The Suns closed out the calendar year in Cleveland, doing so with a road loss to the Cavaliers, 129-113. It was an imperfect ending to a night that never fully tilted their way.
The Suns competed the way they always do, but digging a 16-point hole in the first quarter proved too much to climb out of. They controlled the middle stretch of the game, outscoring Cleveland 68-59 and even trimming the deficit to 2 at one point. Still, that early damage lingered. On the road, against a quality opponent,
the margin was too steep to erase, no matter how hard they pushed.
Devin Booker, who managed 6 points in the first half, finished with 32 on 13-of-25 shooting as he found his rhythm late. Collin Gillespie added 17, Dillon Brooks chipped in 20, and Jamaree Bouyea poured in 15 off the bench. Jordan Goodwin grabbed 15 rebounds in reserve minutes. But it was not enough as Cleveland had six players score in double figures, led by Donovan Mitchell, who dropped 34 on an efficient 10-of-18 from the field and proved too much for Phoenix to overcome.
The loss puts the Suns at 19-14 on the year. When you zoom out, though, the year tells a broader story. After finishing the 2024-25 season at 21-29 in the 2024 calendar year, this 2025-26 group wrapped the 2025 calendar year at 19-14. Put together, that leaves Phoenix at 40-43 across the calendar year, which lands as the 21st-worst calendar year in Suns history. Not great. Not disastrous. And very much a marker of where this team has been, and where it is trying to go.
Game Flow
First Half
Cleveland came into the night ranked seventh in pace, and you could feel it right away. The game sped up early, with transition basketball setting the tone. Phoenix opened 2-of-3 from deep and still found itself down seven because Cleveland was knocking down shots on the other end.
Royce O’Neale remains a puzzle at times. Missed rotations and small mistakes, like stepping out of bounds on a transition chance, cost the Suns. On back-to-back possessions, he lost Sam Merrill, which cannot happen. Merrill entered the game shooting 42.1% from three, and his two early makes pushed the Cavs out to an 18-8 lead five minutes in.
Rex Chapman nailed it on the broadcast. The Suns came out a little too casual. Unforced turnovers piled up, and sloppy perimeter rotations opened the door for a Cleveland team that fires the second-most threes per game in the league. That is not a group you want seeing clean looks from beyond the arc. To the Cavs’ credit, they did exactly what you would expect. They stepped into those shots and made Phoenix pay for every lapse.
The Suns made 8 field goals in the first quarter, and 5 of them came from downtown. Outside of that, it was a slog. Phoenix shot 27% from the field while Cleveland cruised at 50%. The Cavs stretched the lead to as many as 19 in the quarter, doing most of their damage inside with 14 points in the paint. Turnovers piled up too, 6 for the Suns, 3for Cleveland.
So on New Year’s Eve in Cleveland, it quickly turned into an uphill climb as Phoenix walked to the bench down 37-21 after one.
Cleveland kept getting to its spots in the second quarter, and doing it comfortably. Donovan Mitchell worked the perimeter with little resistance, while Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen made their presence felt inside. The Cavs opened the frame on a 9-of-5 run, forcing Jordan Ott to burn an early timeout to slow the bleeding.
What stood out early was the lack of production from Devin Booker. He opened the game 0-of-3 from the floor and sat scoreless through the first stretch. His first bucket did not come until the 5:56 mark of the second quarter, a quiet start on a night when Phoenix needed steadiness.
Jamaree Bouyea gave the Suns a jolt in the second quarter, pouring in eight points in his first five minutes and helping Phoenix trim the deficit to 12. What made it harder was what happened on the other end. Cleveland kept walking into layups, and that turns every comeback into a grind.
Yes, the Suns outscored the Cavaliers 33-30 in the quarter, but context matters. Cleveland largely put the three-point shot away. Phoenix went 2-of-10 from deep, Cleveland was 0-of-3. Donovan Mitchell already had 21 points by halftime. Devin Booker had 6. Granted, Donovan Mitchell had 9 free throw attempts. And the Suns as a team had 8.
Dillon Brooks paced the Suns with 20 points, but the paint told the real story. Cleveland carved up the interior for 34 points inside. Phoenix managed 16. When they headed to the locker room, the Cavs held a 67-54 lead, and Phoenix still had work to do.
Second Half
Phoenix opened the third quarter on a 10-8 run, with Collin Gillespie setting the tone by knocking down a pair of threes to get the Suns moving in the right direction.
Phoenix ripped off an 18-4 run, and it came alive once Devin Booker woke up. After a quiet first half, Booker poured in 14 of the Suns’ 22 points in the quarter and dragged them back into it. The deficit shrank to five before Sam Merrill answered with a three to push it back to eight. Still, with 7:30 left in the third, the game finally felt real again.
Devin Booker picked up a technical after driving to the rim and getting nothing for it. There was blood on his arm from a scratch, and he let the official hear about it long enough to earn the whistle. Up to that point, Booker had taken three free throws, which only added to the frustration boiling over.
Phoenix cut the deficit to four on a Ryan Dunn three, his second make of the night. Every time it felt like the Suns were about to flip the momentum, Cleveland answered right back with a three of its own, snuffing out the surge before it could fully catch fire.
Phoenix poured in 35 points in the third quarter, yet even then, they were chasing efficiency. The Suns shot 44.4% from the field while Cleveland sat at 55%. The difference came everywhere else. Phoenix created 6 second-chance points, pushed for 10 fast-break points, and added 9 points off turnovers. On the other end, they gave up 2 second-chance points, 2 fast-break points, and 0 points off turnovers. That work around the margins mattered. It is why the Suns won the quarter by 6 and trimmed the deficit to 96-89 heading into the fourth.
Devin Booker had 19 points in the third on 7-of-13 shooting.
The Suns quickly found themselves back down 10 after opening the quarter 1-of-3 from the field while Cleveland answered by going 3-of-4.
The run kept rolling for Cleveland as Donovan Mitchell caught fire again, burying a pair of threes. They were scoring from everywhere, inside and out, and the gap widened fast. Before long, the Suns were staring at a 16-point deficit with eight minutes left.
It was a 23-5 run that stretched from the end of the third into the start of the fourth, and that swing ultimately buried the Suns. Phoenix simply couldn’t string together enough stops down the stretch. The Cavs outscored the Suns 33-24 in the fourth and easily secured the win.
Up Next
Phoenix returns to the Valley after going 3-1 on their three-game road trip as they take on the Sacramento Kings on Friday. We shall see you then, Bright Siders! Have a happy and safe New Year’s!
