Let me be the first. Lot's of guys play sick or injured. The Suns problems were much bigger than CP3. The Suns problems started BEFORE the end of the season. They didn't look like the same team after their last 9 game win streak. They were highly inconsistent even during the previous playoff series. Guys who normally produces of the bench fell off a cliff. Cam Payne had not put up back to back double digit games since Mid-march. Cam J didn't look the same post injury. Monty shortened the very bench that helped him get the best record. There is a laundry list of stuff that didn't look right about the Suns.
There were two things that started the downslide, and IMO they were pretty apparent. One was securing the 1 seed, the other was Chris Paul's 37th birthday. Everything went haywire after those two things.
Yeah, well, I can say only that I don't demand Chris Paul to have the equivalent of the Michael Jordan Flu Game. Besides that Michael Jordan was Michael Jordan, he was younger than Chris Paul. And that was before I understood that Chris Paul was already breaking down and can't play much on-ball defense.
My takeaway from this is: a 64-19 win-loss record, with great distance to boot between the Suns and all other teams, was a double-edged sword that the Suns fell on and impaled themselves. Besides the clutch becoming a crutch, so did the record. I honestly don't ask them to do that again, only to make the playoffs and probably have a "pretty good" record. If they have to fight their way up from a middle-of-the-pack record, good. As long as they do it. Forget having home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. I figured out that relying on home-court advantage can be yet another crutch.
The overall point is there was several reasons the Suns didn't look the same in the playoffs and it started before the regular season ended. To put this all on CP3's alleged sickness doesn't explain all the things we were seeing out of this team.
No, but I do think it would have allowed them to just edge the Mavericks and then lose with some dignity, by getting swept in the WCF by the Warriors. No shame in reaching the WCF and being defeated by an equal. Because dignity is what they have none of after the loss to the Mavericks. It was the most pathetic Suns playoff loss I've ever personally seen. This Kansas City Kings embarrassment in the early 1980s that I've been hearing about: I had only recently been born, so I can't speak of that. I'm not going to claim something ridiculous such as that the Suns could have reached the finals again, much less won a championship, if Paul just hadn't gotten sick
There's a reason everyone made such a big deal out of MJ's flu game, it's because it's the exception and nowhere near the rule. Most players deal with minor ailments and can play through them at or near their peak level but there are all kinds of ailments that so debilitate a player that he becomes a shadow of who he normally is.
The Suns had so many issues Paul might have managed to win them another game but that team wasn't going anywhere with all that was going on across the team.
This. It was clear this wasn't the same team that seemingly may have peaked in the regular season. At times they seemed like a shell of that team.
I hear what you are saying but this was no ordinary playoff loss. We are talking about a team from last season that went to the finals and were 2 games from a title. We are talking about a team that seemingly looked like they were better this year by setting a franchise record and having the best record in the NBA. We are talking about a team that collapsed and got bounced early by a team that nobody thought we should lose to and became only the 2nd team since the Mavs to do it too.
Much better for Suns to have battled their way into the playoffs than winning 64 going away
Totally agree. This was no ordinary playoff loss. No team with 64 regular season wins should have 8-10 players effectively go ice cold with no defense, and no adjustments the last two games of a playoff series with no obvious injuries. Especially with a dominant inside threat like Ayton. The stench of this will outlive it's use-by-date. This is a collective failure of epic proportions. Sure, the Mavs got hot from outside. Still should not be a 30+ loss in game 7. And Mavs were not hot in game 3. Where were the Suns in that one?
Do you know the Suns history with Warren?
I was here for at least half that time, yeah. And did you notice that I said if the price was right? I don't think I would give a large contract to a player the Suns were willing to trade for cash considerations; but if he'd take a few million, I would probably spare it for a player who had a 50+ game for the Pacers in the bubble. He would probably be a useful scorer off the bench. And the Suns' history with Warren that made him tradable was years ago. Perhaps he's matured.
They didn't.
No longer needed here and apparently not really wanted anywhere else at the time. I always liked TJ but he never quite delivered.
