The Suns are surging despite missing star point guard Chris Paul (thumb fracture), going 9-4 in the games they’ve played without him, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic writes. Phoenix owns the league’s best record at 57-14, leading the second-place Grizzlies by 8.5 games.
“We know how talented this team is and we always pride ourselves on that,” Devin Booker said. “I always say nobody can replace what Chris does out there. We know how much we’re going to need him when it comes into this playoff run, but in the meantime, we’re just trying to hold it down.”
Phoenix is coming off its first NBA Finals appearance since 1993. The team lost to Milwaukee in six games, but it kept most of its core for this season. It has the chemistry, motivation and talent to make a title run — though it’ll be important to have a fully healthy team.
Here are some other notes from the Pacific:
- Michael Scotto of HoopsHype hosted a Q&A with Suns center Bismack Biyombo, who discussed how and why he’s donating his salary, why he fits in well with the team, and several other topics. Biyombo signed a 10-day hardship deal with Phoenix in January, impressing the club enough to earn a rest-of-season commitment. The 11-year veteran has averaged 6.1 points and 4.7 rebounds in 14.1 minutes per game.
- The Lakers embraced Russell Westbrook‘s feel-good moment in Toronto, rallying behind him after he helped the team earn an overtime win on Friday with a game-tying three-pointer at the end of regulation, Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register writes. “One of the highlights of our season – and it’s been a tough season for us, and specifically for him,” head coach Frank Vogel said. Contrary to public perception, Westbrook’s shooting percentages have only dipped slightly from last season, but his 15.7 shot attempts per game represent his lowest mark since 2009/10.
- Warriors guard Jordan Poole is proving he’s ready for the NBA spotlight, Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area writes. Poole is averaging a career-best 17.1 points on 46% shooting this season, establishing himself as a valuable scoring threat in his third season.
What if: suns win the championship but Chris Paul doesn’t play a single playoff game…
Then the Suns will have proven their dominance against the league or the league just is full of injuries
But what does it mean for Paul’s Legacy?
I feel like if that were to happen, CP3 would be talked about as a contributor to playoff seeding up until the injury. He still would be a major part in a mentor/leader role through the playoffs without playing and he would still be talked about as the first or second reason they won IMO
Despite all the hate for Westbrook he is having an ok season, definitely not as bad as people are saying… I can’t understand why people hates so much on a former MVP, that is the type of players everybody must love… if you like hoops, of course, right?
Westbrook is playing ok but its not as good as last year or the year before. He has also had terrible games sometimes
At his age he ain’t meant to get better, is kind of normal & expected that he is not as good as before, but that is fine… all stars have terrible games sometimes, right?
He’s also an incredible a-hole and one of the softest “stars” ever. If he was more humble and didn’t talk like he does, the hate would be half the amount.
You identified the reason.
He has missed some big shot opportunities when lead to the late game benching and which leads to the chatter.