PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns suffered another health blow in Friday night’s 139-122 loss to the New York Knicks, but the team’s recent problems in simple areas go far beyond the cumulative injuries. There are many problems.
If we want to win, we have to start taking our defense seriously. If so, attention to that mentality should increase dramatically. Suns head coach Frank Vogel said more or less the same thing.
“We just have to decide if we’re going to take care of our business on that side of the ball,” he said. “Because what we’re doing isn’t good enough. We’re not tough enough and we’re not careful enough.”
Kevin Durant provided a great example of how fundamental these issues are.
“Shooters, get up to them and let them dribble. Like Quentin Grimes, he can’t make six threes. He doesn’t dribble at all,” Durant said, 17 of New York’s 29. When asked about his successful 3-point shooting night (58.6%), he answered: “I feel like he doesn’t have any free throws on the season and he doesn’t have any assists, but is he up 3s? That’s something we can’t get. Frustrating. But I think we can work something out.”
Like Wednesday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets, this one drew more attention than most games.
Less than five minutes into the game, Bradley Beal severely twisted his right ankle after making a 3-point shot and collapsed in severe pain. Knicks guard Donte DiVincenzo was given a flagrant 1 foul for interfering with Beal’s landing zone as a shooter, but Beal’s injury is exactly the kind of injury the league is trying to prevent with the rule. Beal dropped a free throw before going to the locker room and was immediately disqualified from the rest of the game.
Just one game after the Big 3’s debut, the trio played just 24 minutes, but Beal’s injury will likely keep him out for quite some time.
Vogel was then asked about how the team will survive this period, both his own play and the rotation while dealing with injuries.
“Urgency and patience. They can contradict each other, but we need both,” Vogel said. “We have to have big-picture patience to work together and move in the right direction, and we also have to have the urgency to get it done as quickly as possible.”
The Suns weren’t as poor defensively as pessimists expected to start the year by looking at the roster. What they’re messing with is what good to great teams have up to a T point, regardless of how good or bad the team’s defenders are.
Friday’s transition defense was rough, so it seemed like semi-transition opportunities would always lead to positive results for New York. It’s not HR’s fault. It’s about effort and concentration. The same goes for the breakdowns we saw in each game last week, and the type of possession the opposing offense had gives you a sense of how easy it was for them to create great chances.
If Phoenix were to play defense like this, they would have to completely shut down their offense to win games quickly, which would be a big step back from a promising start to the season that seemed to have a lot of buy-in on that front. .
This was almost one of those nights. The Suns finished with 19 points in the 2:45 span of the first half. The 31-point third quarter was the third time Phoenix reached 30 or more points.
The problem is, that was the case in the third quarter when the New York Knicks scored 34 points, leaving the Suns with a two-point lead that should have been in double digits.
While New York (14-10) maintained the pace in the fourth quarter, mental mistakes and turnovers doomed Phoenix, another weakness for a team that excels in first-team fashion. . The Knicks scored 42 points, scoring on 6 of 7 possessions through 6:02 early in the fourth quarter, building a 10-point lead.
The man of the night, Jalen Brunson, hit back-to-back threes a little later and really made his way to 50 points. He added six rebounds, nine assists and five steals.
Devin Booker (28 points, 9 assists) and Kevin Durant (29 points, 6 assists) both had great nights, combining for 2 of 12 shooting in the final frame.
Jusuf Nurkic was also very good for the second consecutive game with 21 points and 12 rebounds, but he was off the court in the fourth quarter.
Grayson Allen went 5-for-5 from the field in his first game back since tearing a muscle in his right groin.
The Suns have lost six of their last eight games, falling to 13-12. However, the schedule includes enough time for him to finish out 2023.
The Washington Wizards (4 wins, 20 losses) will visit Japan on Sunday, and next they will play the Portland Trail Blazers (6 wins, 17 losses), and they are also scheduled to play the Blazers on New Year’s Day. In addition to the 7-16 Charlotte Hornets coming into Christmas week, there are also growing but still young teams like the Houston Rockets (13-9) and Orlando Magic (16-8).