The Phoenix Suns will be in a position right now where they just want to fast forward the rest of the summer and get to next season so they can start limiting the damage to their reputation caused by their incredible collapse in Game 7 against the Mavericks. The team was destroyed by the Mavs in the biggest game of their season and Chris Paul and Devin Booker were both ineffective in trying to make the game competitive.
They were professional about it in the aftermath though, with Paul saying that they’ll be back next season ready to make another run as they did to the NBA Finals in 2020-21. However, some think this is the end of a dominant period for this current iteration of the Phoenix Suns team and Patrick Beverley is one of them. He was on ESPN’s First Take on Monday where he suggested that the Suns would not be going back:
"They're not going back. The NBA is going to be way more healthier next year. The competition is going to be stiff"
Patrick Beverley doesn't believe the Phoenix Suns will make a run at the NBA Finals next season 🔉pic.twitter.com/1IyWgTFnHK
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 16, 2022
“No, they not going back. They not going back. The NBA is going to be way more healthier next year. The competition is going to be stiff. People understand the way to win against Phoenix and that is to attack Chris Paul.”
“And if you watch the game and if I’m a coach and I’m playing the Phoenix Suns in the playoffs, I’m holding my hat on that. It worked. Wear him down, make him play D, make him score, make him facilitate, and we gonna have our hats at the end on who gonna win. That’s what Dallas did.”
Considering that the Clippers will have Kawhi Leonard and Paul George back next season and that Nikola Jokic will get his co-stars back too, the Western Conference is going to be incredibly competitive. The Suns will need to regain their composure and work extremely hard if they want to make it back to the top. And while PatBev might be hating a little, his words should be a bit of a warning to the Suns.
