PHOENIX — The burst came early in the fourth quarter. A driving dunk. An easy put-back. Eight quick Houston Rockets points. A timeout to hold off the avalanche. A lost opportunity.
The Phoenix Suns are running out of time. They know it. Not all of them care to discuss it. After Tuesday night’s 119-105 loss at Mortgage Matchup Center, the locker room emptied quickly.
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Star guard Devin Booker left before news reporters entered. Dillon Brooks had been the last player off the court, talking to his former Houston teammates, but he also was gone.
At 43-36, the Suns are seventh in the Western Conference, locked into the Play-In Tournament. With three games left in the regular season, starting Wednesday night against Dallas, they are fading, miles from their best basketball. Although Brooks may disagree.
Earlier Tuesday, the Phoenix forward had been featured in The Players’ Tribune. In the first-person account, Brooks discussed how he had grown up in Canada, playing basketball against older cousins, fighting for respect. He wrote how his edge was formed at the Mississauga YMCA, where everyone talked trash and only the toughest survived.
Brooks also wrote about his first season with the Suns, a team that turned out much better than expected. And how no one wants to meet them in the playoffs. “This season ain’t over. We’re still lurking. The monster is under the bed, bro.”
It’s unclear when Brooks wrote The Tribune piece — and he wasn’t around Tuesday night to answer — but it’s reasonable to assume he filed this a while ago. For one, Brooks never mentions his fractured wrist, an injury that recently sidelined him for five weeks.
And two, it’s hard to believe these Suns scare anyone.
Since Feb. 1, they are 13-17. Eight of those wins came against teams that have been eliminated from the postseason. Three others — Portland, Orlando and Charlotte — came against teams that entered Wednesday slotted to make the Play-In Tournament.
This is not the team that out-scrapped and out-hustled opponents in December and January. This is not the team that had a second unit capable of not only sustaining leads but extending them. This is not the team that could shut down opponents defensively.
Not all of this is Phoenix’s fault. The Suns have lacked key pieces all season because of injury. Tuesday marked only the seventh game that Booker, Brooks and guard Jalen Green — the team’s highest producers — have all played more than 15 minutes. Guard Grayson Allen, defensive ace Jordan Goodwin and big man Mark Williams also have missed time since the All-Star break.
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“Just closing games,” Green said when asked about his biggest concern, referring to Phoenix getting outscored 38-21 in Tuesday’s fourth quarter. “That’s been the biggest thing since we all got healthy. We got to be able to close games.”
Before Tuesday’s contest, coach Jordan Ott said the Suns had started to develop a nice rhythm with Booker and Green, but then Brooks returned last week. Adding another high-usage player isn’t easy. Especially this late in the season. Asked if it’s possible to accelerate this, Ott said the Suns are doing everything possible to do so.
After returning from an eight-day trip, he was encouraged on Monday to find players on the practice court, getting up shots on an off day. Ott said he may be a first-time head coach, but he’s been around the league long enough to know that wasn’t normal. Ott said the Suns also still have shoot-arounds on game days — something other teams prefer to limit at this time of year because of fatigue — to try and maximize reps.
“We only have so many minutes of basketball to play,” Ott said. “We know what that is. That’s limited. … We’re going to be able to feel it and read it and try to make adjustments on the fly. But this is what we have. We got to figure it out. There’s no excuse.”
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The Suns showed glimpses against the Rockets. The contest had extra energy because of Kevin Durant, back in Phoenix for the first time since the Suns traded him over the summer for a package that included Brooks and Green. (Durant missed Houston’s Nov. 24 visit to Phoenix because of personal reasons.) Phoenix built a 21-point lead in the first half. Booker (31 points) was aggressive. Brooks irritated Durant, trying to get under his skin.
The crowd loved the energy.
It felt like a playoff game.
Then it fell apart for Phoenix. The Suns can be feisty and intense, but not always resilient. As Williams put it after the game, the Suns punched first, but the Rockets (50-29) punched last, “and we just didn’t respond like we needed to.” It showcased the difference between a team accelerating into the playoffs and a team sputtering in search of answers.
“We got to find it quick,” Ott said.