👋 GOOD MORNING

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. Chances are your weekend was better than the Suns and the Roadrunners, who each suffered damaging losses to their respective postseason aspirations (plenty more on that below). To make matters even worse, Kevin Durant left yesterday’s loss to the Rockets after brutally rolling his ankle, and ​coach Mike Budenholzer said​ KD will have an MRI and will not fly with the team to Milwaukee tomorrow.

Not ideal.

On to the show!

Suns & Roadrunners Hanging on for Playoff Lives

The Suns and Roadrunners are in remarkably similar playoff predicaments.

Both are nearing the end of their regular seasons, and both are hanging on to their playoff hopes for dear life.

Of course, the lead-up to each respective team’s postseason uncertainty has been very different. The Suns started the season with relatively high aspirations, and though championship dreams may have even seemed a bit far-fetched to start the season, a complete whiff on the NBA Playoffs honestly felt even more unlikely. The AHL’s Roadrunners, meanwhile, lost a number of their top performers from a season ago to their parent NHL club, and have showed flashes of promise, albeit inconsistent.

Yet Phoenix and Tucson are both on the outside looking in, and time is ticking.

Suns Slipping Out Of Playoff Picture

Perhaps it was a bit of false hope, but the Suns’ four-game winning streak from March 17-24 offered newfound optimism for the team’s postseason aspirations. That was pretty darned short-lived. Phoenix has lost three straight and now trails the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks by 1.5 and two games, respectively, in the play-in picture. Now, with much uncertainty around Durant’s status moving forward, it gets exponentially more difficult.

• Sunday’s 148-109 drubbing at home against Houston did nothing to restore confidence.
• Phoenix has seven games left, and it’s still the toughest remaining schedule in the NBA.
• The Suns do hold the tiebreaker with Dallas and face Sacramento on the final game of the season.

Roadrunners IN Serious Danger

Tucson controlled its own destiny for a while, but Saturday’s loss to Bakersfield was very damaging. The win helped the Condors leapfrog the Roadrunners for the final playoff spot in the Pacific Division, and worse yet, Bakersfield still holds a game in hand.

• Tucson has eight games remaining — two against Bakersfield.
• The Roadrunners also face sixth-place Calgary, fifth-place Rockford (Central Division) and division-leading Colorado.
• Tucson is 3-7-0-0 in its last 10 games, and starting netminder Matthew Villalta was just recalled to the NHL.

My take: This picture is pretty grim for both teams, and I hate saying that so much. I remember talking with Gerald before the NBA season began, and though he indicated a championship was unlikely for the Suns, the playoffs hardly seemed like a concern. Now it will take clutch victories against some very talented teams in order to even try to play their way in, and I’m not sure they could even do that with Durant in the lineup, let alone without him.

The Roadrunners, meanwhile, have run out of time to let any more games slip through their fingertips. Granted, there were no grandiose expectations, but just three wins over their last 10 games is most definitely cause for concern. All is not lost; a series sweep over Bakersfield on Saturday and Sunday would go a long way, but Tucson needs to get through Calgary tomorrow and Wednesday, first. For what it’s worth, all four of those games are right here in Arizona.

Take a deeper dive: Hear instant reaction ​from the PHNX Suns team​ following yesterday’s embarrassing loss to the Rockets.

3 Days. 6 Picks. 100 Names.

It’s almost NFL Draft month!

What are the Cardinals going to do? Mock drafts have lacked consistency in terms of who the Cardinals may select, so PHNX Cardinals reporter Bo Brack, along with ALLCITY draft expert Fran Duffy, have made it their personal mission to keep you as well-informed as possible. Boy, did they ever come through.

• Check out the Top 100 prospects that can address the Cards’ needs.
• Don’t waste time cycling through mock drafts – it’s all in here!
• Impress your friends when comparing players like Kentucky’s Deone Walker to Jordan Phillips. Bo and Fran will let you take all the credit.
• Make sure to also check out Fran Duffy’s ​Diehard Draft Guide​ while you’re at it!
• Missing out? ​Become a Diehard​ today!

Musings From Around (and Sometimes Beyond) The Valley

D-backs Split Opening Series: The Diamondbacks are 2-2 after splitting their season-opening series against the Cubs, and the offense has picked up right where it left off. Arizona has notched 27 runs over four games, ranking third in the league in batting average (.305) and hits (32), and fifth in RBI (17).

Wildcats Make History: The University of Arizona men’s wheelchair basketball team won its first-ever national title on Saturday, defeating No. 2 UT Arlington 75-65. The win was a major redemption story, as the Wildcats had made three consecutive appearances in the National Championship, and finally came away victorious. Congratulations!!

Seeing Red: Two red cards spelled doom for Phoenix Rising FC on Saturday. That proved to be too much to overcome when paired with the club’s existing injuries, as Rising fell 3-1 to Monterey Bay as it continues to look for its first win of the season. Phoenix is 11th in the USL Championship table, already 10 points behind San Antonio FC in Group West.

🧢 Tip of the Hat

Pitcher Ryne Nelson knocked in an RBI in his first-career Major League at-bat, and OH BY THE WAY HE WASN’T EVEN PITCHING. Nelson was called upon as a pinch-hitter during the team’s 8-run eighth inning yesterday, and he did not disappoint. Look out, Shohei!