Phoenix Suns coach Mike Budenholzer discusses what went wrong for the Suns in their 138-122 loss to the New York Knicks Wednesday night.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Once again, Phoenix (9-7) really struggled without Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal (left calf strains), and its losing streak has now spanned all five games the stars have missed together.
New York (9-6) extended its win streak to four games with the victory.
The Knicks started off the game 8-for-8 from the field and never looked back. Phoenix’s defense was getting torched all night, as the Knicks put up the most points Phoenix has allowed all season, scoring 44 in the first quarter, 32 in the second, 34 in the third and 28 in the fourth. New York shot 50-for-86 (58.1%) from the field and 19-for-39 (48.7%) from 3 overall. The Suns looked pretty much dead in the water from the opening tip because of how hot the Knicks were.
Devin Booker led Phoenix with 33 points on 12-of-23 shooting and five assists in 38 minutes.
After scoring 50 points and shooting a perfect 9-for-9 from 3 last year at Footprint Center, Jalen Brunson once again scorched Phoenix with 34 points on 12-of-21 shooting (7-of-11 from 3) and 10 assists. Brunson was one of six Knicks to score in double figures, as Karl-Anthony Towns also totaled 34 points on 12-of-19 shooting and had 10 rebounds.
The silver lining for the Suns after this game is that they get a much-needed full five days off before their next game, an NBA Cup matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers. Beal and Durant will have time to rest and recover from their injuries.
Some key quotes from Budenholzer (via Suns):
- On the Knicks starting hot in the first quarter: “(Jalen) Brunson’s first two kind of stood out to me. I think it was a live ball catch, kind of rocker and made a three. Maybe we play them tighter, we’re into them with a live ball, but again, I would say solid defense, but better offense. Then, it felt like a couple of the other ones, they maybe got us into a little bit of scramble mode, and I think (OG) Anunoby hit one and maybe (Mikal) Bridges, but they came out and made shots and kind of put us in a hole in the first quarter down 16 that ultimately, we could never really recover from that start. We made a run, but they made shots out of the gate, credit to them.”
- On the competitive level through the last few games: “There’s always going to be a couple plays where you’re frustrated, but you know the group is good. I think overall, the competitive spirit, the things that we’ve leaned on, while we can always be better, we got a group that’s competitive. We got a group that will stay together, it’s the things that we talk about. Losing is hard, this league is hard, so we got to fight through it. We got to compete our way through it, but while there’s things that we need to work on and improve on, the competitiveness of our group has been in a good place when we were winning. I would still say the same thing right now, while we’re struggling, that the guys know how important competing is.”
- On getting Jusuf Nurkic back from injury and having Royce O’Neale in the starting rotation: “For (Jusuf) Nurkic to play, I think was a good sign for him. I thought for 33 minutes, he competed, made some threes, gave us a presence on the board. I thought for the second half, our defense was better and he was a big part of it. Definitely good to see that Royce (O’Neale) got the ball falling, finding the bottom of the net again, like the way he was at the start of the year. I think that’s good for those two guys; for (Jusuf) Nurk to be healthy, to feel good going into the break and for Royce (O’Neale) to hit some shots going into the break. I think those are a couple of positives to take.”
WATCH: Devin Booker reacts to Suns’ 138-122 blowout loss to Knicks
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
