The post-All-star Game run-in for the Phoenix Suns is about to begin, and the team needs to accomplish these five tasks in those 22 games.
Making the playoffs with the highest seed possible to avoid the play-in tournament should be the Phoenix Suns’ primary objective over the final 22 games of the season. However, as the team and fans learned last year, the season is just a warm-up for the postseason, where Champions are crowned and dreams are fulfilled or broken. Thus, beyond making the playoffs, Monty Williams and the Suns need to ready themselves for the grind that is the postseason if Phoenix is to win a title finally. Five keys to the Suns’ postseason readiness must be addressed down this stretch run.
Suns stretch run Key 1 – KD
The most obvious of the keys for Phoenix heading down the stretch is also the most important, but likely the easiest, acclimating to and with Kevin Durant. Players of Durant’s ability certainly change the variables in the Suns’ equation, and determining how to make that math work is William’s number one goal. Once Durant starts to play, that is.
There is good news, regardless of how many games Durant plays, which is that, like Devin Booker and Chris Paul, KD is a baller and a gym rat who is more concerned about playing basketball than all the other distractions surrounding the game. The shared laser-like focus of Booker, Paul, and Durant should enable the Suns to adapt quickly to KD and vice versa.
If you know how to play basketball, when you play with others that know how to play, it is always easier, regardless of what plays you might want to run. Although the time to get right with KD is a priority, this issue should be solved in the gym.