The Phoenix Suns endured one of the lowest points in a rollercoaster season on Monday, as they fell 104-102 to the San Antonio Spurs. This despite having beaten the same opponent a couple of nights previously for their third straight win.
The Spurs were also without their star player in Victor Wembanyama - and given the Suns have one of the hardest remaining schedules left in the league - this was a major opportunity missed by the team. One made even worse by the fact both Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic exited the game with finger and ankle sprains respectively.
The inability of the Suns to put an inferior opponent to the sword was painful to watch and in the aftermath, Beal did not mince his words on where this group is at.
Fans have waited patiently all season for the "Big 3" of Beal, Devin Booker and Kevin Durant to put it all together and go on the type of run to strike fear into the rest of the Western Conference. Instead the Suns are languishing in the play-in spots and look more likely to exit the postseason in the first round than make even the conference finals.
Which made Beal's response to the defeat when asked about by Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic as brutally honest as it was refreshing. Beal didn't make any excuses, instead owning up to defeat by admitting;
"We definitely came in here and thought it was going to be easy. No Wemby (Wembanyama), just got our ass kicked. They came out aggressive, like coach told us they would, and we didn't respond. We didn't."Bradley Beal
The Phoenix Suns were up 29 BIG! vs Spurs last night 9 minutes left in the 4th, Isaiah Thomas is on a 10 day Frank Vogel.. let the guy play he signed to play this is honestly sad and weird I think it’s personal. #nba pic.twitter.com/IFBmmiBvGS
— theblacksuperman (@theblacksupes) March 24, 2024
What is worrying at this stage of the season is that the Suns would think any game would be easy, when most of their games have been anything but. The Spurs only have 16 wins all season, and three of them have come against this Suns outfit. To continue to underestimate them, or any other team for that matter, partly explains why the Suns are where they are at this point.
Although Beal leaving with around three minutes to go in the game didn't help - he's been playing more as their leading point guard to positive results recently - the inability of the Suns offense to blow past the Spurs was of massive concern. When the game got tight and Spurs edged back into it, both Booker and Durant took turns hoisting up shots.
Granted there are few players in the entire world outside of those two you would want trying to make a difficult shot to win a game, but it was a needless position to be in. Grayson Allen - who is having a career year and leads the league in 3-point shooting percentage - was unable to get the Suns over the hump in this one either.
There are three games remaining for this team on their current five game road trip. It is not yet known if Beal or Nurkic will miss time with their injuries, but it would seem more likely than unlikely that they'll be forced to sit. To not be taking opponents seriously and getting your ass kicked by an rebuilding team at this stage of the campaign, and for the third time this season? Simply not good enough.