Windhorst: Kevin Durant's Suns Questioned Themselves About 4Q Struggles for Months

The Phoenix Suns face an 0-2 hole in their first-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, and it doesn't appear they've solved the woes that existed during the regular season.

Phoenix has been outscored by 10 points in the fourth quarter against Minnesota, continuing a trend that baffled the Suns all year long.

"This question has been asked and not just by the fans in the media, like it's been asked internally by the Suns for months, and trust me they looked at everything that they could look at to try to figure out why in the fourth quarter they can't handle their business," ESPN's Brian Windhorst said on The Hoop Collective (21-minute mark).

The Suns were the NBA's worst fourth-quarter team by a significant margin during the regular season. Their opponents outscored them by 11.6 points per 100 possessions, more than double the NBA's next-worst team (Miami Heat, -5.5 net rating). Phoenix's fourth-quarter net rating was worse than any other team's total net rating for the 2023-24 season.

For comparison, the Suns actually outscored their opponents by 3.1 points per 100 possessions during the regular season. In other words: Phoenix outscored its opponents by 14.7 points per 100 possessions across the first three quarters of a game before completely falling apart in the final quarter.

As Windhorst notes, this is not a new problem. Kevin Durant spoke of the Suns needing to "simplify" in fourth quarters all the way back in January.

"I feel like sometimes we can simplify our attack a little bit more and just play to our strengths as individuals," Durant told reporters then. "I think our game has been, when we had some solid fourth quarters, it was us driving closeouts. Coming down making quick decisions. Getting into our offense a little earlier in the shot clock, stuff like that. So we got to lean on that type of stuff. If we play a little bit faster, but under control in the fourth, it will start to turn for us."

While the fourth quarter has not been Phoenix's only problem against the Timberwolves—their worst quarter has been the third in this series—the late-game woes haven't helped. Now, one of the league's most star-studded and expensive teams is two games away from a disappointing first-round exit.