POSTGAME: Phoenix Suns GO COLD In LOSS To Kevin Durant & Houston Rockets

POSTGAME: Phoenix Suns GO COLD In LOSS To Kevin Durant & Houston Rockets

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everybody’s talking about, oh, what about the final score? Can we talk about what actually matters here? When it comes to winning quarters tonight, the Suns also won two out of four. So, I’m going to just call this a tie. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Psychos and sickos unite for an ice cold edition of the PHNX post game show presented by Bet365. Download the bet365 app. Use code PHNX365. Deposit 10. Place the bet for five. Get $150 bonus bets. I’m Eric. We’ve got Steven Espo and Gil and the dog. Woof woof behind the Mac. Damon making all of the magic happen. But there wasn’t a lot of magic tonight as the Phoenix Suns lost a brutal game 117 to98 to the Houston Rockets in Kevin Durant’s first game against his former team. Uh, hit the like button, hit that subscribe button. We are going to take you through everything today, the good. Well, no, sorry. We’ll take you through the bad and the ugly and uh everything in between those two things. We do appreciate all you hanging out with us here on a Friday night. Houston trolls alike. You guys can come in here and talk all the trash that you want cuz Houston moves to 2 and 0 over the Suns this season. We’ve still yet to see a fully healthy matchup between these two teams, but guys, hey, that sucked. Yeah, it did. All right, you can follow the show at BHNX Suns. That’s going to do it for post game. See you on Monday. Diagnosis for me, folks. Let’s break the stethoscopes out. What was the reason for this? Was it just, oh, the Suns walked in and they weren’t hitting shots or or was there something else as to why the Suns just had a tragic offensive showing tonight? Nope. I’ll go ahead and take this first. And it’s not the offense. It is the defense because your one calling card, your main stay, your identity stepping side of things is the defensive side of the floor. Some of it was some of the turnovers they had early in the game. Over the course of it, they did a good job of controlling that controllable. But defensively, first quarter was decent. Second quarter was the oppos absolute opposite of whatever you think decent is in terms of a spectrum of good to bad. And that 40, what was it? 44 that they gave up in the second quarter. That’s not the Phoenix Suns in basketball this season in any capacity. Even at their worst, their worst defense has been like league average. So to have dropped down a little bit further than that, even if just for 12 minutes in a game where the margins are even more important because of your lack of top end talent and ability to score in an individual standpoint, that’s a non-negotiable right there. So that second quarter and the lack of defense there and the lack of ability to kind of recourse is what really stands out to me. Just flush this one. Like there I don’t even think there’s much you can learn from this one. When you wind up shooting 24 more shots than your opponent and you make six fewer when you shoot twice as many three-pointers as they as they shoot and you make half as many of them. Like this is just an awful game all around for this team. And I don’t I sometimes there is just nothing that you can learn from a game. You go out and you crap the bed and that’s that. And that’s what happened here. There’s a basketball version of everything that can go wrong will go wrong. And I guess this in this version is everything you could do wrong you did wrong. The defense was bad. The shooting was bad. You’re missing 55 points per game from your starting lineup. And the Suns are missing. I mean, the Rockets were missing an all-star as well. So, I’m not making an excuse like that. It just was the fact for a matter with the Suns. It was just nothing really went right for the majority of the game outside of that first quarter. But the wheels did fall off in the second quarter. KD in the second quarter, 17 points, seven of eight shooting, and that was really what uh turned the game. So, and I agree with you, Stephen, that the defense here, especially in that second quarter, that was really disappointing, but also some of it was just greatness being greatness, obviously KD having a really great second quarter and then all the Rockets playing off of him. If I had to choose one part of this game that frustrated me the most, it was coming out of halftime. This team, we’ve seen them so many times respond well when they’ve been down, when they’ve been missing shots. Jordan gets them ready at half, they come out firing in that third quarter. 14 points in the third quarter for the Phoenix Suns. That’s unacceptable. I know that, okay, shots weren’t falling, but guess what? Shots weren’t falling the whole game. You scored 31, 27, and 26 in the other three quarters. to come out at halftime and honestly Houston was just ready and was ready to put their foot on your neck and put you away. They were the better team tonight. They were the better team the first night. That 14-point third quarter is what I’d say I’m most disappointed in. Yeah, coming out of the break too was a 6 run from Houston. I’m looking back at the the box scores a Thompson reverse dunk assisted by Kevin Durant. First play Junior mid-range jump shot and then a men Thompson had a dunk and quick timeout from Jordan. 90 seconds. 90 seconds less than less than that. 63 seconds. The first 63 seconds of the second half after you have a really bad showing in the second quarter, you’re supposed to come out. I know that Jordan not had a fiery speech from the locker room. I’m pretty sure he did. And to for that to be the response and we remarked about it a couple times, the team looked a little tired. They looked a little gassed and maybe it was a long layoff, maybe it was getting back into game mode, but it showed, especially coming out of the halftime break. I feel like it was a lot of navigating without so much of your creation on offense and not just as a part of the shift in terms of rotations, but for a full 48 minutes against a team that has a dude and Kevin and Ren, an all-time great dude. Um, that’s just tough. It’s just tough naturally. Some of these things we spoke to in pregame, what’s the offense going to look like when you do get into half court settings? Who’s creating for who? Who’s able to get their shots off? What’s the rhythm of the shots created for others? It didn’t feel like the quality of shots was bad that they were able to generate from deep and the volume was decent for them um with 36 attempts, but the rhythm wasn’t necessarily the same. And because the rhythm the rhythm was very different, I think that led to some of the inconsistencies. Can we finally put to rest how important Deon Booker is for this offense, whether he’s scoring or not, because Well, it depends on who you’re asking. Well, I mean, not that that not that we’ve ever had that year, but like that’s a prime example of how important drawing those double teams are to this offense because we’ve talked about it. As good as they’ve been playing, they’re still at a talent deficit. Especially when you go against a team uh like Houston, when you go against a team like OKC, those kind of things, you need somebody like a Devin Booker, even if he’s not scoring, to be the focal point of what a defense is doing. So a guy like a Colin Gillespie, so a guy like a Grayson Allen, so a guy like a Royce O’Neal can can do the things that they do because they’re getting better, more quality looks. And it takes the pressure off of uh freaking Dylan Brooks that doesn’t have to be the best defensive player and the best offensive player on a court. Well, I think Gil, where we saw that the most was the ball movement or the lack of ball movement today because when you start drawing two to the ball and Devin Booker, who makes the right play most of the time, will usually pass out of that and sometimes people should grin, but overall that gets the ball moving, that gets the defense in rotation. if you’re not moving the ball against this team specifically with the three sevenfooters that they’re starting even when Shenun is a late scratch with illness and then also by the way the back court is Ahmed Thompson and Josh Kogi next to those three sevenfooters when you don’t get them scrambling and moving you can’t get by them you can’t just go right at them like that’s just not really any of their weaknesses on defense so when you don’t have somebody who demands the attention of a Devin Booker you’re going to have a hard time getting your offense into motion and attacking any sort of slight mismatch that you could possibly get against this specific defensive team. Yeah, there were a number of times we were watching the Suns in the half court and it seemed like