Around the Suns - Weekly Roundup - Week 8

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

Week 8: 11-17 December 2023

Week Record: 2-2

Overall Record: 14-12. 10th in the Western Conference.

Games Played and Results:

W - 119 - 116 Vs Golden State Warriors

L - 112 - 116 Vs Brooklyn Nets

L - 122 - 139 Vs New York Knicks

W - 112 - 108 Vs Washington Wizards

Centre of The Sun

It's fair to say that this week was full of drama. It started with the Warriors coming back to town to face the loud music. This was also Bradley Beal's big return from his back injury that had restricted him to just 3 games so far. He was on a minutes restriction and netted a respectable 16 points.

Draymond Green went crazy to ramp the drama up further and swung at Nurkic, knocking him to the floor and earning himself an ejection. KD missed this game, but Book led us with 32 points. We also lost Okogie and Gordon in this one to injury.

Next we had the first visit from the Nets since last season's blockbuster Durant trade. This meant we were able to welcome The Twins back to the Valley. The rightfully had a hero's welcome and ended up taking the win from us. Book once again led with 34 points and 12 assists. KD returned to score 27, and Nurk had a big double-double with a season high 22 rebounds (just 1 off his career high), but it wasn't enough to defeat the balanced scoring of the Nets. The energy of the team just felt off in this one and that continued into the Knicks game.

To be blunt, we were awful, especially on the defensive end, where New York had way too many open 3's. They finished shooting 58% from 3 and 59% overall. To make this evenworse, Jalen Brunson exploded for 50 points, going 9 for 9 from 3. Massive credit to Brunson, but we sucked. To make matters even worse, Beal sprained his ankle just 4 minutes into the game.

The Wizards, surely this would be the game to get us going again? Not quite, yes we got the win, but we did not secure the lead till the 5:59 point of the FORTH QUARTER.

Yes, once again, we came out limp and let Washington get out to a 16 point lead in the second quarter and a 15 point lead in the third. A positive to this though, is that it was our largest comeback of the season. Oh, and Jordan Poole made a complete fool of himself, slipping on the sweat he put on the floor, after trying to flop 🤣

Beal Injured Again

After spraining his ankle 4 minutes into the Knicks game, the Suns announced that he will miss the next 2 weeks and be re-evaluated in January.

The Matrix

This week the Suns inducted Shawn Marion into the Phoenix Suns Ring of Honour. Congrats to The Matrix, who for me, isone of the key reasons I love the Suns. Here's a video that the Suns put together with some of his highlights.

Superstar Watch (Season stats):

Devin Booker - 28.1 Points, 5.8 Rebounds, 8.3 Assists, 0.7 Steals, 47.9 FG%, 39.3 3PT FG% & 3.2 Turnovers

Kevin Durant - 30.6 Points, 6.2 Rebounds, 5.6 Assists, 0.7 Steals, 1.2 Blocks, 51.4 FG%, 47.1 3PT FG% & 3.3 Turnovers

Bradley Beal - 14.7 Points, 3.3 Rebounds, 3.2 Assists, 0.7 Steals, 44.9 FG%, 42.9 3PT FG% & 2.3 Turnovers (6 Games)

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Scorching Suns:

Devin Booker

Book didn't have quite as an efficient week as last week, but hehas kept us a float with his scoring and facilitating.

His stats for the week:

30.3 Points, 4.0 Rebounds, 9.0 Assists, 47.7 FG% & 32.1 3PT FG%.

Honourable Mention

Bradley Beal

Brad was back this week, but unfortunately picked up an ankle sprain 4 minutes into the Knicks game. Before that though, he'd been playing good basketball.

His stats for the week:

12.0 Points, 1.3 Rebounds, 2.7 Assists, 56.5 FG% & 66.7 3PT FG%.

Jusuf Nurkic

He's just here for his incredible rebounding numbers this week, averaging 16 per game.

Struggling Suns:

Yuta Watanbe

Yep, Yuta's back.

His stats for the week:

1.0 Point, 0.7 Rebounds, 0.3 Assists, 16.7 FG% & 16.7 3PT FG%.

Stat Line(s) of the Week:

Devin Booker vs Brooklyn Nets

Game stat line:

34 Points, 6 Rebounds, 12 Assists, 9/15 FGs (60.0%), 2/6 3PT FGs (33.3%) & 14/15 FTs (93.3%)

Jusuf Nurkic vs Brooklyn Nets

Game stat line:

15 Points, 22 Rebounds, 3 Assists, 2 Blocks & 7/15 FGs (46.7%).

Grayson Allen vs New York Knicks

Game stat line:

13 Points, 2 Rebounds, 1 Assists, 2 Steals, 1 Block, 5/5 FGs (100%) & 2/2 3PT FGs (100%).

Upcoming Games:

There are only 2 games this week, both on the road andboth with plenty of rest in between.

The Blazers game should be a foregone conclusion, however we did only just beat the Wizards the other day. Like the Wizards, the Blazers at right at the bottom of the totem pole and are one of the youngest teams in the league. It's Nurk's first game back in Portland, but the Ayton rhetoric isn't even a story at this point, so there's not a lot of excitment going into this one. I hope that the team comes out with some fire, as that was sorely missing last week and we can use this as a spring board for improvement.

Our other game is not against a young team trying to find their way. We face the Kings, who handed us a loss a couple of weeks ago. They're currently one of the best teams in the league, with Sabonis and Fox leading the way.

Prediction:

We should grab the W quite easily against the Blazers, but with the way we've been playing recently I think we'll lose to the Kings.

Predictions League:

Any Other Business:

Suns Sign a New Player

Following the news that Beal would miss around 2 weeks with a sprained ankle, they decided to sign Theo Maledon to a two-way contract.

Booker's Games Played

The Warriors game was the 544th of Book's career, this has put him 10th on the Suns' All-Time games played.

Nurk hits 6,000 Career Points

It came on a night where he almost set a career high in rebounds, but Nurk reached 6,000 career points. It took him 487 games to reach the mark.

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