The Phoenix Suns have stumbled out of the gates post All-Star break, with injuries to their best players the main reason as to why.
Head coach Jordan Ott doesn't want any excuses however, and he is surely alarmed by the fact this team has now lost the "never say die" attitude that made them so tough to beat earlier this season.
Suns need to rediscover hard edge needed to win games
Having talent on your roster sure does help, and it will be great for Phoenix to get Devin Booker back on the court again from his hip strain soon.
But this team were picking up wins earlier in the campaign thanks to the effort and energy of guys like Dillon Brooks and Collin Gillespie.
Overlooked and underrated, yet right in your face for 48 minutes and making every possession tough for the opponents. That has now vanished, at a time when this group needs it the most.
From Tuesday:
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) February 25, 2026
Suns coach Jordan Ott when asked about Mark Williams (2 pts on 3 FGAs, 4 rebs, 2 TOs, 2 blks in 18 minutes): "In general, we just didn't come back out the 3rd quarter. We've talked about it pretty honest with our group, even today before shootaround. Had a group… pic.twitter.com/Mqx9MmNkkq
Take the 97-81 loss to the Boston Celtics as the most recent, and dispiriting, example of this. There is zero reason why coach Ott should have the following to say in the aftermath;
"You've got to want to go get wins in the NBA cause that other team does too, especially a really good team and I thought they (Celtics) came out with more force there in the third quarter."
Does that sound like the Suns team you remember from earlier in the season? It's not like they can blame fatigue either, they added three rookies to the rotation who should be fighting for more minutes.
Perhaps the absence of Jordan Goodwin is being felt even more than anticipated, he really does bring defensive juice to that second unit, but they can't blame him alone for suddenly not fighting one every possession.
Maybe this is just who this team was always supposed to be, but the heart of Brooks and the elite offensive play of Booker masked those shortcomings.
It's not like fans had massive expectations either, but when you've shown you're able to beat the teams you're supposed to and also come out on top against more fancied opponents on certain nights, when that gets taken away it is hard to accept.
There is no quick fix for this either, because coach Ott has done a wonderful job on both ends of the court of getting the most out of this rotation.
He now needs them to want it on the level they've already shown they can play to, and if that doesn't happen then the play-in tournament is the best case scenario to end the season.