Welcome to the Weekly Roundup, where we talk about the Phoenix Suns' performance over the previous week.
Week 2: 28 December 2020 - 3 January 2021
Week Record: 3-1
Overall Record: 5-2. Joint 1st in Western Conference
Games Played and Results:
W - 111 - 86 Vs New Orleans Pelicans
W - 106 - 95 Vs Utah Jazz
W - 106 - 103 Vs Denver Nuggets
L - 107 - 112 Vs LA Clippers
Superstar Watch:
Booker - 21.1 Points, 4.1 Rebounds, 4.4 Assists, 1.0 Steals, 49.5 FG%, 34.2 3PT FG%, 5.3 Turnovers
Chris Paul - 13.4 Points, 4.7 Rebounds, 8.3 Assists, 0.7 Steals 41.8 FG%, 33.3 3PT FG%, 2.0 Turnovers
Scorching Suns:
Deandre Ayton - 15.8 Points, 10.0 Rebounds, 1.5 Assists, 1.3 Blocks, 0.5 Steals, 57.8 FG%
Though not eye popping, Deandre has upped his game on the offensive end vs week one of the season.
As I touched on last week, his steady defense has been there all along. This week he faced tough tests against Gobert and Jokic and came out the other side looking pretty good (though he struggled offensively against Gobert).
His offensive rebounding has been impressive so far, grabbing 3.0 per game, which is good for 11th in the league.
He ended the week with 22 vs Denver and 24 vs the Clippers.
Honourable mention: Mikal Bridges, after 7 games only has 1 turnover. That's total, not average per game.
His hot shooting has calmed down a little thanks to some off shooting against the Clippers, but in this first 6 games:
Thanks for the tweet Alex.
Struggling Suns:
Jevon Carter - Carter is still struggling to fit in to this revamped team on offense. As always he works hard on defense, but he has seen his minutes start to dwindle, only playing 3 minutes vs the Clippers. This hasn't been helped by Cam Payne's brilliant play as back-up PG and Langston Galloway's hot 3-point shooting (46.7%).
He's currently shooting 13% from 3, only connecting on 2 so far in the 7 games played. Last season Carter hit 42% from downtown.
Stat Line of the Week:
This was a tough one. The team is so deep now, that there hasn't been any massive offensive explosions or any block parties, etc. The team truly is a team, but I decided to go with:
Deandre Ayton vs Denver Nuggets
22 Points, 11 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 2 Blocks, 10/13 FG - 76.9%
Rookie Watch:
Jalen Smith - 0 games this week.
Smith is currently on the injured list recovering from the sprained ankle he suffered last week against Sacramento. Therefore his stats remain:
2 Games, 10 mpg, 2.0 Points, 2.5 Rebounds, 0.5 Assists, 0.5 Blocks, 40.0 FG%
Upcoming Games:
(Brackets show UK date and time)
This coming week we have 3 games
Wednesday Vs Toronto Raptors (07/01/21 2:00 AM)
Friday @ Detroit Pistons (09/01/21 12:00 AM)
Saturday @ Indiana Pacers (10/01/21 12:00 AM)
Any Other Business:
Booker passed Tom Chambers to become 11th on the Phoenix Suns All-Time scoring list.
Book currently (after game vs Clippers) has 7831.
Next on the list is Dan Majerle with 8034.
Should we track Booker's climb up the Suns' points ladder? Let me know in the comments.
Dario returned from injury for our game against New Orleans.
He played in 3 games this week, sitting out the game vs Denver as it was the 2nd of a back-to-back.
In 3 games he's averaging 10 Points, 4.3 Rebounds, 1.0 Assist on 50% FG%.
Dario's value is not shown in the box score. As Monty Williams puts it, he is a "connector" and he excels in moving the ball in Monty's point 5 offense.
Please let me know if there's anything extra you'd like to see in these weekly reviews.
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