Suns Walloped by Thunder in the latest Reminder of Status

On By Littum

Phoenix Suns is unable to swing big anymore to revive their chances of stride, as further proof at Wednesday’s 140-109 loss to Oklahoma City Thunder before Thursday afternoon’s trade period.

In a game script we have seen a few dozen times since the beginning of last season, Suns shot 60% in the first half, 15% better than OKC, while they knocked down 10 3s and only went -1 on the bad line. Despite that, due to 11 Suns revenue and 10 Thunder -offensive rebounds, OKC tried 15 more shots to leave it within two at the break.

In addition to giveaways, Suns did a good job of moving the ball of OKC’s aggressive rotations, an area with a terrible matchup Phoenix would take advantage of if it took care of the ball enough. The enormous challenge was to maintain efficiency through the uphill math fight that needed to persist.

OKC opened the second half on a 20-2 race, run by Thunder MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who continued to shred a single coverage and several Sun’s revenue. They were down with 16 with 6:21 back in the third quarter, the invitation to fans to close this one off and get to bed early before Deadline Day.

All this offensively in the early walking happened without Kevin Durant, who used to a left ankle sprain, which he suffered from Monday’s loss. While Suns is actually now 1-10 without Durant, they are capable of without him as the first half showed. The problem, regardless of who is or is not on the floor, remains consistency and will continue to be.

Durant dominated the trading deadline Week News Cycle, where the Golden State Warriors aggressively pursuing Durant before it was made known on Wednesday afternoon that Durant would not welcome a reunion in the Bay area. Phoenix explored an agreement that would have sent Durant to Golden State and long-standing goals Jimmy Butler to Miami, a signal that any butler agreement involving Bradley Beal had died in the water, even with Suns offering extra assets to to take on Beal’s contract.

A handful of hours later Butler was traded to the Golden State Warriors, an indication that Beal certainly did not go anywhere, and Durant probably wasn’t.

The original dialogue about the three-team agreement suggested that Suns is only interested in a Durant agreement that has a certain amount of value about the present. It gives a certain level of meaning because of how much Suns’ on-Court product shows how bad the team needs a shake. However, the undeniable fact at this time is that they are miles away from a deep end game that is reasonable and no trait they are able to perform can solve it. That’s before you even get to the logic of maintaining as many future assets as possible with how this is trend.

On a record of 25-25 with the toughest schedule in the league, which was left in a race over Western conference places that has become tighter due to other trading activity, we will see if Suns finally read the room.

Ryan Dunn was taken out of the starting lineup, with Allen and O’Neale, type of ball trader Dunn became draft of defending.

Even with Durant out, Dunn played only 11 minutes before injuring himself in the early fourth quarter. Dunn was quiet in defense, and as he planted his feet to push forward to pursue his task, he immediately came up and accumulated not to emphasize his left foot. He called for a sub and did not return.

Gilgeous-Alexander 50 points in 34 minutes. Tyus Jones held the primary defensive task, and Phoenix let’s hardly see any double or even hard hedges. The lack of defensive versatility from a scheme point of view and schemes that the current list can perform is a great weakness in the team that would only be picked further during the post -season.

A bright spot in the last week of games has been played by Beal, who has clearly found some of his old hoppers scoring. The separation he creates with his first step and hesitation has been good to see. With 25 points, six assists and a turnover on Wednesday, he is an average of 20.2 points per year. Battle in its last five competitions. However, Beal fine -tuned something in the early fourth quarter after coming up hobby. While playing through it, he did not move the same. The deep fight for him to stay healthy for more than a few weeks at a time.

Thunder was without Cason Wallace (right shoulder tribe) and Ajay Mitchell (right toe surgery). This was game # 39 for those without Chet Holmgren (right iliac wing fracture).

Devin Booker has not been able to break this defense in two attempts this season without Durant. He had six revenue with three assists on 3-of-9 shooting in 19 points, which came virtually via 13-of-15 on the bad line.