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I absolutely crushed today’s Sports Connections game without any help or hints. I definitely don’t want to talk about what happened to me during Sunday’s classic Connections game.

The Sun is Setting

A $150 million tax bill to miss the Play-In?

I will be the first to put my hand up for being wrong about this season’s Suns (28-33). Prior to the opening night tip-off, I thought they were primed for a resurgence. Phoenix surged toward the playoffs last March and April and found itself in a seemingly favorable first-round matchup with the Timberwolves … only to be swept out. The trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal couldn’t wield its star power to beat out Anthony Edwards-led Minnesota.

So, the Suns got serious! They fired Frank Vogel as coach and hired Mike Budenholzer to mastermind the sidelines and huddles. Budenholzer, for all his faults in many a postseason, has a system on both ends of the floor that yields brilliant regular-season results. He turned the Hawks into offensive and defensive dynamos. He did the same with the Bucks and eventually broke through with enough adjustments to win an NBA title. Follow his system, and you’ll at least win often in an 82-game campaign.

The key phrase there is “follow his system.” This Suns team hasn’t done that, for whatever reason. I’m blaming both the players and Budenholzer. Players need to trust their coach’s gameplan, but the coach needs to find a way to make them believe. That hasn’t happened.

• The Suns’ offensive rating was 113.8 (10th) last season. It jumped to 114.0 this season. Due to offensive inflation, that is good for 11th in the league.
• Their defensive rating was 113.7 (tied for 12th) last season. It has plummeted to 116.2 (27th) this season. Only the Wizards (11-49), Pelicans (17-44) and Jazz (15-46) are worse on that end.

Last year’s Suns team went 49-33. This year’s team is on pace to finish with a 37-45 record. Phoenix is currently four games out of the No. 10 spot behind Dallas (32-30) and Sacramento (32-28). Oh, and it’s only a half-game ahead of the Trail Blazers (28-34). Not to mention, the Suns have a luxury tax bill of $152 million. Nobody has ever spent this much for so little return on the court.

• That’s the fourth-highest tax bill in league history. The only three higher tax bills are from the Warriors in the previous three seasons.
• With that being said, Golden State did win the 2022 title. During one of the other seasons, the Warriors missed the playoffs but made the Play-In at 44-38.
• We’ve had one team with a nine-figure tax bill miss the playoffs before. It was the 2020 Warriors team that had Steph Curry for five games and no Klay Thompson.

I know what you’re wondering. Zach, didn’t the Suns have injuries this season? Kind of! Durant, Booker and Beal have combined to miss 38 games so far this season. Those three combined to miss 50 games last season, so injuries aren’t to blame. Your next question is probably: Zach, how did this go so wrong? It’s a great question, us.

• The Suns were 8-1 to start the season, but then KD missed the next seven games (1-6) with a calf injury. Phoenix is 26-22 with KD and 2-11 without him.
• Phoenix has a minus-1.9 net rating with KD, Booker and Beal on the court together.
• There is also the aforementioned defense … or lack thereof.
• Opponents aren’t afraid of this team, so it has no psychological edge.
• There was a report that Budenholzer asked Booker to be less vocal so the coach can get a word in easier.
• Phoenix tried to trade Durant at the deadline, which may have cut the final shred of pulling this thing together.

This Phoenix team is not going to make the Play-In. Making up four games with 21 to play isn’t impossible, but two things will stop the Suns. 1) They have the toughest remaining schedule in the league. 2) They’re not very good.

It gets even worse. If you were wondering whether or not they have their first-round pick, Houston can swap it with Oklahoma City’s.

The Last 24

Club of league elites has two new members

🏀 In the hunt? John Hollinger is wondering if the Lakers (38-21) and Nuggets (39-22) are officially contenders. Here’s a hint: they are.

🗽 Knicks back? Mitchell Robinson has returned to New York’s rotation. Its defensive upside is encouraging.

🐂 Get well soon. Ayo Dosunmu of the Bulls (24-37) is having season-ending surgery. It’s time to fix his shoulder. 

📺 Don’t miss this game tonight. Warriors (33-28) at Knicks (40-20), 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT. The Warriors are on a back-to-back. They just played in Charlotte, though, so they’re fresh enough.

📺 League Pass gem. Bucks (34-25) at Hawks (28-33), 7:30 p.m on League Pass (get LP here). The winner gets to play in the 2021 NBA Finals.

