What happened to the Suns!?
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- čas přidán 9. 04. 2024
- Why have the Suns been eclipsed in the standings? And what on earth happened in their game against the Clippers before the 2024 NBA playoffs? This watch along reaction film breakdown details the Suns defensive issues, their offensive problems and how Los Angeles was able to keep them out of the paint behind Paul George and Russell Westbrook.
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Music by csus (instrumental)
#ThinkingBasketball - Sport
Trade Durant, Booker, Beal. Rebuild around Bol Bol.
❤ for bolbol
Wild!
Shaq? That you?
🤣🤣🤣💯😊
We found Shaq burner 😭😭
Oddly, the Official NBA CZcams page has not posted highlights of this game😂 even though its been over 12 hours
Just went up now
fuckin haters
The media hasn't said anything about LeFlop not getting ejected and suspended for elbowing dude in the head AND calling a ref a "fish bass ni88".
The media hasnt said anything bout how LeFlop called a ref a fish bass jigger... true story
Meanwhile the media hasnt said anything about LeFlop calling a ref a fish bass jigg with a ER at the end. True story.
Its so good to see Bol Bol still making rookie mistakes in year 5... And carelessly jogging back on defence and getting outrun by zubac, i can see why he got pulled so fast
I love how he was looking around for a Clipper to guard while Zubac was running two steps ahead of him, as if someone else was going to pick up Zubac lol
I think the suns' homecourt is kind of cursed. There are always some crazy huge meltdown for them in that court💀
I feel like it's been this way ever since they changed the name to footprint center in the middle of the nba finals 💀
What'd you expect from the court that put pickles on their nachos instead of jalapenos
This is the first thing that came into my mind.
The suns are just simply horrible in close matches and 4th quarters, there's a meltdown no matter where they are.
Putting pickles in nachos is reason enough for the Suns to receive all the punishment that they do...
Those are, at least, Eric Gordon shots..like, he will make those.............sometimes LOL
As a suns fan and a thinking basketball fan this is both painful and exciting to watch
Idk how you're a fan of both. Ben Taylor doesn't really hide his dislike of players who don't play in a maximally analytically sound way, and our franchise player for sure doesn't.
@@marcrego196I'm in the same boat as OP, and for me personally, while the Suns will always be my team - being a basketball fan/nerd always comes first
@@marcrego196 thats your mistake for assuming that beal or booker are this persons favorite player.
@@marcrego196
Many reasons to like either, and the person doesn’t have to only care about one side of analytics
@@Jonathan-A.C. You should see Awful Coaching's analysis
😂 love these watch alongs, I was shocked when I say that box score at the end of the 1st
Yeah, it's fun to see adjustments (or not), as well as some looks at players who play out of the spotlight; like Grayson and Mann.
This watch along format is brilliant
You should do more of these on CZcams. They're fun.
Speaking of suns, a black hole a billion times larger than our sun was discovered with over 140 trillion gallons of water swirling around it recently. The scale of that is insane
Holy crap
@@lukyluk_py the 140 trillion gallons number came from using all the water on earth and multiplying it by 140 trillion - just to get an estimate of how much water there is swirling 😶🌫️
140 trillion times the 350 quintillion gallons in the ocean, even more insane
@@Benjamin-ty5rl fucking hell lol. That’s terrifying
u got the numbers all wrong g, 140 trillion gallons is nothing on a cosmic scale... according "the times of india" the actual number is 140 trillion times the combined volume of all water on earth. a quick google search reveals that theres about 300 million trillion gallons of water on our planet. now imagine that 140 trillion times over. now thats SCALE brother.
also, to complete this erratum, the black hole isnt a billion times larger than our sun. what does larger even mean? are we talking mass? or radius? anyway "the times of india" puts it as "20 billion times more massive than our sun" which is mind boggling.
one last thing, i checked an article from NASA's jet propulsion lab and they say that its water VAPOR. idk what you meant by "swirling" but i imagined an accretion disc of ocean water which got me curious. glad i could debunk that for myself and whoever else may have silly ideas.
thanks for the fun fact, and lowkey thanks for getting it wrong. learned a lot 👍🏾
Damn, Clippers with and without Russ is night and day
He brings so much energy.
