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The Phoenix Suns are at a complete loss for answers, and after a 126-109 blowout loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 3 on Friday, they’re on the verge of capping off the most disappointing season in franchise history with a first-round sweep.
It’s not the most disappointing Suns season because of wins and losses; obviously this franchise has seen much darker days on that front than this year’s 49-win team. It’s not the most disappointing because of the playoff exit itself; that Game 7 in 2022 will forever take the cake there.
No, the reason this Suns season will live in infamy once it reaches its inevitable conclusion — either in Game 4 on Sunday or Game 5 back in Minnesota on Tuesday — is because of the immense expectations that came with it.
This wasn’t a case of a fanbase deluding itself into thinking an average team could contend; with a Big 3 of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, plus a championship coach in Frank Vogel and the most aggressive owner in the league who was willing to spend, this group was supposed to prove that star power is still the main driver in the NBA.
Instead, they’re about to be unceremoniously booted from the playoffs in swift, humbling fashion by a younger T-Wolves squad that prioritized continuity, complementary pieces, camaraderie, depth and internal development. If those ingredients sound familiar to fans of the 2021 team that went to the NBA Finals just three years ago, what’s unfolding in front of this drastically different Suns squad stings even worse.
This was the time of year where having a Kevin Durant, a Devin Booker and a Bradley Beal was supposed to matter more than the seventh, eighth and ninth guys in a playoff rotation. This is where sacrificing younger fan favorites like Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson, or fading staples like Chris Paul and Cam Payne, was supposed to pay dividends. And after such a joyless, roller coaster season derailed by injuries, underperforming role players, fourth-quarter collapses, careless turnovers and a trade deadline shakeup, this was where it was finally supposed to be fun.
Friday wasn’t fun. It was more of the same embarrassment Suns fans have had to endure in the playoffs for three years straight.
“We played in spurts, man, just like we’ve been doing all season,” Durant said. “Good couple minutes, bad couple minutes, and in the playoffs, you can’t have that.”
For the third straight game, the Suns produced good looks early but failed to make shots against a Wolves defense that’s clearly under their skin. They got crushed on the boards again, and Minnesota took a 6-point lead into halftime. By the third quarter, the Timberwolves made a push and Phoenix completely unraveled, resulting in a 36-20 quarter that saw the deficit balloon to 22 points.
It was a familiar pattern from Games 1 and 2 that was unchanged by the change of scenery to Phoenix. Coach Frank Vogel’s denial that the third quarters have become a mental block, but can anyone on the Suns account for why this recurring issue is still happening?
“No, I cannot,” Booker said.
“That third quarter is kickin’ our ass, ain’t it?” Beal added. “Shit, I don’t know what you want me to say.”
For the third straight game, it looked like Phoenix lacked any sort of fight once the Timberwolves made their push. They took a shot to the jaw and went down without even throwing counterpunch.
For their part, the Suns don’t seem to agree that they’re being out-hustled.
“Nah, I think we just got beat,” Booker said. “That was a point of emphasis for us going into the game, to stick together through adversity, so the communication was there. We just didn’t execute.”
“Guys are competing, okay?” Vogel added. “We’re being outplayed.”
It’s one of the rare exceptions to how often the Suns haven’t been on the same page in these postgame press conferences. Or, you know, maybe not.
“We do have times in which adversity hits and we’ll kind of just get flat,” Beal said. “We gotta get out of that, get away from that. We have to continue to compete, continue to push. Teams are gonna go on their runs just like we go on our runs. That’s the game. Why it happens, I wish I had an answer. I know that’s probably not what you wanna hear, but at the end of the day, we just control what we control. And sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we try to do a little too much, and that hurts us. Sometimes our effort isn’t there, and that hurts us too.”
No adjustment in the world can make up for a team’s collective lack of fight in the face of adversity. And it’s that very lack of fight that prompted Suns fans at the Footprint Center to boo their own team, in what’s starting to feel like an annual playoff tradition.
Here, at least, the Suns are all in agreement that the fan reaction was warranted.
“Rightfully so,” Booker said.
“That’s sports, you’re getting your butt kicked at home, the fans are gonna boo,” Vogel added. “I don’t blame them.”
