Can the Phoenix Suns make us believe them? Actually, don’t focus on us. Can they even make each other believe?
Tuesday’s 122-117 loss to the Atlanta Hawks was another indefensible loss against a blah opponent down key players through exasperating team basketball.
The Hawks were without two of their three leading scorers, Jalen Johnson (19.8 PPG) and De’Andre Hunter (19.4 PPG), limiting their offense to star Trae Young and an underwhelming supporting cast.
But because the Suns refused to be the aggressors and instead continued to float through chunks of the game, it burned them once again.
And they know why this keeps happening. Even if they were blind to it, which they are not, they repeatedly get told the how, whether it is consistent messaging from the coaching staff or the media’s postgame questions.
And there is no logical argument that would show they collectively care enough to overcome it. So how can you present any logical argument to keeping this team together?
Atlanta grabbed 20 offensive rebounds for 27 second-chance points, the fifth time in the last six games the Suns have given up 19-plus in that category, an astounding figure. That let the Hawks take 14 more shots, and Young’s 43 points (on average 13-of-31 shooting) captained the ship while another mediocre center in Onyeka Okongwu took Phoenix’s lunch money. He had 22 points and 21 rebounds in 28 minutes.
The Hawks got 17-of-41 (41.5%) 3-point shooting to score enough in order to counter 30-plus from both Devin Booker (35, 12-for-23) and Kevin Durant (31, 13-for-20).
The scoreboard wouldn’t come close to telling you how awful of a start this was.
Phoenix was massively disconnected from the physicality and engagement of the game. When players were jogging back on defense, there was an aimlessness to their effort that was also on display with how everyone just stood around once the ball got in the lane. Hardly anyone was finding a body, and when they happened to still be matched up in those moments, it was rare to see someone attach to that opposing player to get physical.
If the Suns don’t take those details seriously, it’s impossible to take them seriously. Kudos to you if you’re still able to.
Against quality competition, Phoenix would have been down 15-plus. But Atlanta in this alignment stinks.
Regardless, that type of energy will show up in other parts of the floor eventually, just like when playing your ass off will reward you, as it did for Ryan Dunn. That’s what was baffling about this open to the contest. Dunn was fighting like hell to irk Young, and beyond the initial first or second rotation defensively, there was not a response to the tone the freaking rookie had to set.
Part of why you have to love basketball (and should if you don’t) is there is big “you can’t cheat the game” principles within it. The Suns went from only down two after the first quarter to quickly trailing by 10 in the early second quarter. That nonsense wasn’t going to hold up on the scoreboard.
Atlanta extended its lead to a dozen a few minutes later and would lead by eight at halftime.
The Suns found more energy to begin the second half and Atlanta wasn’t able to find opportunities beyond the initial action, which is where Phoenix can stifle ’em. They led for only six seconds in the first half before an 8-0 run shortly into the third quarter put them up three. Durant really got rolling, expanding that advantage to nine.
Atlanta’s offense at that point flatlined. Young was trying to draw fouls first and do anything else offensively second, a sign of defeat in the Suns’ more concerted effort to wear him down. But then Okongwu got five straight points on the offensive glass, Bogdan Bogdanovic was fouled to prevent an open layup and Royce O’Neale succumbed to Young’s antics by grabbing his arm (like Young will do to defenders) for Young to get free throws.
The Suns went from having a window to break this one open to ahead by just one late in the third quarter. Durant then turned it over and missed a middy, while the Hawks retook the lead after Okongwu continued to create secondary opportunities going into the final frame.
Phoenix began the fourth missing a few open 3s, Atlanta made its own and suddenly it was a 20-3 run putting Atlanta up 95-87 across a 20-3 surge. Phoenix got back in it on the back of Booker and Durant, down three at under five minutes to go.
Vit Krejci, a borderline NBA player that looked cozy all night and Phoenix let get cozy to produce 15 points with six assists and zero turnovers, hit his third triple to put Atlanta up seven with 3:43 to go. After a Suns miss, Krejci battled to get a hand on a loose ball that let Hawks sharpshooter (and fellow borderline NBA player) Garrison Matthews drill his fifth 3 that meant the Suns would require things to fall perfectly over less than three minutes to escape with an undeserved victory.
But Young was able to do just enough over that time for Atlanta to hold off Phoenix’s newfound desperation.
There are a few times a year you’ll see Booker have some extra pick-me-up to his demeanor, almost in a defiant sense to whatever is going on around him, presumably a lack of engagement he himself is seeing from his teammates. It’s led to some of his best scoring nights ever, like the infamous 70-burger in Boston or some of his other 50-plus-point performances in losing efforts.
But this has always been a mixed bag, with the negative results coming from a guy that is clearly forcing it. Booker wants the Suns to play faster, and on Tuesday, he was pushing the ball up as much as possible. That led to all five of his turnovers coming in the first half before he found a better tempo in the second half, playing through pace without rushing himself.
Coming off a made free throw with seven seconds left in the first half, Bradley Beal inexplicably lost Bogdanovic in the corner for a 3 that should have gone in. With the Suns’ bench in the background, a body-language-doctor-accounting looked like Booker was about to lose it before taking his time alone on the bench while keeping his hands warm to settle back down. Moments like that initially look like nothing but start to feel less and less like nothing when the low team quality of play on the floor persists.
Beal turned his left ankle midway through the third quarter fighting for a rebound in transition off a turnover. He was incredibly frustrated and checked out before later returning. This was the eighth straight game that the Big 3 of Durant, Booker and Beal have all played, doubling the next-highest streak from the second week of the season.
Grayson Allen was able to play after a bothersome left knee forced him to miss the second half of Sunday’s win. Suns sideline reporter Amanda Pflugrad noted that Allen said this has been a knee that has acted up on Allen for at least the last two years, and he had some discomfort there before the game that further intensified at halftime.
It’s a fortunate break for the Suns and Allen, who has finally started to look like himself recently after a few different injuries slowed down his ability to pick up where he left off last year.
