Week 19 for the Phoenix Suns is a reminder of the exercise of restraint. Because at times, it’s hard to restrain from the frustration that you feel when you watch a basketball team become inert on offense. Watching the Suns operate and stall without Devin Booker can be frustrating. A team without the edge that Dillon Brooks and Jordan Goodwin inject into every passing lane and loose ball feels like watching The NeverEnding Story. Because it can feel like the Nothing is destroying our world.
There
are possessions when the offense is competent. The ball finds a side, swings to the corner, touches the paint, and kicks back out. For a moment, you see Fantasia in full color. We witnessed this on the possession that sunk the Lakers, where Grayson Allen penetrated, kicked it to Collin Gillespie, who found Royce O’Neale for the game-winner.
It’s artistic when the rhythm breathes and the spacing makes sense. You can almost hear Falkor circling overhead, our very own luck dragon energy filling the building.
Then the Nothing creeps in.
You see it in the pump fakes. You see it in the extra dribble that leads nowhere. You see it when a player catches, pauses, scans, and finds no doorway. There is no Childlike Empress whispering a path forward. The shot clock ticks with the same dread as Artax sinking into the Swamp of Sadness. You scream at the screen to keep moving, to keep believing, to refuse to let the mud take another trip.
These are stretches where the offense dissolves into fog. Three, four, five trips in a row where the Suns cannot score, where imagination evaporates, and the floor shrinks. We experienced this plenty this past week.
The Suns were up 41-30 against Boston with 6:41 left in the second quarter. They did not score again until the 2:36 mark, and that was on a trio of free throws by Grayson Allen after being fouled. It wasn’t until 1:06 left in the quarter that they scored another field goal. 5:35 of Nothing. In the same game, they made their 7th three-pointer at that same mark, the 6:41 mark in the second. Their next three-point make came with 1:24 left in the third quarter. In between? Nothing…
Shift the Laker game. Phoenix came out hot, going up 17-9 with 6:50 left in the first. Before you could tweet out your favorite Ayton/Capela joke, the offense stalled, and by the 4:22 mark they were down 21-17. Closing out the third was similar, as Phoenix held a 10-point lead with 4:56 left, up 45-35. They would be outscored 14-4 to end the quarter. A whole lotta Nothing.
It’s like Gmork informing Atreyu, “It’s the emptiness that’s left. It’s like a despair, destroying this world”.
The Rock Biter stands there in your mind, looking down at his massive hands and wondering why they could not hold onto what mattered. The Suns find themselves staring at empty trips that feel heavier than they should, because you know a functional offense – even an average one- swings the outcome.
Thankfully, this is not a never ending story. Reinforcements are coming. Booker will walk back into the lineup with that calm command, bending coverages and restoring order. Goodwin will bring the pressure and the pace. Brooks will eventually return with that restless edge that refuses to let a game drift into apathy.
Fantasia is bruised right now, not gone. The Nothing feels large in the moment, suffocating and relentless, yet it feeds on doubt. When the creators return, when belief returns, the ball will move with purpose again. And these stagnant stretches will shrink back into the shadows where they belong.
And therein lies the paradox of Week 19. Doubt starts creeping in, and like Atreyu at the edge of the Nothing, you have to fight it. You know the circumstances that led to those empty stretches where the offense disappears. You hoped the foundation of the talent would be strong enough to carry it through, but reality keeps tapping you on the shoulder.
The frustration is valid. So is the understanding that this team is nowhere near whole.
That is what you walk away with from Week 19. An understanding that the talent, the rotations, and whatever conclusions you want to draw are largely moot right now. This is a week you log, label, and file away. This is what happens when injuries pile up. You do not extract lessons from it. You put it in the cabinet and move on. And hey, we beat the Lakers. And that is something.
Week 19 Record: 1-1
vs. Boston Celtics, L, 97-81
- Possession Differential: +3.8
- Turnover Differential: 0
- Offensive Rebounding Differential: +8
This is the game where I began writing about the similarities between the Suns and The Nothing. Because being in the building, which sounded like TD Garden, there were prolonged stretches of Nothing.
vs. Los Angeles Lakers, W, 113-110
- Possession Differential: -1.2
- Turnover Differential: 0
- Offensive Rebounding Differential: -13
…and the Suns totally redeem themselves. Any day you beat LA is a good one. And given the recent struggles of the team, this made for a great one.
Inside the Possession Game
- Weekly Possession Differential: +0.5
- Weekly Turnover Differential: 0
- Offensive Rebounding Differential: -8
- Year-to-Date Over/Under .500: +8
You want a graph? You got it!
As I stated above, there is no deep-seated analysis required for Week 19. When you understand how banged up this team has been, there is only so much you can reasonably extract from it.
You can scan the numbers and walk away recognizing that, even during those inert offensive stretches, some foundational elements held. Because if Week 19 is about anything, it is about foundation. It is about Jordan Ott being tested. It is about seeing how transferable his schemes are when key pieces are missing.
There were positives.
An 11.6 turnover percentage, second best in the league this week. Despite that prolonged stretch in Boston when the rim felt sealed shut, they still shot 39.5% from three on the week, seventh best in the NBA. The process did not completely erode.
Then there is the other side, and it is not pretty.
28th in rebounding. Last in the NBA at 13.5 free throw attempts per game. Last with a 41.1% rebounding percentage. 25th with a 58% assist percentage. 26th in steals at 6.5 per game. Those numbers paint a different picture. One where physicality dips. One where pressure wanes. If there is a concern to file away, it is this. How much of Jordan Ott’s system holds when primary players are unavailable? How much is plug and play, and how much is talent-dependent?
Although even that has to be weighed properly. How realistic is it to expect seamless execution when your core pieces are out? There is only so much a scheme can do when the bodies running it change nightly.
Week 20 Preview
Week 19 gave you two games. That was it. Now the calendar flips to March and the sprint begins. Week 20 brings four games in six nights.
It starts in Sacramento. Tuesday night. 9:00pm on NBC. Nine. PM. Who signed off on that? I am not sure that game needs the national spotlight. Then again, listen to me sounding high and mighty. How did the Kings land an NBC slot? Sacramento enters Sunday at 14-47. They have won two of their last 19. They score the second fewest points in the NBA and allow the third most. It is the definition of a game you have to win. And yes, I am staying true to character by complaining about a 9:00pm tip. Damn you, 9:00pm start!!!
Phoenix comes home Thursday to face the Chicago Bulls. Chicago reshuffled at the deadline and did not win a single game in February. They were 24-25 after beating Miami on January 31. They are now 24-36. This is also the return of Nick Richards. In eight games off the bench, he is averaging 9 points and 6.9 rebounds.
Friday night brings New Orleans to town. The Suns beat them on back-to-back nights earlier this season in New Orleans. They also handled them by 23 in early November, so Phoenix holds a 3-0 edge in the season series. The Pelicans sit at 19-42 entering Sunday. They are not tanking, however. Atlanta owns their first round pick, and it is unprotected. There is no incentive to fade. Expect effort.
The week closes against Charlotte. They are quietly one of the more entertaining League Pass teams out there. LaMelo Ball, Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller. That trio can stress any defense. This is the kind of matchup where you wish Dillon Brooks were available to gum it up. Charlotte enters Sunday at 30-31, riding a four-game winning streak, even if the competition has not been elite. They have the fifth-best offense in the league. They can score in waves.
Four games. Six nights. A mix of must-win, revenge, and trap potential. The sprint has officially begun.