Yes, finally. Clippers were mediocre only 3point shooting team without Westbrook. No driving rebounding but isolation only it was boring to watch.
Dbook had PTSD from Westbrook last year
From what? Suns beat them. Never heard so much crazy talk from perpetual losers as Clippers fans.
Fr LOLOL
@@marcrego196 Oh wow, the Suns beat the Kawhi less (for most of the series), PG less Clippers lead by a 35 yo way past his prime Westbrook. Shocker.
@@pagman2356 Nah I'm talking about the playoffs in 2021 and 2023. Clippers haven't beaten the Suns except in the regular season
Loving the watch-alongs Ben, keep up the great work!!
The suns just aren’t a well constructed roster, you need complimentary pieces not three guys that all do the same thing at an elite level
That makes no sense. Too much talent is bad
I think it's HOW more than WHO.
Yes, obviously if you had better role players it works better -- Tatum, Brown and KP have all the same problems as KD, Booker and Beal -- but there are some things you can do to unstick ball stoppers. It's mainly about how they get into those isolation and PnR actions.
Phoenix needs to steal from GS, Sacramento, Miami and OKC.
Their offense is very perfunctory. They run stuff "through"'the bigs but it's in name only. They're very static.
Actually run the offense through Nurkic (like GS or Miami or Sac) and use a lot of movement for Beal. Get him moving off ball and make Beal your "primary" option the way Ray Allen was in Boston or how Miami uses Duncan Robinson. That's what he did when he was younger. He just ran floppy. Get him going downhill with guard to guard and toss actions.
Then make Booker the point guard. Pound it into his head that he is the point guard. He is really good at playing that way; getting shots within the flow while being a conductor. Better at that than doing a mediocre Luka Doncic impersonation.
Then KD is KD. Lots of high pick and pop with him as the screener but otherwise he plays off everyone else. Think how OKC uses Chet or Boston uses KP. Use KD's gravity to create gaps for everyone else then attack when he gets a mismatch (like KP)
Nurkic and especially Allen fill in the gaps just fine. So does Gordon. And Royce gives them seven legit guys.
The problem is when left to their own instincts, KD is a heavy iso guy who is content to try to beat teams with shot making and he rubs off on Booker and Beal. So your job as a coach is to prevent that. Vogel has kind of done the opposite. They play into their worst habits and exacerbate them.
@@michaelahurtsir, this is Wendy’s.
No jk jk this was great however the phoenix suns employ Frank Vogel.
@@McSnuff29 Yeah I wasn't a big fan of that hire. Especially with more creative offensive coaches like Ime, Nurse, Atkinson, Stotts and Jordi Fernandez available.
@@michaelahurt Ime coaching the rockets bc he was getting some young tail at the office is so crazy to me. He would’ve been perfect for Booker
1:08 Russell Westbrook is 35 years old and that shit looks just so damn easy for him
People love celebrating Russell's decline and enunciating his decline by linking it to his game being primarily reliant on his athleticism, which downplays his legacy by dumbing it down to "He was only good because he was athletic when he was younger" and "He can't adapt to a game where he cannot play off his athleticism" it's nice to see him show off his athleticism and show people that he's still got it, he's just playing in a different role.
@@Enthusiast230 Nah, stamina, prone to injury, ability to recovery are way different.
He might still have the brain to avoid all of those things, but body cant lie. Specially he was and still is iso-player be it defense or offense, thats a time-bomb. Even Gianniss got small injury yesterday just the fact he playin too hard.