About Last Night

How the Hawks literally stole from the Grizzlies

The Grizzlies (38-23) were about to put this game against the Hawks (28-33) away last night. They were up 126-116 with 5:25 left in the game. That’s still a lot of time, but come on – it’s the Hawks! You can put that team away without a ton of resistance. Well, maybe that’s the poor assumption the Grizzlies made too. What happened over the next five minutes was punctuated by a ridiculously clutch moment:

• Caris LeVert assisted Dyson Daniels to cut it to eight.
• Then, Daniels assisted LeVert on a 3-pointer to cut it to five.
• Atlanta and Memphis went back and forth over the next couple minutes as LeVert scored six of the Hawks’ next eight points to tie the game at 130 with 1:34 left.
• Then, after exchanging misses for the next 90 seconds, Desmond Bane had a chance to win it on what should have been the final possession.

There was one problem with that, though: He tried to drive against Daniels, who averages three steals per game. The latter had only had two steals at that moment, so it was time to get his average for the night. Daniels picked Bane clean with 3.1 seconds left, threw it ahead to LeVert, and we got this finish:

That wasn’t even the best part of the moment, though. The Hawks were geeked to have stolen that victory from the Grizzlies. Remember: this game was in Memphis, so Atlanta mobbed LeVert near the baseline seats. Check out this Grizzlies fan hitting them with the double thumbs down. Devastating:

The Hawks won 132-130 thanks to a 16-4 run to finish out the game. It moved the Hawks to within a half-game of the Magic (29-33), who currently sit in the eighth spot in the East. It also kept the Grizzlies from inching closer to Denver for the No. 3 seed. They’re currently a game behind the Nuggets and a game ahead of fifth-place Houston.

More from last night’s action

Thunder 137 (50-11), Rockets 128 (37-24): No Alperen Şengün, Dillon Brooks, Amen Thompson or Fred VanVleet for the Rockets. In that case, there was no chance of slowing down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. SGA put up 51 points on 18-of-30 shooting from the field, made 5 of 9 from deep and went a perfect 10 of 10 from the free-throw line. On offense, Cam Whitmore (27) and Reed Sheppard (25) did well in their starts, but SGA was too much.

Warriors 119 (33-28), Hornets 101 (14-46): This game was surprisingly close in the third quarter, but the Warriors pulled away to make it a laugher. Here’s something actually interesting, though. Even with Steph Curry, the best free-throw shooter ever, Golden State was last in free-throw percentage (72.0) before the trade deadline. Since acquiring Jimmy Butler, the Warriors have the best free-throw percentage (85.4).

Blazers 119 (28-34), Sixers 102 (21-39): Anfernee Simons had 34 points on 13-of-26 shooting. Tyrese Maxey added five points while missing 11 of 13 shots. I can’t figure out what went wrong here. Also, there is a world in which the Blazers get the last Play-In spot because …

Kings 122 (32-28), Mavs 98 (32-30): Kyrie Irving seemed to have a really bad knee injury in this one, and it turned into a blowout after. Irving stayed in the game to shoot his free throws before being helped to the locker room. Dallas is calling it a knee sprain.

Heat 106 (29-31), Wizards 90 (11-49): Miami is still five games behind Detroit (35-27) for sixth, but this is important because it would keep the Heat on their home court for the 7-8 Play-In game.

Pistons 134 (35-27), Jazz 106 (15-46): This isn’t your slightly-older-by-three-minutes-twin-sibling’s Detroit Pistons. They take care of business against bad teams now.

Oh, Mavs …

Dallas just did a heat check on its ticket prices

The year 2025 has been rough for the Mavericks, and it’s only March 4. It’s tough to outright say what the feeling is around Dallas, but if you go by what we’re seeing on literally every social media platform, the Mavs’ fan base hates this franchise now. This has been one of the best and most loyal fan bases for as long as I can remember.

It’s simply because the Mavericks traded a now 26-year-old Luka Dončić for Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a first-round pick because apparently general manager Nico Harrison thinks Dončić is too out of shape to be the leader of the team’s culture. We’ve seen the fans throw a funeral for the franchise. They’ve protested Harrison and new ownership. We’ve seen fans kicked out of the arena for heckling Harrison on the jumbotron. The vibes in Dallas are not great. They’re about to get worse.

During all of this Mavs fan madness (Mavsness?), the team decided to test that vitriol even further. This is from Christian Clark:

“On Monday, the Mavericks sent season-ticket renewals to existing customers. The rate to remain a season-ticket holder increased by an average of 8.6 percent, the Mavericks confirmed.

Season tickets on the floor and on the terrace levels saw the steepest hikes, with the cost to remain there increasing by as much as 20 percent.”

This is an interesting business decision! What a heat check, even when you’re ice cold with your fans. The Lakers are rolling with Dončić. Irving just got hurt with what looks to be a serious injury. All of Dallas’ big men not named Moses Brown and Kai Jones are currently injured. Let’s raise ticket prices 8.6 percent on average!

What’s next? Tear down the Dirk Nowitzki statue and replace it with a statue of 2006 Dwyane Wade shooting free throws?

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(Top photo: Joe Camporeale / Imagn Images )