Their most recent loss is all you need to see to know why.
As the Phoenix Suns entered the second night of a back-to-back coming off of a solid win against the Philadelphia 76ers, the burden on them for their losing streak was somewhat lifted. Sure, in these days of Phoenix basketball, nothing is ever relaxing. A combination of the countless blown fourth-quarter leads, mind-boggling turnovers, and lousy effort has translated to harsh criticism and bad losses.
Nonetheless, Bradley Beal was superb in his first game off the bench, and despite Devin Booker struggling to score, the team put on an offensive show in the second half to secure an easy win. The vibes were slightly, SLIGHTLY better from an optics perspective than they had been lately.
Throughout this “super team” version of the Suns, the team has mostly been able to beat up lower-level competition. In Bradley Beal’s return to Washington last year, the team decimated the Wizards. In their four games against the Utah Jazz and Portland Trailblazers, even if the games were close, Phoenix controlled the matchups and won all four contests.
Sure, they lost to the Brooklyn Nets, but Brooklyn had beaten multiple formidable opponents at that point, and they didn’t gut their roster yet. When they played the New Orleans Pelicans this year and allowed them their first victory in nearly three weeks, it was a disappointing win but appeared an anomaly compared to what the Suns have done in the past; it clearly wasn’t, though. It was just a preview of where the team was going.
The Valley’s most recent loss to the Charlotte Hornets, who were previously losers of ten straight, solidifies how no game is a locked win for the Suns before the buzzer hits zero and they have more points than their opponent. When you have collapsed like the team did in the second quarter and struggle to rebound and defend from a physicality and effort standpoint, you can’t anticipate having any stability in your results from game to game, independent of how well you can produce on offense.
If you want to play contrarian and say, “Well, there’s no for sure wins in the NBA,” that’s fine. But good teams, even average teams, win their gimmie games at a rate where if they lose one, you can toss it up to the fact that the 450 best basketball players in the world are exactly that, and anything can happen. With the Suns, all you know with them is that you know nothing, from their effort to their three-point attempts.
As laid out in our January schedule preview, Phoenix has stretches against some of the weaker opponents in the league.
Going back home for a three-game stand, the Valley will probably be favored in all three of their contests. But just because they are favored does not equate to their likelihood of winning; that will hold when they play the Wizards and the Nets later this month as well.