PHOENIX – There’s no reason to believe that the Phoenix Suns’ three most important players can all stay healthy enough to really work toward anything this season. The departure of Devin Booker in Thursday’s 120-111 loss to the Indiana Pacers was the latest setback to further deplete any remaining confidence.

Less than three minutes later, Booker attempted a 3-pointer and had Indiana guard Bennedict Mathurin impeding his landing spot. Booker’s right foot landed on Mathurin’s own feet, which, upon review, resulted in a Flagrant 1 foul. Booker ran and jogged the movement of his right ankle without looking too bad for the rest of the first half.

However, coming out of halftime his movements were not at all explosive and it was clear something was wrong. When the Suns called a timeout midway through the third quarter, he jogged to the locker room and was later sidelined with left groin strain.

Booker has struggled with left groin strains twice in his career, once in December 2017 and once in December 2022, so it’s an event that has some history at this time of year.

And there is more.

Add in Booker’s left hamstring injury in December 2018, his left hamstring injury in January 2021 (15 games into the season), and his left hamstring injury in December 2021, and we have a real problem because something is cropping up this time around this side of his body.

Since Game No. 10 of the season when Kevin Durant missed his first action of the season, a stretch prior that also saw some brief absences from Bradley Beal, the Suns’ Big 3 have played together and been on the other side of things Only one of them was error-free in the last 17 games. In three of those 16 contests, every member of the Big 3 will be injured at some point.

If Booker misses Saturday’s game against the Detroit Pistons, it would be his first appearance of the season.

The disappointment of this masked another troubling team outing.

Former Suns head coach Monty Williams always emphasized that his team should not disrespect their opponents. The league is too talented for anyone to gain confidence. And with the Suns being the superior group most nights, they had to make sure they ripped out the roots of that confidence before it could even begin to sprout.

This iteration is bad at that. I don’t know why. These suns are just there.

After a great first four minutes that showed how poorly Indiana is connected defensively, and a series of great Suns performances after great Suns performances that suggested the Pacers would have a long night, Phoenix made it 11-0 -Run up in 1:51 and trailed by four before actually falling by seven in that period. It was unbelievable how the Suns seemed to turn the game around in an instant and had no offensive rhythm while Indiana only had open chances on the other side.

Durant and head coach Mike Budenholzer cited turnovers as a reason the Suns experienced quick turnarounds in the same quarter several times in recent weeks. Durant agreed that in today’s NBA, 3s are what allow teams to get back into games so quickly.

“Just turnovers on possessions that give them momentum. … And then transition D, it’s hard to get back on defense when you turn the ball over,” Durant said.

“It feels like they hit all three after we turned it over,” Durant added.

The Pacers scored 29 points off the Suns’ 16 turnovers. Indiana was 16 of 41 (39%) from 3 and, for the most part, the Suns’ defense was either out of position or just fine, allowing average shooters to get open shots.

And to get back to the point of letting the opponent build some belief: The Pacers are no bums. They are an underperforming but dangerous team.

Regardless of how the rest of the game played out, it was another reminder of how far this group still has to go. This is the same mental disconnect that ruined Phoenix last year. Although there was actually one win in the first round, these four matchups against the Minnesota Timberwolves were extremely hard-fought until the Suns gave away control of the game to Minnesota in the crucial minutes of the second half.

Both Durant and Booker tried over several periods to get the team back on track, but the defensive errors continued into the third quarter, a 37-24 win for Indiana in a quarter that continues to trouble the Suns.

The Suns reduced their number to nine midway through the fourth quarter before a quick rebound from Indiana that pushed the lead back to 14 led to body language from Phoenix that told fans it was time to stop traffic to overcome.

Durant finished the game with 37 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, two steals and five turnovers in 38 minutes. He took full responsibility for the turnovers and pointed out that the team followed his example as a leader, both good and bad.

Phoenix played with a nine-man rotation for most of the first half.

The underdogs were freshman Ryan Dunn and veteran big man Mason Plumlee. Dunn’s shooting has dropped off and defenses are leaving him more open than ever, which doesn’t make him unplayable, but backup point guard Monte Morris has been rock solid all year and got the nod instead. Plumlee made room for rookie Oso Ighodaro, who gives the Suns a dynamic more suited to Indiana’s style of play. Plumlee has another look and all three centers are expected to see playing time. Dunn also got some minutes in the second half.

Injuries have damaged the Suns’ defensive ability more than anywhere else. As Booker himself often points out, this can always be attributed to poor offensive play in some capacity. If Phoenix doesn’t look good, it means the opponent is making more mistakes to play against an unsecured defense. Sales are the gasoline that is thrown on the fire. And in general, Durant is having his best defensive season in three years, while Beal hasn’t reached this level since his early years in Washington.

Through the first 11 games of the season, Phoenix ranked 13th in defensive rating (112.9), according to Cleaning the Glass. In the following 14 games beginning Thursday, the Suns ranked 26th in defensive rating (118.8).

Given the proof of concept we have for a team with defensive problems, showing that they can actually do more than enough in that regard to win a lot of games, it is unacceptable for commitment to wane in some parts of the game, like this they did it Thursday.

Beal’s return after a two-game absence produced 6 of 9 shooting and 16 points.

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