Rarely has a Suns team been this talented yet reviled by its own fanbase. The season has been joyless, and despite fans turning out in droves and being loud for Game 3, Friday’s performance was the latest addition to a barrage of letdowns that have made this year’s team the franchise’s most disappointing iteration yet.
“They expect so much out of us, and they pay their hard-earned money and they deserve to react how they wanna react,” Durant finished. “So it’s on us as players to use it as fuel, and hopefully it ignites us for next game.”
At this point, it’s hard for anyone to believe this team has any fuel left in the tank. Words have lost their meaning when there’s no action or results behind them, no matter how much Vogel and the players swear they’re still on the same page, that they haven’t given up, that they still believe in this team’s flashes of potential.
“We want this really bad,” Vogel said. “So it’s disappointing. It’s frustrating. We’re all very invested in this and we’re all pouring everything we have into trying to bring these fans a team they can be proud of. And we feel like we can still do that, but we haven’t played well enough in this series.”
That’s putting it mildly. The Suns have been outscored by a combined 54 points through three games, cracking the 100-point mark in only one of them. Anthony Edwards has outplayed all three members of the Suns’ Big 3, and Phoenix has been held to the fourth-worst offensive rating among all 16 playoff teams.
Now, facing an 0-3 deficit, there’s a pervading sense that the guys in the locker room don’t believe in this team any more than the average, disillusioned fan.
“I haven’t sensed that at all,” Durant countered. “It’s a tough hill to climb right now, but I haven’t sensed that. Of course we’re pissed off ’cause we lost the game and we’re down 3-0 in the series. Wasn’t a lot of cheers and clapping in here after the game, but we’re pros and we understand we got another opportunity and we’re gonna take advantage of it.”
That “opportunity” is the Suns’ last-ditch chance to delay the inevitable. They’re standing on the precipice of capping off the most disappointing season in the franchise’s 56 years of existence with a first-round sweep. Even if they find a way to win Game 4 at home on Sunday, the odds will be stacked against them to go on the road and win in Minnesota in Game 5.
Historical precedent isn’t on their side either. There have been 151 incidences where an NBA team has trailed 3-0 in a best-of-seven playoff series, and in all 151, that team lost the series. Only four of those teams forced a Game 7, and 92 of those 151 teams got swept.
“It’s an opportunity for us to do something that’s never been done before, and we’re gonna embrace that,” Vogel said. “There’s no quit in our group. We do have to take it one at a time. That’s our whole focus is gonna be to evaluate again, huddle up tomorrow and see what kind of adjustments we can make to win Game 4. You’re playing for pride and you’re playing for an opportunity to keep fighting. And that’s what this group wants. This group does not want the season come to an end.”
Again, words are meaningless without action and force behind them. Booker called the prospect of doing something no one has ever done before “exciting,” but even the NBA Bubble experience he recalled — when the Suns had to win every game and go 8-0 to even have a chance of reaching the 2020 NBA Playoffs — felt halfhearted.
“Just play free, take it possession by possession,” Booker said. “I remember going down to the bubble and it was the same thing. We had to win eight to even have a chance, and you just break ‘em down. They all have their own personality and you can only focus on one at a time.”
It’s the most prudent approach to this type of situation: “one game at a time, one possession at a time.” It’s also a tried-and-true cliché guys use to describe the grind of the regular season, or any playoff game, for that matter.
The Suns have been taking it “one game at a time” for the first three games of this series, and it hasn’t mattered much. Maybe a do-or-die setting will bring out their most desperate performance yet, but we’ve also seen over the last two years how quickly Phoenix can roll over in an elimination game at home.
“Backs against the wall, but you can’t give in, can’t give up,” Beal said. “You gotta continue to compete, we gotta get one on Sunday. And all you gotta do is just give yourself a chance. Give yourself a chance to go back to Minnesota, and just compete, man. Compete your ass off, that’s all we can ask for.”
Unfortunately, at this rate, all Suns fans can realistically ask for is a little more heart and at least one win to prevent the embarrassment of their super-team getting swept. Is there enough pride in this locker room to delay the inevitable for at least one more night?
“That’s damn sure my mindset,” Beal said. “I’ve never been swept a day in my life, so I’ll be damned if that happens.”
Here’s hoping the Suns decide to back those words up before their season is over.
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