Let’s not beat around the bush here: So far, the Phoenix Suns have not looked like a very good basketball team.
Through the first three games of the 2021-22 NBA season, the Suns are 1-2. They got drilled by 12 in their season opener at home against a Denver Nuggets team they swept in the playoffs last year, bounced back with a win over the dysfunctional Los Angeles Lakers in a contest that almost got close despite leading by 30 at one point, and then got obliterated by 29 points against the Portland Trail Blazers Saturday night.
Aside from Devin Booker (21 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 9-of-19 shooting) continuing to shake off the rust from his 3-for-15 season debut, it was an ugly performance all around. The Blazers used a 13-0 run bridging the first and second quarters to build a 19-point advantage, and by halftime, they led by 20.
Heading into the break, Rip City had made 10 of its 23 3-pointers, compared to just 4-for-12 from distance for the Suns. Portland also went 9-for-13 from the foul line in the first half, compared to just 1-for-4 for Phoenix. The second half essentially amounted to garbage time as the Blazers led by as many as 37.
“I didn’t have us ready to play,” head coach Monty Williams said afterward. “That’s the deal. Our communication was not to the level that it needed to be, and typically, when you don’t communicate, it means your mind is crowded with stuff. So that’s on me to get us clear on what we’re supposed to be doing.”
Defensive communication was a recurring theme after the Nuggets loss when Williams and the rest of the Suns were asked about what went wrong. For a team that ranked sixth in defensive rating last year and largely has the same roster back, those kinds of repeated lapses have felt foreign.
“Saying anything from the beginning, I’m just thinking of defense and guarding better,” Booker said of the root cause behind the Blazers loss. “I think we’re not on a string completely right now.”
In defense of the Suns’ defense, Portland had an impressive shooting night. CJ McCollum dropped 28 points in 30 minutes while shooting 10-for-18 from the floor and 6-for-11 from 3, and the Blazers made 21 triples on 50 attempts. Meanwhile, Phoenix only made nine of its 28 looks from beyond the arc.
The Suns didn’t make Portland feel their defense early on, and those shooters got comfortable enough to start making some really difficult shots.
“It’s hard to come back when guys keep hitting 3s,” JaVale McGee said. “And it’s not even like they were hitting wide-open 3s every time or something, they were hitting hard, contested 3s. Those are really hard to come back from, and it just really takes the energy out of the opposing team when you’re already down 15 and then they come back, score two 3s in a row and you’re just like, ‘Man, what’s going on? How can we stop this?'”
Williams agreed the Blazers hit a lot of difficult shots off the dribble, but even if it was “just one of those nights,” he wasn’t going to make excuses either.
“They just hit ’em, and there was a point tonight where in the NBA sometimes you have nights like that,” he said. “You could just leave it there, but I can’t do that as a coach. We have to be better and more consistent with our defense.”
So far, Phoenix’s -10.3 point differential is third-worst in the Western Conference, and its defensive rating (115.2) is 26th in the NBA. The defensive communication has been sorely lacking, and outside of Mikal Bridges looking like the real deal, pretty much everyone has gotten off to a slow start offensively.
The 3-ball hasn’t been there for the Suns, who are shooting just 34 percent from long range through the first three games. Booker is shooting less than 40 percent from the field. Chris Paul disappeared in Portland, finishing with 4 points on 5 shots. And aside from one statement half to open the season, Deandre Ayton has been M.I.A.
For a team coming off an NBA Finals run that was supposed to have continuity on its side, this hasn’t exactly been the scorched-earth start people were expecting. The Suns got off to a slow start last year too, going 8-8 through the first 16 games before ending the season on a 43-13 tear.
During that inconsistent 16-game stretch, where the team was still trying to incorporate two new starters, their starting lineup of Chris Paul, Booker, Bridges, Jae Crowder and Ayton posted a -3.7 Net Rating in 200 minutes together. From then on, they were one of the best starting units in basketball, putting up a +8.0 Net Rating in 506 minutes together.
This year’s underwhelming start feels like familiar territory for this same starting lineup…which is baffling, because it’s the same starting lineup. The natural reflex is to expect them to turn things around just like last year, but the Suns aren’t trying to implement anyone new into the starting five like last time. Continuity was supposed to be one of their biggest advantages to counter a shortened offseason, but Phoenix’s go-to starting lineup has posted a -29.6 Net Rating and been outscored by 36 points in 61 minutes together so far, per NBA.com.
With that being said, as shocking as it’s been to watch this team play the kind of inconsistent basketball we haven’t seen since their first 16 games last year, it’s nowhere near time to start worrying.
“It’s such a long season and I feel like we’ve been tested,” Booker said. “Last season was good for us and [learning] not to hit the panic button. Just understand how long the season is and when we get it rolling, how good we are.”
For as ugly as that Portland pounding was, it came on the second night of a road back-to-back, and it was the Suns’ third game in four days, all of which came against playoff teams from last year. The Blazers hadn’t played since Wednesday, so they were supposed to come out as the better-rested team with fresher legs.
Phoenix’s star player is still getting his legs under him after playing heavy minutes during a Finals run, immediately jetting off to Tokyo to play in the Olympics, returning for a short break and then getting COVID-19 right before the start of training camp. That setback forced the Suns to ease him back into the action and limited Book to just one preseason game before the start of another grueling, 82-game campaign.
While the impulse is to hit the panic button as this team tries to cope with its Finals hangover, nobody in Phoenix is panicking, and rightfully so. It’s only the third game of the season, and this group knows the kind of basketball it’s fully capable of. If anyone’s earned a brief grace period to ease back into the action, it’s a Suns team that was just processing the shock and emotional strain of squandering a 2-0 lead in the Finals three months ago.
It hasn’t been the most auspicious of starts, but it could just be as simple as the Blazers going off in a scheduled loss for Phoenix on the second night of a back-to-back. It could be as straightforward as the Nuggets wanting to avenge their playoff sweep and Phoenix not being ready for what hit them. The Suns won’t be taking anyone by surprise this year, and they’ve got a target on their backs now. Adjusting to everyone’s best effort is a new process for this young group, but just like last year, they’re cognizant of the step-by-step progress they need to make to reach the ultimate goal.
“You can blame the first back-to-back of the season, or you can go and make the corrections that we need to make, and I think that’s what we’re gonna do,” Booker said. “Got a few days off now, I think getting the first back-to-back under our belt was good for us in getting us up to speed a little bit.”
It’s been uncharacteristically ugly for this Suns team to start the season. But with 79 games left to go, it’s too early to be concerned just yet.
