Game 56: Phoenix Suns (33-22) @ Dallas Mavericks (32-23) l Thursday l 5:30pm l TNT

[MrMiyagi]

Big 3: 14-8
Book/KD: 10-7
Book/Beal: 3-1
Beal/KD: 2-2
KD: 2-4
Book: 2-1
Beal: 0-0

Total: 33-23

[Frank Lee]

And now Dallas has passed us. We've got a tremendously tough road schedule ahead of us, and they're hot and could easily extend their lead.

This Suns team needs blown up. There's no cohesiveness here; no leadership. We are so screwed going forward.

Sent from my [Samsung Z4 Fold] using RealGM mobile app

Dallas is flat out better than us. Longer, athletic, deeper, better rim protection and D all around….with just as many guns…
and their small ball is bigger than ours. They are going to give a lot of teams fits with their revamped line up.

[Frank Lee]

Get it while you can…. Dallas to win the southwest at+135… to win the west +1400… to win it all +3600

Strategy… 2 units to win their division, 1 unit to win the west, 1 to win it all.

they look so much better with Washington and Gafford. Where is their weakness? I wouldn’t want to play them in a 7 gamer.

[garrick]

This team is just still too small and I don't think O'Neal or Young really solve those issues for us.

Nurk can't play late in the 4th and Eubanks is useless. We can't grab rebounds or stop any sort of penetration.

[Hitachi77]

Another fairly close road loss against a good/hot team, without Beal, and the board freaks out again. Road games against good teams are hard to win. It’s like some of you are just getting started with the NBA.

Okogie is basically unplayable in any decent leverage moments, but we already knew that.

[Ghost of Kleine]

This team is just still too small and I don't think O'Neal or Young really solve those issues for us.

Nurk can't play late in the 4th and Eubanks is useless. We can't grab rebounds or stop any sort of penetration.

Garrick speaking inconvenient truths that are becoming more glaringly apparent as the season enters the stretch run! Just wait until the playoffs hit us even harder!

[Ghost of Kleine]

Tonights' outcome does go back to previous discussions by many on here, and continual concerns over playing against bigger and more athletic frontcourts: rebounding issues, 2nd chance points for the mavs, and being SMALLER on the wing, Lastly, no rim protection to keep dallas from getting easy drives to the rim and scoring easily at/around the basket.

On top of all that, we've gone back to half azzing things and putting forth lackadaisacal crap effort! Under these type of conditions, we only have a good chance to win IF our big three can shoot lights out. still a lot to work on, and time is running out on us quickly.

[lilfishi22]

Another fairly close road loss against a good/hot team, without Beal, and the board freaks out again. Road games against good teams are hard to win. It’s like some of you are just getting started with the NBA.

Okogie is basically unplayable in any decent leverage moments, but we already knew that.

Surging is the word you're looking for, off the back of Kyrie coming back from injury. They were on a 6 game win streak prior to this game. No excuse but just because Dallas were behind us on the standings, doesn't mean they are worse. If anything, we're basically in the same tier as them, Pels, and the Kings.

Also agree on Okogie. While I really like him as a player, appreciate his effort and energy and what he's able to do creating 2nd chance, the fact that teams barely even think about guarding him, turns the game into a 4 on 5. I think he's a fine depth piece during the regular season but it's really hard to play a guy who nobody guards especially on the perimeter, often kills offensive flow because he can't shoot the 3 when the ball goes to him and I don't think he can physically do enough on the defensive end to become a net positive. Like this season, he has a very very solid 1.0 DBPM but that's completely offset but a negative 1.6 OBPM.

[Mr Puddles]

Another fairly close road loss against a good/hot team, without Beal, and the board freaks out again. Road games against good teams are hard to win. It’s like some of you are just getting started with the NBA.

Okogie is basically unplayable in any decent leverage moments, but we already knew that.

Encountering a voice of reason on this board is like spotting the great white buffelo, I'm still rubbing my eyes in disbelieve.

[Stix]

T'was not a close game after halftime.

[KLEON]

The Suns win, we are winning the chip. The Suns lose, they should blow up the team SMH. Some of you guys here real arse clowns

[Mr Puddles]

The Suns win, we are winning the chip. The Suns lose, they should blow up the team SMH. Some of you guys here real arse clowns

Seriously, this board is Jim Carrey in me myself and Irene

[SunsRback4Good]

The Suns win, we are winning the chip. The Suns lose, they should blow up the team SMH. Some of you guys here real arse clowns

Seriously, this board is Jim Carrey in me myself and Irene

Do you actually prefer a homer who says only the positives about this team, or some sort of a hater who criticizes the team win or lose?

We have a ton of underlying issues and they have yet to be fixed after 55+ games into the season. Still passing like a middle school team, can’t finish in the 4th, running too much ISO, rebounding issues, etc… this team is a 2nd round team at best. Let’s not sugarcoat it like it’s any different. We can criticize our team and still care in wanting them to succeed.

[Mr Puddles]

The Suns win, we are winning the chip. The Suns lose, they should blow up the team SMH. Some of you guys here real arse clowns

Seriously, this board is Jim Carrey in me myself and Irene

Do you actually prefer a homer who says only the positives about this team, or some sort of a hater who criticizes the team win or lose?

We have a ton of underlying issues and they have yet to be fixed after 55+ games into the season. Still passing like a middle school team, can’t finish in the 4th, running too much ISO, rebounding issues, etc… this team is a 2nd round team at best. Let’s not sugarcoat it like it’s any different. We can criticize our team and still care in wanting them to succeed.

No, I prefer nuance. The Suns have one of the best records in the league when our big three are healthy.

