Phoenix Suns - Weekly Roundup - Week 21

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

Week 21: 7-13 March 2022

Week Record: 3-1

Overall Record: 54-14. 1st in Western Conference & NBA.

Games Played and Results:

W - 102 - 99 Vs Orlando Magic

W - 111 - 90 Vs Miami Heat

L - 112 - 117 Vs Toronto Raptors

W - 140 - 111 Vs Los Angeles Lakers

Booker Returns

After a 4-game absence after being placed in to the NBA's Health & Safety protocols, Booker returned to the line-up in our 2nd game of the week against the Heat.

Book could have easily waited for the team to return home, but the competitor that he is, meant that he flew out to Miami for that single game before returning back to Phoenix with the team.

Now on to the games.

Our 1st game was against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday and even though they are bottom of the league they put up a huge fight against us. In the 3rd quarter the Suns had a 13 point lead and the Magic fought all the way back to take a 1 point lead with 1 minute 30 remaining.

The Suns showed their clutch genes though, even while missing Booker and CP3, as Ayton made a floater in the lane after a nice dime from Payne with 12 seconds remaining. Out of a timeout the Magic drew up a 3-point attempt for Wagner to try and tie the game, but his shot was blocked by Mikal in an awesome defensive display.

I criticised the team for their lack of rebounding last week, but the team were already on it - Ayton had 19 rebounds along with 21 points. Payne added 18 points, 6 rebounds and 12 assists and Shamet finally had a break out game with a season high 21 points, netting a season high 6 3's.

The Miami game I had chalked up to be a loss, but the addition of Booker and with the Heat missing Butler, it ended up being a blow-out win for us.

The 1st half was pretty close with the Heat getting an 11 point lead in the 1st quarter, but going in to the half, the Suns were up by 2. Coming out in the 2nd half though, the Suns completely locked the Heat down. The Heat were held to just 35 points and 29% shooting.

Booker led the way with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists in his return, followed by 21 from Bridges. The rest of the scoring was balanced throughout the team with all starters scoring in double figures.

The win made the Suns the 1st team in the NBA to clinch a Playoff spot.

Toronto led for most of our game with them. The put a lot of pressure on us using physical defence. I don't usually go at the refs, but they were really letting the Raptors get away with a lot in this one. That wasn't the reason we lost this game though.

Gary Trent Jr had an amazing shooting night, hitting 8 of his 11 3-pointers en route to 42 points. The Suns on the other hand only managed 11 3's as a team, shooting just 30%. The Suns also gave up 12 offensive boards, which is a shame, as they'd done well in terms of rebounding in the previous 2 outings.

The Raptors raced out to a 14 point lead crossing the 3rd and 4th quarters and it all looked over for the Suns, however we would take a 2 point lead with 2 minutes remaining. The last 2 minutes then fell apart, Payne missed a 3, then turned the ball over. We then gave up 2 offensive boards leading to a basket, then finally Book turned the ball over in 2 straight possessions, then missed 2 3's in the following 2. Bad night overall for us, especially in the clutch at the end, where we've mostly looked strong this year.

Then the game that most people had been waiting for, the Lakers. And, well it was an absolute blow-out for the Suns. They had 2 40-point quarters.

The Suns had doubled their lead by the end of the 1st quarter, finishing with 48 points, to the Lakers' 22. Their 2nd 40-point quarter was the 3rd and that was enough for Monty to sit the starters for the entire final period, boasting a 29 point lead.

Booker and Ayton did the heavy lifting on the offensive end - more on their stats below.

Superstar Watch (Season stats):

Booker - 25.6 Points, 5.1 Rebounds, 4.9 Assists, 1.2 Steal, 45.1 FG%, 37.3 3PT FG% 2.4 Turnovers

Chris Paul (Out with Injury) - 14.9 Points, 4.5 Rebounds, 10.7 Assists, 1.9 Steals 48.7 FG%, 33.0 3PT FG%, 2.4 Turnovers

Scorching Suns:

Devin Booker

Re-joining the team for 3 of their games this week, after missing the previous 4, Booker picked up right where he left off.

He played incredibly efficiently since returning and has filled the stat sheet every game. In his return against Miami he was only 2 rebounds and 1 assist away from a triple-double, then had 30 points and 10 assists against the Lakers.

His stats for the week:

25.0 Points, 4.3 Rebounds, 8.7 Assists, 2.3 Steals, 1.0 Block, 50.9 FG% & 45.8 3PT FG%.

Deandre Ayton

DA was a beast this week. He had 3 double-doubles and was super efficient from the field as always.

His week got some good recognition as well, as he was a nominee for Western Conference Player of the Week.

His stats for the week:

19.8 Points, 13.0 Rebounds, 1.5 Assists & 70.4 FG%.

Struggling Suns:

No one this week. Everyone played their part excellently.

