5 reasons the Phoenix Suns’ 2018 and 2019 opening nights are totally different
By Adam Maynes
The Phoenix Suns opened the regular season with a blowout victory over their opponent for the second straight season. But unlike last year’s win over Dallas, this season’s victory over the Sacramento Kings was far more positive than last year’s seemed at first blush.
On opening night 2018, the Phoenix Suns ran away from the Dallas Mavericks in the fourth quarter to blow out their opponent 121-100.
Following a 21-61 record the season before, in which that opening night was a mind-numbingly depressing 48 point loss to the Portland Trailblazers, to win such a big game over the Mavs seemed to be an indicator of a much better season than what it would eventually evolve into.
Unfortunately the 2018 opening night victory was a mirage; a total fallacy of what the team actually was; a non truth.
That Phoenix Suns team was littered with problems both structural and philosophical from top to bottom, that for some reason, for one night, remained hidden despite the obviousness of their existence.
The current incarnation of the team is no Rembrandt. It too has it’s holes, and the players will at times fail to live up to the excitement that this season’s opening night has developed.
And yet, there are several significant differences between this year’s 29 point victory and last season’s 21 point win. The holes that exist on this roster are not nearly as glaring as those which existed last year.
Make no mistake: this is not your 2018-19 Phoenix Suns.
All record-based predictions for this season which are in any way based on the occurrences of last season are unabashedly false.
For those of us (including yours truly) who saw last year’s opening night victory as a possible sign of good things to come, we were merely blinded by our fandom for a franchise that has been with us as we have been for it, our entire lives.
We were wrong and such poor vision is almost inexcusable.
But for those of us (including yours truly) who saw the opening night victory over the Sacramento Kings that included a number of reasons to be excited, you have every reason to have faith that this season will be different from the one that has preceded us.
In fact, you have five, very solid and undeniable reasons that this will be so.