Nothing better than an atrocious start to the preseason, although that doesn’t mean much until the regular season has started. For their very first game since the nightmarish Game 7 of the last conference semi-finals against Dallas, the Suns lost. But they didn’t lose to anyone and anyhow, as they lost 134-124 to the Adelaide 36ers of Australia. Vibe.
Ah, the pre-season.
That wonderful time of year when all hasty conclusions are allowed.
Are you on fire? You’re in the running for the MVP. Does your team play badly? Let’s go to the 2023 Lottery. After having seen the Warriors, Wizards, Celtics, Jazz, Rockets, Spurs and company take their first steps in pre-season, it was the Suns’ turn to perform their scrubbing in front of their audience. Not the kind of meeting surrounded in the agenda of millions of basketball fans around the world, but the opportunity all the same to see some well-known heads make their comeback on our dear NBA floors.
The context was obviously particular to Phoenix, given the recent news. Between the request for the expulsion of Robert Sarver at the head of the Suns, the complicated contract negotiations with Deandre Ayton, and Game 7 against the Mavs recalled during Media Day, let’s say that we had a better overall mood to start a new season. NBA. The problem ? It’s just the calendar, we can’t move it, my poor Lucette. So you have to play. And against the Adelaide 36ers of the NBL, an Australian league which also makes a few round trips to New Zealand, we should not miss too much.
Final score: 134 to 124 for the 36ers.
The 1st time an NBA team lost to a non-NBA team in an exhibition game since 2016.
So, obviously we want to give all the elements, so that the week doesn’t start too badly for our friends from Phoenix, already that the atmosphere is not tip-top at the moment.
First, you have to respect the opponent who was in front. We are not talking about Boule & Bill and his band, the Adelaide 36ers are a respected institution in Australia, which has won more than one title and which has in its workforce some names already passed in the NBA (Robert Franks, Antonius Cleveland). Second, there are basketball games where the opponent is on fire and there is nothing to do, which was the case tonight for our friends the kangaroos: 24/43 from three-pointers, and a 9/17 from the parking lot for the only Craig Randall who is now in the lead of 29 NBA GMs, the 36ers were unplayable on shot. Thirdly, this Adelaide team had already been able to play and make matches previously, with 5 pre-season matches in the legs in the month of September alone. So an army with capable players, ready legs and warm hands, of course, can create this kind of end result.
Phoenix Suns falls to the Adelaide 36ers at home, 134-124 ????
Craig Randall II and Robert Franks combined for 67 PTS and 15 3PM
(via @NBATV)pic.twitter.com/nvJwnKUC0c
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 3, 2022
So why make a whole box out of it you might say?
Well already because it’s historic, we don’t see every day an NBA team being beaten at home by a non-NBA team.
But above all, what creates this scale and this complicated awakening for some this Monday is the team we are talking about and the echo that this causes.
We’re talking about the Suns, and this spiral that doesn’t seem to want to stop. We are talking about the Suns of Jae Crowder, who requested his transfer recently and will soon find a new team. We are talking about the Suns, whose next match against Luka Doncic will be awaited by tens of thousands of people. We’re talking about the NBA’s No. 1 in the regular season last year, a team that was two games away from a title just over a year ago, and is now shrouded in gray clouds. Everything is going fast in the NBA, and this should be confirmed in the weeks to come.
Because there are only two real scenarios, in this kind of specific case. Either the Suns unfold, and we will no longer remember this totally random pre-season match since the regular will offer its fifty victories and the Playoffs will start at home for Chris Paul and his band. Either the Suns continue their downward spiral, and what was an anecdotal result actually turns into yet another tell-tale piece of a cracked squad, a game that will be talked about within the 30 Previews 2023-24 peek in the rearview mirror. . It may be too radical for some, but the reality is there: the binoculars are more focused than ever on Devin Booker and his teammates.
Victory of the Adelaide 36ers against the Suns, a moment of glory for the Australian team, one more moment in the current slump of Phoenix. No hasty conclusions, but one more radar that lights up: we must quickly clean up the ambient mess with a good pre-season follow-up, otherwise the start of the campaign will be chaotic for Monty Williams and his staff.