The Phoenix Suns can’t catch a break.
The team has lost six consecutive games and are without a good chunk of their starting lineup due to injuries. They’re below .500 for the first time all season and have yet to land a trade for Jae Crowder.
Things are gloomy around the Suns at the moment, and that’s reflected in power rankings across the league:
“The Suns have shown everybody just how valuable Devin Booker is. This latest stretch, in which they’ve free-fallen down the standings, is all because Booker hurt his groin. The Suns are 4-14 in their last 18 games. They ‘re 2-10 when Booker doesn’t play this season, and that doesn’t even include the Christmas game when he played four minutes and left with a groin injury. The Suns could have hit the over if Booker hadn’t gotten hurt . But they have pretty much no chance now unless Chris Paul turns back the clock.”
The Suns’ offense initially had a few solid games without Devin Booker, scoring efficiently enough to hang with the Nuggets on Christmas and thwart the Grizzlies two nights later. But the bottom has fallen out since then, and they’ve scored an anemic 102.3 points per 100 possessions over the six-game losing streak that has dropped them below .500. Chris Paul shot 50% over the first five games of the streak, but the Suns still barely cracked a point per possession in his 149 minutes on the floor. He’s missed the last game and a half with hip soreness, the Suns have also been without Cameron Payne, and they’re playing Landry Shamet at point guard.
The losing can’t all be tied to Booker’s absence, because the Suns also lost three of the last five games in which he played more than five minutes. The good news is that only five teams in the West have winning records right now, and the Warriors and Clippers are going through similar travails. (It’s probably not a good time for Phoenix and Golden State to be playing on national TV, but alas… )
The Suns now embark on a four-game trip that includes games against the champions, the Nuggets and the Grizzlies, what should have been a trip that tested their ability to beat the other great teams in the West. But now, you have to wonder what their record will be when they return home. And maybe the most important game on the trip is the one on Friday against the team – Minnesota – that, amazingly, has the same record as the Suns do.
“Things are grim in Phoenix. After a 15–6 start, the Suns are 5–15 since the calendar flipped to December. With Devin Booker (groin) still on the shelf, they’re in the midst of a six-game skid with a daunting schedule ahead. Phoenix lost twice to Cleveland, by two and four points, both games it desperately needed to stop the bleeding, and also fell to Miami at home last week. Paul left the game against the Heat early with hip soreness and missed Sunday’s game against the Cavaliers, which meant both All-Star guards were out of the lineup. Phoenix is now 2–10 without Booker this season, who hasn’t played since Christmas.”
.