Phoenix Suns are on the rise, no matter what happens with LeBron and the Lakers
The Phoenix Suns are facing one of the most difficult first-round challenges imaginable in LeBron and the Lakers. But no matter what happens, they’re headed somewhere special.
Any outcome at any stage of a playoff series has its own unique genetic code. There are specific colors and textures. Has your team ever been favored in a series, only to lose Game 1 at home? You know that feeling. Swept in four by a vastly superior opponent? The chasm’s the chaser. Win a Game 7 on the road against a bitter enemy? The endorphins never stop.
As the L dawned late in the Phoenix Suns’ Game 2 defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers, tying the series 1-1 and giving the Lakers the homecourt advantage, a familiar feeling hit me. Feelings aren’t facts, so this one comes with no claim of prophecy. It was the excruciatingly specific feeling when a team begins to realize their season, due to injury, is either over earlier than expected or suddenly really quite vulnerable. The Suns’ regular season was a smashing success. What happens if they lose in the first round?
The Phoenix Suns are building something big, even if they can’t get past the Lakers
The first thing that happens in history. In 1976, after five years with no postseason, the Suns reached the Finals. After a three-year playoff drought, the 1989 team made it to the Western Conference Finals. True to their home city, Phoenix has a history of spectacular rises from the ashes. This season, with the team battling Utah down to the wire for the league’s best record, seemed destined for more of the same. But destiny is a living, writhing thing, a knot of forking paths; it only starts to make sense when we’re far enough to see its shape with some distance, but too far to do much with the knowledge.
The Suns have done so much right over six years to get to where they are, a fragile web of foresight and fortune joining together: drafting Devin Booker, arguably the best player in his class, with the 13th pick in 2015; selecting Deandre Ayton first overall in 2018 and Cameron Johnson 11th a year later, two picks that were not at all universally praised but which have given the Suns two starters with size and skill; the draft-night trade to land Mikal Bridges, another valuable two-way starter; having the pieces and the gumption to make the deal for Chris Paul, a 36-year-old making $41 million this year who’s certain to pick up his player option next year for $44 million. They hired James Jones as their general manager, a move some considered risky at the time. They hired the right coach in Monty Williams, a Coach of the Year favorite. So much right for so long.
And while all was brilliant in the Valley of the Sun, a high ankle sprain and a calf strain 373 miles away reminded us that the best-laid plans of mice and men are never more than prayers or wishes. With LeBron James and Anthony Davis both out much of the season, the Lakers stumbled all the way from the second-best record in the West to the play-in tournament; when Golden State couldn’t hang on and LeBron had added another iconic moment to his CV, the payoff for all the delicate build-up from Phoenix was a first-round meeting with the defending champs from L.A. On top of that, Paul injured his shoulder in Game 1, severely limiting his shooting, passing and even dribbling. The injury report for Game 3 lists Paul as “probable,” but whether he can be effective given how he’s looked since the injury is questionable. The Suns may as well be the seven-seed.
What a bitter pill this must be for Paul, especially, a brilliant player who may be seeing his second shot at dethroning a glamorous California champion stolen due to injury. In 2018 his Houston Rockets were moments away from going up 3-2 on the Golden State juggernaut when Paul pulled his hamstring. His season was over; he could only watch as the Warriors came back to win the last two games and their second straight title. The Lakers may be about to do the same. Paul must also lament losing out on the opportunity to match wits with LeBron, his basketball BFF and fellow grandmaster.
What happens if the Suns lose in the first round? Hurt happens. Rationalizations. Regrets, probably. Lessons will be learned; the team will learn what they need to look for to succeed should Paul go down again next year. Continuity compounds year after year and seven of the eight Suns who’ve played the most minutes against L.A. are under contract for next season, with the lone exception Cameron Payne. A season that looked destined for high heights may fall short, for reasons outside of Phoenix’s control. That doesn’t change all the good the Suns have done. That doesn’t mean their team isn’t good enough to win. If the Suns take something positive out of this season’s finish and it helps them be better next year, victory then will taste extra sweet.