Around the Suns - A Go On My Suns! blog - Week 20

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

Week 20: 2 - 8 March

Week Record: 3-1

Overall Record: 37-27. 7th in the Western Conference.

Games Played and Results:

W - 114 - 103 Vs Sacramento Kings

L - 103 - 105 Vs Chicago Bulls

W - 118 - 116 Vs New Orleans Pelicans

W - 111 - 99 Vs Charlotte Hornets

Centre of The Sun

The Suns did what Mat Ishbia promised - they won more games than last season.

Our win against New Orleans tied last year's totals and the win against Charlotte gave us the extra win.

With Booker back from injury, the team looked like they were back to our usual proceedings, well, apart from that Bulls game, which was one of our worst performances of the season.

Jalen Green looked better this week. I think having Book back given him the chance to be himself and have the role that was always planned for him. He had a huge dunk against Sacramento and a couple of attempted posters throughout the week showing he's gaining more confidence in his hamstring. He also had a fantastic 1st half against the Hornets.

The main topic on everyone's lips is the performance of Khaman Maluach and Rasheer Fleming, so much so that I'm going to talk about them here, rather than in the Rookie Watch section. They both had the best weeks of their young career.

We've seen Rasheer's minutes progressively grow in recent weeks, but this week he was great and had a career night against the Hornets.

Khaman has been forced into the line-up due to Mark's injury. He didn't look great against the Bulls, but no one did really, but really found his way in our final 2 games.

The offense is still a work in progress, but the defence has been impressive. He had 5 blocks against the Pelicans, 2 of them on the same possession stopping Zion Williamson.

I've also been impressed with his rebounding. He had a career high 9 against Charlotte and 4 against New Orleans. Although that doesn't seem a lot against the Pelicans, there were multiple occasions where him boxing out well, led to another Sun grabbing the board.

This week has made me very optimistic for these 2 guys.

Other Suns Stuff

Mark Injured

As mentioned, Mark is injured. He has as stress reaction in the 3rd metatarsal of his left foot. He is out completely and will be re-evaluated in 2-3 weeks.

Dillon Arrested

Dillon has been the model citizen since joining the Suns, but TMZ reported on Friday that he'd been arrested for Driving Under the Influence.

It was for marijuana and not alcohol, which is apparently not as bad, as he was released without being charged.

Superstar Watch (Season stats):

Devin Booker - 24.9 Points, 3.9 Rebounds, 6.1 Assists, 0.9 Steals, 45.0 FG%, 31.4 3PT FG% & 3.3 Turnovers

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Scorching Suns:

Rasheer Fleming

This was by far Rasheer's best week in the NBA so far. As he's earned more minutes, his confidence has grown and his 3-point shot has looked great.

He had a career high 16 pts vs Hornets, including a career high 4 3's.

His stats for the week:

8.8 Points, 4.0 Rebounds, 0.5 Assists, 65.0 FG% & 60.0 3PT FG%

Oso Ighodaro

Oso scored in double figures in all but 1 game this week, starting in place of the injured Mark Williams for the last 3 games.

Against the Kings, he grabbed a career high 14 rebounds.

His stats for the week:

9.8 Points, 8.3 Rebounds, 3.3 Assists, 0.5 Steals, 1.0 Block & 72.0 FG%

Struggling Suns:

Royce O'Neale

It was a down week for Royce's shooting. He does always contribute in other ways, but those shooting numbers were not good at all.

His stats for the week:

5.8 Points, 5.3 Rebounds, 2.3 Assists, 1.3 Steals, 28.6 FG% & 28.0 3PT FG%

Stat Line(s) of the Week:

Oso Ighodaro Vs Sacramento Kings

A career high in total rebounds and offensive rebounds for Oso in this one, plus tying his 2nd highest scoring game of the season.

Game stat line:

14 Points, 14 Rebounds (8 Offensive), 3 Assists, 1 Block & 7/10 FGs (70.0%)

Collin Gillespie Vs Sacramento Kings

These types of performances from Collin are no longer a surprise.

Game stat line:

17 Points, 5 Rebounds, 9 Assists, 1 Steal, 6/10 FGs (60.0%) & 5/8 3PT FGs (62.5%)

Rookie Watch (Season stats):

Khaman Maluach - 29 games, 0 starts

2.0 Points, 2.0 Rebounds, 0.1 Assists, 0.1 Steals, 0.6 Blocks, 50.0 FG%, 20.0 3PT FG% & 0.7 Turnovers

Rasheer Fleming - 38 games, 0 starts

3.4 Points, 1.8 Rebounds, 0.2 Assists, 0.3 Steals, 0.2 Blocks, 40.7 FG%, 34.2 3PT FG% & 0.3 Turnovers

Koby Brea - 5 games

3.2 Points, 0.4 Rebounds, 0.6 Assists, 0.0 Steals, 0.0 Blocks, 55.6 FG%, 57.1 3PT FG% & 0.0 Turnovers

Upcoming Games:

The Suns head out on their last big road trip of the season, for a 10-day, 6-game starting out East, before heading back to Minnesota and San Antonio, but that's next week.

This coming week we start in Milwaukee, where they are not having a good year, being 9 games under .500 and in 11th. It's looking likely they miss the Play-in.

After Milwaukee we face the Pacers. We all know their unfortunate story - from NBA Finals, to bottom of the East after losing Tyrese Haliburton for the season.

The toughest game this coming week is against Toronto. They're having a surprisingly good season. They have a similar record to us and currently hold the 5th place in the East. Ingram is doing exactly what they brought him in to do, carrying the scoring load, while Scottie Barnes does literally everything else.

Prediction:

The first 2 games I'm going with wins, but a loss in Toronto. I don't think they're better than us, it's just that the odds are we'll lose a game on the road trip and this is the most likely one to lose.

Predictions League:

Here are the league standings after week 20.

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