@@michaelbuto305 Russ is 36 and currently averages more games per season than LeBron. Russ is literally one of the most durable players of all time, and rarely sits out due to injury. He probably would have played 400+ consecutive games had Beverley not given him that career altering injury.
@@Enthusiast230 why compare him to lebron lmao. Lebron is 39. Wouldn’t it be better to compare him to a younger guy?
@@michaelbuto305 all players have small injuries, the way russ be punching shit his hand should've been broken 4-5 times. Players and medical staffs choose how to deal with them i don't think that any medical staff can tell russ to sit down.
Another masterclass from Ben Taylor ❤
I listen to the Pod on 1.3x and going from the defensive awards pod to this, it sounds like Ben was plastered recording this 😂
Hope Westbrook starts in the playoffs, feels like Harden's been in a slump for a while now
They need to play the hot hand. They got 4 guys who have been All stars and MVP candidates. They are nearing the end of their careers, and PG, Russ, and Harden all want to win their first Championship. There should be no ego and just do what is best for the team.
@@shorewall The sad reality is, even if you want to focus yet the body just couldnt handle it.
Playoff way way more punishing that regular season. Recovery for Old vs Young clearly goin to shows.
@@michaelbuto305 Oh yeah, I don't think they are going to win. But this team of former superstars has been remarkably low ego for such a "superteam". I'm rooting for them to do well.
Please do more of this
Being down 37 in the 2nd quarter while trying to stay away from the play-in is just crazy...
Can't take Booker and KD serious no more.
breaking news: if you have a bad game at a bad time then you cannot be taken seriously anymore. Dirk never should have been taken seriously after losing in the 1st round to the Warriors in 2006 i guess
@@mayitakeyourhatsir8632 tell me an important game where devin booker performed well. just one. he averaging 12 point on horrible splits for elimination games .. kd can't win shit without curry
@@ludnqka an important game where Booker played well? Any game that led to game 6 of the NBA Finals maybe? Y'all really do love narratives. Mind you, I'm not defending booker's play this year it's awful
@@notmytruthTHEtruth they had a 0-2 lead and choked their brains out like he usually does
@@ludnqkaCrazy thing about KD, he keeps putting himself in these same terrible situations. Roster is just poorly constructed.
Love these play by plays!
Can’t believe people try to compare Bol Bol to Wemby. Mf is horrible on defense
It’s Shaq who pushes the Bol Bol is as good as Wemby nonsense.
Thank you for this play by play analysis. You actually made me a jokic big facilitator like, rather than a traditional big. Seeing the basketball in a new perspective
This is the polar opposite version of ‘Awful Coaching’ bashing terrible team defense 😭 I’m here for both breakdowns though
My life wont be complete until we get an Awful Coaching/Thinking Basketball collab
Awful Coaching is funny sometimes but the bit gets old fast and he really doesn't know as much as his screaming suggests
I like this format, would watch some more
Thumbnail is the best
Also Ben, have you ever thought yourself to be a nba coach or assistant bc I believe you’re very knowledgeable and could be good on a team
then, we'll not have these quality content. Ben should stay a creator.
He answered this on a patreon QaA not too long ago. He has been offered coaching jobs, but has no interest.
I think a happy medium would be Ben breaking down play concepts, stuff like Spain pick n roll, horns, the triangle etc etc. it's great content and Ben can be everyone's coach
@@TheMissinLink Good on him.
Love the watch alongs
I've always wondered, is this channel monetized? You'd think that the NBA would shut this channel down from being mostly NBA footage. I love the channel and glad it's still up anyhow.
he works with the nba sometimes and has similar videos on the nba channel. Check out the Dirk one
Paul George and Russell Westbrook are great defenders together. I remember when my sixers played them in OKC on their first go around. They're always in the right place doing the right things.
oh yeah, that was a great defensive team, i hope we see the defensive effort from them in the playoffs. if they do i might start believing in this clippers team.