just kind of ran into a wall, the Rockus defense and and you’re stuck whether you’re 10 12 feet away from the basket. You don’t really know what to do and that’s when the offense was really really stalling. We talked about it before the game getting downhill especially if they show some zone looks and they were getting downhill. We saw a couple of them impressive drives early on, but then those drives they they were getting they weren’t getting as much depth. They were first they were getting to the rim, then they were getting to the the the semicircle, then they were getting stopped around the elbow. And then the assist thing is a great thing to point out. I was looking to see and this is the second lowest scoring game of the Suns this year. The first one, 92 points against the Rockets. Yeah, the only time they haven’t scored 100 points this season is the two match ups against the Rockets. And tonight was 14 assists. That last game was 11 assists. I think that speaks to Espo what you said, how bad of a matchup this Houston Rockets team is. It it just is. Houston’s predicated on size, predicated on kind of wearing you down. This is just not the way the Suns are built. And we know their biggest flaw is that size. They don’t really have a guy that’s actually a power forward or that size uh with it. and then you wind up going with a lot of uh you know three guard lineups and you’re you now have smaller guards because Devin’s out as well. It’s it’s a terrible matchup for him. So I think we saw some of what hurt them against the Oklahoma City Thunder a little bit as well and that’s when you have a team that has solid rim protection, a good help defense process, and they also have a good defensive shell. But all of that coming after having great individual defenders that are all defending in unison with one another. You just have to have just mono emano someone that can go and get that first domino to fall, blow past someone at the point of attack or one-on-one, make someone else commit, and then from there you play to advantage basketball from there. They didn’t have that guy on the roster tonight. And pick and roll wasn’t really an option for them because of how good the Houston Rockets are at navigating screens and things like that. We always talk about it here. The best offenses can either get two to the ball, get a paint touch, or put people in rotation. Another way, the best teams can do all three of those in unison with one another. The Suns without their two best creators, 55 plus points on average together. It’s hard to do that. Hard to navigate. Well, and not just that, but look, the Suns weren’t hitting threes. And that’s that first domino you need when you don’t have a star is you need to have the threat of hitting from deep. Now, yes, you can credit the Houston Rockets defense, which you absolutely should, but let’s all just be honest here. There were a lot of open shots that the Suns had either in transition or sidestep threes, stuff that Grayson Allen and Colin Gillespie and Royce O’Neal have made this season, and they just weren’t hitting them. Only two three-pointers made in that starting lineup, and both were coming from one of seven from deep shooting from Grayson Allen and Colin Gillespie. If that domino doesn’t fall early and you’re not in a groove mixed with the team you’re playing tonight, it’s pretty much a death sentence. And I think let’s just address what is not really the elephant in the room, but something that I feel like Houston Rockets fans are waiting for. Like Houston’s just a better team than the Suns. And that’s okay. This there there are tears in the Western Conference. And to me, there is a three team tier up top. It’s Oklahoma City, it’s Houston, and it’s a healthy Denver team. And then everybody else is a tier below. You saw this team in the Suns beat a really good team in the Lakers on Monday without Devin Booker for three quarters of the game, right? You saw what they did against an offensively predicated team that was pretty much fully healthy, that’s won a lot of games this year. This is not only a better team than the Suns, which everybody would have acknowledged and agreed with before the season, it’s also a terrible matchup for the strengths and the lineups that the Suns had out there tonight, even if they were fully healthy. Maybe things are different if both teams are rolling out there with no injuries, but we haven’t seen that yet. And I think either way, everybody would agree Houston is in a tier above Phoenix in the Western Conference. Houston fans can celebrate now because they ain’t going to be doing it in June. So, they might as well enjoy enjoy the victories that they get here. And if this is where they want to dunk on people, good on you. Kevin Durant played amazing tonight. Kevin Durant played amazing uh in a hell of a lot of the games that he played here in Phoenix. you know, I got nothing but respect for his game and it just wasn’t the right match and now, you know, you get to go play in Houston and good luck, guys. Well, and I think people were talking about, oh, who won the trade? Who didn’t win the trade? Nobody won. The trade was, I think, fine. Like, it was good for both sides. Kevin Rant clearly needed to move on. He’s clearly the perfect fit for this Rockets roster and what they’re trying to do, where he wanted to go to. And clearly, like, look, the Suns lost this game, Stephen. And they’re 13- 10. They’re three games above 500 23 games into the season. Some people didn’t expect this team to win 13 games until February. So, the Suns have had a complete culture shift. It doesn’t mean they’re the best team in the West. Suns fans could still be happy. Well, acknowledging the Rockets also got a really great end to that trade and are a better team, more built to win. Now, I mean, if you’re basing anything off of the two games the Suns have played against the Rockets where they just haven’t been healthy at all, you’re not looking at things the appropriate way if I’m being honest. um especially considering how well they played when they were when they had 80% of their roster for the most part so far this season. But yeah, it is what it is. It’s a tough matchup for them regardless of who’s been in and out of the lineup. We knew that just off of the roster templates both teams had coming into the season. That’s a type of play that no other team can replicate across the league. Everybody has that one team that outside of Oklahoma City that just is a thorn in their side across the entire league. Denver has it. Denver has it with Oklahoma City and a couple other teams in the West. I feel like the Suns obviously have one that’s that’s been identified early in its present roster state in Houston. Is that something that you need to press the big big red panic button over? Absolutely not. It is what it is. This is this is a season where we’ll still be happy if this team is a playin team because that’s much higher than where the expectations were. So like a game like this all right. Like I’m not I’m not going to let it bother me. Like would you winning would it have been nice? Sure. Losing does it change anything? Not really. Yeah. It goes back to what we talked about with Styles make fights, right? Like in that the thorn in the side and a team who you really just can’t really get over. You probably run it with them 10 times. You might win once or twice. And the key to that is knocking shots down. We talked about that before the game. Three-pointer being the equalizer. and you know 536 like if it’s a team that stylistically you just don’t match up well with that just makes it even worse. It compounds the issue. We probably have a similar discussion if the Suns made 12 threes. It wouldn’t have been that big of a difference. That’s just the reality of what it is right now. But if they’re healthy and they make 12 14 threes, you might be able to catch them off off guard every once in a while. I think that tonight there were just again too many things working against Phoenix. Yeah. and stacker asked about what do the Suns do when they’re not making shots in the chat. That’s why Jaylen Green is so important because rim pressure is invaluable because it provides multiple things. Gets a defense in rotation. Allows for you to dictate what type of shots and the rhythm that those shots come in. And it also gets you to the free throw line because people have to react to someone getting that close to the basket with the ball in their hands. not having had him around this often this season has shown his ugly head in moments. They’ve been able to navigate it other ways. Sometimes forcing turnovers, sometimes getting offensive rebounds in a on a night like tonight where you don’t have that person. Everything looks different because you don’t have that extra pitch that you would like to go to. You have your fast ball creating catch and shoot threes. If those aren’t working, your change up’s not there, your curve ball’s not there, just kind of run out of options at that point. Yeah. How many times were we on our watch along earlier and we were just saying, man, they just they just need to hit a shot. They just need something, right? Because here’s the thing, the 44 point second quarter was like a huge swing for Houston. But the Suns were not at it was a 10-point game at halftime. 