COVID-19 has taken sports away for the time being, including the Phoenix Suns season. Do we really need it back?
There is a lot of theories floating around out there as to how the NBA will salvage the season. One of which is the Spencer Dinwiddie idea of a 28 team tournament. It would be kind of like an NCAA tournament on steroids. That would bring the Phoenix Suns into the playoffs, but only by default.
Here’s the thing: I’m not sure we need anymore Suns games this season.
As someone that’s missed maybe four out of the 65 games played so far this year, there are only so many times you can watch a team snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory before a little bit of something inside you dies.
When we last saw the Phoenix Suns play, it was a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, a team they had just beaten two games prior. In that game, the Suns were up big before it became uncomfortably close in the fourth quarter. They repeated this template in a win against the Milwaukee Bucks.
These wins came on the heels of two embarrassing losses to the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls, bad teams in their own right, all of this over a long homestand.
Flash forward now to the aforementioned Trail Blazers game, one that was lost 121-105, and one they were never really in. That’s the last taste we have, the bitter pill of a defeat that was never really in question.
As it stands, the Suns’ record is 26-39. That’s good for .400 win percentage. That’s good for 13th place in the Western Conference. That’s not good at all.
Speaking of not good, can the Suns get an NBA-caliber point guard to come off the bench? Please? All the injuries didn’t help, but my goodness. If I have to see Okobo sub in for Rubio and proceed to drive the team into the nearest light pole, I might do the same.
The season hasn’t been all bad, not by a long shot. They’ve already surpassed their win total from a year ago. Coach Williams has changed the way the team has shared the ball. Adding Rubio helped. Booker has taken a turn from being a big-numbers-on-a-bad-team guy to being a good-numbers-on-a-bad-team guy.
Think about it, there’s a difference.
Ayton has played well…when he’s played. And the line-up of Rubio-Booker-Oubre-Bridges-Ayton has been an exciting revelation.
But after a promising start, the wheels fell off the balloon. The air went out of the cart. Pick your clichéd metaphor. The season became a repeat of the last season, and the season before that, and the season before that. Like Groundhog’s Day only not funny.
There’s an idea. Instead of watching more Suns games this season, watch Groundhog’s Day. Watch it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and…
Maybe next year will be better. Get healthy, get a bench, and get a little mad about sucking for so long. Groundhog’s Day Too: This Time It’s Personal. I’ll watch the sequel. I just don’t want to watch this again.