Expectations For Suns' Final Stretch After Underwhelming Road Trip

0:00The Phoenix Sons are back in the Valley after going two and four on a six game road trip, but not all is lost. Gilmur Gregor here to talk with Stephen, because I'm going to about what awaits this sun's team for the remainder of the season before we get into the final 12 games. The Sons are 39 and 31, pretty firmly placed in that seven seed and all hopes to move up into top six are probably lost, but it's not all done until it's not all done. First of all, Stephen, how do you feel after this two and four road trip in the four game losing streak that the Sons are currently on at the time recording? Yeah, so we all agreed on our last 3 p.m. show that looking forward to this road trip for the challenges and tests that it would present and that they needed to go at absolute doomsday worst three and three. Most of us said four and two. I said I wouldn't be surprised if they were able to manipulate it and get to five and one. Now, the level of play that they showed for a majority of that stretch directly aligns

1:00with them, potentially having been able to go on four and one or five and one, excuse me. Problem is those four quarters, man, those four quarters. I feel like one of the games that wasn't the fourth quarter itself. I think it was the game against Minnesota. It wasn't the fourth quarter itself for me though they did have some woes in there, but it was more so just kind of closing those middle quarters, but putting together a comprehensive game is the overarching point that I'm getting to. There's no margin for error, no matter how well you play through those first three quarters, even the first three and a half quarters, you have to play a comprehensive game against this top level competition. Otherwise, if you leave that back door open, you could potentially see what should have been a five and one road trip, turn into something that's two and four, which is the other side of the spectrum from it. And I think we're seeing from this team and neither of us and nobody here on this panel really is in the business of making excuses, but you're seeing the wear down effect of a team that does not have everybody available to them. And you think about that Spurs game where you had an opportunity to win this game.

2:00There's really no excuses for why you lost a game, double digit lead in the fourth quarter in a game in which you were without five players and a sixth one got hurt during the game. And I think that speaks to this team, but it also shows the wear down in those fourth quarters when you don't have as many reinforcements as you've had earlier in the season. When that next man mentality worked to your benefit, that being said, there are 12 games remaining in this season. The sons are 39 and 31 as we record this. And just to give a idea of what the remainder of the schedule looks like for what this means for the sons, they come back home for a four game home stand after this long trip. Milwaukee, Toronto, Denver, Utah, they head on the road for the final long road trip of the season, four games, Memphis, Orlando, Charlotte, Chicago, back home for two more home games the last two of the season, Houston and Dallas, and they close the season with trips to Los Angeles and Oklahoma City, which is actually pretty wild, two trips, two games to have on the road to go to LA, then go to Oklahoma City to close the season.

3:01Lot of tests still waiting for you. A lot of teams who are above you in the standings, even though you cannot catch them without some help at this point, I say I'll have to say not all is lost. And there are a good chunk of those games that you have to have against teams who are out of the playoff picture at this point. I look at them Milwaukee that's shutting down it's down for the season potentially. I look at Memphis who shut everybody down for the season seemingly. I look at Chicago who you owe one, Dallas who's looking forward to the future. And even at the end of the season, Oklahoma City is probably not playing for anything by the season finale. So when you see and listen to what's the way they haven't even mentioned Utah as well, they're shutting everybody down as well. So that's five games right there that you should get. You can talk about the Doomsday scenario or whatever. You probably need to at least win six of these games and finish the season 45 and 37. But how do you see this unfolding and what do the sons need to do to get back on track and make the most of what's remaining this season? Yeah, I think step number one. Get healthy. Get healthy.

4:01And do it again. And do it again. And do it again. And do it again. And do it again. And do it again. And do it again. And do it again. And do it again.

5:10You get to that magic number seven. I think you're in a good spot. That seven number is probably not going to give you into the six eat. But again, the overarching goal is just be healthy and figure out what you need to then translate to success in some capacity on that postseason stage. And that seven wins gets you to 46 wins on the season. We're coming into the year. I don't think anybody would have believed that suggested that thought that even as a ceiling for what this team could be. So that's big. And I think to break down a little bit more, we talk about a lot of the woes and the things that trouble this team, it does all stem from them not having their full complement of players. And we've talked about the run away. And I'll be the last thing I ask you. But as I look through this one more time, and it's kind of perfectly clustered, you've got four games at home, four on the road, two at home, two on the road. And I look at the absolute non-negotiable games that you have to go out and win. First, the Milwaukee game, I mentioned who they won't have available to them. They're coming here after being blown out by the jazz on the road. And you've lost four straight when you play this game. Then you have the jazz at home. Then you go to play the Grizzlies.

