Phoenix Suns - Weekly Roundup - Week 24
- Matt Elvy
- Apr 4, 2022
- 5 min read
Join us as we review the highs and lows of the last week, as well as previewing the week ahead.
Week 24: 28 March - 3rd April 2022
Week Record: 1-2
Overall Record: 62-16. 1st in Western Conference & NBA.
Games Played and Results:
W - 107 - 103 Vs Golden State Warriors
L - 129 - 117 Vs Memphis Grizzlies
L - 114 - 122 Vs OKC Thunder
Wednesday's win against the Golden State Warriors marked the Suns' 62nd win of the season, tying the franchise record. Seeing the Grizzlies and Thunder games next, I'm sure made most of us salivate over breaking the record, specifically vs the Thunder, but that didn't come to be.
As we've come to expect from the Warriors match-up, the game was tight all throughout the game, with 20 lead changes and 16 ties.
The Suns got out to an early lead in the 1st, but the Warriors clawed it back to take a 3 point lead going in to the 2nd quarter. From there the 2 teams jabbed at each other, the biggest lead being 7 by Golden State in the 3rd, but they only held that for a couple of minutes before the Suns pulled it back to take a 2 point lead.
Skip to the last 5 minutes and the game was tied - exactly where the Suns (the most clutch team in the league) want it. Neither team would back down, but Chris Paul was his usual amazing self in the clutch. He dissected the defense getting to his spots with ease. He scored 8 points in the quarter, not missing a shot and all of them coming in the last 3 and a half minutes.
With the Suns holding a 1 point lead, Draymond Green committed an unforced turnover by travelling. After some free throws by both sides and a bucket from Paul, the Warriors had a chance to tie with 7 seconds left. Jordan Poole, who had been great all game, decided to throw up the sort of 3 point heave you'd usually see with the shot clock expiring, even though it wasn't. The Suns grabbed the rebound and iced the game with free throws.
Bridges and Booker led the Suns with 22 points each, Ayton had 16 points and 16 rebounds and CP3 finished with 15 points and 8 assists.
The Grizzlies would be without Ja Morant, but like the Suns have been playing brilliantly as of late. Memphis had an energy all game that the Suns just could not match. Booker and Bridges were the only Suns players that seemed to have anything in the tank, as Booker exploded for his 2nd 40-piece in 2 weeks, with 41 & Mikal who only missed 2 shots, added 18.
The defense was lacking all throughout and we gave up 16 offensive rebounds - we only managed 2. It was certainly a game to forget and move on from.
OKC Thunder were the last on the list and most were chalking this as a win. On Saturday the Suns announced they'd be resting Booker, Ayton and Crowder. I was a bit disappointed to see that news, as going against the Thunder you'd expect a win, a win that would have set the new franchise record for wins in a season. I felt they needed to be on the court to celebrate that potential win. More news came that almost all of OKC's main players were also out, it seemed like our guys would have an easy night. OKC had other ideas.
Nothing good to note from us at all. The stat that stood out to me the most was that we shot 18.4% from 3 (season low) - 7 makes on 38 attempts.
Basically loads of players no one's heard of, just exploded on us. Poku (I have heard of him) usually shoots 28% from 3, but hit 3 of his 5 attempts in the game. Olivier Sarr (will have to ask OKCUK who he is) had 24 points off the bench and hit 5 of 6 3's.
I don't mind us losing, but the way they lost was really disappointing.
Superstar Watch (Season stats):
Booker - 26.6 Points, 5.0 Rebounds, 4.9 Assists, 1.2 Steal, 46.4 FG%, 37.7 3PT FG% 2.4 Turnovers
Chris Paul - 14.9 Points, 4.3 Rebounds, 10.7 Assists, 1.9 Steals 49.2 FG%, 32.1 3PT FG%, 2.4 Turnovers
Scorching Suns:
It was difficult to find any stand-out performer this week following so many players missing time and 2 underwhelming shooting performances.
The only guy to show any semblance of consistency across the 3 games was Iron Man....
Mikal Bridges
Playing in all 3 games, he was 2nd in points per game behind Booker's 31.5, at 19.3. Of course it goes without saying he hustled hard and played top tier defence as well.
His stats for the week:
19.3 Points, 3.7 Rebounds, 1.7 Assists, 1.3 Steals, 54.8 FG% & 25.0 3PT FG%.
Struggling Suns:
Deandre Ayton
Going by the rest he was given against the Thunder, maybe he's a little banged up, but DA struggled from the floor, especially by his standards and also showed a lack of hustle and focus in the 2 games he played. Despite those facts, he did grab 28 rebounds across the 2 games.
His stats for the week:
30.4 Mins, 12.5 Points, 14.0 Rebounds & 44.0 FG%.
Stat Line(s) of the Week:
Devin Booker Vs Memphis Grizzlies
Game stat line:
41 Points, 4 Rebounds, 4 Assists, 17/28 FGs (60.7%), 3/6 3PT FGs (50.0%).
Honourable mentions:
Mikal Bridges Vs Golden State Warriors
Game stat line:
22 Points, 7 Rebounds, 2 Assist, 1 Steal, 8/14 FGs (57.1%) & 1/2 3PT FGs (50.0%).
Upcoming Games:
We have 4 games this week.
It's the final week of the regular season. Looking at the schedule and seeing our results from last week I'm not sure how it's going to go.
I can see the team going all out to get the franchise record 63rd win at home against the Lakers. This current Suns team openly dislikes them and it'll be a great treat for the Phoenix crowd, clinching that win against our old arch enemy. The win would also eliminate the Lakers from the Play-in and therefore the Playoffs.
The next night we head to LA to face the Clippers. They've been playing well without their top guys and one of those top guys, Paul George has just returned. George always shows up and plays well against the Suns, so this will be a tough fought game.
We then head to Utah. We're up 2-1 in the season series and we rarely seem to struggle against them while at full strength.
Our final game of the season is at home against the lowly Kings, who have just missed the Playoffs for an NBA record 16th consecutive season. Oddly the Kings have played well against us in the previous 3 meetings this season. Being our final game at home, the guys will want to win this one and I can see us doing just that, ending the regular season on a high.
Predictions:
It's the final week, so I'm going to go with us winning all 4 games, giving us momentum going in to the Playoffs.
Predictions League:
Any Other Business:
It's been a quiet week apart from those losses, so no other business this week.
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