The Suns Are Quietly Elite At Beating The Teams They Should

Win the games you are supposed to win.

It sounds like common sense. It sounds like the kind of thing a coach says in a locker room while everyone nods along and ties their shoes. Yet in the NBA, especially in the Western Conference, that simple idea carries real weight. If you want to live in the top six of the standings, if you want to avoid the chaos of the Play In, you handle business when the schedule gives you a gift. 

To their credit, the Phoenix Suns have done that for most of the season. With their win against the Kings on Tuesday, they are now 20-5 against team under .500.

Tuesday night brought them back to the floor after four long days off. Four days is an eternity during the NBA calendar. The opponent waiting in Sacramento happened to own the worst record in the league. The assignment was clear. Show up, play competent basketball, collect the win, get back on the plane.

And that is exactly what happened.

Sure, the Kings threw together a few runs. That tends to happen in NBA games. Basketball has rhythm, waves, little bursts of energy that arrive and disappear like desert dust storms. The Suns weathered them and kept moving.

Although if you were watching the NBC broadcast, you might have noticed something curious. The score bug read PHO.

Throwback Tuesday on NBC.

Now that took me back. For a moment it felt like I was watching a game from another timeline. PHO sitting there in the corner of the screen like it was 1998 again. The broadcast leaned into the nostalgia. I loved it. For a long stretch of Suns history the scoreboard said PHO. The PHX abbreviation arrived later, somewhere around the early 2000s when everything started getting a little sleeker and a little more digital. Basketball Reference still clings to PHO like an old road atlas that refuses to update the highways.

Anyway, I digress.

The real story was seeing the Suns back on the floor with Devin Booker orchestrating the whole operation again. The ball moved. The offense breathed. Possessions flowed with intention rather than sticking to one spot on the floor like gum on hot pavement.

There was stability. Calm. The kind of rhythm that arrives when the primary creator returns to the stage.

Phoenix flew to Sacramento, handled the assignment, and walked out with the win. PHO on the screen, PHX in reality, and in the end that is all you can ask for.

Bright Side Baller Season Standings

Seems like a week ago…because it almost was. But Grayson locked down his 9th Bright Side Baller after the 28-point performance against the Lakers.

Bright Side Baller Nominees

Game 61 against the Kings. Here are your nominees:

Collin Gillespie
17 points (6-of-10, 5-of-8 3PT), 5 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers, +15 +/-

Oso Ighodaro
14 points (7-of-10), 14 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers, +21 +/-

Grayson Allen
18 points (6-of-15, 4-of-12 3PT), 3 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 3 turnovers, +18 +/-

Jalen Green
20 points (7-of-16, 2-of-8 3PT), 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 4 steals, 1 block, 7 turnovers, +8 +/-

Devin Booker
17 points (6-of-19, 4-of-9 3PT), 4 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 turnovers, -5 +/-

Mark Williams
10 points (3-of-6), 9 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 turnover, -10 +/-

Late-night game, early-morning votes!