Los Angeles – “Frustrating.”
It was the word multiple Suns threw on Sunday afternoon to describe their loss against Lakers. And it was like their season.
“It’s frustrating. We show that we can sometimes do the right thing, and sometimes we don’t do it, “said Booker.
The inconsistency was a characteristic of the Suns this season. Phoenix entered Sunday of one of his best performances, a Friday evening victory against Sacramento, with the chance to move in a half match of the Mavericks for the 10th seeded and the last place of play in the West. The Suns were part of a team of digital disadvantages just at home after a long trip on the road to the East Coast. Everything was aligned for the Suns.
And they came out flat. It was the tired Lakers that made a 23-2 race at the first quarter to lead up to 20 years. Although Phoenix obtained this advance to a figure with a few figures in the fourth quarter, the game never felt in doubt (Los Angeles won 107-96, a match that Luka Doncic checked at 33 points).
Phoenix was freezing from the opening tip – he pulled 6 out of 21 in total (28.6%) in the first quarter, 1 out of 10 of 3 – performing an offense, as they did all season, which often uses Booker or Bradley Beal as the main shooting creator and has more like relief valve at the end of the shooting clock. The Sun problem was the early offensive frustration in all aspects of the game. He also bled during the bench.
“I think we are good when we make fire,” said Booker. “We still have to find a way to go through the moment when the offensive does not work and hang our hat in La Défense.”
Defensive Sun Mixtures
Phoenix was unable to suspend his hat in his defense all season – there are 27th from the League in a defensive note, and during their last 10 games, the defense was 3.5 points for 100 possessions worse than this average.
“I think that defensively is one of the things that stand out,” said coach Mike Budenholzer, talking why the Suns were frustrating all season. “We are just not good defensively. We were able to find a way to improve at the end of the courtyard. »»
Although the defense is the most obvious source of problems, the problems of the Suns are larger than one side of the court. It is not a team that is an easy solution.
“I think it’s more than one thing, I think it’s several things,” said Booker. “And just internally, in places, we show that we can do it. This is what makes him even more frustrating. We have a match like (Friday victory against Sacramento), then we enter and we miss a few strokes, and that affects our defense, which affects our attack just after that, so it is a domino effect.
“If you play with energy and efforts, you can sleep well at night despite everything. And I don’t think we are doing this right now.
Changes to come in summer
For a man, the Suns say that they do not give up this season.
Phoenix is 1.5 return match of a Dallas team extremely in digital disadvantage and difficulty for the last place of play, one that the Suns should be able to obtain. While Phoenix should then win two games on the road to get out of the head n ° 10 and in the playoffs – where the award would be Oklahoma City in the first round – the Suns are not tanking. (That they do not control their own choice of recovery are part of it, unlike a team like Philadelphia, the Suns have no motivation in throwing in the towel).
“There are still 18 games left …” said Budenholzer, without realizing that the real number is 14 for Phoenix. “We have to get into the game, we have to enter the playoffs and try to do something there. There is a lot of talent in our locker room. There are a lot of fights in our locker room.
Whatever happens with the pursuit of the seeded n ° 10, the Suns should see major changes in alignment this summer – the most expensive list in the history of the league which is missing the playoffs will do so.
Phoenix and Kevin during To find him a new house via trade. The Suns should obtain quality trait choices in this profession and can attach one (or two) to Bradley Beal and his contract to see if he could be moved (Beal always has a clause without exchange but is at least open to discuss a move this summer). It was just a season, but Mike Budenholzer’s work is not sure.
Things will be different, do not expect a reconstruction. The plan, according to the owner Mat IshbiaIt is “recharging” the list around Booker and make him the star.
Fans of Suns hope that the plan works better than what has led to this frustrating season.
