Kevin Durant, Devin Booker fueling Suns’ rise
The Phoenix Suns look to move up the standings as the 2nd half of the regular season gets underway.
Juan Pablo Aravena | RotoWire.com
After an up-and-down start to the 2024-25 campaign, it seems the Suns have finally started to turn things around. After all, Phoenix was one of the top teams in the Western Conference on paper before the start of the season But injuries, inconsistencies and execution issues on both ends of the court had the Suns on the outside of the playoff picture at one point.
Fast forward to Monday, Jan. 27 when the Suns delivered an impressive 111-109 win over the LA Clippers in front of their fans at Footprint Center. Led by 26 points from Devin Booker and a 24-point display from Kevin Durant, the Suns denied a comeback from a full-strength Clippers roster featuring Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, Ivica Zubac and Norman Powell.
The win moved the Suns to 24-21 as they continue to show the rest of the league they’re very much alive in the playoff race. Phoenix’s two-man duo of Booker and Durant is one of the best in The Association.
Entering Tuesday’s action, the Suns are sitting in eighth place in the West, but they’re just 1.5 games back from the Clippers, who sit in sixth place. Their 8-2 record over the last 10 contests is tied for first in the NBA along with the Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and Houston Rockets, and they still have room for improvement given their season-long point differential of -0.8. They’re just one of five teams in the West with a negative point differential..
If Phoenix keeps this up on offense while tweaking some things on defense — an area where the arrival of Nick Richards should help — don’t be surprised to see the Suns rising as the second half of the regular season unfolds. They have all the pieces to be much better than what their current record indicates.