10-point games are nothing in the modern NBA, right? 11 and it was 11 and what the middle of the third at one point. So it gets to the point where it’s like okay when you need book when you need Jaylen and again sure the Rockets are missing Fred Van Fleet Alprren Shenun and Taran and Dorian and Fy Smith right again show hands let’s play a game how many of you are mad about tonight nobody nobody on this panel is mad and I don’t think any Phoenix Suns fans are mad I think disappointed that okay this team wasn’t able to shoot and it did feel like one of the nights the Suns weren’t like all bringing it all at once which we’ve been very blessed with this season to See, but again, like if if Rockets fans think that Suns fans are comparing both teams on the same level, then they’re the delusional ones. The Suns are already playing with found money. We think they’re a lot better than a lot of people thought they were going to be, but they’re going to get outmatched by a team like Houston. However, if these teams are fully healthy, I still think the Suns can beat this team. Maybe not in a playoff series, but if both teams are fully healthy, you have your 55 points that are sitting on the bench playing in this game and then maybe some more shots fall outside of that with the baseline defense that we’ve seen and that we saw in the first quarter. The Suns can absolutely beat this team. I think the Suns can beat most teams on any night fully healthy. But again, give credit to the Rockets. They defended their asses off. They hit shots. They went on an incredible second quarter and they won the game. It is what it By the way, Stenna, I completely agree that Houston’s a better situation for Kevin Durant and fits better with, you know, trying to for him to go try to win a championship than it was here in Phoenix. Wasn’t built right. I mean, that’s that’s the reality of what it is. But right now, I’m fine with where the Suns are in the situation that they’re trying to build from. And yeah, tonight was just a uh a crappy performance. We talked about the the second quarter, but you mentioned it was 11 points, 733 left in the third. And then the uh Suns ended that one, outscoring the the Rockets outscored the Suns by 14, take a 25point lead into the fourth. So that that stretch right there was really when you’re in the danger zone and the Rockets took complete advantage of that. Yeah, absolutely. Look, there were some positives for tonight. We’ll go to our love the play. will go to our due to the night, our blue collar stay positive. Well, look, we look, there’s there’s a lot of of fun things that we could talk about maybe just with one guy. We’re going to get into all of that. Plus, we’ll look at the numbers. We’ll keep it rolling here on this postgame show on the other side of our first break. 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The Phoenix Suns take on the Minnesota Timberwolves will be out at Wild Horse Pass. Espo’s buying drinks. Everybody’s first drink that is including Steven’s quadruple whiskey. All of Steven’s quadruple whiskey meets the terrible news for y’all. But look, come hang out. Come have fun with us. It is Gil’s first watch party. So come show him a good time. Have fun as the Suns take on the Minnesota Timberwolves. Look for a 2 and 0 start against Anthony Edwards and company. You can RSVP for free at gophnx.com/events and then also you get entered into our giveaways if you do that. So, thank you all so much in advance for showing up on Monday. Let’s have some fun. Is that okay with everybody? Yeah. Oh, we were talking Survivor. Uh, look, there’s one man who tried his damnedest to save the day today. It’s our time for Due to the Night presented by Hilo River Resorts and Casinos. You do you at Hila Resorts and Casinos. Visit playhila.com for more details. It is Jamari Bouet. That’s right, baby. Booyah. For Booay. A careerhigh 18 points in 18 minutes, seven of 11 from the field, two of three from deep, two rebounds, an assist, and a steal. I think let’s just go ahead and also name our bluecollar boy of the night. Of course, it’s Jamari Bouay. Booyah. Booya for Booy. our blue collar of the night. And how about our love the play of the night presented by Arizona Lottery B21 and over play and gift today. Well, it was Jamari Buouay with a sideep layup. Suns get a steal. He finishes it again with a layup. Look, I know that this game sucked overall, but Jamari Buouay in his time with the Suns Gill has been honestly incredible offensively, defensively. He almost caught a body against Clint Capella today as well. We are clearly seeing an impactful NBA player just completely show up out of nowhere for this team. Yeah, the things you said just now, an impactful NBA player. It’s not a guy who doesn’t belong. And I think that we’re seeing in real time. I think in his mind, he knew he belonged, but didn’t get an opportunity. He’s bounced around a little bit to find the right spot. He’s found it here. They’ve believed in him. They’ve put him in situations where he could succeed and also excel at what he does best. We’ve seen it in high lever situations today. It wasn’t as much of that, but he made it look a little bit better at the end of the game, playing hard through the buzzer, and the game would have been a little bit of an ugly fin uglier final score if it wasn’t for him. So, I’m just excited to see him. It’s really fun to see stories like that. And, you know, again, he’s making them have a hard decision about converting that contract down the line, and I would be glad to see if it happens. He’s there’s a lot of hard decisions. What’s the rotation gonna look like when you get all these guards back? because inevitably somebody’s going to have to fall out of that rotation and whether it it’s him, Jordan Goodwin, Isaiah Liver, there’s somebody’s going to lose minutes and uh Booya is making that harder and harder and and I love that because that is exactly what you want to see from a guy like this getting the ability uh to to compete for a job. It’s like I just want to take this moment while buy is the spotlight because for the top end talent pieces that the Suns have, we might not ever get this chance to speak on him without including others. Just think about how hard it is to have come into a brand new team, not really know if you’re going to be on the GLeague level or on the actual big league club. If you’re on a big league club, you look at the roster like, “Okay, I don’t know if I’m getting minutes here because they got Gillespie, he’s going crazy.” Devin Booker is one of the best guards in the league. Jaylen Green’s probably going to be back sometime soon. Grayson Allen’s been one of the best shooters and twos in the league, especially in the role player realm. Like, where are my minutes going to come from? So, you come in and you’re looking at these things and you’re just like, “Okay, I’m just going to continue to stay ready.” That’s not easy when you don’t necessarily see the light at the end of the tunnel, which in this situation is minutes. And then he gets a couple of minutes and he literally takes off and runs away with those to the point where we got people that are die hard Suns fans are like, “Who is this dude?” And he’s gladly letting them know over the last week and a half of games where whenever he’s gotten minutes, whether it’s garbage time or the rash of injuries upticked and now he’s playing meaningful minutes early in fourth quarters or to close halves and they’re not losing a step with him on the floor. Look at that Lakers game. He’s out there and because of the way that they’re defending, he’s guarding LeBron James off of switches at times, Luca Donic at times, Austin Reeves at times. Not saying he’s a locked down defender, but he’s not giving them something that is becoming a liability. And if you’re talking about somebody that’s your 16th player you’ve added to your main roster this season and he’s coming in and he’s not giving you any regression steps from the game process while also adding on top of that knocking down threes. The deflections and the kind of you know the spark plug plays that he’s provided that speaks to a team that understands what it is they’re looking for. I know we talked about a little bit of luck being involved with going about your process at times. The Suns have done something with a player that they really didn’t expect to get that much from. And