The problem with russ is consistency. Sometimes his motor on the defensive end is low where he's just standing and ball watching but when he's lock in he's a good on ball defender
@@winter9242 it's not Russell Westbrook's motor it's his style that's the problem sometimes. Russell Westbrook likes to play free safety. Likes to sneak into passing lanes. And slow down slashers. Doesn't really want to guard the three. Because he likes getting rebounds.
@@sylvonbryant2786 that's also true but I also think his motor on defense is also sus. Countless times I've seen that when he's guarding someone off ball, he's ball watching and the man he's guarding would back cut freely
I like these kinds of videos. Great job, sir. 👍
16-15-15 for the VAMPIRE.
2:19🧳 TRAVEL!!!
Hessi, hop, tap, tap dribble…. TRAVEL 😂
Suns have three of the best scorers in the league but no one who can actually initiate the offense, it all seems so disjointed and it's not as if Vogel is a bad coach.
All 3 can initiate the offense
? Kevin Young is the coach on O, you don’t bring Vogel for offense.
Vogel is not good at offenses it's defense where he works his magic.
offensively he's very questionable, but Durant and Booker shouldnt need much coaching to score
@@brendanbloom3366 lmfao for themselves, you see Beal try to run the offense? he tries a switch, nothing, so he dumps the ball to GRAYSON ALLEN instead of, you know, resetting the play! he cannot, just look at it..
i really mess with these watch alongs
Ben what are your 4 conference finals teams at this point into the season? I would like to know maybe for the podcast?
It's a lot of high pick and roll that leads to contested mid-rangers. Like Ben said, they don't put any pressure on the rim, and don't force teams into rotation.
2:30 This help by Booker is fine, if he isn't there it's a free lob on the roll
Trying to learn the game and was about to ask why this was a bad decision by Booker. I would think leaving open a 35% 3pt shooter would be the preferable option to allowing an easy lob to a 7 foot center. Glad you commented this.
This shit hurts so much. Why are we so cursed?
The kardasian curse!
The Luka Special
@@EvA1_Anahein Luka is great and I wish we had him BUT that loss was because of the Mavs stifling defense and our trash ass worthless coach. A lot of other factors too but Luka was only 20% of that loss.
@@notmytruthTHEtruth the Luka Special is the curse Booker cast on himself when he was frontrunning and trash talked Luka flopping like he doesn't flop all the time
as soon as I saw the team deferring to Nurkic and Eubanks dives in "need a bucket" situations I was really concerned about this team. Started back in like December and has only gotten worse. All three stars are now routinely guilty of handing role players grenades late in the shot clock. horrible stuff
As a Mavs fan, I'm so glad Phoenix thought so highly of Booker that they made DominAyton the #1 pick in 2018
You read my mind!
I really thought that 'Pho-Lac Watchalong' was something Vietnamese Thai
Im surprised no one is talking about this. But one of the reasons Kawhi has not been playing in my opinion besides rest. Is Lue knows the last few postseasons have ended with kawhi getting hurt. Well the team has been playing heavily the last few weeks without him so that God forbid it happens again but if it does they'll be more prepared this time around. The Clippers are the only team that can hang with Denver in my opinion or beat them. But OKC it really just depends how fast those kids grow up in the postseason. Definitely a dangerous team
I couldn’t be the only one who thought about that iconic scene from White Chick when I read the title
I know it sounds perhaps a bit overexaggerated, but this breakdown kinda shows why I will always love players like Jokic, Luka or Lebron that can carry a halfcourt offense on their back so that even in dry spells they are able to create good looks because of their otherworldy basketball IQ. Like yeah their teams can collapse as well as any other team but such clueless offense wouldn't happen or do you expect a Jokic lead offense to only create 4 points in the first ten minutes.
Would you Name the Programm you use to zap back and forth. You can changed the speed of the Video... All that. What programm do you use. I would love to Analyse plays myself, but I dont have the Programm to do it Like that. Thank you ❤
I'm no basketball genius but maybe having an actual point guard is pretty important. Adding Beal, who is just another jump shooting scorer with limited play making and defense, sure was a bold strategy lol.
i would love if you revisited the Mavs 30-0 run against the Thunder from December!
