With last night’s 128-103 blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Phoenix Suns fell to 43-31 on the year and sit in seventh place in the Western Conference.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!“We got 8 more games left,” said Suns’ superstar Kevin Durant, who finished with a game-high 26 points against OKC (51-22), postgame. “Hopefully we get an opportunity to play in the postseason. Take it a game at a time.”
Phoenix’s remaining eight games are against teams with a combined winning percentage of .634%. The Suns are currently 1.5 games back of the Mavericks for the sixth seed. They also don’t own the tiebreaker (need to get to six to avoid the play-in).
The Sacramento Kings are half a game back of Phoenix for the No. 6 spot with one matchup remaining between these teams. The Los Angeles Lakers are a full two games back of Phoenix and have the tiebreaker.
With all this being said, fans have no clue where the Suns will end up at this point. They get destroyed by a very good OKC team, but missing its best player, one game after convincingly defeating the defending-champion Nuggets 104-97.
This Nuggets’ win came after the Suns had their worst loss of the season, a 104-102 defeat to the then 16-56 San Antonio Spurs missing Victor Wembanyama. The Suns dropped to 1-3 this season against San Antonio with this loss.
After both the Spurs’ game and last night’s game, coach Frank Vogel called the losses “unacceptable.”
“I don’t know, to be honest,” Durant said of the Suns’ up-and-down season. “I mean, I wish I could talk about the inconsistencies. It’s a lot of times, we don’t make shots some nights. At times, we foul too much. It’s the subtleties of the game that can turn the game for you, and the small parts of the game sometimes you overlook and it might come back to bite us.
“But we see where we are when we’re at our best, and we see where we are when we’re at our worst. And sometimes, it’s good to evaluate both sides and figure out who you are. I know it’s late in the season, but you can never stop searching to be better as a group and as an individual.”
(via AZ Central’s Duane Rankin)
"We got 8 more games left. Hopefully we get an opportunity to play in the postseason. Take it a game at a time." Kevin Durant.
If playoffs started today, Suns host Sacramento in 7-8 game for 7th seed in West. Loser plays 9-10 Lakers-Warriors winner at home for 8th seed. #Suns pic.twitter.com/LQdJVUSPim
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) March 30, 2024
Phoenix next travels to play the New Orleans Pelicans (45-28) Monday night, the last contest of its five-game road trip. New Orleans has gone 12-6 since the All-Star break. The Suns sit 2.5 games back of them, but with two more head-to-head meetings remaining against them including Monday.
Durant remains confident in the Suns despite their inconsistencies.
“We’ve had different lineups throughout the whole year with guys getting injured, coming in and out of the lineup,” Durant said. “I think for the most part, we understand each other. We see each other’s tendencies. That’s what you want from a group is to starting to understand each other more. We’re doing that.”
"We've had different lineups with guys getting injured, coming in and out of the lineup. For the most part, we understand each other. We see each other's tendencies. That's what you want from a group is to start to understand each other more. We're doing that." Kevin Durant #Suns pic.twitter.com/cMpcEMS9fh
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) March 30, 2024
Kevin Durant passes Kobe Bryant for fifth most 25+ point games in NBA history
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
