The Suns are currently sitting at 44-36 with just a couple of games left to play. Boy, has this season flown by.
The Suns have locked in the 7th seed and will host the Clippers or Blazers on April 14th at the Mortgage Matchup Center. Now, let’s take a quick look at how we got here in a more zoomed-out perspective, month by month.
- October — 2-4 (.333)
- November — 10-5 (.667)
- December — 7-5 (.583)
- January — 11-5 (.688)
- February — 4-7 (.364)
- March — 8-8 (.500)
- April — 2-2 (.500)
October was weird. A few close losses and some unfortunate endings had them off to a slow start. Then, the Suns had themselves a very strong winter, compiling a 28-15 record
in November, December, and January. February was the only “ugly” month, and luckily, it was cut short due to the ASB. They entered the All-Star Break with a 32-23 record, and have since gone 12-13.
The injuries started to pile up in February (even more so than they already were), and things began to spiral a bit. Nothing dramatic, they still weathered the storm, but instead of making a push into the top 6 as we all hoped earlier in the season, they remained in the play-in. It just goes to show you that it truly is a marathon. That is still a massive win relative to expectations entering the season, after many experts had them finishing as one of the worst teams in the association.
And now, here we are in April. The madness and chaos of late-season basketball, where teams are gearing up for one last push for seeding or a tune-up for the playoffs.
For the Suns, it’s about entering the postseason healthy. Last night was not an ideal start to that goal, as Jalen Green and Jordan Goodwin both left the game with leg injuries. Their immediate status is to be determined.
It’s time to let the young guys shine in these final two games. Maluach, Fleming, Dunn, Oso, even Brea… let them loose.
We now await the Clippers or Blazers, who are one game apart from each other in the final stretch, and their head-to-head game on Friday will likely determine who gets the 8th seed. It’s almost like a play-in for the play-in.
The final two games of the regular season (for the Suns) before the play-in begins will come on the road in Los Angeles against the Lakers and in Oklahoma City against the Thunder. It’s unlikely any of those teams take these games too seriously. The Lakers have more to play for as they’re fighting for home-court advantage in the first round, but they, too, are limping into the finish line.
It will be interesting to monitor how the rotations look in these last two games, especially considering Jordan Ott’s quote last night, stating:
“We’ll continue to assess how our guys come out of this back-to-back and then we’ll plan accordingly the best we can. Balancing rhythm versus rest, especially with a group that doesn’t have a ton of reps on the floor together.”
Book hinted that one of the games could be a rest day for himself, which makes sense given they are locked into the 7th seed at this point.
I’m in the camp that you just gotta get everyone as healthy as possible heading into that game next Tuesday, regardless of the lack of reps.
