The Suns’ slow burn down the standings continues

The Phoenix Suns are still a few weeks away from seriously jeopardizing their 2024-2025 season, setting the table for a dramatic roster shakeup in the next seven months if not enough changes to their game. And if it keeps up to this degree, we won’t even have to wait until summer.

Phoenix fell to a 14-14 record on Monday after a 117-90 loss to a Denver Nuggets team that had just played through overtime the night before.

The Suns were without Devin Booker (left groin soreness) and Grayson Allen (concussion protocol), two heavy absences, but ones that shouldn’t allow their quality of play to dip anywhere near what we saw.

Denver reached 100 points through three quarters, continuing a run of reprehensible defense by the Suns.

What hurts this team the most right now on that end is in the secondary elements. There is a clear effort and intention with most possessions when the initial action takes place. But the rotations after the play start to develop, and attention to detail with spacing and rebounds in particular, is nowhere to be found. To make it more identifiable, it’s these moments where it feels like everyone on defense is just standing there watching as the ball goes through the basket.

Add in terrible transition defense, especially at finding shooters, for a team that turns it over a lot, and you can quickly become a bottom tier NBA defense. All of this comes before you get to the limitations of the guard.

Get on your soapbox and plug this trade here and this rotation pick there. It really doesn’t matter, with all due respect to your search for solutions.

Phoenix’s first quarter included a lazy finish on Nikola Jokic after the 50% 3-point shooter picked up his dribble, was stripped from Jokic off the ball inside the paint, several foul rotations on the Nuggets who would score on a layup and two buckets for offensive rebounds that should never happen.

One most obvious path toward getting a leg up on the Nuggets is to take advantage of the Nuggets’ horrendous offensive problems when Jokic leaves the floor. The offensive rating drops from 122.4 to 97.6, according to NBA statistics. Denver went +2 in the first half, which was made possible by an unacceptable drop in offensive execution as Phoenix looked disorganized and without a plan.

The Suns were down by four at halftime when it felt like they were going to be down by 20. Usually that means a team is down by 20. Any chance of a renewed mood out of the break began with a 9-2 Denver run that included a horrible pick-six turnover by Kevin Durant and an inexplicable possession in semi-transition defense when no one stuck with Michael Porter Jr. at the 3-point line, the man who had 17 points in the first half.

Last year’s fourth-quarter disasters clearly got to Phoenix’s head, multiplying its biggest flaws of execution and organization.

But that’s when the game is on the line. Third quarters, especially in the first few minutes, are all about energy and focus. That’s it. Seriously. Just those two things. So this period, now becoming Phoenix’s weakness, speaks volumes for what the team is right now, just as the fourth quarter woes did for that group.

Indeed, the Suns were down 20 less than seven minutes into the third quarter.

The Nuggets, without Jamal Murray (right ankle sprain), improved to a 5-1 record without their point guard. They are by no means having a perfect season, but clearly have the fight in them to contend when shorthanded. Phoenix needs a search and rescuer to find it in himself.

Royce O’Neale, who started in place of Booker, was working his way around a screen midway through the third quarter when a collision forced him to the ground in pain. It wasn’t a violent clash, a clash that looked more awkward than anything, either with O’Neale overextending his right leg or catching a knee in the back of it. O’Neale grabbed the inside of his upper right leg before generally feeling the upper part of his thigh. He initially tried to limp back up the court before going back down, forcing the Suns to call a timeout.

While O’Neale did return, it’s worth noting given how irreplaceable he is. Looking strictly at consistency this year, rather than the overall contribution of each player, O’Neale can only be matched by Durant this season. He has been extremely solid all year and is having a career-best season statistically. Phoenix is ​​really feeling the pressure when Allen is out given the gap in impact minutes between him and the other options in the wing rotation, so that will be even more the case if O’Neale misses his first game of the season.

It’s time for a tummy tuck. For a unit that by all accounts seems to enjoy playing with each other, it’s time to see if they can really dig in as a collective to figure out these issues. As an example on the other side of the country, the Orlando Magic responded to the news of losing Mo Wagner for the year (while also without Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner) by beating the Boston Celtics.

Those guys compete like they’re going to run themselves into the ground for each other. We have no indication that these suns are able to play along any decisionlet alone reach that level.

There is no boring middle ground here. They will either fold in spectacular fashion or rise above it in a surge toward the playoffs. Two months in with six weeks until the trade deadline, which outcome would you bet on?