Suns’ Big 3 in a big pickle, down 2-0 against the Timberwolves as series moves to Phoenix
The Phoenix Suns and their so-called Big Three return home to the desert in a big pickle.
Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and the Suns are in a 2-0 hole heading into Friday’s Game 3 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, who looked mostly dominant in a pair of double-digit wins in the first two games.
There are two more Game 3s on Friday, including the Bucks at the Pacers and the Clippers at Dallas. Both of those series are tied at 1-1.
Durant has been on a team that recovered from a 2-0 deficit to win a series — the 2012 Oklahoma City Thunder — but said there’s no advice he or anyone else can give to pull the Suns out of their current predicament.
Instead, they just have to play better.
“You can talk all you want, but if you don’t execute what you just talked about, it does you no good,” Durant said. “Talking and rah-rah speeches are cool to a certain point, but you’ve got to go out there and execute.
“We haven’t done that. We’ve done it in spurts, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not good enough doing it in spurts.”
The Suns hoped to be one of the NBA’S best teams this year after acquiring Beal in an offseason trade, adding the three-time All-star to a roster that already included Durant and Booker. But Beal’s myriad of injuries early in the season kept him out of the lineup for long stretches, and the group never quite found consistent cohesion.
A 10-4 record to close the regular season was encouraging, but the first two games of the playoffs were not. Now there are only a few more chances to get it right, or the season ends in disappointment.