Pho lac watchalong is what I ordered last night at the Vietnamese restaurant
“I’ve seen enough” 🤣🤣 no please keep going
the clippers playing smart basketball, i liked how they were feeding zubac and defending. havent watched them this year this is fun
They looked scared. Never thought I would see that this bad. Not from a team like this. Damn.
Pg is an underrated playmaker bro
I was called a madman last summer for saying it wouldn’t work
You aren't the only one. I to thought it was a bad move and reeked of owner meddling.
literally everyone was saying that stop stroking your ego
@@marcrego196 you’re the only doing the stroking right now, never called myself a genius
@@marcrego196 you should stop stroking me off cause I never called my genius or anything 😂
they say theres no hand checkin yet i see it every single play
Suns fan here | Honestly, I was surprised a 1st quarter melt-down hadn't happened earlier this season. Usually, this kind of mind-melting, heart-breaking stupidity happens in the 4th quarter for Phoenix.
Change is as good as a holiday... right?
I thing this type of casual video deserves its own title series, kinda frustrating to click thinking it's a normal format. Still like it tho.
Bruh it’s literally the same type of breakdown
@@ry_an. No it's not, it's like a reaction rather than analysis
@@GustavoSilva-ny8jc I mean he’s quite literally breaking down what happens
4:28 why is beal clogging the lane on that pick and roll?
Okay, I wasn't really awake yet when I saw the thumbnail for this video, and for longer than I'd like to admit I genuinely wondered why I hadn't heard of this new Suns player, apparently of Southeast Asian origin. Who is _Pho-Lac Watchalong_ and what makes him so special?
1:43 I'm always flabbergasted by the inability of using the left hand by NBA players
4:34 I'm surprised refs didn't call a tech on that dunk 😂
Everybody's a gangsta until Westbrook is facing three of his former teammates 💀
The thumbnail made me think it was gonna be a vietnamese guy analysing this one 😂
Phoenix needed Beal to be a legitimate all star level player for this suns team to be a contender, but he just isn't that guy anymore. He's way closer to guys like like Collin Sexton and Devin Vassell than he is to guys like Donovan Mitchell and ANT.
Facts
As much as I like Beal I gotta admit this is true
I never thought Beal was that good of a player. Much easier to be an allstar in the East but if he played his whole career in the west he would've never been one. If Jamal Murray can't make it in the west Beal damn sure wasn't. Just a good player on a bad team putting up numbers. And I've been saying this since they got him.
@@Solo2121He was that guy before He is just way too inconsistent now but if u bring him back 4-5 years he was playing like a MVP caliber player
They were missing a lot of point blank shots but it also shows that they can't rely on their defense when their offense goes stall. I feel like Beal should come off the bench and start Okogie for more defense
Im pretty sure the biggest problem was lack of ball movement. The Suns were disappoontingly stagnant , often relying on isos and back cuts from Book and Durant. They even had the same.problem last year against Denver if I remember correctly.
Another big problem is that Durant and Book are not very good offensive engines alone, theh usually need someone else who can help them with their passing and playmaking. Its not that Djrant and Book are terrible passers , its just that Chris Paul, green, harden, Curry, Westbrook have had better passing and playmaking than them and have helped them run their offences when they played together
You can tell the nba sent a memo to the Refs at half time. suns finished with 20 more free throws this game, booker had 12 points on 11 free throws. clearly such an embarrassing loss like this will damage the marketability of a suns vs whoever series so the nba made the call
First round exit lmao
They'll probably lose both games in the play in
@@574onthefloorBoston just got blown out by the bucks with giannis playing one half. Are they going out in the first round?
@@nazimbelaidi6486lmaoo not at all even close to the same thing.
