I do wonder if KD being hurt might have affected the rhythm and chemistry Phoenix has. Durant obviously missed a good chunk of time with the ankle injury, and has only played about 10 games with Phoenix since. They can still figure it out soon, but they have to do it fast otherwise the Clips will take this series.
Yeah, we've never seen a team play so little together and expect to make a title push. This is a real test for how quickly a team can come together. We've had some big mid-season trades before like Drexler to the Rockets in 1995 and Sheed to DET in 2004 but those guys had 30 games to bed in and develop chemistry. KD has been injured almost the entire time since the trade. Only 9-10 games played. No chemistry developed. They are going purely off of talent.
It kind of reminds me of last year's Nets. Now obviously there's no Kyrie and his shenanigans, but that team had all the talent and hype, but fizzled out first round and it became kind of clear something was off, but also Kyrie missed a significant amount of time due to "personal reasons" and being unvaccinated, and they didn't seem to gel together late in the season despite being talented players. CP3 is older, and not as talented now. Ayton also to me is overrated.
On BKN, I don't think their problems were chemistry related last year. They had a few injuries with Ben Simmons and Joe Harris. Maybe somebody else. They had no wings left. Guys with size who could help their defense and defend Jaylen & Tatum. They were too reliant on small guards which hampered their D. To me it wasn't about chemistry (guys not knowing how to play with each other) and more about not having the horses for the job (lacking wings).
We'll see. But also, Phoenix's bench is pretty thin. They are relying a ton on Booker and KD to score a bunch each game
I like PHO's bench. I made zero impact last nigh but I believe that was more down to coaching than talent. I do not like how Monty Williams used them and I do not like how he has been using them since the trade deadline.
Monty Williams has failed to integrate Terrence Ross and TJ Warren into the team. These are their two best bench scorers. Both guys are double digit points producers. Ross got 4 minutes last night. TJ Warren was a DNP although he may be still hurt. He was shaking off an injury. So we'll see how that changes moving forward.
But if you remove those two guys from the bench, you are only left with limited offensive talent. Perimeter players who are spot up shooters and big men who are garbage men. Except for Cameron Payne who is legit (who did not play last night. Is he injured?).
This is why he had to lean so heavily on the starters and play them around 40 minutes each.
I'd love to see T Ross get more of a run. This is the first time in a long long time that he has played alongside good players who will get a lot of defensive attention and will thus be open a good chunk of the time for easy scoring opportunities. I believe he could be dynamite as a bench scorer alongside the type of offensive talent PHO has and in a run and gun system. Such an explosive scorer. And then you got TJ Warren who has always been a reliable scorer.
I put more of PHO's bench struggles down to their poor usage of the coaching staff than the lack of talent available on the bench.
So in effect PHO were down their 3 best offensive bench players. C Payne with injury. TJ Warren a DNP (maybe injury, maybe coach). T Ross only 4 minutes due to coach.
