55 games into the season, the Phoenix Suns have had a lot of memorable wins amid their surprising start to the year. With a few comeback victories and wins against both the Eastern and Western Conference’s number 1 seeds, the Suns have left their fans with a lot of opportunities to cheer so far.
Here’s how I’d rank their top-three wins of the season, but before I start, the Suns’ 130-118 win over the San Antonio Spurs deserves some recognition. Phoenix held Victor Wembanyama to his worst game of the season, holding him to nine points, and handed San Antonio their first loss of the year.
#1: Booker’s Dagger vs OKC
Down as much as 18 points, the Suns rallied in the second half to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-105 on January 4th. Devin Booker hit the game-winning three with less than a second remaining that had the Mortgage Matchup Center go into a frenzy.
After being humiliated by Oklahoma City just a few weeks before in the knock-out round of the In-Season Tournament, Phoenix did not let being down nearly 20 get in the way of staying competitive with the team with the best record in the NBA. The performance was one of the highlights of the team’s best month of the season so far that ended with Jordan Ott winning his first ever Coach of the Month award.
#2 A Miraculous Comeback Against Minnesota
The most absurd game of the Suns season, Phoenix was down eight with less than 50 seconds remaining with Devin Booker fouled out. That being said, the Suns ended the game on a 9-0 run that included a myriad of crazy turnovers and Dillon Brooks also fouling out, culminating in Collin Gillespie hitting a game-winner over Donte DiVencenzo for a 114-113 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on November 21st.
The win demonstrated the team’s ability to win without Booker. Before he fouled out, the All-Star was having one of the worst nights of his season, scoring 16 points on 4-18 shooting from the field with nine turnovers. The Suns had six different players score in double-digits, including Gillespie, who had his season high at the time with 20-points, scoring his most important two when it mattered most.
#3 The Detroit Domination
With no Devin Booker, Phoenix clobbered the Detroit Pistons 114-96 on January 29th. Dillon Brooks had a career-high 40 points and Grayson Allen chipped in 24. Detroit was playing at full strength and not on a back-to-back, and the Suns held All-Star Starter Cade Cunningham to 8/22 shooting from the field and Detroit to 21% shooting from three.
What was impressive about this victory for the Suns was not just that Booker wasn’t playing, it was that Phoenix held the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference (now the best record in the NBA), at bay for the entirety of the contest. Detroit made some little runs throughout the game but the Suns responded everytime.
With 27 games left, will the Suns have any wins that top these?