One year hardly qualifies as a playoff drought. It’s not even a dry spell.
But the Suns are struggling to outrun the familiar ghosts that haunt us all. They are the ghosts of heartbreak and failure. And following a gut-wrenching 114-110 loss to the Trail Blazers Tuesday night at Mortgage Matchup Center, there’s only one way our beloved basketball team is getting back into the postseason:
The hard way.
“The goal is to get in, get in anyway possible,” Suns head coach Jordan Ott said. “It has been our goal for a while, so we’ve got to move on. (But) it sucks. These are hard to take.”
After shocking experts and oddsmakers with a 45-win regular season, the Suns are on the brink of disaster. They have one last chance to make the playoffs on Friday, when they face the winner of the Clippers-Warriors game on Wednesday. Alas, it will be difficult to flush and forget what went wrong against the Blazers.
RELATED STORIES
Jalen Green beats buzzer for 4-point play to end opening half vs. Blazers
Suns' Grayson Allen out, rest of team available for play-in game vs. Trail Blazers
The game was a slog, a rock fight, a chippy contest that often careened out of control. But everything changed in the fourth quarter. Urged on by a raucous crowd, the Suns seized control, leading by eight points with 3:31 remaining.
Once again, the Suns were at their worst in crunch time, in the minutes that mattered the most.
They coughed up the lead with turnovers, missed free throws and porous defense. Portland star Deni Avdija (41 points, 12 assists) blew by Jordan Goodwin for a three-point play that staked the visitors to a two-point lead. And in their last gasp, Devin Booker gave up the ball to Jalen Green, who missed a 26-foot shot.
Game over. It was a painful ending for Green, who scored 35 points in 39 minutes.
“He had it going the whole night,” Booker said. “I can take that shot, too, and force overtime. But I saw Jrue (Holiday) sleeping a little bit, and Jalen shifted to the open space.”
It was a painful ending for Booker, who blamed himself for missing five free throws. And the lurking presence of Holiday on that final possession was a painful flashback for many basketball fans in the Valley.
Just five years ago, the Suns were at the mountaintop. Booker had a chance to deliver an NBA Finals game-winning shot, one that would’ve given the Suns a 3-2 series lead.
But he penetrated too far and was robbed from behind by Holiday. The thievery flipped the entire series and turned Holiday into a nemesis. Entering Tuesday’s game, Booker was 3-15 lifetime against Holiday.
Ott was quick to credit the Blazers, especially Jerami Grant and Shaedon Sharpe, who returned from injuries to make key contributions down the stretch. But for Suns fans, this is deeply personal. This is about us, not them.
Alas, you could hear the arena groan in unison when time expired. You could hear the Blazers shouting with joy as they made their way to the locker room, just like Luka Doncic and the Mavs once did.
Had they prevailed on Tuesday, the Suns would’ve had four days to prepare for a first-round series against the Spurs. Even if they win on Friday, they’ll face a quick turnaround and will have to face the top-seeded Thunder, the reigning champs.
Ever since that incredible journey to the NBA Finals, the Suns have concocted a sour brew of postseason failure. This was more of the same. They struggled with composure, battled the referees and failed to close out yet another winnable game.
And so the happy ending is delayed and the celebration must wait. Because for sports fans in Phoenix, nothing ever comes easy.
Reach Bickley at [email protected]. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7.
Follow @danbickley
Hence then, the article about suns were at their worst when it mattered most vs trail blazers was published today ( ) and is available on Arizona sports ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Suns were at their worst when it mattered most vs. Trail Blazers )
Also on site :
- Global Church Leaders, Including Cardinal Müller, Continue to Unite Behind Pope Leo
- Border Czar Tom Homan Calls for Church Leaders to ‘Stay Out of Politics’
- Fernando Mendoza lived it up at the Masters before 2026 NFL Draft