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The Phoenix Suns are in no position to be swinging big anymore to revive their chances at contending, as further evidenced by Wednesday’s 140-109 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder ahead of Thursday afternoon’s trade deadline.
In a game script we’ve seen a few dozen times since the beginning of last season, the Suns shot 60% in the first half, 15% better than OKC while knocking down 10 3s and only going -1 at the foul line. Despite that, because of 11 Suns turnovers and 10 Thunder offensive rebounds, OKC attempted 15 more shots to let it be within two at halftime.
Besides the giveaways, the Suns were doing a great job moving the ball off OKC’s aggressive rotations, an area of a terrible matchup Phoenix would exploit if it took care of the ball enough. The immense challenge was to maintain the efficiency through the uphill math fight that was going to persist.
OKC opened the second half on a 20-2 run, fueled by Thunder MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continuing to shred single coverage and more Suns turnovers. They were down 16 with 6:21 remaining in the third quarter, the invitation for fans to shut this one off and get to bed early ahead of deadline day.
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All of this offensively in the early-going was happening without Kevin Durant, who was nursing a left ankle sprain he suffered in Monday’s loss. While the Suns are indeed now 1-10 without Durant, they are capable without him, as the first half showed. The issue no matter who is or isn’t on the floor continues to be consistency and will continue to be.
Durant dominated the trade deadline week news cycle, with the Golden State Warriors aggressively pursuing Durant before it was made known on Wednesday afternoon that Durant would not welcome a reunion in the Bay area. Phoenix was exploring a deal that would have sent Durant to Golden State and long-time target Jimmy Butler to Miami, a signal that any Butler deal involving Bradley Beal was dead in the water, even with the Suns offering up extra assets to take on Beal’s contract.
A handful of hours later, Butler was traded to the Golden State Warriors, an indication that Beal certainly wasn’t going anywhere and Durant probably wasn’t, either.
The original dialogue on the three-team deal suggested the Suns are only interested in a Durant deal that has a certain amount of value revolving around the present. That makes some level of sense because of how much the Suns’ on-court product shows how badly the team needs a shakeup. The undeniable fact at this point, though, is they are miles away from a deep playoff run being reasonable and no moves they are capable of executing can fix that. That’s before even getting to the logic of maintaining as many future assets as possible with how this is trending.
At a record of 25-25 with the toughest schedule in the league left in a race for Western Conference spots that has become tighter due to other trade activity, we’ll see if the Suns at long last read the room.
Ryan Dunn was taken out of the starting lineup, with Allen and O’Neale slotting in. Phoenix had an awful shooting night the last time it was in OKC, likely the motivation for moving Dunn to the bench, but Gilgeous-Alexander is the exact type of ball-handler Dunn was drafted to defend.
Even with Durant out, Dunn only played 11 minutes before injuring himself in the early fourth quarter. Dunn was at a standstill on defense, and as he planted his feet to push forward to pursue his assignment, he immediately came up hobbling to not put weight on his left foot. He called for a sub and did not return.
Gilgeous-Alexander 50 points in 34 minutes. Tyus Jones held the primary defensive assignment and Phoenix allowed SGA to barely see any doubles or even hard hedges. The lack of defensive versatility from a scheme standpoint and schemes the current roster can execute is a major weakness of the team that would only get picked apart further in the postseason.
A bright spot of the last week of games has been the play of Beal, who clearly has found some of his old bounce as a scorer. The separation he’s creating with his first step and hesitation dribbles has been good to see. With 25 points, six assists and one turnover on Wednesday, he’s averaging 20.2 points per game in his last five contests. Beal, however, tweaked something in the early fourth quarter after coming up hobbling. While he played through it, he wasn’t moving the same. The deep struggle for him to remain healthy for more than a few weeks at a time persists.
The Thunder were without Cason Wallace (right shoulder strain) and Ajay Mitchell (right toe surgery). This was game No. 39 for them without Chet Holmgren (right iliac wing fracture).
Devin Booker hasn’t been able to crack this defense in two tries this season without Durant. He had six turnovers with three assists on 3-of-9 shooting for 19 points that largely came via 13-of-15 at the foul line.
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suns walloped by thunder in latest reminder of current status
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