Suns @ Pacers Friday game thread 1-26-2024

[Hoop Head]

Didn’t choke they got hacked with zero foul calls for a whole quarter what a trucking joke! And Book clearly fouled in last shot but of course the refs not gonna. All that they didn’t call anything the whole qtr which allowed Pacers to steal the game!

Losing a 9 point lead is not unusual for this team in the 4th quarter. Blame the refs and disagree all you want but we've seen this happen over and over all season. No amount of shifting the blame gives this team a win.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

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This is something that can't happen. He didn't even pretend to want to shoot... at least fake it and force the close out so someone else gets open. Maybe Gordon's wrist started bugging him again, if that's the case then he shouldn't be on the floor.

Yup. That was basketball malpractice imo.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The Suns need depth at forward/center. The Pacers crashed the boards and drove the ball to the basket.

Nesmith, Siakam, Toppin and Smith were too much at forward.

Nurk is a terrific position rebounder, but we have exactly zero athletic rebounders. When we play long athletic teams it nips us in the bud. That said, with Nurk we may have pulled it out tonight. Can’t overcome beal and Gordon combining to go 0-8 in the fourth when we don’t stop them, turn the ball over and give myriad numbers of double and triple chances . . . at the rim.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Ignore the fact our leading rebounder Nurk was out though yeah??

No, that definitely played a role, but he was struggling against the length and athleticism on the boards when he was in. I think we mainly missed him as the glue guy in the fourth when our offense unraveled.

 

[nashman]

Just a heartbreaking loss, but sometimes these can be good to refocus the team. Had some bad luck with Nurk and Beal injuries and some ridiculous officiating in the 4th! No team plays that physical and get no fouls at all called for an entire qtr that was a travesty! Hopefully the result will tighten up the sloppy turnovers and once again Gordon was just trash if they can package him with Little and bring in a 3 and D guy I’d be down at this point EG has just been a funk lately. Sucks to have such a good game from Book end up in a bs loss. And yes he was a 100% fouled in the last shot!

 

[JosiahLee]

Good thing playoffs don’t start tomorrow. We don’t know what this squad is fully capable of yet.

I think your bias is showing just a tad when you list Dallas, a team with a worse record than us whom we literally just walloped on their home floor.

Just too early for eulogies.

Perhaps it’s not fair to write off their championship hopes. It also feels misguided and flat out wrong to say they are a contender.

 

[JosiahLee]

Why does recent history say that game was an anomaly? We've been playing very well recently. I recognize they didn't have Kyrie, but I honestly don't think he changes the outcome of that game. If we're reasoning in good faith, and that game is the most recent evidence, I don't see how it is a certainty that they beat us in a 7 game series.

Unfortunately we are choke artists in the playoffs until proven otherwise. I know we have a new team and new coach, but winning in the regular season means nothing come playoff time. Beating a team 4 times is hard! Playoff basketball is about adjustments and the ability to play defense.

I have not seen the defensive upgrade that Vogel was supposed to bring. And I don’t know that he’s excelled at making adjustments. Kidd has shown the ability to do this in the playoffs and the ability to do it against us.

I’d love to believe we would demolish Dallas but one regular season win doesn’t really prove that.

 

[Hoop Head]

Just a heartbreaking loss, but sometimes these can be good to refocus the team. Had some bad luck with Nurk and Beal injuries and some ridiculous officiating in the 4th! No team plays that physical and get no fouls at all called for an entire qtr that was a travesty! Hopefully the result will tighten up the sloppy turnovers and once again Gordon was just trash if they can package him with Little and bring in a 3 and D guy I’d be down at this point EG has just been a funk lately. Sucks to have such a good game from Book end up in a bs loss. And yes he was a 100% fouled in the last shot!

Trading Gordon would be really dumb. There goes any chance a buyout player or veteran takes a discount to come here again. Gordon had many options, some paying much more than we were able, and he chose to come here. For us to turn around and trade him would sour veterans on the Suns across the league. Why sign cheap to ring chase when the team will send you elsewhere? He's in a funk but this has to be one of the worst and most shortsighted "solutions" I've seen proposed.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Perhaps it’s not fair to write off their championship hopes. It also feels misguided and flat out wrong to say they are a contender.

I wouldn’t say they’re contender . . . yet. I think they’ve got the ingredients for it, and we’ve seen glimpses.

 

[Sparky16]

Yeah, that’s definitely part of it. Offensive rebounds, turnovers, extra shots, and a red carpet in the paint.

Vogels moronic use of Gordon instead of Eubanks is why they lost the 4th qtr. If interested Suns should trade Nurkic for Capela asap, but they are probably not interested

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

Vogels moronic use of Gordon instead of Eubanks is why they lost the 4th qtr. If interested Suns should trade Nurkic for Capela asap, but they are probably not interested

Nurkic is match-up dependent, but one of his better matchups is against the current defending champs. What we need is more big men options to throw out there when teams are relentlessly attacking the paint against us.

Certainly playing Eubanks more in the 4th quarter last night could have helped, but maybe there is someone they can target in a trade to give us another option.

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

I think the team simply got worn out trying to keep up with the Pacers. Not just their offense, but their constantly aggressive style of defense. They simply asked us to use a ton of energy and without a ton of reliable bench options we simply couldn't keep up in the energy department for 4 quarters.

 

[clyde2tw]

Pacers killed us with the strategy we killed them a couple of days ago. We exploited their weak defender Hield with our drives and they did it against Allen this time around. And they relied on 3pt shooting then but relentlessly attacked paint in this game. It's good experience for the team, though costly.

 

[wagon mound 464]

What still bothers me is how do they score 80 pts in the first half,,,,, and only 17 pts in the 4th Q ?

Disappointing...

 

[CardsSunsDbacks]

What still bothers me is how do they score 80 pts in the first half,,,,, and only 17 pts in the 4th Q ?

Disappointing...

Were running low on energy IMO. The Pacers wore them out and we will continue to struggle with this type of opponent until we have more reliable depth.

 

[Yuma]

Were running low on energy IMO. The Pacers wore them out and we will continue to struggle with this type of opponent until we have more reliable depth.

Our bench is really not helping. What's funny is earlier in the year, each guy on our bench has had signature moments/games for us. They have it in them. It's like they ALL went on a collective funk at the same time!