A 5-game skid for the Phoenix Suns leaves feelings of discontentment and an urge for a change. For Devin Booker, he broke down about what the five-day break from games will do for the team.
“I think it’s an important time to get the guys healthy,” Booker said postgame to reporters. “We need the same energy that we had to start to the season. We need that to get back rolling.”
In those five losses, they’ve been without Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant, who are both dealing with calf injuries. While Durant and Beal are targeting an NBA cup return on Tuesday, having them for Wednesday’s game against the New York Knicks would’ve been ideal. Although the Suns were solid offensively, New York’s firepower proved too much to bear.
They shot a whopping 58% from the field, 49% from three, and 90% from the free-throw line. Not to mention, they had a 44-point first quarter which was the turning point of the entire game. Although Phoenix made some nice runs, they never led at any point in the game. Jalen Brunson himself had 36 points and 10 assists. Karl-Anthony Towns had 34 points and 10 rebounds.
Booker even said this about the 44-point first quarter that swung the game in New York’s favor. “I think a lot of it was in transition on turnovers, so I was sprinting back, but the live ball turnovers kind of put you in a tough position. He (Brunson) made a couple of tough ones too. They just started off hot.”
Devin Booker and the Suns’ frustration is warranted
Phoenix looked gassed throughout the game, and for good reason. They’ve played six games within eight days, and a lot of travel in between. They had a back-to-back in Utah and Sacramento, before heading to Oklahoma City, Then, they traveled to Minnesota for a Sunday game and flew back to Phoenix and played on Monday.
While athletes are accustomed to extensive travel, they’re still humans. It takes a physical toll traveling consistently without much rest in between. Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer has also felt the ongoing effects of the short turnaround. As his team gears up for the break, the first-year Phoenix coach had an interesting perspective on the influx of games, and a lengthy break following.
“I think when the schedule comes out, it doesn’t look like something that you’d ever ask for,” Budenholzer said. “Maybe there’s some kind of silver lining in a 5-day break. We can get in the gym, we can look at things, we can figure out how to be better. When you get a break like this you have to take advantage of it in a lot of different ways.”
Devin Booker gets props from his head coach
Despite missing two of the Phoenix’s Big 3, Booker has been at the forefront of many double-teams, and focused defensive strategies. With Beal and Durant alongside him, it forces defenses to pick their poison with who to guard. In this stretch, teams have honed in on Booker. Also, other Suns players have had elevated roles.
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Some have thrived in them, and others don’t appear ready for that uptake in minutes, or increased responsibility. The rise of injuries to the starting lineup could make a team become discouraged. However, Budenholzer’s main principle of being competitive has him feeling good heading into this mini-break.
“The group is good,” Budenholzer said. “Overall, the competitive spirit, the things that we’ve leaned on, we have a competitive group. We have a group that will stay together. It’s the things that we talk about. Losing is hard, this league is hard, so we have to fight through it. We have to compete our way through it.
“There are things that we need to work on and improve. But the competitiveness of our group has been in a good place when we were winning, and I would still say the same thing, right now while we’re struggling. The guys know how important competing is.”
Phoenix has five days until they play another game. Luckily, they also have four more games at home after Wednesday. The Tuesday game against the Los Angeles Lakers will be the second NBA Cup game. Both teams have split the season series so far at one game a piece.
If either Durant or Beal comes back for Tuesday’s game, it’ll be a massive win for the franchise. If not, the losing ways could continue after the extended time off.
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