The opening week of the Mike Budenholzer era was far from perfect but filled with promise. Despite a tough blown 22-point lead to the unbeaten Lakers, the Suns managed to secure an impressive road win over the 2-1 Clippers in a challenging LA setting and capped it off with a double-digit home victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Notably, the Suns achieved this strong start with limited impact from Devin Booker, whose early-season scoring has yet to fully ignite. Booker’s season-high is currently 23 points, which came in the loss to the Lakers. On Saturday, he took only 12 shots, finishing with 21 points on 2-8 shooting from deep, while his season opener saw just nine shot attempts for a modest 15 points. This mirrors the start of his 2021-22 season, when he averaged 18 points through three games before leading the Suns to a historic 18-game win streak that November. So, it would be wise to not look too much into Booker’s slow start.
Kevin Durant on the other hand appears to already be in peak form. Durant scored 30 against the Lakers, followed by a 31-point game against the Mavericks on 4-8 three-point shooting.
After the first week, the Suns rank 10th in points scored, 12th in points allowed, 8th in field goal percentage, 4th in three-point percentage, and 6th in defensive rebounds. However, Phoenix has struggled on the offensive glass, ranking second-worst in the league, with fewer offensive rebounds than their opponents in each game.
In NBA.com’s Week 2 Power Rankings, analyst John Schuhmann ranked the Suns at #7, down one spot from their opening-week position. Schuhmann noted, “Last season, the Suns were the league’s worst fourth-quarter team by a huge margin and 1-22 in games they trailed by double-digits in the fourth. On opening night against the Clippers, they were down 10 with less than six minutes left. But they came back and won in overtime, scoring 22 points on their final 13 possessions of regulation and holding the Clips to just 10 on 11 in the extra period.”
Schuhmann’s top five included the Celtics at #1, Thunder at #2, Lakers at #3, Cavs at #4, and Knicks at #5. Each of the Suns opponents in their first four games are ranked inside the top-10.
