December and January
First impressions
The Suns will probably be below .500 at the end of their six-game road trip (five of those games are in December), but they should be able to escape the month (and really the two-month stretch) unscathed.
As I mentioned, the team kicks things off with the last five games of a six-game road trip, and they’ll finish with three games in four days against the Wizards, Grizzlies and Bulls. December also has a brutal ending, as the Suns will take on three of the teams most likely to be crowned as NBA champions this year in succession.
They’ll take on the Cavs first at home, before facing off against the Spurs and Thunder on a road back-to-back.
In a 4 day stretch in late December the Suns get to play the Cavs, Spurs, and Thunder. That ought to be super fun.
— Scott Howard (@ScottHoward42) August 12, 2015
It’s also worth noting when they take on the Thunder in that second game, OKC will be finishing up a four game home-stand, and will have an extra day of rest, playing just one game in their last three days, compared to two for the Suns.
However, once January starts, things get a lot easier.
If the Suns are serious about contending for the playoffs, they should at worst lose six games out of their 14 January contests, and really they’ll probably do better than that. The schedule really opens up for them.
Travel/Rest
As far as rest is concerned, this is definitely going to be the hardest part of the schedule for Phoenix. The Suns have five back-to-backs in December alone, and will play seven total over the two months, compared to seven over the rest of the season (October-November, February-April).
The Suns will play five games in the first seven days of December, and will close out the month playing three games in four days. They’ll receive one off day after that, before playing their second consecutive back-to-back made up entirely of road games.
That stretch will be especially brutal, because the first two games will be against elite teams, while the second half of the four road games in five days will be against the Lakers and Kings, who the Suns *should* beat, but may struggle with due to the fatigue of the season.
And when it comes to travel, the schedule really won’t be any easier. The team’s first five games will be on the road in December, and over the course of the two months, they’ll have played the last five games of a six-game road trip, two four-game road trips and a three-game road trip, which will make up 16 of their 32 games, but that isn’t even all of it.
In addition to that, they’ll have a two game road trip against the Mavericks and Warriors and take on the Jazz in Utah in the second game of a back-to-back. Those 19 road games are more than the team will play after that point in the rest of the season, and that’s counting the 11 road games they’ll play in March alone.
Matchups
As far as opponents are concerned, this is definitely the easy two-month stretch of this year’s schedule. Over the two months, the Suns will get to take on the 76ers (2x), Timberwolves (2x), Nuggets, Knicks, Lakers, Trail Blazers, Hornets, Magic, Nets and Pistons, and they’ll also face off against the Pacers a couple of times. And it doesn’t end there.
The Suns will also play the Jazz, Bucks, and Kings over that stretch, and while I don’t think those teams are going to be bad, they’re certainly some of the younger squads in the NBA.
Oh and I almost forgot, there’s this fun game too…
"Mark your calendars Suns fans.. January 8th.. Miami Heat at Phoenix the return of the traitor Goran Dragic! Boo"
Simply put: There are a lot of winnable games in these two months, and the Suns should really be riding high as they enter February.
As far as key seven/eight seed opponents are concerned, the Suns will play the Mavericks (2x), Jazz, Pelicans and Kings, meaning that even if they do have a poor start to the year, they’ll have a chance to make up a lot of ground in the push for one of the last two playoff spots.
Predictions
Despite all the road games and back-to-backs, the Suns should have a pretty strong amount of success over these two months. The one thing the team will need to worry about is looking past opponents. For example, over this stretch the Suns play the Mavericks and Warriors right after the Timberwolves. If they get caught looking ahead, they could easily drop that game to Minnesota, which I think we can agree they *should* win.
And there are two similar scenarios later in December and later in January as well. The Suns take on the Nuggets and 76ers before facing off against the Cavs, Spurs and Thunder to end the month of December, and they face the Knicks on Jan. 29, before facing off against the Mavericks (and then the Raptors and Rockets). The Suns really can’t afford to look ahead this year, but if they take care of business, good things should be in store. There will certainly be a lot more slack to rely on if they are able to get out and grab some wins right away.
Bottom line: 18-14 (27-22 on the year)
Realistic best-case Dec./Jan. scenario: 22-10 (33-16)
Realistic worst-case Dec./Jan. scenario: 15-17 (21-28)
Next: The hard part...