But we lose a road game against a hot team at full strength and the sky is falling.

We have a three year window to win a championship and are incorporating 12 new players into our team, but sure we're doomed because don't win every single time we play.

Does this team have issues, sure. So does every other team in the league. You can't build a team that's top of the league in every aspect of the game.

[dmastro32]

Another disappointing 4th quarter no one except Booker showed up for the second half. ISO ball kills this team and rendered Allen and Gordon useless.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Having/maintaining optimism as some still do on here is important and of course encouraging, as long as it doesn't cross over to overrationalizing and diluding themselves to unecessary losses that are critical in "tiebreaker" situations and seeding determinations. I for my part understand that this was just another game against a team playing really good basketball at the right time. And I also understand that the game was somewhat close up until the middle of the 4th. Lastly, I also understand that we didn't have Beal yet again and weren't at full strength.

BUT.................... Here's what else I and others who are rightfully frustrated and concerned understand too:

1- The suns STILL HAVE THE WORST 4TH QUARTER NET RATING in the entire league after 2/3 of the season.

2- We still aren't closing out key games that could imminently affect our seeding as well as any potential ability to exercise even a modicum of load management heading into the postseason.

3- This may have just been another close loss against a good team that's playing really well! BUT again, legit contenders close out key games and now that's just another western conference rival that has taken the season series from us and will own the "tiebreaker" when positions are determined.

4- People use coping mechanisms to delude the facts and rationalize our underwhelming losses. But, These losses aren't just a result of losing a close game to a "hot team playing great basketball at the right time". Our 4th quarter and the Mavs gaining the upper hand are representative of THE SAME LINGERING ISSUES that we had and apparently still haven't remedied going all the way back to the start of the season. We've given away far too many winnable games just by the virtue of lackluster effort, taking other teams for granted and thinking we'll just coast to a win! And then getting embarrassed. Consistently making the exact same basic mistakes that were prevalent issues at the start of the season too. How many legit championship teams or legit contenders do these things and casually give away games or series matchups?? And if we're not true championship contenders, then what was the trade really for???

5- Again........why did we MORTGAGE OUR FUTURE OVER THE NEXT DECADE ???? What was our fanbase sold on all summer post trades?? Was it to be a pretty good team that can win a bunch of games and maybe make the playoffs as a 1st or 2nd round exit? Or was it to be a LEGIT CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER. Injuries or not, We could still actually choose to ............ REBOUND, ROTATE AND DEFEND THE PERIMETER, NOT BE SO CARELESS WITH THE BALL, PUT FORTH SOMETHING BETTER THAN A HALF AZZ DISINTERESTED EFFORT!!!.

This game was lost not just because we struggled to score (yet again in the 4th). But moreoverby yet again being careless with the ball, going small against their bigger frontcourt players and losing possessions that resulted in 2nd chance points and threes. AND worst of all, our defense on the perimeter sagging off their shooters continually to double and triple Luka and then NOT PUTTING FORTH THE EFFORT to recover and challenge better on the perimeter, often passively standing there and daring them to shoot!

So it's not that the sky is falling at all but rather that people are really frustrated to see professional basketball players commit the same mistakes over and over again without any consistent improvement, then put out mediocre apathetic efforts when we we sold on this team being a LEGIT CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER!! But contenders close out key games (especially with playoff seeding ranmnifications). All season we've been seeing the distimct difference from teams that ARE actually contenders playing to the level expected of them and not folding or giving away games. I'm not frustrated about them not winning the title this year, because I for my part know they're once again not legit contenders and will most likely get booted in the first or second round due to intentionally unaddressed positional depth issues, AND lack of size, athleticism, and physicality that is prevalent in the playoffs. I've excepted all of this already. However I do and will get upset or frustrated at experienced vet players and superstar level players making the same dumb mistakes over and over again all season, putting in poor effort in key moments in the games, and not figuring out even basic fundamentals of basketball after already 2/3 of the season have passed.

The sky isn't falling at all, but it's perfectly reasonable to be upset about this team being/playing like they're a full tier below actual contention considering all that was given up to sell the fanbase on them being LEGITIMATE CONTENDERS. They can be better, play better, and just need to decide to be that instead of what they're showing everyone.

[grumpysaddle]

Just finished watching. 1. I **** hate losing to the Mavs. 2. That was a bad loss knocking us down to the play-in. 3. Why did we go to the small lineup soooooo long. We got absolutely destroyed on the boards in the second half. The small lineup is good in spurts, but we needed Nurk in there. We won the first half with Nurk and then inexplicably went away from it for basically the entire second half.

[Golanator]

Just finished watching. 1. I **** hate losing to the Mavs. 2. That was a bad loss knocking us down to the play-in. 3. Why did we go to the small lineup soooooo long. We got absolutely destroyed on the boards in the second half. The small lineup is good in spurts, but we needed Nurk in there. We won the first half with Nurk and then inexplicably went away from it for basically the entire second half.

Mavs started the 2nd half on a 15-0 run with Nurk in there.

Vogel had to try something different. But yeah probably went to it too long.

The bigger issue was Eubanks killing us again in his limited minutes in the 1st half. I would have liked to see Thad Young in his place.

[lilfishi22]

The start of the 3rd killed us and our typical 4th quarter did absolutely nothing to help our case either. I can live with a 3rd quarter run, a 2nd quarter run etc because they are just part of the game but we really have to figure out or improve on our 4th quarters because if we can't win close games or make up for deficits in the 4th, we're not gonna go very deep in the playoffs

[Stix]

We're the new Nets. Great.