It’s going to take a team effort for the Phoenix Suns to fix their rebounding issues

“Quack, Quack, Quack, Quack.”

The puck stops here! Or it needs to if the Phoenix Suns want to have a shot at winning a playoff series this season. The here that I’m talking about is the glass.

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After an unexpected first-round playoff appearance, the Suns are back, hoping to improve upon last season, one that established a culture and new direction for the organization after the short-lived Kevin Durant era. It was a season that greatly exceeded national and local expectations, yet fizzled when the competition ratcheted up in the postseason. 

In that final stretch run, the Suns’ stalwart seven-footer and leading rebounder Mark Williams finally succumbed to the injury bug, as has far too often been his fate over the course of his career, leaving a second year Oso Ighodaro, a sprinkling of Khaman Malauch and a whole lot of small ball to replace his vacated minutes. 

During this Mark-less stretch, the Suns struggled to compete on the glass. Larger teams had their way with the Suns, including a disappointing Houston team that swept the Suns in the regular season series. Houston will be back, and bigger, with the return of Steven Adams, and they won’t be the only team in the West with a clear size advantage over the Suns. From Wemby to Kessler Walker, from Gobert to the double big lineup in OKC, the Suns are going to need to figure out how to close out defensive possessions with a rebound if they want to be the team they envision.

The Suns expect to be a team that gets out in transition, a team that relies on downhill rim pressure and foul shots (uh-oh) rather than the great equalizer that is the three-ball. They can no longer afford to get worked on the glass and expect to win, especially in the playoffs where giving up an offensive rebound in the closing possessions is enough to end games. The problem of size has limited the Phoenix Suns’ championship potential for years, long before the arrival of Ishbia, Gregory and Ott.

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One of the all-time great fictional teams, the Mighty Ducks, found themselves in a similar situation as this year’s Phoenix Suns. Returning off a Cinderella season with…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/going-team-effort-phoenix-suns-120000730.html

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Publish date : 2026-10-13 12:00:00

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