Speaking to reporters prior to Phoenix’s game against Philadelphia on Monday, Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer discussed his reasons for benching Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic, saying he needed to shake things up for his slumping team, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic tweets.
“Feel like we needed to make a change,” he said. “Throughout a 48-minute game, you got to figure out your best combinations, your best ways to try to have success. They’re two important players to us, two very good players.”
Beal said he was “100 percent” surprised by the move, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic tweets.
Ryan Dunn and Mason Plumlee moved into the lineup and Phoenix posted a 10-point win over the Joel Embiid-less Sixers. Beal wound up leading the team in scoring with 25 points in 30 minutes while Nurkic had five points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers‘ four-point loss to Houston on Sunday displayed the athleticism and physicality gap between the clubs, Jovan Buha of The Athletic writes. It could result in another lineup change. Recently acquired Dorian Finney-Smith could be moved into Rui Hachimura’s spot, Buha suggests, noting that Finney-Smith has outplayed Hachimura and provides better two-way balance.
- Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt is nearing his season debut after an extensive rehab from offseason foot surgery. He has participated in non-contact portions of practice. “He continues to progress and ramping up to on-court activities,” coach JJ Redick said, per Khobi Price of the Orange County Register. “And hopefully we have a firm update on the timetable soon. But his progress is real right now.”
- Clippers forward Nicolas Batum said Kawhi Leonard‘s return to action, in which Leonard scored 12 points against Atlanta on Saturday, unfolded as expected. “Nothing crazy. He didn’t force anything. He’s too good for that,” Batum said to Sportskeeda’s Mark Medina. “He’s going to let the game come to him. Then he’ll see the right opportunity to attack. He did that. It’s the first game. I wasn’t expecting him to get 30 [points]. But with the way he played and the way he took his shots and he attacked and he played defense, we’ll be fine.” Leonard was limited to eight points in 21 minutes in a loss to Minnesota on Monday.
Clippers don’t have ship
Lakers have ship
Lakers are going to ship away Vincent and Vando
Lakers and Nuggets are likely out in the first round playoffs because they’ll be tired in April
NewsFlash: Jarred Vanderbilt’s pet hamster has recovered from very serious illness and Vando has announced a post All Star Game return. He wishes to thank Laker Nation for all the emotional support during some very difficult times to enable his speedy return….
Nice try
Hahaha
Help me understand. Players that have been in the league this long still care more about ‘starting’ than they do winning? The suns weakness becomes their strength when they can separate players to maximize their strengths.
Kinda weird that Beal is playing better than Booker but he is the one being benched…
Or Booker has the right to be mad at being benched and Beal doesnt? But what about winning?
Beal is playing better than Booker? @ basketball or something else?
Booker has been abysmal this season. 42%fg and 34%3pt compared to Beal’s 49%fg and 40%3pt. The only argument for Booker would be playmaking, but he has taken on more of a pg role so I dont think thats a fair comparison, but I will give him that.