Shorthanded Suns once again look outmanned in loss to Magic

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns need a break.

The good news is it’s coming. The bad news is, well, how badly they need it.

A 109-99 loss to the Orlando Magic on Monday without Bradley Beal (left calf strain), Kevin Durant (left calf strain) and Jusuf Nurkic (left ankle sprain) is Phoenix’s fourth straight defeat and fifth in its last six games. Wednesday’s matchup with the New York Knicks will be the final contest over a 12-game stretch during which the Suns did not have more than a day between games. After that, they don’t play again until a week from Tuesday on Nov. 26.

“You have these stretches throughout the season, so they’re a grind,” Suns point guard Tyus Jones said. “It’s not gonna be our last stretch like this. It’s just a grind, especially when you got guys down. But we just gotta continue to fight, continue to get better, stay together, not let this kind of get our spirit down and know that it’ll be good for us in the long run.”

Suns (9-6) head coach Mike Budenholzer did not have an update pregame on Beal’s timeline, a concern now that his injury has been listed as a strain and he hasn’t played in the last four games. Durant’s point for re-evaluation comes during the weekend of the five days without a game. Nurkic’s ankle sprain seems to be of the day-to-day variety, like Beal.

Everyone is confident in the team remaining stable through this.

“These guys stay together,” Budenholzer said. “It’s a good group, they’ve got a good spirit, they’ve got a good way about them. Through good times and through the hard times, you gotta keep coming to work, putting your individual time (in), putting your team time in and keep your head up. This group will do that. They’re very good, they’re very resilient.”

It would have been very understandable if you came into Monday’s game thinking the Magic are a decent draw on the second game of a back-to-back without Paolo Banchero (torn right oblique). But Orlando (9-6) had won five straight, and in six of its last eight games, held teams to 90 points or less. The Magic are a lesser version of the Oklahoma City Thunder, a roster designed around maximizing length and positional versatility through a physical style defensively.

Franz Wagner recently won Eastern Conference Player of the Week and has been doing enough offensively to carry them on that end while the defense does the rest.

This was as much of a schedule loss as the Suns have had this year.

Despite the absence of Nurkic, Phoenix rolled with the two-big starting lineup that worked wonders on Sunday to open up space for Devin Booker. This was the first-career start for Oso Ighodaro, leaving the Suns with no bigs off the bench. Phoenix more or less staggered those two all game to still be playing with a 5. Orlando started Goga Bitadze in place of Wendell Carter Jr. (plantar fasciitis), which kept the backup big as Mo Wagner, one of the most underrated reserves in basketball.

Orlando’s first quarter was ominous. Even with just a four-point lead, it was ahead 18-4 for points in the paint and Phoenix was just +1 at the foul line. The Suns’ rotations against Minnesota on Sunday were tremendous in a unique gameplan, something Budenholzer credited his team for doing pregame, but the execution drop-off the next night was glaring.

The Magic don’t really have any high-end playmakers and Wagner is probably their best off-the-bounce dude but it’s a lot of smart players who can make the simple pass off dribble penetration. And the Suns’ breakdowns were an issue.

The Magic keep spamming this Spain pick & roll action. Phoenix continues to get burned on it.

Franz Wagner gets a wide-open three after screening the big and causing some chaos pic.twitter.com/9dqcpbYgyr

— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) November 19, 2024

Phoenix was able to hang around despite a clear gap before a 12-5 run by the Magic to close the first half put them up 16. With both star ball-handlers getting doubled often, the Magic were far better at doing what they had to in those scenarios on offense and defense. Jones identified it as a lack of attention to detail and he was spot on in that assessment.

The Magic just kept executing through some mini-rumblings of momentum the Suns tried to grasp at but were only able to cut it down to single digits until the 3:36 mark on a Booker 3. On the next possession, he fouled Wagner on a 3 and the Magic were back up nine. Booker then took a ferocious drive to the rim and nearly yammed it on Jonathan Isaac, only for him to miss the dunk. Orlando got the ball and Wagner drew a foul again to ice things.