6:11You go to play the Bulls. You play the Mavericks at home. So that's five right there that you absolutely non-negotiable have to have. And then between that, you play the Raptors, the Nuggets at home, you play the Magic and the Hornets on the road, you play the Rockets at home, you play the Lakers and Thunder on the road. You've got to find a way to get two of those. Of course, again, that's based on the premise that you take care of business in the way that you need to take care of business. But when I say these teams, and I talk about these teams, if the suns can get to back to playing suns basketball that we've seen for 30, 35, 38 minutes, but not the full 48, they have a chance against any of these teams. I'm not here saying they're going to win their last 12 to finish the season, but getting the seven should not be that big of an issue, especially given the context of where we are in the season who's resting people who's prioritizing seating, all of that being said. One, I asked you how you see those games playing out, which stand out to you as the biggest test and ones you want to get, but also thinking about the runway of getting everybody back together. Do you think they need five games, seven games, like how much time do you need to have

7:15if Mark Williams is back in line up, Dylan Brooks back in a line up, getting Haywood Highsmith and Grayson Allen, Roy Sonil, some guys who missed time in San Antonio, a mere coffee who also heard his ankle in San Antonio. So how do you see that playing out and how important is it to get some type of runway before maybe the play in tournament? Yeah, it's very, very, very important for a team that just quite literally hasn't had that. You bring in new guys to hopefully supplement the guys you already have. And then the new guys end up having to play a role that's maybe a punch up from where you wanted to, which speeds up their learning process, speeds up their chemistry building process. It's like, we wanted to ease y'all into it. We just got a throw y'all into five, man. Hey, I see what time it is y'all been around the block a few times as well as being vets and having been in winning situations. So we trust that we're able to do that comfortably and get a return on investment from y'all. Look at Haywood Highsmith's game in Boston, obviously look at a mere coffee's multiple moments since he's come around where he's just been a positive for them. That's all awesome.

8:16But you want to be able to have those guys being the role that you brought them in to play. And then see if they can punch out of that, then that's really something that's found money in the sense. But you can't accurately assess those things to the extent that you want to until you're able to put guys in those positions around the guys that you're planning to have come posties in place. So some of the things like an example of things I'm looking forward to is, Hey, what Highsmith with the starting unit, even if he's not literally the fifth starter, if he's subbing in and he's playing with a Devon Booker, Jaylen Green, the Dylan Brooks and Mark Williams. What is the defensive chemistry between Hey, what Highsmith and Mark Williams look like? What is the defensive chemistry between him and Dylan Brooks look like? What does all of that look like without a Colin Gillespie type of quinger on the floor? Like those are things that you just don't have the answers to at the moment because guys haven't been healthy. So I'm looking forward to them being able to get that in some capacity. We still don't have a guarantee on when Dylan Brooks will be back from his hand injury. And similarly with the foot injury with Mark Williams, we still just don't know as well.

9:18So it's still a little bit of gray area as far as when those guys return 13 games left like you said. But I imagine they're able to come back at least for even maybe five or six and those five or six games are going to be the most important five or six regardless of opponent the rest of the way because that's going to be what leads them to what else really is their destiny this season. I'm worried a little bit about Mark's return. Yes. Talked a little bit about big men and big men with foot issues and the process and I don't want anything to be rushed in the process and the thing for him was personally with his career, whether it's here or elsewhere, he can't jeopardize his long term future for something that they need or want to do in the short term as great as it is to continue to compete in the post season. That's definitely something contextually that needs to be kept in mind. Sure. So as we kind of turn the corner and wrap up here, we'll look at this sector by sector. So next four games, Milwaukee Toronto, I want to back to back and then Denver, Utah. I think you got to get at least two of those, but it would be good to either take one. I think you owe Toronto one as well.

10:20And I think playing in the home will be a little different. I don't think it's that ambitious to try to go three and one in that span and then you go on the road and I think toward the end of the homestand or when you go on the road is when you want to hope to get everybody back because at that point, your eight games left in the season. Yeah. That's a tough part because I think the sons are five and eight and the back end of back to back. No. So you come back home. Congrats. You come back home. You're sleeping a bit. Boom. It's an instant back to back. So it's right back to the grind. So you got the bugs game. That's like must win. Got to have it. Whatever phrasing you want to use for that. That's one that you have to exit the game. Hopefully with a comfortable win where you can rest some guys potentially in the fourth quarter. That's the absolute pie in the sky. Golden gates best gate scenario, best case scenario because you have that team that was able to kind of come back and beat you on their home floor and Toronto on the back end of that on this upcoming Sunday. So that game is going to be hard. Naturally, you have a team that's in desperation mode.

