"Frankly, I know there are a lot of people who don't think you didn't deserve to play in the Finals last season."
The person who said that to the Suns players was Jarrett Jack, the once-well-known bench bandit in the league who just became the Suns' assistant coach this season. What he said was true, the Suns won three series in the process of reaching the Finals, the Lakers injured Anthony Davis, the Nuggets didn't jamal Murray, and the Clippers lost Cowy Leonard. It is inevitable that others will have a thought: they are good, but at the same time, can they go to the finals stage is not related to luck?
At such times, few people will mention the Suns' injury problems last year: Paul injured his shoulder during the first round against the Lakers, and later missed two Western Conference Finals because he tested positive for COVID-19; in the first game of the Finals, they lost their only reliable interior substitute, Dario Saric.
The Suns players don't talk about it either, and there's only one thing that matters to them: Last season was over, and the Suns reached the Finals without being able to bring back the first championship trophy in franchise history. This has allowed them to show a unique mental outlook from the beginning of the season.
In terms of winning percentage, the pain of losing the Finals further spawned hunger for victory, casting the best Suns in NBA history. Charles Buckley's Suns are strong, as are the Suns of Steve Nash and Mike D'Antoni, but only in the history of the Suns with a winning percentage of more than 80 percent so far this season. If you look closely at their stats, you can realize that this team is incredibly strong: they are 3rd in the league in offensive efficiency and 3rd in defensive efficiency; they shoot 1st in the league and can also limit their opponents' shooting rate to 3rd in the league; they don't rely on three-pointers (26th in the league for three-point shots) but they are not afraid to shoot (5th in the league with three-point shooting rate); they emphasize sharing the ball (4th in the league in assists), but they can always control mistakes (24th in the league)...
They were the first team in the league to lock up a playoff spot, and after yesterday's Magic beat the Warriors, they locked up the top spot in the Pacific Division. If the Suns beat the Timberwolves this morning and the Grizzlies lose to the Nets, the Suns will directly lock in the league first. But even if that doesn't happen, we can say it's only a matter of time before the Suns take home advantage over all of the league's teams: with 10 or so games left in the regular season, the Suns are still nine wins ahead of the league's second-place Grizzlies.
As the season draws to a close, everyone believes that as long as they are healthy, this Suns will be better than the Suns who led the Bucks 2-0 in the 2021 Finals. And the problem of injuries, in fact, they do not need to worry more. If you watch the Suns play against the Kings on Monday morning, you'll see that when Booker threw the bottom-line jumper from Davin Mitchell's head that dragged the game into overtime, Paul jumped off the bench and clapped warmly with the excitement of his teammates who had successfully filled the 14-point deficit in the third quarter. From that detail, the fracture of his right thumb seemed to be almost better. Some sources claim he will come back earlier than the planned 6-8 weeks — and some even say he could have played this morning's game against the Timberwolves.
But the Suns could have allowed Paul to rest a little longer, and that margin stemmed from his team's performance during the truce. Since he was injured in a game against the Rockets on Feb. 17, the Suns have won 10-4 in 14 games, averaging 9.8 points per game. The stats rank third in the league, just below the Timberwolves (12.8 points) and Celtics (11.8 points). When he's away, every player on the team is growing at a rapid pace.
Monti was also overjoyed at how quickly the team was improving: "Paul's absence put pressure on everyone, and this pressure helped many players show a different side that they don't normally have the opportunity to show. Payne took on a more important role in the attack and he did a great job. We also had many different people share his organizational work, from Booker to Landry (Shamet), Mikal (Bridges), Jay (Crowder) and Cameron Johnson. I'm sure they won't be afraid to take on those responsibilities at a critical time in the playoffs because they've already done it. ”
The victory over the King was convincing enough. The Suns started without Paul, Cameron Johnson (quadriceps contusion), Cameron Payne (ill), and then lost Crowder (foot injury in the third quarter), Ayton (sent off at the end of the fourth quarter), McGee (sent off 2.5 minutes left in overtime) and Booker (50 seconds left in overtime, when the Suns led 120-119). But the Suns didn't waver a bit, and in the final half minute, Shamet scored a crucial bottom-corner three-pointer under the cover of Biyombo, Aaron Holliday grabbed a crucial defensive rebound, and Tony Craig scored a goal that sealed the win. From the starter to the bench, every Sun player knows what to do when they play.