getting that return on investment, this immediately says a lot. He’s a guy that believes in himself. He’s a guy that has no fear. And that’s kind of the mentality that they want. I mean, hell, we saw him try to, you know, dunk on Clint Capella there at the end. He kind of did it put all fear to the side there. that that’s what you want from a guy that comes in in that situation is, okay, I’m gonna do anything you ask me and I’m gonna do it as as hard as I possibly can. And he’s done that. He’s converted on on his shots and that’s huge. Let’s address the elephant in the room. Yeah. Should he have played more minutes? Only 18 minutes tonight. In that third quarter, I don’t know if we saw him in that third quarter. There was a point in that third quarter where I was like, where is Bouet? Which is kind of interesting. That kind of speaks to the night that they’ve had, but also speaks to how well he’s playing that we’re asking maybe he can inject some some life into this team. So again, yeah, I mean maybe 21 22 minutes, but at the same time, maybe they’re trying to get some guys out of a funk because at one point we were talking about, hey, like this is also important to get out of this funk because there’s another big game looming on Monday. So, yeah, hindsight, maybe 2020, maybe he could have played over 20 minutes in this game, but like you said, he’s making the most of of all the minutes he’s getting, made the most of the 18 minutes he he he had. And one thing I was going to point out about him, it’s his fourth year as a pro. He went undrafted in 2022. This is his sixth franchise he’s been a part of. And it’s just crazy. He’s playing with a sense of desperation because he understands what it like, you know, like how serious this is and how much it is. Like a lot of plenty of times he’s planned like for his livelihood and now here he is. He’s finally found the right situation. That’s good to see. And if I could add to that real quick, if you don’t really know his story, G-League, undrafted first, start there. G-League, summer league, G-League, opportunity with a team a little bit, back to the G- League, back to the summer league circuit. This is just, again, I always talk about the competitive side in a complimentary way, being stubborn. Yeah. Everything is not given to everybody. a lot of people have to get their in proverbally out of the mud and he’s done that and he’s made goal with some of these opportunities that he’s been presented even last year with the Milwaukee Bucks. Look, I’ve really enjoyed his play. It’s also a testament we graded the Suns start to the season earlier this week to the front office for identifying guys who’ve done that. Look, Colin Gillespie, this is his first year on a full standard contract. I know that we’ve kind of lost a little bit of Isaiah Livers considering that he’s been out with a hip injury, which is really unfortunate. He missed another game tonight, but he’s been an impactful rotation player on a two-way contract. They go and they find Jamari Buouay after waving CJ Huntley from his two-way and then retaining him in the G-League. Being able to identify the guys that are clearly good enough to be NBA players is really hard because there are a lot of guys that play well in the G-League and they just can’t translate up to the NBA. So, the Suns being able to find him and I think it creates an interesting conversation of what do you do with him going forward once you’re fully healthy because this team fully healthy again has a lot of guard depth. Any other thoughts on on Buay before we talk about some of the other guys on the court tonight? Yeah, I I don’t think the minutes mattered all that much. You know, five more Jamari Buouay minutes wasn’t going to change this game. So, I to your point, Gil, trying to get guys like Grayson and others out of their shooting funk by letting them shoot through it is is kind of what I think you were hoping to do there. I think they saw the writing on the wall and just thought, okay, if we can get them some of these shots and get some of these bad shots out of the system, maybe they’ll be better. So, yeah, my my answer to your question about what do they do when they get back healthy? I think he ends up going back like I mentioned when they signed him to that position where he’s expediting the growth of Kaman Malawatch, Rashir Fleming, Kobe Brea, Isaiah Livers or Isaiah Livers, CJ Huntley, excuse me. Those guys need someone that’s able to do the things that he can do on the offensive end to put them in their more natural positions for what they can replicate to ultimately do on the big league level. Not having that guy on the G- League level has kind of hurt some of their growth a little bit at times with some of the matchups they’ve had. Bouet being in that position and kind of providing that is going to help them a ton. All right. Well, look, we uh talked the good. Was there any other good or did everybody else play bad? We’ll talk about Dylan Brooks and a couple of other players for the Suns. Plus, we will take a look at the numbers and everything else on the other side of our second break. It’s holiday season. you’re trying to find gifts for everybody and I’d highly recommend Aura Frames because no more gift cards for the holidays. Can we all just agree here? No more gift cards. Okay, Aura Frames is a gift for everybody in your life because it’s personalized, but you don’t really have to personalize it. Yes, you can upload photos before you even give them. 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I love that I can go to Rally House and I can get great sports gear for all the fans in my life. You know, whether you like ASU, U of A. Yeah, I have both in my life. Stephen, both of those uh Suns, Cardinals, uh whoever it is, whoever you like, Diamondbacks, even some Coyotes gear they have. Whoever you like, they’ve got it covered for you at Rally House. And the best part is they’re located around the valley, Tempe, Mesa, Far East Valley, where I’m at. Uh, and Glendale, they have the best selection of Arizona sports gear that you’re going to find. Drink wear, signage, cooler, socks, even sunscreen. I don’t know why you need sports related sunscreen, but they got it. So, you can get it there. Whatever you need this holiday season, they have it. So, every time you visit a Rally House, you’re guaranteed to find something new, unique, and that matches your game day vibe. So, find your local Rally House location and shop their entire product assortment at rallyhouse.com today. I know why you need sports related sunscreen because the sun’s got burned tonight by the Houston Rockets. 117 298. But thank you all for spending your Friday night with us. Hit that like button, hit that subscribe button, become a member today. Like bees, like Kev, like Kaye, like so many of you in the chat who have a green name and get access to exclusive emojis, plus exclusive member only content. Not only additional film breakdowns from Stephen, but we did a mailbag episode yesterday and you got an extra 15 minutes of mailbag content if you are a member. So just $5 a month plus for every month that you are a member. You get a prepaid super chat. So it basically pays for itself. Let’s talk about Dylan Brooks a little bit because Dylan Brooks started the game off hot. ends the game 31 minutes, has 23 points, 10 of 14 from the field, 04 from deep, four rebounds and four assists, which I believe is a season high in rebounds and assists combined for him. Three turnovers, but a minus 24 on the night. Espo, how do you break down Dylan Brook’s game against his former team? Well, on a night like tonight, being a minus anything isn’t a surprise. Like, that’s just the way it goes. Uh, I think at times Dylan tried to do too much, but I understand they were looking for anybody that could put on a cape tonight. And it’s tough. Like I said earlier in the show, you ha expecting him to be your best defensive player out there and giving him the toughest assignment. then having him have to be the best offensive player and take take that on as well is extremely difficult to do all those things and expect it to be at a high level. So he I mean he went out there and wasn’t hitting his threes, but he found other ways in terms of the rebounds and assists. This wasn’t enough. and he’s I think he’s the guy that’s going to suffer the most by not having Devin Booker out there because defenses can put their best defender on him, slow him down because now, let’s be honest, he is the focal point of the offense with no Jaylen Green and no Devin Booker. Uh, and that just changes the equation completely. Yeah. I mean, you’re asking a lot of him. Like you said, you outlined all the different things that he’s been asked to do at a high level. And and I mean, let’s be real. Like, I know we talk about his personality. He seems like