PHOENIX — Apathy on a team is a virus and the Phoenix Suns are infected with it.
A shorthanded New Orleans Pelicans punked them on Thursday in a 124-116 Suns loss. Phoenix has now lost 10 of its last 12, cementing itself as one of the worst teams in the NBA and one that will likely not even meet the low bar of making the play-in.
As the similarities to last season continue, Phoenix (27-32) had a hard-fought loss to the Pelicans (16-43) last year in a playoff-level atmosphere late in the season that let the Suns know they aren’t good enough. The response after that was an embarrassing split of a back-to-back against the depleted Los Angeles Clippers, as lifeless as you’ll see a group fighting for an automatic postseason spot.
After Tuesday’s overtime loss to the Memphis Grizzlies that included a completely unrecognizable Suns first half full of playing for each other and commitment to the details they are deathly allergic to, Thursday and Friday presented the same question of if it would be déjà vu.
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New Orleans went up 18 early in the second quarter.
The game had zero energy or intensity. There were 22 total free-throw attempts and 17 total turnovers between the two teams.
If anyone was bringing the required amount of physicality, it was the Pelicans. They racked up 10 of their 25 second-chance points in the first quarter and were the latest opponent that understood the assignment versus a Suns team void of a sense of smell when it comes to having a nose for the ball. Ditto for free transition chances.
Even through this nonsense, the Suns are still capable of hanging around in and even winning games because they can chain together ridiculous stretches of shooting efficiency. That is the only thing they do well. It is a matter of how much they hurt themselves in other areas to offset the winning formula of, you know, making more shots than the other team.
That is how Phoenix led by one at halftime and the rest of the night would be determined by if it could avoid being its own worst enemy.
The Suns remained in control at the end of the third quarter thanks to 25-for-49 (51%) shooting in the middle quarters compared to New Orleans sinking down to under 40% over that stretch.
But right on cue, after the Suns only committed five turnovers, they had six in the final frame alone to give New Orleans a jolt. Their loathsome defense stood no chance to execute a game plan to limit Pelicans star Zion Williamson, who feasted all night with 27 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in 31 minutes.
Devin Booker acknowledged that the key bullet points that come with limiting Williamson were covered pregame and not executed.
“You still want to take away what you see him do every night. … Try to keep him going to his right hand and bring the help in early,” Booker said.
When asked what has been going wrong and what needs to change, Booker cited communication.
“It can be fixed with just a little bit more talking, I’d say,” he said. “Things get tough, we get quiet as a team and from my experience and what I’ve seen, that’s not the way to get through it.”
What about the team’s overall mindset?
“Skipping over the details and always taking the ‘get ’em next game’ mentality,” Booker said. “At some point you gotta draw a line and shoulda been drawn a long time ago.”
And when it comes to how the communication needs to improve: “It’s ongoing communication. I’d rather two people say the wrong thing to each other out there than nobody talk at all and leave the grey area,” Booker said.
As for how Booker evaluates himself with the Suns winding up in this position, he started by answering that he always looks at himself first before pausing and saying “but I also talk a lot.”
Kevin Durant was asked about Booker spotlighting communication and said “everything could be better.” He was asked earlier about head coach Mike Budenholzer highlighting the need to stay optimistic and said, “I don’t want to say the wrong thing and people take it out of context so I’m just going to agree that we have to be better.”
Durant, like Booker, took direct accountability when asked what the Suns have to do better. When asked for specifics in what way he has to be better, Durant answered with “everything.”
New Orleans was -9 in the 17 minutes Williamson sat, with the Suns unable to benefit from his minutes restriction. Phoenix’s offense that sleepwalked into 20-for-53 (37.7%) shooting from deep had zero presence at the basket and failed to get downhill once the jumpers began not going in across a fourth quarter it was 2-for-14 on for 3s.
Durant’s 13 3-point attempts is a season high and only the 10th time in his career he’s reached over a dozen, per Stathead. Booker’s 16 tied his career high, which also came against New Orleans last year.
“I think a lot of ’em were good looks. … I think we need to stick with that, just clean things up on the defensive end and keep that same mentality on the other side and we’ll be alright,” Booker said of the shot distribution heavily weighing toward 3s.
This was the first time in 16 games and since early November Williamson cracked the 30-minute threshold, with New Orleans being very strict with his court time.
New Orleans has one of the more talented rosters in the league but has been both decimated by injuries this season and shown a massive inability to mesh through all the bodies coming in and out. Dejounte Murray (right Achilles rupture) and Herb Jones (torn right rotator cuff) were the mainstays sidelined, while Bruce Brown (reconditioning) and Kelly Olynyk (rest) were out after playing major minutes since coming over the Brandon Ingram trade.
Still, a team with its two best players being Williamson and Trey Murphy II is a top duo better than a handful across the league. Williamson looks healthy and is a top 25 guy when he is while Murphy is in the midst of a breakout campaign, posting over 20 PPG while launching over eight triples a night. C.J. McCollum can get it going any night too and contributed 19 points on Thursday while Murphy added 18.
Bradley Beal was out due to tightness in his left calf, the ninth gap of some amount of missed time due to injury this season. This has greatly impacted his ability to assimilate since he got to Phoenix. In his last six games, Beal was averaging 24.7 points per game and shooting 55.3% from the field. Looking at six-game spurts as a Sun, those PPG are tied for his best in the same season, with the other surge coming at the end of last year, per Stathead.
Beal injured his left foot in Saturday’s win over the Chicago Bulls, a moment in which he immediately called for a sub before later returning and not popping up on the injury report for the following two fixtures. That is the same foot where he sprained his great toe and missed the last four games before the All-Star break.
To speculate, it’s not difficult to look at Beal playing through something still bothering him on that leg and a different injury popping up as a result. In addition, that is the same calf Beal strained in mid-November that forced him to sit for five contests. He has now missed 18 games this year.
Beal’s last three appearances came in the starting lineup, putting Phoenix in an awkward position of either reinserting Tyus Jones after benching him or looking elsewhere. Jones was back in, with the emerging Bol Bol holding his spot as well.
The Suns only had 34 points in the paint and went 8-for-10 at the foul line. New Orleans’ defense has statistically been great at denying midrange shots and awful at giving up shots at the rim and 3s, a bold strategy. The Suns were routinely able to find 3s one pass away or an opportunity to take one off the dribble. They obliged often.
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