It’s pretty ridiculous how much energy Booker has to put into getting a half-decent look. Those looks were not falling, and beyond that, the ball wasn’t really finding him as much in other situations, whereas that was happening more frequently for Wagner.

Booker was 5-of-14 (1-for-7 from 3) with 17 points, five assists and two turnovers. He played 40 minutes in Minnesota and the wear-down effect was clear. Wagner was the star of the show with 32 points, five rebounds, eight assists and one turnover on 12-for-24 shooting. Needless to say, the Suns can’t win shorthanded if they don’t have the best player on the floor. Phoenix is now 4-9 without two of its Big 3 since the start of last season and 0-4 this year.

“We’re still figuring it out,” Jones said of the effort to get Booker open. “We’re understanding kind of what we’re trying to get to a little bit better each and every game. We’re asking Book to do a lot. It’s a lot of pressure on him, it’s a lot of focus on him. They’re physical with him, they hold and grab him all night, they throw 2-3 bodies at him — it’s a lot on his plate and we just gotta continue to find ways to get him open the times that we can and also continue to help him out with other guys making shots and making plays.”

Since the start of November, rookie Ryan Dunn is 20-for-55 (36.4%) and 8-of-34 on 3s (23.5%) in nine games. Dunn and O’Neale (25.4 FG% and 23.5 3P% in his last six games) dropping off as shooters at the same time while Beal and Durant are out is unfortunate timing. The Suns were 12-of-41 (29.3%) from 3 on Monday and are at 33.9% across Durant’s absence.

Orlando’s big man Bitadze was terrific in this game with 17 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. He was a popular fake trade target of Suns fans last season due to the Magic having Carter and Mo Wagner already at the 5, and in the first three games of the season when Orlando was healthy, Bitadze only played a total of 17 minutes.

The former 2019 first-round pick faded in Indiana and was waived in February 2023 before getting signed by the Magic days later, immediately showing flashes worth looking into. He’s more mobile than you think and a guy who is generally in the right spot on both ends who plays physical as well with a sturdy frame. At 25 years old as a free agent last summer, Bitadze re-signed for a very affordable extension of three years and $25 million.

For fans curious about a potential trade fit given the shortcomings at center this season and factoring in the second apron restrictions, Bitadze’s $9 million salary does not make him a match for Josh Okogie ($8.25 million) but he is for O’Neale ($9.4 million). O’Neale, however, is unequivocally a better player and asset, so not much of a match there. The next-highest salary on Phoenix is Grayson Allen at $15.6 million, so this is yet another example of how matching salaries tightly in 1-for-1 deals gets tricky.

Phoenix will undoubtedly get inventive when the new year comes and the trade market starts to get a lil’ steamy. For some perspective here, think about the Pacers’ logic in not wanting to let go of T.J. McConnell and the Magic’s situation with Bitadze. What he’s doing right now is exactly why he’s important to them, and as we saw with McConnell, guys like that can grow into more.

Orlando is cooking if Banchero and Franz Wagner are indeed All-NBA-level dudes. Don’t sleep on some sleeper potential brewing in the East.

Guard Anthony Black, the No. 6 pick in 2023, contributed 18 points, four rebounds, eight assists and three steals off the bench. Jalen Suggs, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Black and Isaac were playing through their usual brand of winning basketball to fill out most of the perimeter spots alongside Wagner’s initiating. Rookie wing Tristian da Silva, a prospect talked about as a great Suns fit if he slipped in the draft, is perfect for doing that too and had six assists with zero turnovers in 26 minutes.

The Suns had 16 offensive rebounds and 20 second-chance points to save some subpar offensive flow from looking even worse. Dunn (4) and Ighodaro (3) combined for seven of those 16 offensive rebounds. Ighodaro’s 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals in 32 minutes made it another solid outing for him.

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