LOS ANGELES — You could make the argument that, at this miserable point in this highly disappointing season, at least the Phoenix Suns, or some of them, still seem to care.
The Suns really could’ve used a win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday, the same as with any of these games down the stretch, because Phoenix has so inexplicably underachieved that if the regular season were to end today, it would not even be in the Play-In Tournament. In a gotta-have-it game on national TV, the Suns fell by 20 in the first quarter and lost 107-96. During a timeout in that first quarter, a beyond frustrated Kevin Durant erupted in coach Mike Budenholzer’s huddle.
It wasn’t clear if he was ripping Budenholzer or the players or both, and afterward, Budenholzer said Durant was shouting about defensive rotations. “Pretty normal stuff,” he said.
But if you’re trying to find even a shred of optimism for the Suns — who have three multi-time All-Stars in Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal and a championship coach in Budenholzer and yet are now 31-37 and 1 1/2 games behind the Dallas Mavericks for 10th in the West — the ray of sunshine would be that Durant is still engaged enough to be angry.
“This group is — there’s still (14) games left. We need to get into the Play-In, we need to get into the playoffs and try and do something there,” Budenholzer said. “Like, there is a lot of talent in our locker room. There is a lot of fight in our locker room. So we got to get in (the Play-In), and then we got to play good basketball, win games. But we got to start winning to get there, (and) I think the guys know that. And I think the mindset and the fight, in the first quarter, wasn’t where it needs to be.”
I can’t tell you what Durant thought of his outburst, or of the loss, or of Booker’s haircut (fresh, tight trim administered yesterday, Booker told me. Looks like he took a good inch off the top). Durant pulled a fast one on us, telling us he’d shower before he talked, then emerging from the shower while Booker answered questions for three minutes and 27 seconds, dressing and bolting for the exit.
This is not me pearl-clutching over a skipped media session. Durant has been generous with his time to me and my colleagues throughout his career. The rope-a-dope of “I’ll get you after I shower” is one thing, but, I mean, did he even pause to dry off? I’ve seen sneezes take longer than it took for him to get dressed.
The bigger-picture item no one seems to have an answer for, exactly, is how this team has fallen so far, so spectacularly.
If you don’t see the Suns play every night, and I’ll admit I am in that group, one explanation would seem to be that they aren’t getting what they would have hoped for from Beal (which obviously was a major reason the organization spent two months staring at him, hoping to use Jedi mind tricks to get him to waive his no-trade clause so it could trade for Jimmy Butler).
In what turned out to be a serendipitous moment before Sunday’s game, Lakers coach JJ Redick essentially gave a “what do you want from him” defense of Beal’s on-court performance.
“I think Brad has taken a lot of heat. … When you’re a third option — like, an ideal third option — here’s someone that scores at an efficient level, and he’s averaging 18 (in) 50 (percent shooting) and 40 (percent shooting from 3),” he said. “From a production standpoint, what more would you ever expect from a third option in the NBA?”
From a production standpoint, Redick’s numbers were right. Beal entered Sunday’s game averaging nearly 18 points while shooting 50 percent from the field and a hair under 40 percent from 3. But he’d already missed 20 games this season and 30-plus games last season, and he spent a portion of this season coming off the bench.
The serendipity of Redick’s comments was cemented when Beal did not return for the second half because of a hamstring injury. His availability for Monday’s home game against the Toronto Raptors is of course in question.
The Suns are 27th in defense, which obviously isn’t going to cut it and was the item Budenholzer mentioned multiple times Sunday when he was explaining what needed to happen for his team to turn it around. But at different points Sunday, the Suns were 2-of-20 and 6-of-30 from 3-point range. Durant was 1-of-9 shooting overall in the first half and rebounded to finish with a team-high 21 points. Booker shot 6-of-17 and finished with 19 points and 11 assists, playing a little of his Team USA game of seemingly spending more energy moving the ball and trying to defend the perimeter.
Devin Booker is defended by Lakers guard Gabe Vincent in the second half. (Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
Phoenix was victimized by the Lakers’ Luka Dončić (among others), who put up 33 points and had 11 rebounds and eight assists. Booker’s explanation for the defense against Dončić was less than inspiring.
“I think we were trying to blitz him early,” Booker said, “but it wasn’t a full blitz, and he was able to still read the back side of the defense and make plays.
“Just got easy lobs and easy layups.”
Listening to his answer, and having some real-world experience covering star athletes who are not afraid to question coaching strategy, I asked Booker if he was perhaps suggesting the Suns should have been more fully committed to getting the ball out of Dončić’s hands, from a strategy perspective.
“No, I wasn’t saying one way or the other,” he said.
The autopsy on the Suns has been ongoing for weeks, even while they still have a pulse. From the Beal situation to Phoenix nearly trading Durant, to a look at just how expensive the roster is (I saw in The Athletic that the Suns would be the most expensive team ever not to make the playoffs), there has been hand-wringing and predictions of massive breakups even though they still have an excellent chance of catching the Mavericks — for reasons such as trading Dončić and being ravaged by injury to the point of absurdity. To play out the thought, a team with stars like Durant, Booker and Beal (I like Tyus Jones too, and the Suns are excited about Ryan Dunn and Nick Richards) could win two games to advance out of the Play-In and give the Oklahoma City Thunder something to think about.
But the Suns won’t get into the Play-In on credit. They will have to win more games than the Mavericks to catch them. Somewhere along the way, Phoenix will try to find a reason to believe that, in this case, Bill Parcells was wrong and the Suns are not what their record says they are.
“I think it’s more than one thing,” Booker said. “In spots, we’ve shown we can do it, and that’s what makes it even more frustrating. We have a game like last game (a big win over the Sacramento Kings, who are in ninth place), and then we come in and miss a few shots, which affects our defense, which, you know, affects our offense. So, it’s a domino effect.
“If you’re playing with energy and effort, you know, you can sleep well at night, regardless. And I don’t think we’re doing that right now.”
(Top photo Mike Budenholzer: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)
