Although there’s been a cloud looming over Phoenix for the past few years, the future is looking brighter for the Suns.
Note: All records and data are accurate through March 24, 2014.
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| Team | Season Record | Last Week’s Record |
| Phoenix Suns | 42-29 | 4-0 |
| The Suns have been on a tear lately, winning 6 of their last 7 games with the only loss coming to the red-hot Brooklyn Nets. In fact, the Suns haven’t had a bad loss in a month (109-86 to the Jazz). All this has led to a showdown in the final few weeks of the season with Dallas, Memphis, Golden State, and Portland, 5 teams vying for the last 4 spots in the Western Conference’s playoffs. For a team without a playoff berth since 2010, this is an extremely important final few weeks. Phoenix started off this run with a great 4-0 start over the past week.
On Wednesday, the Orlando Magic visited with the Lottery on their minds. However, the Magic were still able to make it a contest through three quarters until the Suns started lighting up the scoreboard with a barrage of threes. For just over 6 minutes at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth, the Suns shot 6-7 from three and opened up a 17-point lead with 8:25 left in the game. From there, the team coasted to victory over the league’s worst road team, avoiding a huge upset in the process. Two days later, the Pistons made a stop in the desert, hoping to curb the funk that their team had been in and get back into the playoff race in the process. Detroit made it more of a contest than the Magic, getting contributions from their big three down low (Drummond, Monroe, and Smith) and also a huge game off the bench from Rodney Stuckey (23 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists). The problem for the Pistons turned out to be free-throw shooting. Their effort at the charity stripe (10-26) made Shaquille O’Neal look like Reggie Miller at the line. And although the Pistons dominated the boards, as they’re known to do, the Suns took better care of the ball and protected the basket better (7 blocked shots). In the end, Eric Bledsoe’s huge 15-point fourth quarter helped the Suns outlast the Magic. When the Suns visited Minnesota, they were not fortunate enough to be in control for the majority of the game. In fact, the Suns led 9-6 early in the 1st and didn’t lead again until the 4th quarter. It was an impressive comeback win for Phoenix, who trailed by as many as 22 and had to stave off a marvelous game by Kevin Love (36 points, 14 rebounds, 9 assists), who played every bit the part of an MVP on this night. With the help of 25 points from Markieff Morris, the Suns were able to put up a huge 4th quarter en route to a 7-point win over the Timberwolves. Finally, the Suns visited Atlanta and the Eastern Conference’s likely 8th seed. The tale of the three was evident in this game as the Suns took 24 from downtown and hit at a 50% clip. But the contributions didn’t come solely from rising star Eric Bledsoe, who seems to do a bit of everything each game for the Suns. PJ Tucker gave significant contributions to the tune of 8 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. 5 players scored in double figures, and as a team they shot 51.4% from the field and only missed two free throws. Phoenix’s fast break offense was on display as well, as they outscored the Hawks 21-8 in transition. Overall, the Suns looked like a team primed for a tight playoff series, but you’d like to see more stability and strong wins from a team hoping to compete in the ridiculously tough Western Conference. Highlights: Suns vs Hawks, March 24, 2014 |
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| Lottery Spin | ||
| This is a pretty interesting scenario. The Suns have obviously been on a tear lately, but they still sit in a dogfight for a spot in the postseason. With an unfavorable schedule ahead (7 out of their last 11 against above .500 teams), the Suns are going to have a hard time maintaining this hot streak that they’re on. Neither of the three teams that are almost tied have a very easy schedule, but Dallas is full of veterans and Memphis has been quite possibly an even hotter team (27-10 over last 37 games). As much as it pains me to say this, because I’m definitely cheering for the Suns to beat the odds, I think they’ll end up 9th in the race and pick 14th in this year’s Lottery. | ||
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| Team | Season Record | Last Week’s Record |
| Orlando Magic | 19-52 | 0-4 |
| The Magic are the forgotten tankers, so it seems. I’d actually like to put the whole Eastern Conference in the Ice Cold section for the week, as almost every potential Lottery team has been nearly atrocious. However, the Magic should not be overlooked even though all four games came on the road. They started this week with a big loss to the Warriors even though they were without Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut to injuries. Nobody played particularly well, though Victor Oladipo (10 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) and Tobias Harris (14 points, 6 rebounds) gave good efforts off the bench.
On the following night, the Magic played a tough game for 36 minutes in Phoenix as stated in the section above, but gave up the 4th quarter to the Suns who ran away with it. Following that game, the Magic headed North to Utah to take on a Jazz team that has struggled almost as much as the Magic have this year. With an unusual starting five of Victor Oladipo, Arron Afflalo, Maurice Harkless, Kyle O’Quinn, and Nikola Vucevic, the Magic made it a heavily contested game for almost a full 48 minutes until Trey Burke pulled some magic out of his Michigan days and drained a three from the corner to seal the victory. Big games from Nikola Vucevic with yet another double-double and Victor Oladipo who had a solid 19 points couldn’t stop Burke and the Jazz from stealing the win at the end. Highlights: Magic vs. Jazz, March 22, 2014 Finishing off the road trip, the Magic strolled into the Staples Center to take on a Lakers team riding their own losing streak in which they had allowed an average of 123 points per game. Instead, Jordan Hill (who started for the first time in over two months) put up a career night with 28 points and 13 rebounds, and the Lakers held the Magic to only 94 points even though the Magic shot surprisingly well for the game at 45.1%. Although Oladipo put up a huge game (21 points, 5 rebounds, 10 assists), the Magic simply fouled too much and turned the ball over too many times. The Lakers were able to take advantage and snap their skid while adding to Orlando’s at the same time. |
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| Lottery Spin | ||
| This one’s pretty easy. The Magic are the clear third-worst team in basketball, only trailed by the Sixers (who are trying to break the losing streak record) and the Bucks (who are actually beating the Sixers at losing). As long as the Lottery falls based on percentages (which it never does completely), then the Magic should have 3rd pick this year and a good shot at Jabari Parker or Andrew Wiggins, either of whom they should immediately pick. | ||
By Jon Elliott
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