What a difference a week can make for the Phoenix Suns. It was not so long ago that the Cleveland Cavaliers beat them so bad that we declared the season over in its current form, while having Jusuf Nurkic and Bradley Beal on this roster was a massive problem.
Fast forward to now and the Suns are 24-21 in the Western Conference and are 8-2 in their last 10 games. This has coincided with Beal being brought off the bench and Nurkic being removed from the rotation altogether. This should signal the end of Nurkic's time in The Valley, although it remains to be seen if they will be able to move him before the deadline.
Other Suns role players have also stepped up during this period.
The Suns looked as good as they have all season in their 111-109 win over the L.A. Clippers at home on Monday, a night in which Devin Booker and Kevin Durant also received their rings from Team USA after winning gold at the Olympics last summer. This was also a game in which head coach Mike Budenholzer saw his side go 22-of-47 from beyond the arc.
The Suns have the kind of players who can really hurt teams from deep, and this was a game where everybody from Grayson Allen to Tyus Jones had it going from 3-point range. Then there was backup center Mason Plumlee, who despite the recent and excellent addition of Nick Richards as the team's five was given some extra run down the stretch of this one.
Mason Plumlee tonight in 25 minutes:
— Zona (@AZSportsZone) January 28, 2025
0 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks, 5 fouls, and 2 turnovers.
He was +22 on the night.
There were two reasons for this, and the first and most obvious is that Plumlee played well. Perhaps it is because he is a former Clipper himself, but he seemed as up for this particular contest as any all campaign. He couldn't contain opposing big Ivica Zubac - who finished with a monster 25 point and 16 rebound performance - but he had some clutch plays against his opposing center.
There were a pair of blocks in the first-half on Zubac that hyped both the crowd and Plumlee himself, which ended in him playing 26 minutes. Way more than the 17.5 he has managed so far this season, and more even than the 20 minutes of Richards. He may not have scored a single point, but that was kind of the best part of Plumlee's performance.
He had six boards and did all of the little things around the guys who had it going from deep to help the Suns pull this one out. That's exactly what the team envisioned when they signed him to replace Drew Eubanks in the offseason, and it could not have come at a better time given Ryan Dunn missed this one with an ankle sprain.
The second reason was surprising in that coach Budenholzer elected to go with only an eight-man rotation for this one. That paid off because it meant more time for Allen and O'Neale to play alongside the stars that the Suns have, but it also showed Plumlee that he's part of that rotation if this team can make it to the playoffs.
A great night's work for the 34-year-old that left the Clippers wondering what might have been had they kept him around on a minimum. Not because he outplayed Zubac - statistically he certainly did not - but because he showed here that he'll do all of the little things to help his team win. Right now, that is priceless to the Suns.