菲尼克斯太阳本赛季季后赛第一次濒临淘汰。那一定很可怕吧？
太阳队有8名球员在本赛季之前没有季后赛经验，他们正处在联赛结束的风口浪尖上，一周半前当他们在系列赛中以2:0领先时，这种可能性似乎是不可能的。但这是他们现在面临的现实，他们说他们正在接受它。
“你必须接受你在系列赛中的位置，从那里开始，你必须把你的情绪和精力集中到下一场比赛，那就是明晚，”太阳队首发前锋杰克劳德说我们只知道这将是一场斗狗。这将是-你必须把一切都留在球场上。”
在周二晚上的NBA总决赛第六场比赛中，菲尼克斯需要在季后赛中尽最大努力来颠覆密尔沃基雄鹿队。雄鹿在季后赛的主场战绩是9胜1负，如果有机会在主场球迷面前夺冠，雄鹿一定会欣喜若狂。
但这就是太阳所说的他们是为之而建的，在这个时刻除了他们自己没有人相信他们。他们说他们喜欢这样山东泰山直播。
“你必须感觉良好并为自己感到骄傲，像这样沮丧，连续赢得两场比赛让你感觉很棒，”太阳队首发前锋米卡尔·布里奇斯说你知道，背靠墙的感觉会很好，因为我们还没有整个季后赛。所以，这很好。”
为了在客场击败密尔沃基并在凤凰城进行第七场比赛，太阳队需要解决多个方面的问题。在周六的第五场失利中，他们在三分线外的投篮命中率只有20.9%，而这是他们季后赛的最低得分。
其中一个原因是太阳队在第三节的孤立表现。全明星得分后卫德文·布克以51.5%的命中率连续第二场拿下40分，但却让凤凰队放弃了5分进攻计划，在这项计划中，凤凰队强调在半秒内运球、射门或传球来控制球的移动。
在周一接受记者采访时，布克说太阳队在第六场比赛中集中精力提高他们的进攻速度。在这个系列赛中，他们在四场比赛中助攻了不到50%的射门，而在这个季后赛之前他们只助攻过一次。
布克说：“我认为，凭借球队和射手的能力，我们需要创造更多的三分球。”很明显，他们经常换衣服，呆在家里对付枪手。所以这只是一种解决问题的方法。施加压力，使地心引力为团队中的每个人提供更多的机会。”
无论如何，布克对于太阳队来说是非常需要的。在第五场比赛中，他在41分钟内获得全队最高的12分。在6:28的比赛中，菲尼克斯以16分领先。
布克的状态对太阳来说是无可挑剔的，他在季后赛中出场14次，超过40分钟。可以想象，菲尼克斯需要他打近48分钟才能有机会赢得第六场比赛。
布克说：“我们现在正试图弄清楚，我们将如何走出去并做到这一点。”我们知道这是有可能的，因为我们的团队和我们本赛季大部分时间所依靠的。”
同样的标准也适用于首发中锋迪安德雷艾顿，他在周六的45分钟内就获得了6分。艾顿可以说是太阳队唯一能有效防守雄鹿巨星前锋吉安尼斯·安特托昆波的球员，据报道，他是NBA总决赛历史上第一个平均得分超过30分、10个篮板和5次助攻，命中率至少达到60%的球员。
在这个系列赛中，艾顿让安特托昆波在场上48投21中，尽管其中9次失误来自3分范围。尽管如此，与安特托昆波被克劳德、布里奇斯或替补前锋托瑞·克雷格和卡梅隆·约翰逊防守时相比，艾顿的表现还是要好得多。
太阳队的后援萨里奇因为右前交叉韧带撕裂而缺席季后赛，艾顿可能也需要打第六场比赛的大部分时间。这是一个挑战，他坚持他已经准备好了。
“我有很多汽油，”艾顿说你知道，最后，这是一场高强度的比赛，这是我训练的，也是球队整个赛季训练的，你知道，在这样的比赛中踢球。作为一支强调团结的球队，我们在比赛中，尤其是在客场比赛中，必须关注的只是精神上的耐力。”
总的来说，太阳正在拥抱他们所处的位置。菲尼克斯队主教练蒙蒂·威廉姆斯说，球队在飞往密尔沃基的航班上“有着相同的眼神”，他们集体对周二晚上延长系列赛的时间“充满信心”。
那要怎么办？除了停球、移动篮球和创造空位投篮之外，还需要恢复能力，威廉姆斯认为他的球队在第五场比赛的最后几分钟发现了这一点，在最后30秒将14分的差距缩小到只有1分。
威廉姆斯说：“我不知道有哪支球队刚刚获得过总冠军，只是随便走走而已。”所以我们的球员，我们已经谈论过了，季后赛的伤痛，以及从伤痛中恢复过来的能力。”
周二晚上太阳队的误差将比以往任何时候都小。赢了，他们将在主场进行第七场比赛，那里的球迷吵闹，凤凰城将被点燃。一旦失败，所有的希望都将永远破灭。
太阳队需要48分钟的毅力、韧性和连通性才能完成任务。他们准备好了吗？他们说，当然。
布克说：“我们是那种意识到‘一切都结束了’的团队。”无论我们今后做什么，都将决定我们的未来。”
原标题：
Suns ‘trying to figure out’ how to win Game 6, force a final game in 2021 NBA Finals
原文：
The Phoenix Suns are on the brink of elimination for the first time this postseason. That’s got to be a scary sight, right?