he’s unfaced, but I it had to be a lot emotionally for him to come back to a place where he spent the last two seasons of his career after kind of getting pushed out of a place where he made a name for himself. So I would imagine that that also takes a toll and we kind of saw it like we saw the steam kind of run out. I think he made his first five buckets. So if you take it that out, he was five of 19 after starting five to five. Um so I think that’s just a matter of you know things wearing down a little bit and everything he’s being asked to do on both ends of the floor. Um, and the other guys couldn’t get back soon enough for Dylan Brooks because I think we’ll get back to seeing them play with the efficiency that we saw him play with earlier. Yeah, it was a little tough going for him over the course of the game and I think we spoke to it a little bit in pregame. Just the fact that if you don’t have somebody that’s creating for him to then attack against the tilted defense in some capacity, he can make tough shots. Of course, we’ve seen that plenty this season to the surprise of everybody. Um, but what does it look like when it’s not coming as something that’s at the end of the clock or something after an advantage has been created? What if he’s having to go against the grain to get those looks? And I think we saw some of the impact of that in his ter in terms of his rhythm over the course of the game. It felt like it was heavy in terms of him having to do something rather than it being an added bonus or something on the margins, if you will. I mean, he still continued to hit really difficult shots tonight. I mean, post fadeaways over again 7 foot tall defenders, riproughs, no threes obviously tonight, but people are talking about regression of the mean to Dylan Brooks. And I get it. I mean, 10 and 24 from the field is not a terrible night, especially against this Rockets defense. When you look at what everybody else shot from the field as well, he still scored 23 points. That’s a low bar looking at everybody tonight. No, but the group that was shooting, but I think you kind of got to judge it on that bar because we mentioned, okay, yeah, Devin Booker comes back, Jaylen Green being back, Dylan Brooks being your third offensive option, well, that means a lot to him. Well, if Grayson Allen and Colin Gillespie and Royce O’Neal all can’t hit threes tonight, well, then there’s no spacing around Dylan either. And so, the fact that he’s still able to get 23 points, I do think is a testament to just how well he’s been playing in the difficult shot making. But if Dylan Brooks is your best offensive option, your team does have a ceiling. And that’s why this team wasn’t built around that. If anything, his offensive output has been like an extra a bonus so far for this season. I don’t even think the Suns expected him to be doing what he’s doing on offense. I think this was still overall a good performance from Brooks. But yeah, he was forcing it. I think because he felt like he needed to. Well, yeah. No, I I definitely agree. I think he felt the pressure of I have to be that guy because we don’t have that guy, especially when everybody else starts missing like they were. But I I had a question uh for you guys. Was the lack of movement tonight and ball movement a product of Houston’s defense or the Suns not playing their brand of ball because of the guys that they were missing? Well, the cowboy answer is both, but I’ll explain the context of why I’m saying that. So, look at their last game, 11 assists. Um they had score they didn’t get to 100 points in that game like Gil mentioned as well. So it’s carbon copy and paste but the context is a little different without Deon Booker involved in it. You have your best creator just not being around. That’s a lot more one-on-one play. But now imagine that one-on-one play being leaned into even more because you need Dylan Brooks to score because no one else is putting the ball in the basket. Offense is slowing down. Like I said in pregame it’s becoming a lot more predictable. Uh, one of the plays I like first half Grayson Allen gets into a pick and roll on one side, ends up skipping it to uh Dylan Brooks on the opposite wing. Now he’s attacking a closeout. How many close outs was he able to attack tonight? Which I kind of get back to my original point of having a tilted defense. Those opportunities were few and far between. He had to go against the grain and when you have to go against the grain, that’s how you get a game where you score significantly more points in one-on-one than you do via your ball movement, which is your hallmark when you’re at your best. Yeah, it’s a big chicken or the egg thing because I think the answer is both. But I think you think about like they come out and they really couldn’t shoot from the onset of the game. So Houston could just kind of sit back and say, “All right, well, we’re living with that until you make us do otherwise.” And the fact that they were conceding those three-point looks allowed them to basically make everything else difficult. And a lot of the things that Phoenix wanted to do as far as getting to the teeth of defense to set up other people they couldn’t do because Houston was able to play a certain style of basketball or brand of defense so to speak. So, you know, who knows if it looks a little bit differently if they start making some shots. Maybe they adjust a little bit. But I think what we’re learning in real time and it’s not really a surprise. We’re not really learning it. What we’re being reminded of is how important that keeping the floor space and knocking down shots is for this team, especially when they don’t have their offensive engines. Well, I mean, you didn’t really see Houston have to make any drastic changes. The Suns never dictated this game even when they were up. So, Houston was just able to play their game and it ended up being better. I think it’s a perfect transition to buy the numbers presented by Desert Financial Credit Union, Arizona’s number one credit union, named by Forbes. Of course, the only number that matters, 117 to 98. But Stephen, yikes on the rest of those numbers. Yeah, yikes indeed. Um, I think the first one that people’s eyes will gravitate to naturally is the three-point percentage. 13.9% on 36 attempts. So, kind of let that settle in on your mind. The positive side, you doubled up your opponent in three-point attempts. The negative side, they doubled you up in makes. So that’s just the tough part of when you’re trying to navigate and you don’t have your rhythm in terms of you’re getting the quality of shots you want to create in the spots that you want to from deep, but the rhythm is just not the same and the the results are very very inconsistent. Uh contrary to your typical and then the other side for me, you see the other numbers for me, I harp on the defensive field goal percentage for the Suns when they’re at their best. That number gets closer to the mid4s if not low 40s for their opponents. Almost 60% for Houston in totality this game. And I believe they were add 60% before garbage time hit. If their defense isn’t having that impact, that means they’re playing less in transition. Less in transition without your top two scores means you’re going against a set defense. Hard to create things. You kind of see the limbo that they were in tonight or the resistance they were up against tonight. One I was going to point out, it’s crazy to see that the Rockets committed 10 more turnovers than the Suns 23 to 13. But looking at points converted off of them kind of shows the type of turnovers that it was. So the Suns had 27 points off the Rockets 23 turnovers. Fine. Good. The Rockets had 21 points off of the Suns 13 turnovers. So it was pretty close considering the fact that it was 10 fewer. So I think that’s really interesting to speak to the type of turnovers that the Suns had. Live ball turnovers that led to open floor looks and fast break points for the Rockets. Yeah, I mean, look, this was an extremely efficient game from the Rockets, and that’s just kind of what they’ve done offensively, especially from deep. You haven’t seen them take a ton of threes, but they do hit a lot of them. We look at the rebounding margin. Guess who won the offensive rebounding margin by over double tonight? The Suns. The Phoenix Suns 15-6 because Houston wasn’t missing shots. The Suns were missing everything. And the Suns were missing everything. When you when you shoot a 100 times and you only hit 30 39 of them, Yeah. there’s a lot of opportunity there. There’s there’s a lot of opportunity. 40 rebounds for the Rockets to 34 for the Suns. 14 assists to their 25. And look at the end of the day, they shot 24 more times than the Houston Rockets. And they made six less shots. 