The Phoenix Suns – who WEREN’T tanking by sitting a suddenly hurt Kelly Oubre 😉 – lost to the Chicago Bulls, all but locking up their position with top-three lottery odds.
The Phoenix Suns have been winning at a clip that they haven’t won with for some time, winners of six of their last 10 games.
With their season winding down, Phoenix faced off against the Chicago Bulls on Monday March 18, losing 116-101, re-filling a three game cushion between the two teams and the best odds at landing the top pick in the draft.
(Do not forget though, even though the Bulls swept the Suns in the two-game season series – the first time since 2013-14 – should the two teams end the season in a tie, the tie is broken by a random drawing, not by the fact that the Bulls won the series.)
Phoenix Suns
As you are probably aware, the teams who have the three worst records in the league have equal odds at the top pick (14.0%), while the team with the fourth worst record has a 12.5% chance.
And while that gap is minute in the grand scheme of things, if even one additional set of numbers at winning the top overall pick in the lottery gives an edge over another, especially in a year that expects a game-changing player to be taken first overall, Zion Williamson, a potential Charles Barkley clone, losing these head-to-head matchups creating a widening gap, is exactly what franchises are looking to do.
And with this loss, the Phoenix Suns have likely locked that spot in the top-three up, specifically ahead of the Chicago Bulls, placing themselves exactly where the franchise (and it’s fans) want to be at this juncture in an otherwise lost season.
As the number of games continue to drop off the calendar, each game passed more strongly solidifies Phoenix’s position in that top group.
The Chicago Bulls marked the 72nd game played on the season, leaving only 10 remaining between now and the summer.
Both teams now have ten games remaining on their calendar, and while one would have thought that the Suns could have defeated the Bulls (who were only two-games better than Phoenix heading into the game) at home, in dropping that game, only six of their final ten games now remain against non-playoff teams.
Of Chicago’s ten remaining games, only four are against non-playoff teams, and thus have a more difficult end of the year.
In fact, according to Tankathon.com, Phoenix’s opponents have a .470 win percentage while the Bulls’ opponents have a .512 win percentage.
One would expect that the Suns could potentially do very well in those games based on their recent play, beginning with the Bulls who only had two more wins than Phoenix entering into their matchup.
But with the Chicago loss, and the continued pileup of injuries (Kelly Oubre, T.J. Warren, Richaun Holmes, and Tyler Johnson, in particular), the remaining players are behind the eight-ball – so to speak – and face an even more difficult climb out of the bottom three (and attempt to miss a 60-loss season).
That makes the Phoenix Suns’ Magic Number to lock up a top-three spot at eight over Chicago , with every Suns loss and Bulls win from here until 0, bringing Phoenix closer and closer to their (current) ultimate goal.
Whatever the outcome of the remaining games, this loss all but guarantees that the Phoenix Suns are going to have top-three odds in the lottery – with Zion Williamson as the top prize, this is exactly where they want to be.