Eric Gordon on the Suns’ small-ball lineup: “Who’s Jokic gonna guard?”

Eric Gordon on the Suns’ small-ball lineup: “Who’s Jokic gonna guard?”

Eric Gordon joining us here on the burns and gambo show in this 5:00 hour after the sun’s historic comeback win last night Eric how are you man thanks for joining us today we really appreciate it yeah appreciate you for having me yeah Eric I tell you when when you got into

This league in 2008 many of us were were very young men you’ve played 850 plus games in this league have you ever ever been been part of a comeback as big as that one last night no I haven’t been no cuz uh I mean we were down 20 20 22 with

8 minutes left and made a big turn around like that so no man I I haven’t been a part of that yeah the Associated Press had a stat I’ll read it to you teams facing deficits of 22 points or more in the fourth quarter were 0 for 1,244 so the last

1,244 basketball games that had somebody down by 22 in the fourth quarter they all they all lost so that was a shocking comeback a lot of us Al talking about the small ball going to KD at the five was that to you was that the key to getting that thing turned

Around yeah for sure and we have to utilize that because you know KD has a size to guard uh bigs and uh you know we just our team just it’s all about having a determination of really taking control of the game because uh it’s not shocking

To me that we can come back and be teams like this because we definitely have the offensive Firepower and uh and we can be pesky when we’re determined on defense so um that’s just where my mindset is and and uh that’s where you know it just

Needs to be you know we just need to bring it to the each game every time Katie said last night it was a blur and that they you know somebody asked him how did it happen he’s like I don’t know man the whole thing happened so fast from your

Perspective was it a blur were you able to I mean obviously you enjoyed it but when you look back on it now how what was it like living through something like that it was a blur cuz we were in the moment and we were we were locked in we

Were getting stops and it didn’t and it happened so fast I mean I think I remember at one point we hit like three or four threes right there in a row and and uh it was like we like 17 points and like in two minutes so it was like

Yeah it happened so quickly and uh yeah we were just in the moment to gambo’s point about the uh about the small ball lineup and and the lineup That was out there for the last five minutes of the game from a basketball standpoint what is the key to making something like that

Work maybe not for big long stretches but for for the the kind of the little pockets that you used it in what’s the key to making something like that work Eric well the key to making that work from an offensive standpoint is everybody can ball dribble the ball and

Uh making the right plays you have to make the right plays when you’re doing small ball and defense and uh and you got to want to and you’re trying to take away uh the big man uh from the other team you know that’s why they had to sub

B sabonis a little bit last night because they were like man it’s hard to go small ball against us because who’s gonna guard KD so it’s like it’s you’re taking away something from the other team and we have all the ball handlers and Shooters in that group so it’s like

Yeah go ahead pick your poison and see other team has to figure out different things that of what they can do to try to slow us down you talked about all the three-pointers in a row KD hit one made it 113 109 you hit one to make it 115

112 then you hit another one to tie it these three-pointers Eric these were wide open I mean you could have I could have made a cup of coffee waiting for you to shoot that one corner three that tied it were you surprised at how open those three-pointers

Were no not really because I’ve been through this before but that’s what I was saying we we are very capable of doing this in the uh you know earlier in earlier parts of the game and um that should be staple for us because if the more we play fast we should be

Generating easy opportunities like that how much different take me back to Christmas Day when you guys lost to Dallas very frustrating loss I know a lot of you were frustrated how much different of a basketball team is this just three or four weeks later much different um we still getting

We start getting we we’re still in the process of getting our chemistry together but it’s much different everybody’s figuring out their roles and you know people still forget almost everybody on this team is new except for Katie but ktie is kind of new too he has

He just been here a year and uh and everybody else uh you know book and Lee and uh Damian I mean a lot of these guys just they’ve been here and and everybody else is new so we still need to have time together to to figure this out and

Uh um but it’s really a players mindsets to to really get this thing going and flowing the right way do you think going forward that that that small ball lineup with with the five of you Shooters out there is that something you should utilize just at certain times in a game

Because there obviously this certain matchup that that that that unit would struggle against based on the team you’re playing so maybe very matchup oriented correct well I think you should use that you know at definitely at certain times but I really do think that’s going to

Be could create a mismatch for any other team I I truly believe that so like you’re playing Denver and joic you think that could be a mismatch for Denver it can be if we if we play some somewhat similar style like we did last night

Yeah we might have to we might not be able to match one1 all the time but you got to throw different coverages like at joic but other than that who is he going to guard right they can’t switch fast enough on you guys with your ball

Movement yeah and uh that’s why you know it it was a perfect example uh sabonis on that team he was trying to figure out who he was going to guard and we were trying to put him in the pick and roll so we can spread out the floor yeah Eric

Gordon is our guest here on the burns and& gambo show for just a couple of more minutes here coming off the sun’s big win last night against the Sacramento Kings you alluded to it a moment ago and I want to I because we’ve been talking about this a lot on our

Show and I kind of want to hear it from your perspective the idea of taking more three-pointers of being a little more free with your shots as a team knowing that’s kind of The League wide Trend how much of an emphasis has been put on that

By the coaches and the players in the last three weeks to make that a bigger part of your game yeah it needs to be a bigger part of our game you know you got too we have too many guys on our team back and really shooted you got like

What three four guys on our team shooting 40% and we have like one of the highest shooting percentages in the league and uh threes make if you make more if you just make a ton of Threes it’s more than twos so it’s like why not we gotta we have to continue putting a

Lot of points up on the board we had you on the show a couple of times this year and I remember first time we had yawn you talked about you know the reason why you went to go play in the Bahamas for you for the Bahama national team was to

To get some continuity with DeAndre going uh then obviously DeAndre gets traded I want to ask you about playing with Grayson Allen uh for the first time you know he’s been Utah Memphis Milwaukee man watching him play every day I I was not aware that that that he

Was this good uh he has been terrific for you guys and I think he single-handedly kept you in that game last night with his terrific first half uh tell me about him I mean when you watch him play does he remind you of anybody are you somewhat surprised at at

How good of a shooter he is well I didn’t know he could shoot like this but I I’ll tell you what he’s been a great compliment to our team and uh I mean the consistency of what he’s been bringing uh definitely means a lot to our team

And uh he he’s been playing very well of course this is his his best year and uh and I mean like I said he’s been a good Force for us and and it’s definitely much needed Eric uh once again congratulations on that win last night it was so much fun to watch

Congratulations on your role in that win last night with those two huge threes that was a really big deal we appreciate you joining us after that game and best of luck the rest of the season we hope to talk soon oh yeah appreciate you guys yeah thanks Eric Eric Gordon joining us here

On the Arizona sports line coming off the Suns win last time against the Sacramento Kings again next up for the Suns they’ll visit the New Orleans Pelicans coming up on Friday thanks for watching Burns and gambo click to see more from the guys and hit the button in

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Eric Gordon on the Suns’ small-ball lineup: “Who’s Jokic gonna guard?”

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