39 of 100 to 45 of 76. Look, it was a thorough asskicking. And the only reason why you were even up in that first quarter was because of the turnover margin. Houston had a pretty sloppy start to the game was throwing the ball out of bounds. They had a lot of turnovers there and the Suns didn’t. So when that kind of started to swing a little bit and Houston started to score off of it, the Suns got squeezed and that was really the whole story. I mean, this again, this has proved to me that they need to trade for for somebody with more size. I I love everything that they’ve been doing, but if if you want to seriously stay in in the race for a playoff spot and not be in the playin, you’re going to need more size because there are multiple teams that can uh can combat your lack of size and and dictate a game like this. And that’s that’s the difficulty because if the Suns can’t almost play perfect, hitting those threes, uh, causing those turnovers and converting a lot of points off of it, they can get pushed around really easily. Well, and this I want people to I want to challenge people in how they’re thinking because if you think big, people usually just automatically assume center center. It’s like that could be part of it, but how many more centers do you want to add to a team that already has this many? And to that point, that’s why I’m saying having a four, five tweener, somebody that can play a a small ball five for you adds to the versatility of lineups you already have, but it also gives you someone that can just play with the wings you already have too with the traditional center on the floor, but give you that much more size to go up against a team like Houston because they’re not going to be playing double bigs this season. I think that that’s not in the the Sun’s cars as they’re presently constructed. Yeah. But like and size doesn’t mean height either. Bigger body, you know, as well because even even the guys that have more height on this team aren’t bulkier guys. Well, and look, I think that’s what you see in Rasheed Fleming for the long-term future. It’s what you see in Kaman Malawatch hopefully for the long-term future to be able to spread the floor out and be a five. Obviously, those guys aren’t ready. I think there does need to be a conversation about Royce O’Neal, Oso Gdaro, and Nick Richards who only got eight minutes tonight. So, we’ll touch on those three and then anything else we want to get into for a Houston Rockets Phoenix Suns postgame show. The Suns dropped to 0 and2 against Houston on this season, 117 to 98. Thank you all for tuning in on a Friday. Hit the like button, hit that subscribe button. We’ll keep things rolling on the other side of our final break. Look, I always love telling you about the husband and wife law team because I want you to be prepared in case something bad happens. Look, you need to do your research after an accident or a serious injury, and the lawyer you hire does matter. But why not do that research beforehand? And why not have us do that research for you? Or all the amazing, fantastic, satisfied clients of the husband and wife law team with Mark and Alexis Brier leading the way for their hundreds of years of combined trial experience and multiple certified specialists in personal injury and wrongful death. Not only is the practice 100% dedicated to injury and wrongful death, but the lawyers that you talk to actually go to trial. Plus, nobody can guarantee the outcome of a legal case, but they can make uh guarantees to you that you can cancel your fee agreement at any time. You receive at least as much in your pocket as they receive for their fee. And you may speak to any of their lawyers as often as you choose about anything you would like to discuss. Plus, they’ll always be upfront and honest about the strengths and weaknesses of your case so you can make the best decision and always be prepared. So, right now, if you’ve had a serious injury or you want to be prepared, call the husband and wife law team first at 6027838841. That’s 6027838841 or visit their website at the link in our show notes and tell them PH and X sent you. You can’t guarantee what’s going to happen in a legal case, but I can guarantee you that there’ll be brighter days for the Suns and you’re going to want to show your son’s pride. And the way you can do that is with our friends at Mountain America Credit Union. You can get that son’s debit or credit card today through them. And you can also wind up getting the my lifestyle checking account or my style checking account and make it your lifestyle because it’s not just about putting your money there and being able to access it easily. You’re also going to get uh great deals on loan rate discounts. I mean, Stephen, you might need a car at some point. Actually, Gil’s the one that’s going to need a car here. So, we can get a loan rate discount for him on that. Maybe a home out here at some point. You can also get teleaalth access. uh great restaurant deals and so much more. You’re going to want to get the my style checking account today with that Suns card. Apply at any Arizona branch. Visit macu.com/sons to learn more. Insured by NCUA terms and conditions and exclusions apply loans on approved credit. I have good news for everybody. Do we? Yeah, I got good I I mean this is maybe the best news. Okay. Yes, the Suns lost to the Rockets 117 to 98. But do you want to know what? We have two days off. Well, yes, we do have the weekend. Okay. We’re not the Clippers. Come on. Let’s wrap it up to that. Come on. We’re not the Los Angeles Clippers, folks. You know what? I don’t want to I mean, what’s better than that? I don’t want to take that victory lap because we’ve been the Clippers at different times. No. Do you not remember that decade that we won? Well, but the Clipp the Clippers The Clippers are Never mind. We need to get into this. The Clippers are the epitome of losers. The Suns generationally are a winning franchise. We had a bad decade. Other than that generation, other than that, top five winning percentage in the entire history of this franchise being around our franchise legends actually like us. Look, they Okay, they didn’t. They didn’t like the other guy. They didn’t like the other guy, but they’re back. They’re back. I’m just saying I’m not taking any victory last. We’re not the Clippers, and I’m happy about it. Uh, but look, I’m not happy about some of the performances we saw tonight. Royce O’Neal, zero points in 19 minutes, 04 from the field. All of those from deep. Also only grabbed two rebounds tonight as your starting power forward. Mark Williams just played 17 minutes tonight. Now part of that you might have been saving him once you were down but recorded 10 points again. Only grabbed three rebounds tonight. Oso Igdaro looked lost on defense in his 23 minutes. I believe even Dylan Brooks was hey like hey man you got to be there not there. He was getting blown by. And look you didn’t get great minutes from Nigel Hayes Davis in his 15 that he was on the court. And Nick Richards only played eight minutes tonight. And guess what? He grabbed zero rebounds. The front court and especially that four and that five position for the Suns clearly is their weakness this season. And we’ve seen some high moments from guys like Royce, but tonight felt like one of the lowest. I mean, you’re not wrong, so I don’t want to make it seem like that I’m challenging you with it, but all of those guys benefit from their guard play. Sure. And this was probably the Sun’s worst guard play game comprehensively of the season. Now you talk about the context, Mr. Context here, speaking on it again, 55 points, but also maybe 15 to 18 assists between Jaylen Green and Deon Booker on any given night. You’re just without that. So again, who else is able to make a defense blink? If they can just stay comfortably in their shell because of their individual defenders, but also because you don’t really have anybody that’s forcing them to step outside of that, that gets hard. The one outlet I felt like was going to be Kylin Gillespie knocking down those pull-up threes with the frequency we’ve seen him do over the last two weeks and find ways to get paint touches after forcing them to step up. You asked about drop coverage in pregame. I didn’t think they would press the button until he knocked a few down. He didn’t knock really any of those down today, so it didn’t warrant them stepping up closer to the level. If you don’t pull them out of there to make them blink, they’re just in their shell and they’re chilling for the most part and they’re very active in their shells. So, you feel the weight of that with all of those guys you just mentioned, not just offensively, but on the defensive end. Talk about the plays where OSO is getting blown by. Where’s a guy that’s at least steering the wheel of the defensive possession cuz he’s not guarding guards outright to start a possession? saw Royce O’Neal