The Phoenix Suns are in a very bleak spot down 3-0 in the first round to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and endless questions are swirling on how they got themselves into this position.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!People have grown concerned about Kevin Durant’s leadership ability throughout the past few years, and that really boiled over this season.Â
On a team with Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, Durant had a different pick for the leader of the team.
“The coach is the leader,” Durant said at practice today.
What about on the floor?
“We all speak up and talk, but the leader is the coach,” Durant said.
Fans seem to have lost all confidence in first-year coach Frank Vogel after the way the Suns have underachieved this season. Last night, a faint “Fire Vogel” chant was heard in the fourth quarter at Footprint Center.
Given what Durant said about Vogel, Durant then described the message Vogel gave to his team heading into tomorrow night’s Game 4 matchup.
“We got another opportunity tomorrow, seize it, take advantage of it, go out there and play extremely hard,” Durant said.
Durant added that players are “listening, like we always do, in practice and trying to get better.”
Durant said that he “didn’t sleep” after yesterday’s 126-109 loss to the Timberwolves, but is embracing coach’s message about being down 3-0.
“Just stay strong, mentally stay strong,” Durant said. “Look forward. Just have that mentality (of) keep fighting.”
Durant was infamously swept in the first round of the 2022 playoffs with the Brooklyn Nets against the Boston Celtics, so he has been in this spot fairly recently.
No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit (0-151).
Game 4 is on Sunday at 6:30 p.m. MST. The Suns will be looking to avoid their first series sweep since 1999, when the Blazers beat them 3-0 in a best-of-5 first-round series. They haven’t been swept 4-0 since 1989 when the Lakers did so in the Western Conference Finals.
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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