11:20No different than you are at this moment, but it's one step ahead of you in the standings and Denver come Tuesday. That's a game that's going to be on peacock. So it's going to be a little bit of a national TV stage for you with that as well. You want to perform well for that, but you also want to just continue to take steps in your process against the team that you haven't even been close to beating yet this season. It's had their way with the sons on this far scoreboard separation goal. So you want to be able to have a much more complete game played compete with them and potentially even beat them while they're as vulnerable as they'll ever be. And then you have a handful of days off, they got for those days off because that's four days between Tuesday and Saturday. I imagine they're going to probably take one of those days and just outright rest to have a blackout day because they probably haven't had a blackout day in two months at this point of the way that the schedule has been kind of evident flowing. So once you get back from that, hopefully you get a Dylan Brooks back or at least some clarity on when he'll be back. And then you're able to obviously rest and recuperate for that ladder stretch of games. Like you said, the magic number is seven, but you want to get as close to 10 in that 13

12:22as you possibly can. Absolutely. And you mentioned that. So the jazz take care of want to get that when you go on the road for another back to back. Yes. And the front end is a little bit kinder. It's in Memphis. Who knows what the grizzlies are going to look like at that point. Then you go to Orlando, play the magic. You got a damn between games, go to Charlotte, play the Hornets, and then close a trip in Chicago against the Bulls again. I mentioned a team that you owe was two on either side of that trip where I think there's no disagreement between both of us. You got to go get those. But then the middle it gets tricky because this is a magic team, the Hornets team that are vying for position in the Eastern Conference standings. You've beaten both of them already under terms they probably would like to get back. They feel like they owe you one. So I think it's not too ambitious to say you try to get one on either end of that and then get one of the magic of the Hornets and magic have been up and down a little bit and the Hornets are a better or they've started to get their stuff together at home as well. So that's the way I see that trip playing out. Yep. I agree with you on that. And I will say just as looking forward to point looking at these last handful of games you look at the teams that gave the sun some struggles in terms of their offense over

13:25this recent road stretch what teams can replicate that right some of those teams are just literally the same team. You look at Toronto they're still in the back end of a home back to back and then you go fast forward a little bit further we can have later you had a plan Orlando in Orlando that's one of the most physical defensive in the lead they still get the job done there. They have some switchability to everything that they do you have the Hornets yet again that's the team that you didn't have the most fun going up against offensively but your defense allow for you to play in transition a little bit more and I broke up the kind of ebb and flow of that game and then you look a little bit further you got Toronto again they're going to be at home or you got Houston at home rather excuse me that's the team that's going to still be tough they're going to be vying for play our positioning seating wise and then after that you have on the back to back you have the the mavericks that's the team that's been good defensively despite of everything else has been inconsistent they have a DNA defensively that's been top ten of majority of the year and then obviously the latter end you got the two heavy weights in the Lakers and the Thunder hopefully one of those two teams is cemented into a spot if not both.

14:29But the way is looking right now San Antonio's on the heels of Toronto so they might not be able to breathe comfortably until that final buzzer of the regular season and the Lakers right now who knows what's happening between three and seven right now so every game might have some meaningful implications from both sides outside of a couple of the teams that we spoke about. Absolutely I think the big thing about the Rockets game is you know I don't think I think the hopes of passing them have gone out of the window but also the hopes of probably playing them in the postseason aren't at least in the first round aren't going to happen but you still need to prove yourself that you can beat this team. Absolutely. And there's the team that were gossip who's available that game it's a later game I believe it's a national television game as well so go out there in front of that audience and this team who you've gotten close you know that the the game in Houston most recently we all the clock mill functioned everything like that feels very similar to the way this bird's game went where a guy makes a play they have a guy they have a superstar and he made a play go out there and make something happen make something work this is when you're around the corner so again I think just to wrap it up you would hope to maybe get everybody

15:31back by that bulls games that point you got five games left or that Rockets game even also front end of a back to back there's four games left in the season and you're probably preparing for the play in tournament where either the Warriors or the Clippers probably await you as the eight seed but one try to get to that seven win mark and also try to take round in the form and get to playing sun's basketball once again when the postseason rolls around so you're ready that means there's another audio only edition of the pH and X sun's podcast please make sure to follow us at pH and X underscore suns follow Stephen as Stephen PG three that's Stephen with a pH and follow me at Gil McGregor with an underscore at the end let us know what you think in the comments leave us a review how many wins of these final 12 games do the sun's need we're saying at least seven but hey if they go 11 and what's 51 season.