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Alright, this won’t be as dramatic as the title, but man… what an important win that was. It’s been 84 years since the last Suns game with this random massive gap in the schedule, so let’s rewind a bit.
With 0.9 seconds on the clock, Royce O’Neale buried a corner three, assisted by Collin Gillespie, but originally created by a sweeping Grayson Allen drive and kick to CG in the corner, who found Royce. That clutch three secured a 113-110 win. It wasn’t just a win. It was a firm reminder that the Suns have no intention of sinking into the Play-In abyss.
If you’ve been watching the Phoenix Suns over the last two weeks, you’ve probably been pulling your hair out. I know I have. Before Thursday night, the vibes were, frankly, in the dumps. We were looking at a team that had dropped six of its last eight, an offense that looked like it was stuck in a mud pit, and a rotation decimated by injuries to Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, and Jordan Goodwin.
Fast forward to the closing seconds against the Los Angeles Lakers at the Footprint Center. The Suns had blown a 12-point fourth-quarter lead. LeBron James had just tipped in a game-tying bucket with 22 seconds left. The ghosts of “disappointing stretches” were starting to rattle again.
Then, Royce O’Neale happened.
The Tiebreaker + “Win of the Season”
Make no mistake, this was the biggest win of the year. Not because of our hatred for LA (that helps), but because of the math. By taking down the Lakers, the Suns officially secured the season tiebreaker. We are now just one game back from L.A. in the loss column for that coveted No. 6 seed. Despite their recent spiral, the fact that the top-6 is still in play is remarkable, especially with Devin Booker’s return soon.
We saw the Suns return to the basics: scrappy defense, transition buckets, and a “death by Royce O’Neale” finish that Lakers fans will be seeing in their nightmares. It was a rollercoaster of a game, but you’d expect nothing less from these relentless Suns.
Related Read:Was Thursday night the Suns’ best win of the season?
Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Jalen Green.
It is okay to hold players accountable, and right now, the accountability is loud. Green finished with 9 points on 4-of-15 shooting. The iso-ball is getting stagnant, and the 10 assists over his last five games are concerning as well. There are red flags there that are tough to ignore.
I will give him a break for now because he’s currently set up to fail in a system missing its top two scorers while he is trying to trust his body again.
This is a guy who has only played 11 games this season and is clearly still trying to get his legs under him after the recurring hamstring injury. He’s being asked to be Batman when he was brought here to be a high-level Robin. The “perfect storm for failure” is currently swirling around him, but if this inefficiency continues once Book returns, the conversation changes from “he needs time” to “he’s messing with the flow of the offense.”
I truly believe this is the worst he’ll ever look as a Sun, and it’s only uphill from here.
Bright Spots
The brightest spotof last Thursday’s win wasn’t just the final score; it was the continued evolution of Oso Ighodaro. Oso played 34 minutes to Mark Williams’ 13. This season, he has transformed from a tentative rookie we saw a year ago into a decisive attacker who isn’t afraid to mix it up. Jordan Ott is not afraid to close games out with him, and in certain matchups, he prefers it.
This vicious poster on LaRavia was a testament to the player he has slowly become right before our eyes.
Pair him with Rasheer Fleming — who gave us some serious “young Kawhi” defensive vibes while checking LeBron and Luka — and you start to see a viable future for the Suns’ frontcourt. Fleming is a disruptor who can switch everything, and if his three-ball becomes consistent, he is the bridge player this team has been begging for since the Brooks injury.
The Suns shot 50 threes last game. They lived by the long ball and nearly died by it, but that is the modern NBA.
With Devin Booker expected to return soon, the goal is simple: survive and advance. Yes, my basketball brain is ready for March Madness, if you couldn’t tell.