The Phoenix Suns (42-30) are in arguably their worst spot of the season with 10 games to go needing every win they can get and riding no momentum following last night’s 104-102 loss to the 16-56 Spurs without Victor Wembanyama.
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Oh, and these 10 games are against teams with a combined win percentage of .647. This is the hardest final 10-game stretch of any team since the 2015-16 Memphis Grizzlies, per ESPN. Memphis finished with a record of 1-9 in these games (video via AZ Central’s Dana Scott).
The Suns are in eighth place in the Western Conference, separated by only 0.5 games with the sixth-seeded Sacramento Kings and No. 7 Dallas Mavericks. Phoenix is 2.5 games ahead of the ninth-place Los Angeles Lakers.
Tomorrow night they play the defending-champion Denver Nuggets, who have a record of 51-21 on the season and are 15-2 since the All-Star break.
“We know what needs to be done,” said Suns’ superstar Kevin Durant, who had 29 points on 12-of-17 shooting in the loss to San Antonio, today at practice. “Conversation is cool, communication is cool, letting everybody know what we need to do out there, but you still got to put our bodies in action to do it. It’s a difference between going to do something and just talking about something.
“It’s about what we do on the floor, and I think that’ll speak for us more than what I’ve got to say right now, or coach got to say or every player. It’s about what we do on the floor. You can talk all you want to. If you want a chance for anything, talk means nothing.”
The Suns had won three straight before the loss to the Spurs, but the inconsistency that has plagued them all season struck Monday night.
Last time out against Denver on March 5, the Suns surprisingly handed them one of their two losses since the break, a 117-107 road overtime victory. Durant led Phoenix with 35 points in this game, as Devin Booker was sidelined due to injury. Phoenix improved to 1-1 against Denver this season. Tomorrow will mark the two teams’ final regular season meeting.
Even more of a blow for Phoenix, Bradley Beal (right ring finger sprain) and Jusuf Nurkić (right ankle sprain) are questionable for tomorrow after they both were injured against San Antonio and didn’t practice today.
Meanwhile, the Nuggets have all but one starter of their own injured. Both Jamal Murray (right knee inflammation) and Aaron Gordon (right plantar fascia strain) are questionable. Nikola Jokić (low back pain/left hip inflammation) and Michael Porter Jr. (illness) are probable.
“A championship organization that know(s) how to play the game,” Durant said of the Nuggets. “They got an identity and everybody knows what it is. They play together on both ends. It’s a tough environment to play, but looking forward to the challenge.”
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