The Phoenix Suns entered the NBA playoffs as the team to beat. Adding Kevin Durant made them the favorites to win the NBA championship in most sportsbooks, but their season has now come to an end.
Deandre Ayton’s lack of effort, Chris Paul’s injury, and Kevin Durant’s inefficiency doomed a once-promising season for Monty Williams’ team. Once again, they’ll go home empty-handed after a solid campaign.
But you also have to give credit where it’s due, and the Denver Nuggets were simply the better team more often than not. That’s why Durant had no choice but to give them their flowers following the loss.
Kevin Durant Says Nuggets ‘Embarrassed’ The Suns
“Yeah, it sucked,” Durant said postgame. “It was a bad feeling. It was embarrassing. They came out and hit us in the mouth. We couldn’t recover. You gotta give them credit for being a disciplined team.”
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“It happened pretty fast,” Durant continued. “They were getting whatever they wanted on the offensive side of the ball. So it’s hard to get going on offense, it’s hard to get going as a team if you give up points, that many points. 44 in the first, 37 in the second, 81 points at the half. That’s tough to get going.”
When asked about the team’s plans for the future, the legendary scorer didn’t want to get too much into details, citing that it would look like an excuse at this point:
“Yeah, if I provide context, it’ll just be looked at as an excuse,” Durant said. “We just gotta be better next year.”
The Suns will need to take a deep look in the mirror and make some tough decisions in the off-season, personnel-wise. Their scoring tandem is elite, but maybe it’s time to retool the pieces around them.
