The Current State of the Suns

With the NBA All-Star break ending, it’s time for the Phoenix Suns to focus back on the regular season.

As of Feb. 19, 2024, the Phoenix Suns are tied for fifth in the Western Conference with the New Orleans Pelicans. Both teams have records of 33-22 and are just out of the play-in by one game.

That’s the “Wild West” at its finest.

But, as of late, especially in their last six games, the Phoenix Suns’ season looks bright.

The First 2 of 6 Games

Starting out this six-game stretch, the Phoenix Suns played against the Washington Wizards on Feb. 4. Since it’s Bradley Beal’s former team, all eyes were on him to show out. That he did.

Not only did the Phoenix Suns get the 140-122 win, but Beal ended the game with 43 points. As of Feb. 19, 2024, that’s his season high. It was a great game fitting for Beal and his career so far.

It also gave the Suns confidence for the next game against the Milwaukee Bucks on Feb. 6. It was a relatively close game throughout. One minute the Bucks led; the next the Suns led. Giannis even ended with 34 points and 10 rebounds.

Fortunately, the Phoenix Suns showed out as a team. Starting out with the Big three:

-Kevin Durant ended with 28 points and 10 rebounds

-Beal ended with 25 points and 10 rebounds

-Booker ended with 32 points and four assists

Additional contributions included:

-10 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, and two steals from Jusuf Nurkic

-8 points (on 2-4 from three), a steal, and a block from Grayson Allen

-four points, six rebounds, and a block from Bol Bol

It was a great game to watch. Luckily, they were able to keep this momentum going into the next game.

Their Next 2 Games

Continuing on, the next match up was against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 8. With Booker out, the Suns needed the next-man-up mentality. Of course, Durant and Beal were their usual selves combining for 61 total points. But the most important part of this lineup was Eric Gordon.

Without Gordon playing well, it didn’t matter how many points Durant or Beal scored. His contribution was needed for the Suns to end this game with a W. Thankfully, he didn’t disappoint.

Gordon ended the game with 19 points on 7-8 shooting. It was a ridiculously efficient night against a tough Utah Jazz team. The Jazz tend to take many games down to the wire (as shown by their -2.7 point differential), so it’s an accomplishment that the Suns managed to pull away.

Unfortunately, the next matchup was a different case against the Golden State Warriors on Feb. 10.

Like the Bucks matchup, this one was close throughout, but, again, the result was different. With around 54 seconds left, the score was knotted at 110-110. The score was going back and forth. There was even a game winner.

Sadly, a Suns’ player wasn’t taking it. Here’s that game winner below:

ALL ANGLES of Stephen Curry’s INSANE Game-Winning 3 vs Suns! 🔥| February 10, 2024

As shown, Curry took and made the game-winner. As a result, the Suns lost 112-113. It was a tough loss but they would bounce back very soon.

Their Last 2 Games

The next game was against the Sacramento Kings on Feb. 13. This was another tough game for the Phoenix Suns.

Domantas Sabonis had a triple-double of 35 points, 18 rebounds and 12 assists. De’Aaron Fox had 40 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. Malik Monk also had 22 points off the bench.

Despite their performances, the Phoenix Suns responded accordingly. Within that response:

-Kevin Durant had 28 points and 11 rebounds

-Devin Booker had 25 points and 9 assists

-Grayson Allen had 19 points on 70% shooting.

Thanks to their contributions, the Suns came out on top 130-125. Additionally, once again, they took this positive energy to the next game.

The final game before the All-Star break was against the Detroit Pistons on Feb. 14. This season, the Detroit Pistons have been a historically bad NBA team. Therefore, the Suns losing to a team of their caliber would be devastating. Luckily, they didn’t.

By halftime, the Phoenix Suns were up 70-41 and never gave the Pistons an inch. By the end, the Suns won 116-100.

Overall, this was an impressive six-game stretch but not without one big concern: injuries.

Injury Concerns

Injury-wise, Beal hasn’t been doing the best. In addition to nursing a broken nose, he was also out with a hamstring injury. Here’s a tweet about that injury below:

That injury caused him to miss most of the Kings’ game and the entire Pistons’ game.

Of course, they did win those games, but these injuries put Beal’s health into question. He’s only played about 30 of their 55 games, barely over 50% of the season so far. It’s concerning especially as the playoffs get closer.

He’s projected to come back Thursday (Feb. 22). There’s always a risk of injury but for Beal it seems to be pretty high recently. As the saying goes, “the best ability is availability” and Beal’s hasn’t had that ability for much of the season.

However, these struggles don’t completely rule out the Suns’s success.

What’s Next?

Mainly, the Suns should be focused on keeping a playoff spot.

As previously stated, this is the “Wild West”. In other words, in comparison to the Eastern Conference, making the playoffs in the Western Conference is extremely difficult.

The Phoenix Suns are not only in the West, but they are at a crossroads.

In essence, they are three games behind the four-seeded Denver Nuggets, tied with the Pelicans, and only one game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks. Wins are crucial in their seeding by April.

And that starts with a win the next game against the Dallas Mavericks on Feb. 22.

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