Well, if Monday wasn’t the encapsulation of this failed era of Phoenix Suns basketball, we should fear what comes next to top it.
Worst of all, when the game was up for grabs, it was Booker and Durant who came up short.
Since the 9-2 start to the year carried by Durant in clutch time, the Suns haven’t had too many of these tests.
The Suns had 10 as a team, playing a small-ball unit for the last 15 minutes of the game.
Head coach Mike Budenholzer has begun heavily leaning into Booker, Durant, Beal, Allen and O’Neale, which comes at the expense of those three.
If Monday wasn’t the epitome of this unsuccessful chapter in Phoenix Suns basketball history, we should be afraid of what will surpass it.
Devin Booker and Kevin Durant both became the franchise’s all-time top scorers on a night that should have been memorable, but a 121-119 overtime loss to the Portland Trail Blazers overshadowed their greatness.
Yes, in their last nine games, the Blazers have improved to 8-1. However, they are now 21-29 and have just defeated the Suns twice in a row, which is Phoenix’s formal farewell before the schedule becomes extremely challenging.
Worst of all, Booker and Durant failed to win the game when it was in play.
Both of them missed their next four open 3-pointers after making their first shot of the extra five minutes. Booker fouled on a 3-point attempt with 5:01 seconds remaining, giving the Suns another chance to tie the score, similar to the end of regulation when Portland failed to foul up a three. This came as the Suns needed a bail-out down three.
But Booker missed his third free throw to tie the score, and that was that.
It was the Suns’ first closely contested game in nine games, despite a few recent close wins or losses. In Detroit, Booker and Durant went supernova during that victory. The Suns haven’t faced many of these tests since Durant carried them to a 9-2 start to the season in clutch time. That was clearly visible.
In this one, Durant took the closer position once more, but Phoenix was unable to generate enough stops to gain the lead and had to make a poor strategic choice by not fouling up three with fourteen seconds left. After a fantastic extra pass by Booker, Royce O’Neale responded with a three-pointer to tie the score and force overtime.
Jerami Grant drew free throws on a mismatch with less than two minutes remaining in overtime, tying the score for Portland. He missed the second, but Deandre Ayton caught the loose ball after he made the first. The Blazers led by three with 1:39 remaining after guard Anfernee Simons’ own foul was called for two more free throws. After a broken possession, Durant had an open corner three, but he missed.
At 0:32, Durant helped Bradley Beal at the rim for a two-pointer, giving Phoenix one more opportunity. The Suns missed two chances to grab a defensive rebound because they needed to make one stop to avoid the free-throw nonsense Portland would undoubtedly start on a second attempt.
The Portland bench yelled for a shot clock reset on a shot that never hit the rim in the first, forcing the officials to halt play. Meanwhile, Phoenix left Simons wide open with the ball and 4 points and 5 seconds remaining on the shot clock after Mason Plumlee’s rebound fell out of his hands. The Blazers received a horrible attempt from Grant at three that was completely off, and the review left that as the clock. Ayton grabbed the long rebound after it had been in the air long enough for defenses to miss it. Both of Ayton’s free throws were successful.
Ayton was up again with five points and five ticks remaining after Beal was purposefully fouled and sunk his two. He then converted again.
Booker missed the third of the three free throws that were awarded to him at that point. The Suns were essentially done with three ticks remaining and lacked a timeout. In a fitting conclusion, Ayton missed his second, but Portland grabbed the loose ball.
Once again, the Suns were dominated by their three top scorers and were unable to play as a unit to encourage a better performance from the entire team. Beal scored his most points since January with 25, Durant added 27, and Booker scored 34. Nine. Four rebounds, five assists, four steals, and fourteen points were all contributed by O’Neale.
On Monday, Portland had just six players in double figures, compared to seven on Saturday. With twenty rebounds and twenty points, nine of which came on the offensive glass, Ayton was the most impressive player. The Suns played a small-ball unit for the final fifteen minutes of the game and had ten players overall.
In less than three minutes, the Suns fell behind 14-5. These points included three baskets at the rim from Portland’s Deni Avdija, a pick-six turnover on a pass 35 feet from the basket, a blocked Suns jumper, a Suns turnover on a 60-foot pass over Booker’s head, and a Portland three off an offensive rebound.
Booker scored nine points in a short period of time, and Phoenix closed the gap to four points. At this stage of the season, however, the need to recover from terrible runs against subpar opposition takes precedence over the skill displayed. This is mind-numbingly necessary.
Likewise, the Suns’ early turnovers were. In addition to the two that were already painted out, there were extra instances in the first quarter where the ball handler hesitated to throw the pass that wasn’t there before throwing it nonetheless.
Given that it’s the NBA, Phoenix shouldn’t be shocked if any team plays aggressive and physical off the ball, but it stayed in Portland after witnessing that exact effort in a Saturday loss.
However, after Portland, the league’s second-worst turnover team, only had three turnovers in the first three quarters on Saturday, the Suns finally found their own source of annoyance by forcing six turnovers in the first 15 minutes. After making just ten 3-pointers in the previous game, Phoenix was getting out in transition and making three-pointers, going 8-for-12 in those 15 minutes.
Portland was totally out of sync after that, which increased the lead to four. In the first 10:40 of the second quarter, the Blazers scored 11 points, allowing Phoenix to increase its lead to nine points. The Suns were ahead by six at the half, and it seemed like both teams should have lost by twenty. This is regrettably indicative of Phoenix’s current situation, as Portland is terrible.
Booker’s game-winning open 3-point jumper from the corner with 7:54 remaining in the third quarter gave the Suns their largest lead of the game (seven), and Portland went on a 28-15 run to end the quarter.
While struggling to generate stops, Phoenix resumed making three-pointers in the final frame to stay in it—another nice microcosm of the season.
Durant was 46 minutes and Booker was 47. Durant grimaced for the remainder of overtime following his first make of the game. He was obviously not moving correctly, but it was unclear what was upsetting him. Phoenix must now shoulder that burden and travel to Oklahoma City on Wednesday, the final game before the trade deadline.
Nick Richards and Ryan Dunn, two of the team’s highlights from the previous month, each played 12 and 18 minutes. The offseason’s biggest addition, Tyus Jones, only saw 17 minutes of action. The three have suffered as a result of head coach Mike Budenholzer’s increased reliance on Booker, Durant, Beal, Allen, and O’Neale.