In a post-match interview, Booker believed that the victory stemmed from the efforts of every teammate: "I am very happy with this game, it is a team victory, when one of us falls, there is always the next person who can stand up. We always find a way to win and always stay focused. Everyone on the pitch looks completely ready. This victory means a lot to us. ”
Booker understands better than anyone that this team is not strong because of anyone. He briefly missed four games in early March because he tested positive for COVID-19, with the Suns winning 3 and losing 1. In his first game back, the Suns beat the Eastern Conference First Heat by 21 points. The Heat scored 25 points in the first six minutes of the game, but only scored 90 at the end of the game. In a post-match interview, Monti said the team played one of the best defensive performances he had ever seen in his life. Championship coach Eric Spoolstra confessed: "They [the Suns] climbed on top of us little by little and overwhelmed us. ”
Games like this abound for the Suns this season. When Paul was injured, people thought their winning percentage would fall into the clouds, but they didn't; when Booker didn't play, people thought they would suffer a losing streak, but neither did they. Stability became their label, and the reverse side of the label read "boring". No matter how nice people say, the body is always honest, the media and fans are always more concerned about the performance of superstars, and they are more concerned about exploding stats, funny stories, sideline clashes, Twitter wars, palace fights and dog blood trading insiders than a good, stable, correct collective. This determines that, despite the dominant regular season journey, the Suns are still a team that is rarely discussed on the Internet.
That's right, the Suns are the opposite of the traffic world. They don't have the league's top fives — or even top ten stars in general , but after adding Javier McGee ( the only two-time triplet center in the squad , a big man with the ability to move, tackle and guard the basket ) and Landry Shamet ( who has slipped this season but is still a prolific goalscorer ) , they have eight or nine elite rotations that are stable and efficient enough. Every piece of the puzzle in the team is clear about what they do. They can play in the super squad of McGee + Ayton, or they can play in the super small ball line of the center of The Yongbo Station. When facing different opponents, by switching between different forms in a targeted manner, the sun without top talent can always have the last laugh.
In a team that moves tightly like the sun, individual excellence is often overshadowed by the team's brilliance. He was briefly mentioned in the MVP topic before Paul was injured, and now the role has been replaced by Booker. Similar to him is Mikael Bridges, who some think he could be on the defensive player of the year shortlist, but their odds of winning the award are very low, not because they are not good enough, but simply because the narrative logic of the NBA world has changed and no longer simply follows the winners — especially the winners in the regular season.
But that didn't bother the Suns' players. Individual honors are taken very lightly in this team, and everyone's goal is only the championship. At their helm is paul, Booker and Monty's trio. They have a three-person chat where they discuss ideas about the league, the next opponents, and the direction the team is heading. In his spare time, Paul would drag any of the young men on the team to watch the video, and Monty would have a long talk with every confused young man. This team would often have dinner on the road, as if they were not an NBA team but a high school basketball team. So you can probably see why everyone on this team always plays right enough: smart leaders, meticulous training, intense effort, and a positive team culture.
That's right, I started talking about team culture. Three years ago, if I had said I was going to discuss the Suns' team culture with you, you might have laughed your teeth off. A team that hasn't made the playoffs in ten years deserves to talk about culture? But Paul and Monti really built a positive, young, enthusiastic and sensible team in less than three years. They have proved with practice that if they want to work hard, want to succeed, and want to go down the right path, as long as they are willing to start now, it is never too late.
Do you remember a change you made up your mind at a certain time or an opportunity? It may be "must go to bed early", it may be "stop guiding this month", or it may be "not thin and no return". At first you may practice what you preach, and over time you begin to desert occasionally, and then you simply forget about it, or even lie down happily, which is a common sentiment of people, because "insisting on doing the right thing" itself is like a kind of asceticism, and few people can have enough willpower to insist on practicing it. It may have been difficult for the Suns to stay that way, but at least until now, their efforts haven't deteriorated: the team's rise from belly to title contender is so fast that most young players haven't had time to get into bad habits in less than two years.
Over the past decade, NBA championship teams have had at least one of James, Curry, Leonard and Alphabet Brothers, and the highest honors have always been in the hands of the top superstars. The Sun, which regards "correctness" as its general policy, wants to rewrite such a history through its efforts, proving that "the prince will be in phase, and it is better to have a kind of hu." No matter where they go in the future, at least for now we can confirm one thing: if the Suns reach the Finals again this season, no one will ever say they are "just lucky".