get blown by a handful of times, but not defending the scheme more than anything I feel like is what stood out most to me. But I mean, and that’s not that’s not at a character for Royce. I mean, let’s be honest with that. And and neither is him having a cold streak. You know, that’s that’s kind of been who Royce O’Neal has always been. So, that doesn’t surprise me. What’s I do think that this is not a matchup that Oso should be playing significant minutes. And I think that’s one thing that Jordan A maybe has done a little too much is believe in a guy like that and a matchup that may not be best for him. And I’m all for trying to show confidence in a guy, but understanding that the matchup might not work for a guy is also acceptable because that is also saying, “I understand your strengths. I also understand sometimes your weaknesses and I want to put you and the team in the best situation. I feel like relying on OSO tonight probably was the wrong move. So I do I feel like not to cut you off I feel like with Oso if he’s going to be playing the five against a team like Houston and you have to solve that bigger wing dynamic that we continue to speak to. They have guys that are not small, especially compared to last season. But if you have somebody that’s a little bit closer than Mark Williams size that’s not Mark Williams himself, like that helps Oso a lot because OSO is one of the highest switch rate bigs in the league for a reason. That’s what he’s good at. If he’s on the perimeter and there’s no one behind him to protect him, that’s where you see some of these kind of weaknesses fall through. Yeah, I was going to say match up dependent and the Suns were pretty fortunate in that Alfred Shenon wasn’t available tonight. So, they were down one of their bigs. But this physical brand of basketball that Houston plays with their front court takes a toll on your bigs. And I think that when you don’t have guys creating for you, the onus is on them way more. We saw Mark get a couple of post ups early in the game. But something we saw, I think it was in the second half actually, he ran the floor and got the ball and drew a foul, but typically we would see Mark run faster and it’d be a dunk. And I could tell, and I said this during the watch along, it seems like banging with Stephen Adams on the block took a toll faster than it would with any other anybody else. And if you’ve seen Stephen Adams, you know that makes sense, right? Like that’s one of the strongest guys in the league that we’ve ever seen in the league. Um, so the fact that that really took its toll on Mark, he did look like he tired quicker than he normally would, which probably has a hand in him not playing as much as we normally see him play. I mean, we in the center situation is not something we haven’t talked about. We think clearly if the Suns want to establish themselves as I’m not going to say contenders in the West, but like you know that playoff high play and range and be solid, there are problems they have to solve. And one of those is what are you going to do when you need somebody who’s big off the bench? Because clearly Jordan has lost a little bit of faith in Nick Richards as of late. Really wasn’t playing until the game was already over. Only eight minutes tonight, but that’s the same eight minutes that Rasheir Fleming got. So it was the okay, this is over. go out there and play type of minutes. Oso Agoddaro is a guy that can thrive against certain matchups and can’t against others. So what’s the solution? Obviously you look at a trade or obviously you look at Kaman Malawatch. I think clearly the first option is the one that seems like the Suns should be pursuing if they do try to be buyers at the deadline. Other than that though, I don’t see a lot of glaring weaknesses for this team besides that big forward spot. And if Royce is hitting threes, it’s a lot different. Plus, Royce isn’t in the starting lineup when this team is fully healthy either. What we saw against the Clippers, again, only for seven minutes, but the starting lineup was Devin Booker, Jaylen Green, Grayson Allen, Dylan Brooks. And Dylan Brooks in that fourth spot to me makes a little bit more sense than Royce, who was also running pick and rolls tonight, handling the ball, trying to facilitate clearly a fish out of water in the position that he was in. Yep. For sure. That’s what it’s a little bit of the domino effect when I keep coming back to it. you’re missing 55 points and 15 plus assist. I I hate to sound like a broken record, but this is kind of the wear down effect that comes with when you’re operating without those guys that your offense is predicated upon, heavily relying upon. Um, and naturally that plays into your defense. You’re missing a lot of shots, you’re playing back in transition, matchups, not set, compounding over time. That gets tough to navigate. But I think the other part for me and I didn’t want to speak on it when they’re obviously knocking down especially the catch and shoots that amongst three to four guys of the rotation that historic great it would be an opportune to speak to at that time but I feel like because like the race part the defense is the defense. He has been knocking down shots. If you can find a bigger wing, but also maybe independent of that guy, someone else that can knock down shots, but be more viable for your defense, whether that is a bigger guard or a true wing like Royce is, I think that helps you to start creating just a little bit more roster balance to where you don’t lose your identity, but you kind of impact your margins a little bit. Yeah. I mean, we talk about when a guy’s injured, if he rushes back, it can affect every other part of his body, right? That’s what’s going on with the Suns right now. they have guys that are injured and it starts to affect each guy that goes out starts to affect every part of of their team because guys have to move up things don’t work right now I will say I do think that there are a couple weaknesses to your point what you talked about but obviously health has proven to be a weakness and that’s been the biggest glaring one yeah I also think that they have some half court offense issues that they have to try to figure out and some of that changes with Jaylen when he gets back driving the hoop all those things. But I think that’s something that they’re going to have to figure out too because if you are lucky enough to get in that play or playoff, we all know that that’s where the game goes. Everything slows down and it turns into more of a half court uh you know offense and how do you actually operate in that and find success and you’ve got to do it now because you’re not magically going to find it if you make it then. And I think that is probably for me the the um the crown jewel thing that they need to figure out without Devin and without Jaylen because I feel like if you look at it from a bird’s eye view, look at their roster. You think about, okay, Mark Williams is not a self-creator. He’s not a post technician. He needs someone to be able to feed him the basketball who gets the most attention from a defense. Devin Booker, Jaylen Green, those two guys can figure out how to give him the ball in this time where they’re not on the court or in the rotation at all. If you can find from other guys ways to find ways to get him the ball, he’s only going to be scoring from the free throw line in and more of that is going to come at the rim. At the rim is where you need it most. Not always having to depend on guards to get to the rim, but being able to hit him on the roll or even for the alley oops very important. I feel like that’s part of the puzzle for them to the downhill part and getting shots up on goal at the rim in particular. Yeah. Yeah. I was saying think about postseason or high leverage games even down the stretch of the season. Everybody’s seen everybody play multiple times. we’re shutting down the first, second, third thing that you were trying to get to. Now, what are you going to do? And obviously, when you have your full complement of players, you have more flexibility in getting to that or making something happen. But, I mean, you have to ask the question, and it’s a conversation that we’ll have when we get closer to getting those guys back on the floor, but how long is it going to take them to get back and everybody else playing off of them well and getting the timing right and things like that? So, it’s not just like press the magic button, team’s healthy now. It’s all going to work. It’s definitely going to be a process and obviously it’s going to look better when they all get it together, but the longer it takes, the shorter the learning curve is for that. And you have to get it together quickly. I do think what helps with that is that you did have the entire off season of planning around this specific group of guys. And