Bradley Beal Provides Brutal Reality Check to Suns’ Playoff Chances, After Thunder Shocker

This is not the season the Phoenix Suns envisioned when they roped in Bradley Beal this offseason. Beal’s first season in the Valley has been far from smooth sailing. He has been plagued with injuries since the preseason, causing him to miss a major chunk of the season. Consequently, with him sidelined, the Suns’ Big Three, tagged to put the league on notice, has fallen short of those lofty expectations. Because of injuries, their first game together was not until mid-December, limiting their time to build chemistry to only 23 games so far. While Kevin Durant could pick up the slack in the absence of Beal and Devin Booker, with the regular season entering its final stretch, the Suns have some pressing questions to answer.

After the Oklahoma City Thunder stunned the Suns with a 118-110 win on Sunday night, Bradley Beal shed light on whether the Suns would have enough time to build chemistry in the remaining 21 games. “Yes, and no. We got time, but we can’t keep saying we got time. We only got (21) games left. It’s a good amount of games to really get us going and get us going right before the playoffs. I think that will be really good for us, but we do got to get rolling. We can’t keep talking about it. We’ve got to do it. We got to hit this steamroller head-on,” stated Beal after posting 31 points in a losing effort on Sunday.

With this loss, they have now fallen to the precarious 7th spot in the West. With only 20 games left this season, can the Suns right their ship and make a deep run into the playoffs?

Can the Suns make a deep playoff run?

There is no denying that the Suns are an offensive juggernaut when all three of their All-Star players are on the court. The keyword here is ‘when.’ In the last five games that Bradley Beal missed because of a hamstring injury, the Suns’ offensive rating dropped from sixth to 11th in the league. While their defense is decent, it’s not strong enough against contenders like the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, and Oklahoma City Thunder, among others they’re likely to face. This fact isn’t lost on veteran Eric Gordon, who emphasized, “With the type of talent we have, like I’ve always said, scoring 130 should be a norm for us. The only way you do that is by competing on defense.”

Moreover, it does not look like the Suns will get a break from the injury bug anytime soon. Just when Beal returned to the lineup, Booker sprained his right ankle in Saturday’s 118-109 loss to the Houston Rockets. Do you think the Suns can claw their way back to the guaranteed playoff spot? Let us know in the comments!

Read More: Devin Booker Injury Update: No Timeline on All-Star Guard’s Return per Coach Vogel