The Phoenix Suns dropped their fourth straight, and all of which were without Kevin Durant or Bradley Beal. Regardless of that fact, they remain poised and confident with the next five games at home.
“These guys are going to stay together… it’s a good group,” Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer said to reporters postgame. “They’ve got a good spirit, they’ve got a good way about them. Through good times and the hard times, you have to keep coming to work, put your individual time, put your team time in, and keep your head up. This group will do that. They’re very good, they’re very resilient.”
With veterans like Durant, Beal, Devin Booker, and Tyus Jones, they know about the ebbs and flows of the season. From winning streaks to losing streaks, and everything in between, this skid doesn’t phase the team. Two of those four have been to the NBA Finals, and only Durant has won it all. In the 82-game season, there are plenty of opportunities for overreactions.
While the Suns found a silver lining despite their injuries, it doesn’t eliminate the impact of Beal and Durant. Teams have been forcing Booker to play through double teams. Essentially, those teams are allowing Phoenix to have anyone beat them who isn’t Booker. For Jones, he’s known as a primary ball handler and facilitator. Since the injuries, he’s taken on an expanded scoring role.
The Suns’ four-game skid highlights struggles
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In Monday’s game, Jones had 18 points, eight assists, and two rebounds, without any turnovers. He also went 4-for-11 from three, after making his first three in the first two quarters. While he’s been initiating the offense for the Big 3, he took on another level. After all, Booker has been double-teamed the past four games and has been limited in his scoring.
As a result, others have been thrown into roles they’re not familiar with. Not to mention, Phoenix has participated in two back-to-back series within one week. They went from Utah to Sacramento and went from Minnesota on Sunday back to Phoenix and played the following day.
Although Phoenix looked a bit sluggish and mad from a missed call in their Sunday game, the Magic ran all over them. From establishing a dominant paint presence to Franz Wagner doing whatever he wanted, it made their fourth consecutive loss even more frustrating.
Tyus Jones understands that this won’t make or break the season
However, Jones and most of the Suns players have experienced this part of the season before. A team playing through injuries, while trying to establish consistency without key players. Despite the uncertainty, Jones remained optimistic that this is simply a stretch of the season.
“It’s a long season, it’s a long season,” Jones said. “There are ups and downs in the season. There are times that we’re going be playing great ball, and there are times when we’re going to be struggling to get a win like right now. You just got to continue to push through, you got to try to just stay somewhere in the middle and just try to continue to improve as a group. We know what our goals are.
“You can’t win a championship in November, so we got to continue to grow each and every day, and just stay with it.”
That championship mentality is still established and was established during Phoenix’s media day at the beginning of the year. While they’re still in the middle of the Western Conference, the loss did highlight some frustration. With a seasoned veteran group and a seasoned coaching staff, they understand it’s a bump in the road. In actuality, it shouldn’t impact their season.
Durant will be reevaluated this week from his calf injury, and Beal’s timetable is unknown. The Suns will take on the New York Knicks on Wednesday, in the ESPN primetime slot. If Phoenix can get one of those two stars back, it’ll produce a higher number in the win column. Still, that resilient mindset will be on full display as long as Budenholzer is coaching this team.