Jalen Suggs wears his emotions on his sleeve. There is no denying what he is feeling at any given moment.
It is what endears him to everyone around him. When things are going well, he smiles from ear to ear and his emotions constantly drive and energize his team.
After Tuesday’s 114-109 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, Suggs was dour. The usually emotive and joyful Suggs sat at the table in an auxiliary locker room inside Fiserv Forum and seemed to speak barely above a whisper.
It did not feel like a game where Suggs’ career-high 32 points, including 18 in the fourth quarter when the Magic’s chances at victory were on life support. It did not feel like a game that caused the Inside the NBA crew to proclaim Suggs would be an All-Star soon, joining Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero on this young Magic team.
Suggs was taking and putting the loss completely on himself, unfairly perhaps. But that is the responsibility of a star, even one that has been thrust into that spotlight.
That Suggs took his responsibility so seriously and took this loss so hard speaks to what endears him to everyone. He leaves everything on the floor and these games mean everything to him.
That is why everyone loves him.
He took the responsibility hard for the loss Tuesday. It was clear in his soft-spoken press conference.
“Just again another opportunity to keep us in the game,” Suggs said. “I had one to go ahead and another one to tie it up. To miss two of them when everyone is looking to me and drew something up for me to go get one just really hurts to be honest. Good night, bad night, whatever it was I like winning. I don’t like letting my brothers down. It felt like I let them down.”
Suggs was thinking about the shots he missed more than the ones he made.
He missed two critical three-pointers down the stretch – a pull-up three he missed with about 15 seconds left and the Magic down by one and a corner three with the team down by three that sealed their fate in this one.
Never mind that Suggs’ efforts and shot-making brought the Magic into the lead down the stretch and that he took and made a lot of shots with the confidence and swagger of a star player. Never mind that he is new to the role with the Magic playing only two games since Franz Wagner’s injury and has completely embraced every part of it and thrived in it – he had 14 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to secure the win over the Phoenix Suns. Never mind that Suggs has always risen his game to the moment throughout his career.
Suggs was still dwelling on shots that did not fall – not only the ones against the Bucks but his misses late in the loss to the Philadelphia 76ers with a chance to climb the Magic all the way back.
Suggs expects a lot from himself. And he expects success. It is written all over him every time he takes the floor.
The Magic do not want that to change about him. They want him to feel all his feelings. He has worked hard to make sure those negative feelings do not linger.
With the NBA Cup on the line, Suggs wore his emotions on his sleeve after the game. He felt the pain of that loss. That is the responsibility of a star. He is embracing that too.
And that is what everyone loves about him. These games mean something to him.
