"This is terrible" - NBA analyst calls out Kevin Durant & Suns for dismal 4th quarter performance

Kevin Durant spent the last four years of his NBA career playing offensively with two of the deepest teams in NBA history. However, as high as the expectations from these teams have been, they have been very close to disappointment. NBA analyst Rachel Nichols slammed the Phoenix Suns for their terrible performance this season.

The Suns rank 7th in the league, behind the Dallas Mavericks. If the regular season ended today, they would play in the Play-In Tournament to qualify for the playoffs.

The Suns have some of the all-time great scorers on their roster. Despite that, they are dead last in the league in the 4th quarter with an average of 25 points.

Alluding to their ranking in the 4th quarter, Nichols said that it was an embarrassment for Kevin Durant and the Suns:

“This is an embarrassment. There is no other way to say it. A team with this caliber of players should never be 30th in the league in the fourth quarter… they are last by a lot.”

The season has also been a bit unfortunate for the Suns. Bradley Beal, their third-best star after Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, has been injured for most of the season. Durant and Booker have also missed a few of these games. Still, Nichols did not spare the Suns for their poor performance this season.

“I don’t care how many of the times you stars have missed different games, therefore, the chemistry is an issue, I don’t care the fact that you don’t have the deepest roster… that is terrible,” Nichols remarked.

Expand Tweet

Nichols also slammed Suns owner Mat Ishbia for making quick moves to begin the championship for the team. She was critical of the Suns moving away from Chris Paul, a steady point guard. According to Nichols, giving point guard responsibility to Booker was a bad idea.

The Suns have nine games left in the season to move to sixth position or higher in the West. However, they also have the toughest schedule in the league. It will be interesting to see where they land at the end of the regular season.

Can Kevin Durant and Phoenix Suns avoid the Play-In Tournament?

After the Phoenix Suns acquired Bradley Beal, the Suns were offensively the most lethal team in the league on paper. However, as the season progressed, Kevin Durant and the Suns struggled in bench scoring in the fourth quarter and on the defensive end of the floor.

They rank seventh in the Western Conference (43-30), ahead of 6th-seeded Dallas Mavericks (43-29). With nine games remaining, the playoff picture for the Suns looks bleaker than ever.

The Suns will play their remaining games this season against teams already qualified for the postseason. Of those nine games, Durant and the Suns play two games each against the LA Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves and the New Orleans Pelican. All three are top teams in the West.

They will play against the OKC Thunder, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Sacramento Kings in their three remaining games.

All the teams they will play in the rest of the season have a better record than them. Given the schedule, it would be hard for the Suns to avoid the Play-In Tournament. However, they have Durant and Booker on their roster.