PHOENIX SUNS

Kaminsky rides, dies with 3-ball, Suns fall to Pacers on NBA2K20

Mar 23, 2020, 5:15 PM | Updated: 5:16 pm

Phoenix Suns forward Frank Kaminsky III gestures after scoring against the Golden State Warriors du...

Phoenix Suns forward Frank Kaminsky III gestures after scoring against the Golden State Warriors during the first half of an NBA basketball game in San Francisco, Friday, Dec. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

In the latest outing of the Phoenix Suns finishing out their season via a Twitch stream of NBA2K20, big man Frank Kaminsky was up taking on Brian Bowen’s Indiana Pacers.

Unfortunately for the Suns, after Ty Jerome beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first time a Suns player controlled the Suns, Kaminsky was the first to come up short in a 93-87 loss.

Kaminsky made it clear what his gameplan was all stream long. He wanted to beat the Pacers with the three-ball, conceding the points in the paint battle 70-34 in order to jack up 26 three-pointers of his own compared to only eight for Indiana.

He continued to tell Bowen he was fine with two-pointers and the math would eventually be on his side.

That’s quite the gamble on NBA2K, as on-ball defense is often difficult through the online connection and questionable AI help defense doesn’t do any favors, either. There’s also the timing of shot releases online, which can often fluctuate.

Kaminsky’s style of play nearly succeeded in the first truly competitive matchup of the Suns’ five games on Twitch thus far. He shot a respectable 35% from deep and wanted to push the pace when he could, even with himself, who he admitted was a tad sluggish with the ball.

As you can see, Kaminsky has his sunglasses on indoors, because, reasons.

Ultimately, the game came down to Kaminsky getting what he wanted. Dario Saric got wide-open three-pointers on back-to-back possessions in a one-score game with under 90 seconds left.

Saric missed both, including the potential game-tying shot, which makes you wonder if Kaminsky being unselfish and keeping his virtual self out of the game in crunch time was the right call.

As noted above, Kaminsky missed all four attempts from three that he took with himself.

Devin Booker led the Suns in scoring with 19 while Bowen excelled playing with Malcolm Brogdon, who dropped a game-high 28.

UP NEXT

The Suns’ next scheduled game is Wednesday against the Washington Wizards.

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