The Suns, who have eight players on their active roster with no playoff experience prior to this season, are on the cusp of their championship run ending, a possibility that seemed improbable just a week and a half ago when they went up 2-0 in the series. But this is the reality they now face, and they say they’re embracing it.
“You have to embrace where you are in the series, and from there, you have to focus and channel your emotions and energy towards the next game, and that’s tomorrow night,” Suns starting forward Jae Crowder said. “We just know it’s going to be a dogfight. It’s going to be — you have to leave it all out on the court.”
Phoenix will need arguably its best effort of the postseason to upend the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night. The Bucks have posted a 9-1 record at home in these playoffs and will certainly be ecstatic with a chance to win a championship in front of their home fans.
But this is what the Suns have said they’re built for, a moment in which nobody believes in them except themselves. They said they like things that way.
“You’ve got to feel good about it and take pride, and being down like this, making it feel great by winning two games in a row,” Suns starting forward Mikal Bridges said. “You know, it’s going to feel good having our backs against the wall, since we haven’t this whole playoffs. So, it’s good.”
To defeat Milwaukee on the road and force a Game 7 in Phoenix, the Suns will need to address multiple areas of improvement. During Saturday’s Game 5 loss, they attempted just 20.9 percent of their shots from the 3-point line excluding heaves, according to Cleaning the Glass, which was their lowest mark of the postseason.
One of the reasons for that statistic was the Suns’ isolation play in the third quarter. They went extensively to All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker, who had 40 points for the second consecutive game on 51.5 percent shooting but took Phoenix out of its point-five offensive scheme, in which it emphasizes ball movement by dribbling, shooting or passing within half a second.
During a Monday interview with reporters, Booker said the Suns have focused on improving their offensive flow for Game 6. In this series, they have assisted fewer than 50 percent of their shots three times in four games after doing so just once before in this postseason.
“I think with the team and the capabilities of the shooters that we have on this team that we need to generate more threes,” Booker said. “Obviously, they’re switching a lot and staying home on shooters. So it’s just a way of figuring it out. Putting pressure, causing gravity to open up opportunities, easier opportunities for everybody on this team.”
Regardless, Booker will be very much needed for the Suns to extend the series. In Game 5, he was a team-high plus-12 in 41 minutes. In the 6:28 he was off the floor, Phoenix was outscored by 16.
Booker’s conditioning has been impeccable for the Suns this postseason, exceeding 40 minutes played 14 times. It’s conceivable that Phoenix will need him to play close to 48 minutes for it to have a chance to win Game 6.
“We’re trying to figure it out right now, how we’re going to go out there and do it,” Booker said. “We know it’s possible with the group that we have and what we have leaned on for most of the season.”
The same standard could apply for starting center Deandre Ayton, who was a plus-six in just under 45 minutes on Saturday. Ayton is arguably the Suns’ only player who can effectively guard Bucks superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is reportedly the first player in NBA Finals history to average over 30 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on at least 60 percent shooting.
In this series, Ayton has held Antetokounmpo to 21-of-48 clip from the field, though nine of those misses have been from 3-point range. Still, Ayton has posted a much better mark than when Antetokounmpo has been guarded by Crowder , Bridges or backup forwards Torrey Craig and Cameron Johnson .
With Suns backup forward Dario Saric out for the postseason with a torn right ACL, Ayton may also need to play most of Game 6. It’s a challenge that he insists he is ready for.
“I have a lot of gas,” Ayton said. “You know, at the end of the day, this is a high-intensity game and this is what I train and this is what the team trains for all season, you know, to play in games like this. It’s just the mental stamina as a team of emphasizing togetherness that we have to focus on when we play, especially on the road.”
Collectively, the Suns are embracing the position they are in. Phoenix coach Monty Williams said the team “had the same look in their eyes” on their flight to Milwaukee, and that it collectively has “a lot of confidence” it can extend the series on Tuesday night.
What will it take for that to happen? Aside from getting stops, moving the basketball and creating open shots, it will take resiliency, something Williams felt his team found in the final minutes of Game 5 when it cut a 14-point deficit to just one in the last 30 seconds.
“I don’t know of any team that has won a championship that has just kind of strolled into it,” Williams said. “So our guys, we have talked about that, the deep playoff hurts that happen and the ability to bounce back from that.”
The margin of error will be thinner than ever for the Suns on Tuesday night. Win, and they force a Game 7 back home, where their fans are rowdy and the city of Phoenix will be lit on fire. Lose, and all of that hope will be permanently extinguished.
It’s going to take the Suns a 48-minute effort of grit, resiliency and connectivity in order to get the job done. Are they ready? They say, definitely.
“We’re a type team that realizes, ‘That is over,’” Booker said. “Whatever we do forward is going to determine whatever our future is going to be.”
