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When it rains, it pours. The Suns right now are drowning over the last week in terms of keeping any sort of games close, with five of their last six at one point trailing by 20 points or more. In that same span, they have trailed by 40 plus on two separate occasions.
Frustrations seem to be stewing because ESPN’s Chris Haynes is reporting that Chriss has been suspended for Sunday’s game against the Hornets.
Phoenix Suns plan to suspend forward Marquese Chriss for a game stemming from a verbal confrontation with an assistant coach, league sources tell ESPN.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) February 3, 2018
That said confrontation might have occurred in the first half because Chriss did not get into foul trouble in his 14 minutes of playing time.
When the Suns were trailing by nearly 40 with less than a minute left, Triano sent Chriss to check back in. In the end, no dead ball occurred to see him get in there, but a message seemingly was trying to be sent his way.
After posting 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists as the backup center, Dragan Bender will now move back into the starting unit Sunday at power forward alongside Tyson Chandler.
We will have more details on this situation as we learn more from the team.
Update: According to Haynes, an argument broke out over a postgame routine Chriss is required to do after the contest.
Then, AZCentral’s Scott Bordow brought us another update: Chriss technically isn’t “suspended.” The Suns are instead calling this a cooling off period for Chriss.
News: Suns are saying Chriss isn't suspended per se but won't be at Sunday's game. They're describing it as a cooling off period. Chriss was not at practice today. Both McDonough and Triano told me thy're handling it "in house."
— scott bordow (@sbordow) February 3, 2018