76ers (1-4) vs Suns (5-1) Recap and Reaction

This game was really exciting and super fun to watch. The game was tight the whole time and it featured a fun fourth quarter. It also allowed us to see Paul George for the first time this season on the 76ers. Tyrese Maxey had been carrying the offensive load for Philadelphia, who are off to a struggling 1-4 start this year. Let's dive into the action.

Recap 

The Suns opened with the lineup of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Jusuf Nurkic, Kevin Durant, and Tyus Jones. The 76ers countered with Andre Drummond, Tyrese Maxey, Paul George, Kelly Oubre, and Caleb Martin. The Suns offense has looked really good so far this year. They've been moving the ball really well and the overall movement from Beal, Booker, and Durant looks really nice as well. Both teams have revamped their rosters throughout the offseason as well. The 76ers are still trying to find some chemistry, Joel Embiid hasn't exactly stayed away from the spotlight so far this year, but the 76ers are waiting to get their franchise star back. The Suns hired Mike Budenholzer in the offseason, a common theme for his team's has been taking a volume amount of threes. The Suns are top 10 in the NBA in three pointers attempted this year and it has benefited them greatly. The addition of Tyus Jones at the point guard spot rather than Booker running it has really benefited the Suns so far. The Suns got out to a nice start for the game. They were able to take an early lead through some tough defense and early transition offense. The noticeable upticks in three pointer attempted and transition points have really helped the Phoenix Suns get some easy looks for their stars. The 76ers starters really struggled at the beginning. The Suns boast the 6th best defensive rating so far this year and Tyrese Maxey, and Paul George both took some time to settle into the game. Kyle Lowry came off the bench and helped lifted some scoring for the team. He was able to knock down a couple of threes and helped keep them in it. The 76ers also showed a zone to slow down the Suns offense. The quarter closed with the Suns leading 28-26. The Grayson Allen's aggressiveness and Mason Plumlee minutes really looked good to me. The Suns bench is much improved from last year and the role players complement the stars better this year. Plumlee is a good passing big that fits well next to Beal, Booker, and Durant. The Suns in the second quarter started using Beal as a screener more so. He gets smaller guards on him and it makes it challenging for teams to hide them against the Suns. Royce O'Neale also plays this position really well too. The pace the Suns are playing at causes a lot of mismatches as well for their scorers. George, Maxey, and Lowry were able to knock down some threes to keep the 76ers afloat. Both George and Maxey got going at the end of the quarter to give the 76ers some life. The Suns headed into halftime with a 65-63 lead. Kevin Durant had 15 points on 7/9 from the field, Beal had 12 points on 5/7 from the field and 2/3 from three. Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale had 10 each off of the bench. Booker struggled going 1/7 in the first half. The 76ers were lead by Lowry with 13 points and 3 threes, Maxey had 12 points on 5/8 shooting and George had 10 points on 3/9 shooting.  The third quarter was very back and forth with neither team leading by more than 5. A thing I did notice was the lineups having Nurkic at center just need to change I think. I think the Suns need to find a center at the deadline to try and fit someone next to big three. His passing has decreased from last year and his rim protection is not good. I really liked rookie Ryan Dunn with Durant at the 5. Dunn is probably the best on ball defender in this year's rookie class. Tyrese Maxey essentially took on Beal and Durant the entire third quarter. All three of them hit some tough shots in keep the game close for their teams. The Suns headed to the 4th with a 94-93 lead. The 4th quarter was very sloppy for the Suns at the start. They were turning it over way too much and it gave the 76ers some easy run outs. Maxey also hit two really tough back-to-back threes to push the lead out for the 76ers. The 76ers bench played really well the entire game. Guerschon Yabusele had his best game of his NBA career. He was able to make 5 threes and provided some floor spacing for George and Maxey. The final 2:30 of the game got really interesting. Coming off the lazy Nurkic turnover  the 76ers couldn't capitalize on a basket. However, next time down the floor Booker turned it over down 115-110 with 2:30 left in the game. The next 76ers possession also resulted in a turnover giving the ball back to the Suns. The Suns then ran a spain action with Durant handling the ball and Booker setting the back screen. Durant was fouled and made to free throws to cut the lead to 3 for the 76ers. Oubre then turned the ball over again for Philadelphia and fouled Grayson Allen. Allen made two free throws to cut the 76ers lead to 115-114. After a Suns defensive stop, Durant hit a tough mid range jumper to take the lead for the Suns at 116-115. Maxey then was fouled and made a free throw to tie the game at 116. Durant then was able to get to the basket to take the lead at 118-116 with 20 seconds left. Paul George missed the game tying shot and the Suns were able to hang on for the 118-116 win. A couple things for the 76ers at the end of the game. Why in the world is Paul George waiting to take the last shot. I understand Kevin Durant and Devin Booker are on the other side, but you are losing by 2 points go to the basket and try and get a foul call not contested mid range shot with 3 seconds left. Also I know Yabusele played well in the 4th, but Durant was killing him in pick and roll situations and it was obvious the Suns were trying to get that matchup at the end. The win moved the Suns at 6-1 while the 76ers dropped to 1-5. Kevin Durant had 35 points with 15 of them coming in the 4th. Nurkic had 15 points and 15 rebounds and Beal had 17 points. Booker finished the game 3/18 from the field for the Suns. Yikes. Maxey led the 76ers with 32 points. Yabusele had 5 threes. Paul George was 4/14 from the field in his first game this year. The 76ers as a team went 20/52 from three and lost. 

Reaction 

Suns are legit Western Conference contenders. They have a real defense and the buy in from Beal, Durant, and Booker is real. Booker does not get enough credit for his defensive ability. The offense looks good and ball movement is even better. They turned the ball over very few times over the course of the game. The only thing I do not like is Nurkic at center. Plumlee has been great for them. The Plumlee plus the big three lineups have outscored teams 18 points per 100 possessions this year. I also loved rookie Ryan Dunn. He is an elite defender and caused a ton of issues for Maxey and George the whole night. I think trusting him more and O'Neale more to play Durant at the 5 might help before they find a replacement for Nurkic. 

I'm a little scared for the 76ers. They're 1-5 and waiting on Joel Embiid to get healthy. Maxey has been shouldering a lot of the offensive load and he's proven he's capable of it. He's an absolute dawg. Hopefully with George coming back they put some wins together, but they are well behind the 8 ball in the losses column already. Making 20 threes and losing hurts and the end of game offense needs to be better in order to close this one out. This lose will hurt them later in the year. Still it's early and they now have 2/3 of the big three back.