Lakers concerns and 3 other notable takeaways from NBA’s bubble restart
4. The Phoenix Suns are balling out
The Phoenix Suns were the talk of the NBA early on as the team posted five victories in its first seven games. Going into the bubble though, they had the 12th-best record in the west and many wondered why they were included in the 22 teams vying for playoff positioning in Orlando. After all, there is no way this team would make any noise during the restart, right?
Well, not so fast.
The Suns kicked off their restart with 125-112 win against the Washington Wizards. Yeah, I understand beating the Wizards isn’t a huge accomplishment, but the story only gets better from there. In their next outing, the Suns knocked off the Dallas Mavericks — a team sitting at the No. 7 spot — 117-115.
Still not impressed? Phoenix followed up that victory with a two-point victory against the Clippers, thanks to this game-winning shot from Devin Booker.
Related Story. Phoenix Suns: Deandre Ayton has the most to prove. light
And on Thursday night, the Suns continued their winning ways with a 114-99 victory against the Indiana Pacers, making them the only 4-0 team in the bubble. Devin Booker has been nothing short of spectacular during the restart.
Over the first four games, he’s put together averages of 28.0 points and 6.5 assists per contest. He’s also knocking down 40 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Deandre Ayton has also been a solid contributor, chipping in with 18.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per outing.
Whether the Suns make the playoffs or not remains to be seen, but being they are now just two games out of the eighth spot in the conference playoff race, they have certainly made things interesting, to say the least.