going into training camp, you didn’t lose Jaylen Green until right around the time that you went to China in early October. And we heard from the Suns at media day and beyond that, hey, you know, we’ve spent a lot of the time in the gym. Even when the Suns beat the Lakers in preseason, JJ Reic was like, “That’s a group of guys that have been working together for a really long time.” So, I do think some of the issues in the half court do get solved when you put your two best half court offensive players back on the court, obviously missing Deon Booker and Jaylen Green tonight, but also just in general adding Jaylen Green to that kind of goes back to a point I made like 45 minutes ago. How many times are you saying, “Man, you just need a bucket.” As much as you could say you need to scheme up things better, get guys more free, sometimes you just need a bucket. And I get that Rockets fans might be like, “Oh, Jaylen Green, they think he’s the savior.” I don’t think Jaylen Green is the savior. I think Jaylen Green is who he is, but I think he can thrive in what we need him to do. The team needs a bucket getter alongside Devin Booker. Jaylen Green can go and do that. Yeah, he’s also somebody again, if it’s not getting a direct bucket, but just putting points on the board can get to the free throw line. If you can’t score, sometimes just breaking that ice and putting points on the board while also keeping your defense set because you’re scoring, that helps to break up a game’s rhythm, especially when you’re up against a run and you’re trying to meet it with some resistance. Oh, and I think he’s the guy that can unlock Mark, too, because he’s the guy most suited for pulling the defense in when he goes towards the hoop. And what does that do? That’s going to give Mark down there. And if he can find him, that’s, you know, that’s going to be a huge part of it as well. But again, need to see it. I’ve seen one game of Jaylen Green out there. I I need to see it and I need to understand how it’s going to work and then I’ll feel a little bit better. Yeah, Eric, remember we had a long discussion about that before Jaylen made his debut. We were talking about which one of the Suns guards would mesh best with Mark Williams. Obviously Devin, um, Jaylen, and Colin, a little bit of Grayson mixed in there, but usually that top three, I think I I was on the side of Jaylen because of his ability to put pressure on the rim that engages an opposing big, if he steps over and now there, even if there is a help, the helper, Mark Williams is 7-1 with a 76 something some standing reach and a vert that can get to the top of the box on the backboard, that’s a lot to deal with, especially if you got Jaylen again just putting that pressure on the rim and making people react. I say we put a pin in this conversation because I do think that’s something that we need to dive in through this entire month. Uh any final thoughts on the game tonight? Scrap it. Monday is going to be another battle. Different test, similar battle. Yeah. Uh just like me, go to the chiropractor, get aligned, and get ready for Monday. I said the same thing Saturday. Do not let this game impact how you come out of the gates Monday night in Minneapolis. And we saw them respond on Monday against the Lakers last. A good team. They’ve already beaten the Timberwolves, but of course, Deon Booker was there, but didn’t have a great night. Found out of that game. Colin Gillespie found a way to win it. Can that happen again? We’ll be doing a live watch party at Hila River Resorts and Casino. So, we’ll make sure to see you out there on Monday. Some super chats to round things up here. We’ll start with Perkins. Justin Perkins 3186 with a $10 super chat says, “We had Oso Hayes and Dunn together at one point. I like Dunn and think he can grow to be better, especially being a cutter for Colin, but as of right now, that’s three players that generate little offense. It’s fair. I mean, that that’s fair, but that’s again a byproduct of all these guys that you have out that that’s now a part of of your second unit that you’re running out there. And that’s that’s the way you find uh you know, you’re trying to find anything that can come of that second. Yeah, it looks much different if you have those three and either Book or Jaylen Green or both of them is out is out there with them. It’s way different, but we don’t even have that opportunity to even have that as the disposal right now. So, uh, we have a a little bit of a dilemma here. So, Freckle Bomba welldeserved day off. Uh, not behind the Mac. Damon doesn’t have a mic. Would you like me to read them? Is this the dilemma? Do we Yeah, I mean, I was going to say who which I I think it might be funny if Gil read it to be honest with you. Dude, do we want to make Do we want to make the new guy have to do it? Can we do like one in one? I mean, you take one takes off the Gil Gills. I’ll I’ll do one. All right, deepest deepest uh you know, reverb you can get. Which one am I reading? Do I go with the top? I think all right. Super chat from our guy or be comy clearly. This ain’t no cake and I need Booker to come by and shake it and little jiggle jiggle. I miss my snatch so much. Fire emoji. Snatch. Clap clap. Bounce back. Snatch. Fire emoji. Salute. I think B Comcc clearly probably exploded hearing you read that. Another $5 super chat from B Comsy Clearly. Oh my god. Just doing bad fans. Bad business. Mad fans. Aha. Glass egg. W. That’s basically how Book must feel with this his haters. Salute emoji can’t make everybody happy. Turkey emoji salute emoji. I think we might have an argument that Gil needs to read be calm. See clearly super chats going forward. [ __ ] You know it’s bad when when freaking the context over here is like just do nookie ml blown emoji. Oh my goodness. Oh my god. Yep. Yeah. You did it. Happy Friday people. Happy Friday. Oh, that one’s for you. Be calm. Let’s end this show with a smile. In the meantime, yes, no shows on the weekend, but any Suns news comes down. We’ll let you know exactly what’s going on at PHNX Suns on Twitter and on Instagram. A reminder, we’ll be out at Hila River Resorts, Casinos, Wild Horse Pass for a 5:30 tip off against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday. That means a 5:00 pregame show. So, we’ll even get there before that as well. And then you come hang out, watch the game with us, and we do a postgame show live from Wild Horse Pass as well. Espos buying drinks, including Stevens. GoPnX.com/events to RSVP for free for that one. Let’s uh thank the dog, Mr. Damon Dog behind the Mac, making all the happen. Uh we appreciate you. You can follow him at Damon Dog. That’s D A WG, not D O G. Come on. Damn dog, why are we firing everyone with freckles? Charles is beefing. Charles apparently not only hates me but also hates freckle mamba which is like how do you hate except for it is his fault that the Suns lost tonight. Missed two games this season. Houston bad loss. Bad loss. My offense splutters when he’s not here either. It’s all the freckled Mamba’s fault. Look, uh you can always give him a follow at freckled mamba. Of course you can follow Stephen at StevenPG3. That’s Steven with a PH at every practice, shootaround, and home game. He always brings you everything up to date with the team, plus fun stats, breakdowns on our YouTube channel and on his Twitter account. Make sure you give him a follow. You can find Espo on Southwest Bias every weekday morning. You can follow him at ESO. Of course, you can follow Gil at Gil McGregor_. You hear that? Becom clearly at Gil McGregor_. And you can follow me at E K R U B Y. And to Juan in the chat, I just want to say I really appreciate you spending your entire Friday night with us. You are one in a million. All right. One of a kind. Bye bye. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

The Phoenix Suns’ paltry 13.9% 3-point shooting was too much to overcome in an ugly 117-98 loss to the Rockets Friday. Phoenix’s offense was held under 100 points for the second time this season, and it was Dillon Brooks who led the way with 23 points while Jamaree Bouyea finished with 18 points off the bench. Houston’s Amen Thompson led all scorers with 31 points while Kevin Durant scored 28 points in his first game against the Suns since the offseason deal that sent him to Houston.
The crew discusses what went wrong as the Suns look to regroup before a showdown in Minnesota Monday. Follow the show @PHNX_Suns, @ErikRuby, @StephenPG3, @GilMcGregor_, @Espo & @FreckledMamba.

0:00 Suns lose KD revenge game
8:30 Rockets = nightmare matchup
22:00 Jamaree Bouyea carrying this team
33:30 Dillon Brooks tonight
40:00 Horrific shooting performance
47:30 At least we’re not the Clippers
48:30 Bad frontcourt performances
52:20 Navigating the center rotation

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