Be honest, this fear was always lurking in your subconscious. The signs were there. The Phoenix Suns vacillated between contention and concern throughout the 2023-24 season, but the panic meter has now gone kablooey after their latest setback.
A 122-116 Game 4 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Footprint Center on Sunday night forces fans to accept what they may have known for a while. This Suns team cannot survive on their talent alone.
But many people, myself included, were still living in denial about their ceiling. Phoenix's seemingly pivotal road victory in the regular season finale versus the Wolves earned it plenty of national support going into the NBA Playoffs. Minnesota used that humbling defeat as fuel, though, and immediately halted its opponent's momentum.
Following three double-digit losses, a Game 4 victory was unlikely to alter this series, but the city deserved to see its beloved franchise put up a fight befitting of its massive payroll. And that it is exactly what the home crowd witnessed.
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker made one remarkable shot after another and the squad worked hard defensively despite mixed results. For the first time since that April 14 blowout win in Minnesota, Phoenix looked like a formidable foe for an entire contest. That is little consolation, though.
The desert is still mourning the end of this once-promising NBA campaign, so we will do our part to help the fan base get some closure. In order to do that, we must put a bow on this Game 4 loss. Here are the Suns players most to blame for Sunday's disheartening outcome.
Suns needed to do much better on the boards
There are multiple poor performances that will be singled out as we get further into this, but we are going to spread the accountability to begin the proceedings. The team could not mount sufficient resistance inside, both defensively and on the glass.
The Timberwolves out-rebounded the Suns, 44-33, and constantly extended possessions with a whopping 17 offensive boards. This clear advantage forced Phoenix to further expend energy in this do-or-die clash.
Durant recorded a team-high nine rebounds and center Jusuf Nurkic, who played only 20 minutes because of foul trouble, grabbed eight, but a more collectively strong presence was needed to combat Minnesota's size and hustle. While it is obvious this was not an ideal matchup for Phoenix, head coach Frank Vogel and company had to devise a better game plan against the No. 3 seed.
Physicality wins the day in the NBA Playoffs, and the Suns were simply lacking in that area in the rebounding department during Game 4.
Eric Gordon did not make good use of his large workload
With Grayson Allen out with an ankle injury, there was additional pressure on the bench to provide a scoring punch. That responsibility largely fell on Eric Gordon. And he did not answer the call.
The 16th-year guard played 39 minutes but failed to have much of an impact on the game, or at least a positive one. Gordon scored six points on 2-of-7 shooting and contributed to Phoenix's overall defensive shortcomings (Wolves shot 41.7 percent from 3-point land). More than his paltry statistics, though, the former Sixth Man of the Year misfired in key spots.
Gordon had multiple open looks from distance, which could have swung momentum in the Suns' favor in the second half, but he was unable to knock them down. While there should be more blame placed on the organization for expecting the 35-year-old to carry an important role at this stage of his career, Eric Gordon must also be held responsible for not coming through on this night.
Bradley Beal brutally stumbles in Suns' Game 4 loss
You knew this was coming. All of the issues we have discussed above apply to Bradley Beal, and because of his stature and salary, they are tremendously magnified. The three-time All-Star vowed he would not be swept in the NBA Playoffs for the first time ever but was arguably the biggest reason Phoenix lost the series-clincher.
Despite being a positive asset for much of the previous three games, Beal looked completely out of sorts on Sunday. He committed six turnovers, (including a couple of costly ones late in the fourth quarter), was just 4-of-13 from the field, got torched on defense and fouled out of the contest. Translation: Yikes, Yikes, Yikes and Yikes.
Making matters worse was his body language, which looked just as bad as his stat line. A seemingly tense reaction to head coach Frank Vogel capped off what was undeniably the low point of his first season with the Suns. Bradley Beal coveted the opportunity to be on a more competitive team after experiencing a half-decade of futility with the Washington Wizards.
Instead, however, his season ends on a familiarly disappointing note. There is still hope that he can be a valuable member of a successful franchise, but this latest outing gives fans' just cause to worry. Ideally, Game 4, and this first-round series as a whole, will be the wake-up call he and the Suns need heading into the 2024-25 campaign.
Because if not, fans will be sporting far more battle scars by the time this era of Phoenix basketball concludes.
Follow Us
Subscribe