PHOENIX — After knowing where we were headed for quite a while, the Phoenix Suns are a day away from arriving at elimination after a 133-95 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday.
It is now seven straight defeats for the Suns, and the last four have had an inevitable energy to them despite varying sized leads for the opposition.
This one was a true blowout. The Warriors went up double digits less than six minutes in and expanded their lead to 26 by halftime.
“Like you said, there’s no answer for it, there’s no words for it — nothing I can say can really make it better,” Suns guard Devin Booker said of the loss.
Uncoincidentally, Kevin Durant (left ankle sprain) missed his fourth straight game and head coach Mike Budenholzer said pregame it would take a “big leap” in order to play on Wednesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
That is significant for multiple reasons.
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Firstly, Phoenix is eliminated by one more loss or a Dallas Mavericks win. The season likely ends that night, especially if Durant is out. Second, Durant needs to play in three more games in order to qualify for All-NBA. There are three games left in the season.
Golden State is now 22-6 since acquiring Jimmy Butler, who made it known through various channels that Phoenix was his preferred destination. The Suns sure tried to make it happen, at one point even making Durant part of the talks, before nothing materialized.
This naturally presents the “what if?” question, and while Butler would have made a sizable difference for the Suns, what they completely lack at the moment is what Golden State has had cemented for a decade.
“They built a culture and environment that they’ve sustained for a long time — they don’t expect nothing less than a championship and understand what goes into that,” Booker said of the Warriors. “It showed.”
The Warriors’ culture, identity and style of play has been reignited by Butler. The kindling and sticks were all set up just waiting for someone to light it up, while Phoenix wouldn’t even know where to look for the materials to start that fire.
That gigantic gap is why the Warriors won this game so comfortably. Not because they have more talent.
Stephen Curry was kind enough to put on somewhat of a show for the many Warriors fans in attendance, contributing 25 points, nine rebounds and six assists in 26 minutes. Brandin Podziemski added 22 points in 22 minutes.
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