them alive. We need to get back to that defensive intensity from the first half of the season. The team only does it in spurts now. And are we ever going to learn how to stop teams from penetrating and getting easy shots near the basket? If not, it's going to be a short post-season.

Rant over.

 

[carrrnuttt]

And please yank Brooks when he is shooting the ball over the backboard while falling out of bounds. He's a veteran and should know better not to force things with this team.

Although I 100% agree with yanking Brooks when he gets too cute, that particular incident was because he was pushed out of bounds, and he was expecting a foul to be called and was attempting to get a shooting motion in to try to get to the line.

Like I said earlier in this thread, the fing refs that night had an agenda. And they got it.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Ott is struggling to reincorporate guys back into the lineup. He can't forget what worked with our young crew. Fleming, Dunn, and Maluach along with Goody were disruptors and could turn games around. I don't care how young they are. Don't go away from what is working. And please yank Brooks when he is shooting the ball over the backboard while falling out of bounds. He's a veteran and should know better not to force things with this team.

And remember what we talked about Main? This team can't afford to turn it on and off. They may get away with it with lesser teams but playoff teams will eat them alive. We need to get back to that defensive intensity from the first half of the season. The team only does it in spurts now. And are we ever going to learn how to stop teams from penetrating and getting easy shots near the basket? If not, it's going to be a short post-season.

Rant over.

The necessity to develop depth is now creating a challenge to find minutes. I felt like Royce barely played last game and he’s been a fixture.