This crazy season for the Phoenix Suns is mercifully over. With the plethora of ridiculous buzzer-beating losses, players upset with their role and the myriad of injuries peppered throughout, this year was pretty brutal.
Despite being on the verge of missing the playoffs, I wanted the Suns to embrace a line from the movie Interstellar, “Do not go gentle into that good night, rage, rage against the dying of the light!” They needed to finish the season strong and couldn’t do it. They finished 1-9 in their last 10 games.
There weren’t a ton of amazing moments for Suns fans, but as nearly a playoff team, winning 39 games, there are bound to be some highlights. These can range from blowout wins to scoring outbursts to some flashes of brilliance from rookies.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane.
Next: No. 1
1. Sweeping The Lakers
What an awesome feeling. Despite the fact that the Los Angeles Lakers are truly terrible this season, it sure feels good for Suns fans that they swept all four matchups this year. It started in the first game of the a season with a decisive 119-99 win. We saw a vintage “Black Mamba” display with Kobe Bryant finishing with 31 points, while Isaiah Thomas scored 23 points in his Phoenix debut.
A few days later, Phoenix won again 112-106 overcoming a Kobe scoring outburst of 39 points with a balanced scoring attack. Just before the new year, the Suns traveled to Los Angeles to take on the Lakers once again. Phoenix prevailed 116-107 in Kobe’s return from injury behind the point guard trio to win their sixth straight game.
In the final matchup, the Suns finished off the sweep with a 115-100 victory. They got 65 combined points from the three-headed guard trio. The Lakers were once again missing Kobe. It sure is a great feeling to sweep the division rival Lakers, and will probably continue in the years to come.
Next: No. 2
2. Beating The Spurs
While the Lakers are a rival of the Suns, the San Antonio Spurs have got to be at the top of that list. The Suns played a masterful game against their nemesis, not allowing a field goal by the Spurs for the final five minutes of the game. Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas combined for 45 points and IT’s points came off the bench.
Markieff Morris had a solid game with 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and a block and no turnovers. It doesn’t get much more efficient than that for a big man.
This was still when Miles Plumlee was starting at center for Phoenix. He only scored four points, opening up time for Alex Len who had a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards. Gerald Green also threw in 10 points and had the highest plus/minus with a +15.
Next: No. 3
3. Win In OT Over Westbrook Triple-Double
Despite a virtuoso performance by the unique Russell Westbrook, who finished with an incredible triple-double of 39 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists (plus three steals), the Oklahoma City Thunder still lost to the Suns in overtime.
The win was pivotal as the Suns still had a chance to make the playoffs and this was on the way to help them win the tiebreaker. In the end, neither team got in, however.
The Suns were led by Markieff Morris’ 29 points and Eric Bledsoe’s 28. Keef made it a double-double by grabbing 11 rebounds. Bledsoe nearly made his stat lone a triple-double with 13 rebounds and nine assists, while also tallying four steals. Alex Len contributed with a solid double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. Brandon Knight threw in 15 points as well.
For the Thunder, there couldn’t be many other contributions offensively because Westbrook took all the shots. He took 38 shots in one game! That being said, Enes Kanter had 18 points and Dion Waiters finished with 16.
Next: No. 4
4. Bledsoe Career-High
On Mar. 21, the Suns went to Houston and decisively won against the Rockets in what ended up being a critical stretch on the schedule where Phoenix beat the Knicks, Pelicans, Rockets and Mavericks all in the space of one week.
The key was P.J. Tucker keeping “the Beard” in check. James Harden only tallied 16 points on a miserable 5-of-19 shooting from the field, only getting to the charity stripe five times. Five other players for Houston scored between 10 and 18 points, but it wasn’t enough as Phoenix came out victorious 117-102.
For Phoenix, it was all about Eric Bledsoe’s 34 points. That was a career-high and he did it in only 37 minutes. He also added in eight boards, four assists, and handful of steals and a block to finish out his spectacular night. However, Tucker threw in 19 points and the Morrii finished with 17 each.
Next: No. 5
5. Keef career-high
This game on Jan. 13 was the game LeBron James came back from his two-week “vacation.” I mean…he basically took off the beginning of the season, took a couple weeks off then said, we’re gonna be the best team in the league from now on. They basically were. But not that night.
LeBron had 33 points, seven rebounds and five assists, but it wasn’t enough for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost 107-100 to Phoenix. He had five turnovers and Kyrie Irving almost had as many turnovers as points (eight turnovers, nine points). J.R Smith had 29 points, but finished with a plus/minus of -10.
It was Markieff Morris’ night as he tallied his career-high 35 points to go along with seven rebounds, an assist and a block. He was +22 for the game. He was so efficient, with his 35 points coming in only 38 minutes and he was 15-for-21 from the floor. That was when Goran Dragic was still on the team and the Dragon scored 18 points. Alex Len contributed with a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double.
Next: No. 6
6. Warren Breakout Game
Everyone is excited for the rookie T.J. Warren. He plays the right way, cutting when he should, playing with energy and just knows where to be (at least pretty well for a rookie). Warren scored a career-high 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting in a game against the Thunder, along with five rebounds, a couple assists and steals and a block.
He scores in such a variety of ways, his potential is off the charts. All he needs to do extend his range to the three-point line as well as just have some consistent time on the court to eliminate the rookie mistakes. Then his offensive potential can be realized.
Hopefully he can build off of this game and carve out some more playing time next year. That would really lift the ceiling on this team.
Next: Phoenix Suns: 10 Takeaways From The 2014-15 Season (Part 2)