The Phoenix Suns have been the most disappointing team in the West this season and are neck-and-neck with the Philadelphia 76ers for worst performance by a theoretical contender this year. The Suns were 28-33 coming into Tuesday night against a Clippers team that has been reeling of late and just lost their top scorer Norman Powell to injury for at least the next week-plus.
That should have created an opportunity for Phoenix to try and make up some ground on the Dallas Mavericks, who figure to go into freefall without Kyrie Irving after he suffered a torn ACL on Monday night in yet another devastating blow to that franchise. Instead, they once again put together a disappointing showing and found themselves down 65-49 at halftime to a shorthanded Clippers squad.
Coming into the game, the broadcast pointed out the Suns were the only team in the NBA with two top-10 scorers in the NBA with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, but the problem for Phoenix has been on the defensive end of the floor. The Suns came into the game 27th in the NBA in defensive rating and looked the part of a bottom-5 defense in the first half, as the Clippers waltzed to the rim in Phoenix. It got so bad in the second quarter that Stan Van Gundy on the TNT broadcast was in the middle of calling out their defensive effort when they allowed Kawhi Leonard to drive down a wide open lane for a dunk.
That made SVG’s point for him as he was disgusted by what he was seeing, calling the Suns’ effort “pathetic” and questioning if they even want to make the postseason. It has been a dreadful year for the Suns that has featured two of its top three players being in trade rumors ahead of the deadline as they did not hide their attempt to trade for Jimmy Butler. The problem was, Bradley Beal has a no-trade clause so he just refused to be traded and then Kevin Durant publicly made it clear he didn’t want to go back to Golden State. That led The Warriors and Heat to cut the Suns out of talks and Butler was sent to the Warriors, who have been one of the hottest teams in the league since bringing him in.
Phoenix, meanwhile, has gone the other way and it certainly seems like some serious changes are needed in the desert this summer. Mike Budenholzer’s first year in Phoenix has not yielded the intended effects, and it certainly seems like there’s a disconnect between the former Hawks and Bucks coach and the team, particularly Booker and Durant, as recently there have been some signs of discontent between the two stars and their head coach. That kind of lack of trust tends to show up most on the defensive end, and the Suns look the part of a team that just wants to sim to the end of the season.
The offseason will likely arrive sooner than later for a Suns team that is in 11th in the West and, as Van Gundy noted, doesn’t look like a team all that interested in trying to fight for a playoff spot. Once there, Durant will likely get traded for real and they’ll have to figure out what other moves need to be made to right the ship.
