Around the Suns - A Go On My Suns! blog - Week 2

Join us as we review the highs and lows of the last week, as well as previewing the week ahead.

Week 2: 27 October - 2 November

Week Record: 2-2

Overall Record: 3-4. 10th in the Western Conference.

Games Played and Results:

L - 134 - 138 Vs Utah Jazz OT

L - 102 - 129 Vs Memphis Grizzlies

W - 118 - 96 Vs Utah Jazz

W - 130 - 118 Vs San Antonio Spurs

Centre of The Sun

Are things starting to gel? It sure seems that way looking at our 2 wins this week. When Jalen Green finally makes his Suns debut and Brooks returns from injury, there are going to be guys losing minutes, where they really don't deserve to. My assumption is that Grayson will move to the bench for Green and Brooks will re-gain his starting position from Royce. Those moves make our bench look even better and for Jordan Ott, it's a good problem to have, but I have enjoyed the way the currently available players have been gelling.

Overall it was a good week for the Suns. If Markkanen hadn't exploded for 51, there's a solid argument that we would have won that game. Memphis was a difficult one as we looked disjointed on both ends of the floor. I had a good feeling going into our 2nd game of the week against the Jazz, being a good payback opportunity and it being the NBA Cup. I can imagine that the team will try and do well in the Cup as they use it as a realistic achievement.

Then, and it even gets it's own paragraph, was the Spurs game, where the team had organised an excellent game plan for Wembanyama. They threw different guys at him all night, aggressively switching to make sure he always had a body on him to stop him getting the ball. Then, on the offensive end we were scorching hot from 3. Here are the quarter percentages: Q1 - 60%, Q2 - 100%, Q3 - 40% & Q4 - 50%, en route to a season-high 19 made threes. The 1st half was our best half offensively and defensively so far this season and no, we aren't going to shoot like that every night, but the commitment to the game plan can be replicated every game and that's a huge step for new team.

Other Suns Stuff

Koby Brea

Congratulations to Koby Brea who saw his 1st official NBA minutes in the 4th quarter of the Spurs win. He had a lovely assist to Maluach, a speedy drive for his 1st field goal, then 2 free throws.

Jalen Green Return

Although it's been confirmed he'll miss Tuesday's game against the Warriors, Jordan Ott has confirmed that Jalen is progressing nicely in his recovery from a strained hamstring, but is still day-to-day.

It's likely we could see his debut this week.

Book Making History

Valley Jerseys

The Suns officially announced Monday that they're bringing back The Valley kits as this season's City Edition kits

Superstar Watch (Season stats):

Devin Booker - 30.0 Points, 4.0 Rebounds, 7.4 Assists, 0.4 Steals, 51.1 FG%, 45.7 3PT FG% & 4.1 Turnovers

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Scorching Suns:

Devin Booker

Book has found his rhythm averaging over 32 for the week and 30 on the season. To start the year he's on a run of scoring 30+ in 5 of our 1st 7 games (and only missing a 6th game by 1 bucket).

His stats for the week:

32.5 Points, 4.3 Rebounds, 8.8 Assists, 0.5 Steals, 0.8 Blocks, 48.9 FG% & 50.0 3PT FG%

Collin Gillespie

Collin has been one of our steadiest players and his confidence on court is now beginning to translate to the box score. He's made some incredible passes this week and every 3 he takes looks as though it's going to go in.

He had his 1st double-double of the season in the overtime loss to the Jazz, with 15 points and career high 13 assists.

His stats for the week:

14.0 Points, 3.5 Rebounds, 7.0 Assists, 1.8 Steals, 1.0 Block, 46.3 FG% & 42.4 3PT FG%

Struggling Suns:

Nigel Hayes-Davis

NHD has already begun to lose minutes in the rotation, with Jordan Goodwin coming in this week to be the team's hustle guy. He's gone from 15 mins per game in week 1, to 7 and a half mins in week 2.

I don't think this is all on Hayes-Davis though, I think he's been a bit mis-cast, especially coming from Europe where he was a scorer. If they can get him to be what Royce is, bringing consistent defence and be on the wing for 3's, that'll suit him much better.

His stats for the week:

2.4 Points, 1.6 Rebounds, 0.6 Assists, 0.6 Steals, 50.0 FG% & 16.7 3PT FG%

Stat Line(s) of the Week:

Devin Booker Vs Utah Jazz (Game 2)

A season high for Book on fantastic shooting percentages, hitting 6 threes on 9 attempts.

Game stat line:

31 Points, 3 Rebounds, 7 Assist, 10/16 FGs (62.5%) & 2/5 3PT FGs (40.0%)

Mark Williams Vs Memphis Grizzlies

Game stat line:

20 Points, 12 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 4 Steals, 1 Block & 9/12 FGs (75.0%)

Devin Booker Vs San Antonio Spurs

Game stat line:

28 Points, 2 Rebounds, 13 Assists, 1 Steal, 10/15 FGs (66.7%) & 2/2 3PT FGs (100.0%)

Rookie Watch (Season stats):

Khaman Maluach - 4 games, 0 starts

2.8 Points, 0.5 Rebounds, 0.3 Assists, 0.0 Steals, 0.5 Blocks, 50.0 FG%, 0.0 3PT FG% & 0.5 Turnovers

Rasheer Fleming - 4 games, 0 starts

1.3 Points, 1.0 Rebounds, 0.5 Assists, 0.3 Steals, 0.0 Blocks, 22.2 FG%, 30.0 3PT FG% & 0.0 Turnovers

Koby Brea - 1 game

4.0 Points, 0.0 Rebounds, 1.0 Assists, 0.0 Steals, 0.0 Blocks, 50.0 FG%, 0.0 3PT FG% & 0.0 Turnovers

CJ Huntley - 0 games

0.0 Points, 0.0 Rebounds, 0.0 Assists, 0.0 Steals, 0.0 Blocks, 0.0 FG%, 0.0 3PT FG% & 0.0 Turnovers

Upcoming Games:

A tough slate of games this week as we face the veteran Warriors and the Clippers twice.

The Warriors are playing average basketball to start the season, sporting a 4-3 record, but Curry and Butler always play well against us and they'll have the hoe crowd behind them.

We face the Clippers again, after their blowout win against us in week one. They haven't looked great since then though, only having a 3-3 record and 1 of those wins coming thanks to a Kawhi buzzer beater against the 0-6 Pelicans.

Prediction:

Straight off the bat, I think we take the L vs the Warriors.

I think we'll split the Clipper games, but I'm not sure where those wins will come. I'm going to say the teams leverage their homecourt advantages, so we'll win in Phoenix and they'll win in LA.

Predictions League:

Week 2 is in the books for this years participants. Here's how the league standings look.

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