Bradley Beal blamed his own team for the loss tonight. In a playoff race contest, the Phoenix Suns took on the in-form New Orleans Pelicans. After a decent start to the game, the Suns failed to match up to the Pelicans’ pace. Zion Williamson and CJ McCollum put up a dominating 60 points together to secure a 105-113 win. Amid the race for the 6th seed in the West, Beal opened up about the team’s missing X factor.

In the post-game press conference, Beal said, “They really wanted to get a win… Hats off to them. We didn’t have that same fight to want to win like they did.” Furthermore, speaking of the Pelicans’ drive to win the game, Beal said, “I think we were energetic enough to win the game … but you could see they had a little more fight.”

The league is just a few days away from closing out the regular season. The race for the 6th spot would be wide-open until the last game of the season. Currently, there are four teams tangled up to clinch the 6th seed. Notably, the LA Lakers, which almost spent most of its time at the 9th seed, magically climbed up the ladder and are just two wins away from clinching the 6th seed.

At the same time, the Suns made their mark above 6th seed for the majority of the season. And now, a few slip-ups may cost them a safe spot and push them into the play-in tournament. Amid this situation, Bradley Beal warned the team about the missing fighting spirit. In the last few games, they pulled off a miracle by shutting down lethal opponents like the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves.

However, in tonight’s game, the Suns’ Big 3 didn’t get enough support from the rest of the roster. They put together 81 points led by Beal with 33 points. Meanwhile, the rest of the roster dropped 24 points and the bench could contribute only 7, compared to the Pelicans’ bench with 34 points.

Will the Phoenix Suns finish in the West top 6?

The Pelicans are right behind the Suns in the 7th seed with the same record as them (46-32). They both have four games each to finalize the spot between themselves. However, the Pels have a slight advantage over the Suns in this equation. All four teams that the Valley Side will face are above .500, meanwhile, Zion & Co. have a game against a team below 500.

Moreover, the equation isn’t that simple for the race for the 6th spot. The Lakers and Sacramento Kings are also in the line-up to steal the spot. The Californian teams have only two wins away from getting to the golden spot. On the other hand, the Dubs also have a chance, as they have both Pels and Lakers in their next match-ups.

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