With the triumvirate of Booker, Beal, and Durant, Phoenix City barely avoided the competition for the play-offs, but in the face of the Timberwolves, who were third in the West, the Suns, who thought they had experience in major tournaments, unexpectedly suffered two consecutive defeats in the first round of the playoffs. If the first round of the series was due to Edwards' performance against the sky, then the second round was completely a benefit from the Suns. Former Suns star Ross Barkley hit the nail on the head on the show to point out the team's problems, the management has never effectively solved the point guard corner, the chain reaction triggered, without a good playmaker, head coach Vogel can only squeeze the Big Three, they will become the team's offensive origin, the end, too much consumption will only lead to fatigue, missed shots, illness and hidden dangers one after another, let alone the capital to talk about how to get the final O'Brien Trophy.
Even in this unfavorable situation, Barkley still cares about his old club, he built momentum for the Suns, who have lost two games in a row, on the show, and suggested that Vogel give up the positional battle led by the Big Three, and instead play a fast-paced offense, after all, the Timberwolves are a tall team, blindly pursuing half-court battles, will only expose their shortcomings, without an excellent blue-collar center, they can't protect the rebounding ball in place. In order to avoid continuing the embarrassing record, the Suns need to make decisions to speed up appropriately and change the passive situation on the court by increasing the number of quick counterattacks. However, while such an approach can solve the immediate need, it is never an important part of the team's qualitative change.
Even though the 35-year-old Durant played well, averaging 27.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5 assists per game in the regular season, he couldn't stand up to his teammates' hips. Beal's inconsistent injuries have led to poor attendance and only helped the team play in 53 games, while the average performance on the court at point guard Booker can't hide the influence of the Kobe Bryant protégé, and the fact that he is still following the beautiful streamers and talking about some unsightly topics on the eve of the playoffs has directly brought more negative effects to the team. Considering the involvement and contribution of the role players on the team, Booker's functionality becomes particularly important. While maintaining his aggressiveness while also juggling playmaking guards, he also lived up to expectations, averaging a career-high 6.9 assists per game, and it seems that his stats have increased, but the situation of the team is getting tougher.
Neither Booker nor Beal could grasp the true essence of a point guard, and under their leadership, the team performed even worse on both ends of the floor. Such a tense atmosphere in the team may become the fuse for Durant's departure, the future Hall of Fame player, did not ask the Suns management to stay on the team, once the first round is lost, it is not ruled out that Durant will submit an application to leave the team. Seeing this scene, the owner of the Suns, Iberia, took the initiative to make three chapters and was determined to save Durant. Among them, Iberia stated that no matter whether the Suns can win the championship or not, the Suns will retire Durant's No. 35 jersey and will build a statue for him.
If the decision of the boss of the sun is simply to draw a big pie, then it is a big mistake. He also has to strengthen the lineup, and promised Durant that he will bring in a top 10 point guard in the league to form a new galaxy battleship, with such a foundation, the temptation of material will also force Durant to compromise, and the last straw that overwhelms him is a super big contract worth 300 million in 3 years. Such lucrative conditions may make Durant excited, but everything is under negotiation, without Curry's blessing, his gold content of winning the championship again will help enhance his historical status, if nothing else, the Suns' Big Three may disintegrate.