One man was conspicuously absent for the Phoenix Suns on the court during crunch time of their 115-111 loss to the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night: Jalen Green. Green was on the bench for the entirety of the fourth quarter, as he did not return to action after he was subbed out of play by head coach Jordan Ott on the 4:58 mark of the third period.

This, however, was nothing more than a tactical decision from Ott. The Suns head coach talked to the media after the game and explained that he simply wanted to go small — preferring to roll with Royce O'Neale (who played the entirety of the fourth), Devin Booker, Grayson Allen, Collin Gillespie, and recent returnee Dillon Brooks to close out the game.

“[Green is] not injured. We just decided to go smaller, play smaller and use some other guys in that stretch that he's normally in and then we just decided to stay with [Allen], Book and then the three wings,” Ott said, per Duane Rankin of AZ Central.

It did not help Green at all that he was not on point on Tuesday night, scoring just eight points on 3-10 shooting in the 20 minutes he played. The Suns were rolling in the third and they felt as though having the defensive versatility was what they needed over Green's offensive contributions.

Suns are fading fast in the playoff race

Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) and guard Jalen Green (4) against the Denver Nuggets at Mortgage Matchup Center.
© Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

At this point, the Suns are just about locked into the play-in tournament. They fell to 42-34 with their most recent loss to the Magic, which puts them 4.5 games behind the Houston Rockets for the sixth spot with six games to go. That is as close to an insurmountable deficit as it can get.

The thing now for the Suns to aim for is to not fall out of the seventh spot. The Los Angeles Clippers are only 2.5 games back, and they can close that gap to 1.5 games with a win over the Portland Trail Blazers later tonight.