@@McSnuff29 why not? What has Boston proven? They have been bounced just like pheonix did last year.
Yes!
Suns were hailed as one of the "teams to beat".
As usual with this group, with thrown-together "superteams", and with KD teams, I really had to see it before I would believe it... I haven't seen it yet.
Zabac definitely traveled at 9:09. Did he also at 3:48?
college basketball has been huge since the 1930s and 40s
I thought Pho-Lac Watchalong was a name 🤣
I know basketball is being played positionless now. But it seems hard to win in the playoffs with pure scorers alone and less floor facilitators.
Just dropped a sub
But the sun haven’t had true pg play and lack unity/chemistry/defensive players
Who has a "true point guard" that is a good team? The Wolves, and that's it. The PG on your team scores 30 a game. Nuggets have a center for a point guard. Clippers have a guy who averaged 36 ppg for a season. Mavericks PG is leading the league in scoring. Kings PG averages less assists than their center. Pels have a 2 guard disguised as a point guard. Celtics have two defense first guards who don't get the ball at the end of games. Dame isn't a true point guard either. Stop repeating talking points from your favorite podcasts and sports talk shows and think for yourself.
I saw PHO-LAC in the thumbnail and thought this was related to Vietnamese food somehow LMAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOO
With the new post all-star "rules", PG13 was pushing Durant around and he did not seem to have answers.
On a number of those plays, he didn't go anywhere that PG wasn't making him go.
People called me crazy for hating on the Durant trade. This team is heading in the wrong direction so fast it's disheartening as a long time suns fan.
reminds me of kobe's details. well done
Games like this is why I still don’t understand why Beal was the person they went after. There’s just so much overlap between him and the other two guys. Somebody like Jrue Holiday seems like it would have at least helped cover their weaknesses.
Turns out trading all of your defense for old shooters is not actually a good strategy... Shocking
Not gonna lie I love when super teams fail 😂🤞
People who were calling this a super team were dumb imo. KD is past his prime and Beal is no where on the level of KD and Book. It's just the salaries that make them seem like one.
Who made that thumbnail damn
I don't watch basketball so idk: is that one guy's name 'zubat'?
Suns offense looks to me completely like your typical "coach calls the shots" type of offense. Players arent making dynamic reads based on what the defense is doing, theyre running a script, or at least it seems so to me. Theyre forcing tough, contested shots, sometimes against double or triple coverage, while guys are standing wide open behind the 3. If you dont trust those players to take that shot then you have a serious problem, but Booker and KD are gonna need to realize being a good 1v1 player isnt the end-all-be-all
This looked like an NBA 2k Game against the cpu
I've seen enough, build around Eubanks lol
Holy shit 35-4 with 1:30 left in the first quarter is wild
absolutely no hustle, no accountability, no consistency, and no defense. teams like this deserve to be 1 and done in the playoffs
Depth effects match ups
russ getting the opportunity to play well always makes me happy
Pho-lac? I thought we were having a noodle review.
It's not the midrange diet that's the problem it's having 2 SG's and a PF(all 3 pure scorers at that) lead an offense when a person who is used to running an offense(doesn't even have to be a traditional PG) should be running the team.
They needed a true point guard to balance them out. That's why they struggled in the 4th quarter of games
Phoenix is cooked
Westbrook looks like he put on The Mask in the thumbnail ngl
Idk why the Suns thought the 33 win Blazers backcourt from 22-23 would be good enough. Eubanks and Nurk are solid players and they’re not the heart of the Suns woes, but they’re certainly not helping either.
"Westbrook made the jumper anyway".. That is a shot he used to take when he is the main guy.
9:05 this is why Bol Bol is better than Wemby. See how he takes his sweet time and looks to his left, right, and back so he knows where all the opposing players are. He does this twice to be extra sure the players didn’t move away. Almost blocked Zubac from behind too. Other teams are lucky he doesn’t get enough minutes.