Stan Van Gundy tears into ‘pathetic’ Suns defense in rant questioning their postseason intentions

Stan Van Gundy did not hold back when describing the Phoenix Suns’ defense in the first half against the Los Angeles Clippers during the Tuesday night broadcast on TNT.

“This Suns defense is pathetic,” the commentator said after Kawhi Leonard darted past Tyus Jones and Royce O’Neale, who found themselves caught in no-man’s land, to dunk on Nick Richards.

stan van gundy. pic.twitter.com/PMbAWGSSZF

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) March 5, 2025

Here is 2 straight minutes of Stan Van Gundy on the defense of the Phoenix Suns. pic.twitter.com/EkmPcFGBJR

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James Harden found Ivica Zubac for a dunk for a 10-point lead with 3:27 left in the first half, which was the first of four consecutive possessions ending with points for the Clippers.

Harden scored on an and-one before Leonard’s dunk before finding Bogdan Bogdanovic for another score the possession after. All the while, Van Gundy let the harsh truth spill out.

“Here’s the question on the Suns though. We know this offense is potent, we know they’ve got three great guys,” Van Gundy said. “But we just saw them give up a layup to Zubac. We saw this one before … and nobody picks him up, everybody watches. And then off a made basket, you let the Clippers just push the ball for a drive and an and-one.

“Does this Phoenix team, does this group of players really have a commitment to trying to get into the postseason ’cause I’m not seeing it on the defensive end of the floor. I’m not seeing effort. I’m not seeing the Clippers having to make tough shots. I’m seeing easy buckets.”

He added that the window is open for the Suns to jump up due to injured players such as Kyrie Irving and Domantas Sabonis, but it would take seeing a lot more defense first.

The Clippers outscored the Suns 41-19 in the second quarter in which the rant took place. The timeout after the Leonard dunk yielded only slightly improved results, as the Clippers were 3-for-4 on their final four opportunities.

Later in the game, Van Gundy took note of some fans at PHX Arena booing, saying the fans had been pretty forgiving and the boos should’ve started earlier in his mind.

Phoenix stormed back late in the contest to erase a deficit as high as 23 points with a 119-117 win.

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