Stat Line(s) of the Week:

Devin Booker Vs Miami Heat

Game stat line:

23 Points, 8 Rebounds, 9 Assists, 2 Steals, 2 Blocks, 7/12 FGs (58.3%) & 4/7 3PT FG (57.1%).

Devin Booker Vs LA Lakers

Game stat line (In Only 3 Quarters):

30 Points, 2 Rebounds, 10 Assists, 4 Steals, 12/24 FGs (48.0%), 4/10 3PT FGs (40.0%).

Deandre Ayton Vs LA Lakers

Game stat line (In Only 3 Quarters):

23 Points, 16 Rebounds (5 Offensive), 2 Assists, 1 Steal & 11/14 FGs (78.6%).

Honourable mentions:

Landry Shamet Vs Orlando Magic

Game stat line:

21 Points, 3 Rebounds, 6/12 FGs (50.0%) & 6/10 3PT FGs (60.0%).

Deandre Ayton Vs Orlando Magic

Game stat line:

21 Points, 19 Rebounds & 10/19 FGs (52.6%)

Upcoming Games:

We have 4 games this week.

We're on the road for 3 of this week's 4 games, with only the Bulls game being in Phoenix. Some good news for us UK fans, as Sunday's game vs the Sacramento Kings has a 10pm tip-off time.

We played the Pelicans just over 2 weeks ago and they beat us by 15 points. Valanciunas always plays well against us and I don't think we were ready to have McCollum and Ingram explode on offense like they did. We also had no point guard, which didn't help. It doesn't look like Cam Johnson will be back, so we're still missing key guys, but I expect this upcoming game to have a better showing from the Suns.

Then off to Houston. Though they're bottom of the West, these guys always play hard. I don't expect this to be a tough one for us and it's another opportunity for us to all moan about how we wanted Eric Gordon at the trade deadline.

Back home for our only game there this week, sees us face the Bulls. They are missing key players and don't have a great record against other top teams, but on paper they are our toughest opponent this week. They have just got Alex Caruso back to help their bench and LaVine & DeRozan are legit big time scorers. Last time out those 2 combined for 70 points, but we were able to come away with a 3-point win.

Last game of the week is against division rival Sacramento Kings. They made big moves at the trade deadline, that aren't quite paying off yet (typical Kings).

On their road to face us, they will have seen Utah, Chicago, Milwaukee & Boston, so could be a little worse for wear.

Predictions:

As I said, the Bulls look to be our toughest opponent, but the Pels could also surprise us. I'm going to go out on a limb though and say 4 wins this week!

Predictions League:

Any Other Business:

Lakers Would Have Beat Us?!

According to Anthony Davis, the Lakers would have won last year's Playoff series against the Suns, had he not injured his groin.

Here's Booker's reaction when asked about Davis' comments after our blowout victory over the Lakers.

Click the image to go to the tweet.

The funniest part of all this for me, is that Davis made these comments whilst side-lined with ANOTHER injury.

Clinched Our Spot in the Playoffs

After 11 years of missing out, the Suns have secured their 2nd Playoff birth in a row. The are the 1st team this season to lock up their Playoff spot, following their 53rd victory in 66 games, against the Heat.

Cam Payne

Since returning from injury Payne has been our starting point guard and while getting back in to game shape he's also had to do it without Devin Booker.

Cam has been brilliant so far averaging 15.3 Points, 4.0 Rebounds & 9.9 Assists in that stretch.

In the games in that stretch without Booker, he averaged 15.8 Points, 3.3 Rebounds, 11 Assists, 1.3 Steals and only 2.5 Turnovers.

On the Road Again!

We're now in the final 4 weeks of the regular season with 14 games remaining. Of those 14 games, we will be on the road for 10 of them.

Some key match-ups to keep an eye on in the stretch (Playoff teams):

Vs Chicago Bulls - Friday 18th March

@ Minnesota Timberwolves - Wednesday 23rd March

@ Denver Nuggets - Thursday 24th March

Vs Philadelphia 76ers - Sunday 27th March

@ Golden State Warriors - Wednesday 30th March

@ Memphis Grizzlies - Friday 1st April

Vs LA Lakers (is that a key match-up nowadays?) - Tuesday 5th April

@ LA Clippers - Wednesday 6th April

@ Utah Jazz - Friday 8th April

New Signing

Out of no-where on Saturday, Woj tweeted that the Suns were signing Danish free agent Gabriel "Iffe" Lundberg. The Suns later also confirmed the signed via Twitter and Instagram. He will fill our 2nd two-way contract spot.

This could easily become another shrewd move from James Jones.

Iffe was most recently playing for European powerhouse CSKA Moscow, but decided to leave the team when Russia invaded Ukraine.

Kellan Olson shared the following video, to see what Iffe can bring to the table.

Bismack Biyombo

Bismack is donating all this season's salary to build a hospital in his home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo - What a wonderful human Bismack is!

Watch the below for more.

Go On My Suns!

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