PHOENIX SUNS have a FORMIDABLE FINAL STRETCH 😳 ‘Bradley Beal’s TIME TO SHINE’ – Perk | NBA Countdown

PHOENIX SUNS have a FORMIDABLE FINAL STRETCH 😳 ‘Bradley Beal’s TIME TO SHINE’ – Perk | NBA Countdown

We have talked about this as being potentially Death Valley for the Phoenix Suns the stretch that they’re in right now but they’ve won two of their first three games during this daunting period to end the season as it stands their strength of schedule in their final 10

Games is the third most difficult in the last 30 years this is historically tough you kind of have to laugh so you don’t cry but Brian when you’re looking at these next seven games how important is it not just for the immediate future of the sun’s postseason hopes but also for

Long term in this franchise yeah the suns are a team that a lot of people are scared of but a lot of people are mystified by and I’ll bet their fans have had a roller coaster ride this season because they shoot the three-pointer very well but they don’t

Shoot that many of them when they pass the ball they’re pretty much Unstoppable but they’re among the league leaders in isos with those guys they have three guys who are probably going to be Hall of Famers in Booker Durant and Beal but they’re 30th in offense in the fourth

Quarter they can beat anybody on any night they can lose to anybody on any night and the problem is if this season is deemed a failure which I would say if they don’t get out of the play in it would be there’s not a lot of options to

Change you can’t really trade Booker you can’t trade Durant those are Superstar players Beal has a no trade clause they two other highlevel role players Royce O’Neal and Grayson Allen are free agents you don’t have much there and now you’re dealing with down end of the bench guys

It’s going to be very difficult to improve this roster under the rules and under the spending that they’ve put themselves into yeah this to me is the most crucial stretch of the Thunder season really we already know it’s the hardest stretch coming up oh sorry yeah

Excuse me yeah of the Suns we already know it’s the hardest stretch but it’s going to be the most crucial and to me what I’m watching for is how they really finish this season strong more importantly when you look at this squad you look at okay say they’re able to go

And win three or four more games okay all right now you go into the playing scenario potentially in the seven or eight position and you go and win you certify yourself and then you get a favorable matchup in the west where can advance in the postseason whether it is

One or two rounds to me that’s a decent outcome given that their big three have only played around 35 games so far this season that’s not how they wanted to start but more so how are you going to finish you don’t want to lose but if you

Lose well meaning maybe in the second round or the third I agree with you but you’re giving a lot of giv there from a team that has no giv this year that is true they don’t have wiggle room especially based off of the aggregation of stars that they have within the Suns

Well well Wendy number one I didn’t I didn’t get the memo that teams around the league was afraid of the Phoenix uh Phoenix Suns cuz I don’t believe the Pelicans are Bookers put up 50 on them three times that’s fine but that don’t mean that they’re afraid of them I don’t

Think no one is fearing matching up with the Phoenix Suns number two it’s life or death do or die when it comes down to the Phoenix Suns and how they finish the rest of this season because they’re only one game out of being in the six spot

Okay so you could get out of the play in tournament also it’s a defining moment right now for de I mean for uh Kevin no Bradley Bill excuse me we we didn’t seen we didn’t saw over the couple years what Kevin Durant and dein Booker has done in

The p in the postseason Bradley Bill supposed to be the Difference Maker he was added here the reason that they’re topheavy the reason that they got the what’s that the first apron or second apron or whatever cooking apron I don’t I don’t even give a damn he was brought

Here to be the deciding factor and for them to take that jump in the Western Conference now granted I understand saying they haven’t been together they haven’t been together for uh majority part of this season but at the end of the day when you talk about a team if

They underachieve or if they fail it’s going to be some I mean it’s going to be some smoke in that organization and we can you really trust Katie and if he’s going to be loyal I mean oh the Loyalty yeah when it he did say when I asked him

A phoenix was going to be his his last stop when we sat down over Allstar he said well today I can say that but I’m going to be realistic in that I don’t have the same sort of sentiments about changing teams that I used to so he was

A bit non-committal I do want to get to the other side of this matchup the second game that we have here on ESPN because Donovan Mitchell he’s back remember he sat out last night’s Cavaliers victory over the Jazz Mitchell he’s been in and out of the lineup though since the All-Star break he

Played in only seven really of Cleveland’s 23 games since the break so Brian with the playoffs sort of looming here how concerned are the Cavaliers about Donovan’s Health the most important thing for the Cavs and arguably one of the most important things in the Holy Eastern Conference because when Donovan Mitchell is right

This team has proven that they can beat anybody they can go they can go toe to- Toe with the Celtics when they’re right they give the Celtics problems over the last two years I’m not picking the Celtics I’m not picking them against the Celtics but they give the Celtics

Problems but right now Donovan has lost his explosion since that All-Star Weekend where he started really having the problems with the knee he’s only shooting 29% on two pointers he is not even going into that basket he’s only taken 41 56% of his shots since the allstar break

Have been threes because he doesn’t trust his explosion he has said this they did the PRP it didn’t really work they’re they’re managing his injury they’ve got other challenges for sure but when Donovan Mitchell is relegated to three-point shooting you are taking away what’s made him an elite player and

Recently for the Cavs that’s what he’s been yeah and to me I think the hardest part is that the Cavs have found their guy you when he left Utah a lot of people would say like oh is this the long-term Landing destination for Dawn will he have eyes elsewhere no he has

Emerged as they franchise player and so they will need him to be on the Flor he said he might have eyes elsewhere I I might be careful with that franchise were when it comes down to Donovan Mitchell because they did draft uh Garland in the lottery Evan Moy was a

Lottery pick now granted I get that Evan Mobley he hasn’t panned out or reached the expectations that we expect him to reach but at the end of the day it’s time for Donovan Mitchell to take that leap like a Anthony Edwards and leading this team I’m not sure he can right now

Per I’m not it don’t have to be with volume shooting or dominating the ball you’re playing along longside one of the top point guards in the game today like Garland healthy he put the world on notice a few times yeah but he was doing that when he was healthy and he was

Playing consistently this was a team that was top two or three in the east in offense and defense yeah but did you believe in them yes I do because the East is wide open honestly Garland is lo a little bit lost right now too the Cavs

Is low when he’s going to get found well that’s the thing they need Donovan to be healthy and they need Garland to get going and so we haven’t seen those two line [Applause] up NBA is

Chiney Ogwumike, Brian Windhorst and Kendrick Perkins join NBA Countdown to discuss the Phoenix Suns’ difficult final seven games of the season and how crucial their success in those games is to the stability of their roster. Then, the panel discusses how concerned the Cleveland Cavaliers should be with Donovan Mitchell’s health.

✔️Subscribe to ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/youtube
✔️ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔️Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔️ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV