The Phoenix Suns have had some great wins this season amid their surprising season. They beat the Oklahoma City Thunder after being down 18, stormed back against the Timberwolves despite being down eight with 50 seconds left, and manhandled the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers back-to-back nights, but the main reason the Suns are sitting 10 games ahead of .500 is because of how often they handle business against lesser opponents.
No matter who is in the lineup, whether they’re playing a tanking squad or a struggling one, they take care of business.
After win against the Kings, the trend has continued. Now 20-5 against teams under .500, the Suns are 10 games above .500 for the first time since February 10th, after beating another inferior team they handled their business against, the Dallas Mavericks. The last time Phoenix lost to a team not currently in the play-in standings or better came all the way back before Halloween, on October 29th, vs the Grizzlies, when Ja Morant hit a game-winning floater with eight seconds left.
Even when the Suns have had their stars out, they’ve taken advantage of lesser opponents, beating the Portland Trailblazers last month without Devin Booker, and now recently taking care of Sacramento this week without Dillon Brooks and Jordan Goodwin playing.
While the play-in and potentially the playoffs won’t be filled with teams trying to tank for better picks, and lineups littered with players younger than me (I’m 22), the wins have not only continued to give the Suns a cushion between them and the eighth seed (the Golden State Warriors have trailed them for more than half the season), but also keep them alive to finish as a top-six seed. The team sits just 1.5 games out of sixth.
Two teams ahead of the Suns in the Western Conference standings, the Lakers and Timberwolves, two teams the Suns won the season series against, have struggled against lesser opponents. Both teams have dropped many games they had no business doing so, which could be the difference between the two teams being in or out of the play-in, and Phoenix jumping them in the final standings. The Lakers recently lost to the shorthanded Orlando Magic and Suns, while before they started their four-game winning streak, Minnesota got embarrassed by the 76ers without Joel Embiid playing.
In order to build a culture in the NBA, consistency is needed. As good as the Oklahoma City Thunder are at facing the NBA’s best, they’re even better at handling their business against lesser teams, which is why they won 68 games last year, 57 the year before, and have the best winning percentage in the NBA this year. They’re 25-3 against teams under .500, and were 37-4 against the same type of opponents last year. Last season, they led the league in wins in the category, and are doing so again this year.
The Suns, as currently constructed, aren’t set up to be the Oklahoma City Thunder and compete for championships year after year. Phoenix isn’t even one of the front-runners to be hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy this year, but just like the Thunder, they are building an identity, one that represents a team that takes care of the business against teams that they’re supposed to.
