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Bradley Beal had the perfect response to the Phoenix Suns being swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Beal had guaranteed that the Suns wouldn’t be swept. Personally, Beal had never been on the losing end of a sweep in his career and didn’t see it happening against Minnesota.
“I’ve never been swept a day in my life. I can’t … I’ll be damned if that happens,” Beal said ahead of Game 4. “It’s gonna be a tough game. I’m sure it’s gonna get in the back of their mind that’s something they want to go out and get down. I’ve been in a 3-0 situation and you just want to put that team to bed, so they’re gonna come out and playing their best basketball on Sunday.”
The Timberwolves completed the sweep with a 122-116 victory in Game 4. Beal had a miserable evening. He scored just 9 points on 4-of-13 shooting and fouled out in the fourth quarter. Beal admitted that Minnesota made him eat his words.
“I’ll be damned, man,” Beal said to reporters on Monday, April 29.
Beal added: “I’m trying to make light of the situation, but it’s a [expletive] feeling, excuse my language. It definitely is. You have huge expectations for yourself as a team and obviously individually to contribute and be a part of something really big and that series just sucked. And, obviously, the last game for me was horrible.”
Bradley Beal Points to Health as Issue for Suns
The Suns were very much all in this season. Acquiring Beal to play alongside Devin Booker and Kevin Durant gave the team a dangerous “Big 3.” However, the Suns rarely looked like a true contender, entering the postseason as the No. 6 seed. A first-round sweep is a massive disappointment for a franchise that invested a ton in their three stars.
Beal pointed to his health as one of the hurdles the Suns struggled to overcome.
“I mean, in retrospect we won 49 [regular-season] games,” Beal said, per ESPN. “That’s a lot of games. And I missed what, 30 games, roughly? That’s a lot of games. I’m not saying we’d have won every game if I’d have played, but we would be in a totally different position if I’m healthy the whole year, if everybody’s healthy the whole year.”
Beal dealt with a slew of injuries during his first year in Phoenix. Lower back tightness and nerve pain down his legs limited him to start the year. He also suffered an ankle sprain, hamstring strain, a broken nose and a concussion.
Beal, a three-time All-Star, averaged 18.2 points this season.
Bradley Beal Feels Suns’ Title Window Still Open
Beal will be 31 next season, and Durant is already 35. The Suns don’t have a huge title window, but Beal is confident they’ll be better next season.
“We didn’t look at this thing as a one-year thing and we’re going to come in and just, we only got this year to figure it out,” Beal said. “No, we’ve got time. You don’t want to use that as a cop-out, but the reality we live in, that’s the game plan. We have a window. Yeah, it’s a short window, but we have a window, so we want to maximize it as much as possible. And obviously, we still have a lot of room to grow. We all have to be better. I’ve got to be better. And we all have to be better as an organization and move towards that goal of winning the title, which isn’t easy.”
The Suns will have to have some hard conversations this offseason. Much of that will be on the personnel they surround their star trio with. But there will also be discussion about their coaching situation and if Frank Vogel will be more than a one-and-done in Phoenix.
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