...it was an embarrassing no-show for the playoff-tested Suns — who advanced to the NBA Finals last season with a very similar roster.
...
Simply put, the Suns looked overwhelmed by the pressure of a Game 7.
All of the above are, in my reading true. It was humiliating; they WERE playoff-tested; they DID make it to the Finals last season--won two games, too (but see below); and they DID seem overwhelmed by the pressure--from the opening tip. They looked like they had seen the devil, they seemed paralyzed. Even if this was this roster's first Game 7, these are professionals, not college kids, they have been through the never-seen-anything-like-it-intensity of the playoffs before, right to the Finals--all of those things are true but none individually or collectively are sufficient to explain (to me) why they got the shits so bad tonight. This is one for the text books, maybe the psych text books.
Booker finished with 11 points and shot 3 of 14....
It's the second straight year the Suns have lost a playoff series after having a 2-0 lead. They won the first two games against the Bucks in the NBA Finals last season before losing four straight games.
How do you break up a roster that won 64 games and made the Finals? How do you replace a coach who just won COTY? But how do you not do something drastic after two straight el foldos. Next season, 2022/23, is anybody going to give Phoenix a second thought if they win 30 straight, finish with 70 wins? No! There is something fundamentally mis-wired in the psyche of this team--it's two straight years! Monty Williams should give back his COTY. This is an unmitigated disastrous humiliation.
