Around the Suns - Weekly Roundup - Week 7

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

Week 7: 1-8 December 2024

Week Record: 1-3

Overall Record: 12-11. 10th in the Western Conference.

Games Played and Results:

W - 104 - 93 Vs San Antonio Spurs

L - 124 - 126 Vs New Orleans Pelicans

L - 111 - 121 Vs Miami Heat

L - 110 - 115 Vs Orlando Magic

Centre of The Sun

Well, that was rather terrible wasn't it? For the last few seasons we've had role players that never stepped up when a star was down, now we have role players stepping up, but our remaining stars under delivering.

It's a real conundrum with the Suns at the moment. With Durant we look like one of the best teams in the league, but when we're without him, we look awful.

Record with Durant: 11-2

Record without Durant: 1-9

I get it, Durant is one of the greatest ever, but we still have Book and Beal, 2 guys who are excellent ballers and, as I said above, we now have good role players who are stepping up when they're needed. I don't think this is all on Book or Beal. The coaching staff have had enough games now without Durant (and Nurk if you want to include his absence in our struggles), that they should have a game plan to help the team succeed. I'm concerned that it was this time last year, when the team started to fall apart. My thoughts are that Bud and the staff will hold things together, unlike last year's group, but I am beginning to get concerned, especially as Durant (or Book and Beal) are likely to miss more time this season.

Superstar Watch (Season stats):

Devin Booker - 24.9 Points, 3.8 Rebounds, 6.4 Assists, 1.1 Steals, 43.2 FG%, 33.5 3PT FG% & 2.4 Turnovers

Kevin Durant - 25.8 Points, 6.7 Rebounds, 3.1 Assists, 0.5 Steals, 1.5 Blocks, 53.6 FG%, 44.9 3PT FG% & 3.3 Turnovers

Bradley Beal - 17.8 Points, 4.2 Rebounds, 3.3 Assists, 1.1 Steals, 0.7 Blocks, 49.3 FG%, 36.0 3PT FG% & 2.3 Turnovers

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Scorching Suns:

Grayson Allen

Helped by his 100% shooting game, Grayson has been as consistent as ever recently. He did pick up a slight ankle injury in Orlando, but hopefully the near week off will give him time to heal.

His stats for the week:

12.5 Points, 3.8 Rebounds, 4.8 Assists, 1.0 Steal, 56.0 FG% & 52.6 3PT FG%

Royce O'Neale

Royce keeps his spot in this section for the 2nd week in a row. He played even better this week, taking up a starting spot with KD out again and upping his production to 17 points per game.

His highlight of the week was a career high 23 points against the Heat.

His stats for the week:

17.0 Points, 7.0 Rebounds, 1.8 Assists, 1.0 Steal, 52.2 FG% & 51.6 3PT FG%

Struggling Suns:

With Kevin Durant missing time again, we needed Book and Beal to be the stars we know they are and have been, but it didn't work out that way this week. They combined for 8.3 turnovers per game, with some of them being at critical times and both have shot the ball poorly from 3.

Devin Booker

His stats for the week:

25.8 Points, 5.3 Rebounds, 5.3 Assist, 1.8 Steals, 38.5 FG%, 29.0 3PT FG% & 4.0 TOs

Bradley Beal

His stats for the week:

16.8 Points, 5.5 Rebounds, 3.5 Assists, 1.0 Steal, 46.4 FG%, 22.2 3PT FG% & 4.3 TOs

Stat Line(s) of the Week:

Royce O'Neale vs Miami Heat

It was close between this and his game against the Pelicans, but I opted to go with his career high performance.

Game stat line:

23 Points, 8 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 1 Steal, 8/15 FGs (53.3%) & 5/8 3PT FGs (62.5%).

Grayson Allen vs Orlando Magic

Allen went 100% from 3, overall field goals and free throws in this one. It was on a small amount of shots, but you can't deny a perfect shooting game.

Game stat line:

13 Points, 4 Rebounds, 2 Assists, 1 Steal, 3/3 FGs (100) & 2/2 3PT FGs (100%).

Rookie Watch (Season stats):

Ryan Dunn - 19 games, 9 starts

6.0 Points, 2.7 Rebounds, 0.8 Assists, 0.5 Steals, 0.5 Blocks, 40.9 FG%, 31.0 3PT FG% & 0.5 Turnovers

Oso Igodharo - 18 games, 2 starts

4.4 Points, 4.1 Rebounds, 1.1 Assists, 0.4 Steals, 0.3 Blocks, 61.4 FG%, 0.0 3PT FG% (0 attempts) & 0.7 Turnovers

Jalen Bridges - 2 games

0.5 Points, 0.5 Rebounds, 0.0 Assists, 0.0 Steals, 0.0 Blocks, 0.0 FG%, 0.0 3PT FG% & 1.0 Turnovers

Upcoming Games:

Thanks to the NBA Cup and us not participating in the knock-out rounds, we get a break, which is definitely, and only 2 games this week.

Here are the UK tip-off times:

The Suns didn't make it through to the knockout round of the NBA Cup. They had the same record as the Mavericks and Thunder, but missed out on a spot due to point differential. This was good news for the Suns, as it gives KD, Nurk and Ryan Dunn time to heal up, with our 1st game this coming week not till Friday.

The Jazz are that Friday match up for us and this is our 2nd game with them this season. We beat them by 8 in that game, which was our 1st NBA Cup game. The gap would have been larger, but the Jazz tried to close the point differential gap because of the Cup. They've only won 5 games this season, so this should hopefully be a good one to get us back on track.

Our 2nd and final game is vs the Trail Blazers. This, once again, is our 2nd match up with them and we won the 1st game. The Blazers are only 1 place above the Jazz in the standings, so this should hopefully be another good chance to right the Suns' ship.

Prediction:

We'll be whole again and take 2 W's 🤞

Predictions League:

Other Suns Stuff:

A Legendary Achievement - Congrats CP3!

Former Sun Chris Paul passed another former Sun Jason Kidd, to go into second place on the all-time NBA assist list.

CP3 was with the Suns for 3 seasons and amassed 1,848 assists while with us.

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