Phoenix must beat the Mavs today to ensure a chance at the Play In.
With the bar being lowered for the Phoenix Suns this season, so have the priorities. After starting the year 8-1, churning out solid victories, the team has been in the 11th spot in the conference for some time.
Phoenix Suns seeding by date this season: pic.twitter.com/gANx5KA9lM
— John Voita (@DarthVoita) March 9, 2025
With the 10th-seeded Dallas Mavericks down Kyrie Irving for the season and Anthony Davis for the foreseeable future, even for a team as inconsistent as this Valley batch, they have a chance to take advantage of the Mavs’ misfortunes and get into the play-in tournament and extend their season at least beyond the 82-game regular season.
This makes today’s game against the Mavs arguably their most important contest left in their 19 games. With a win today, the team would be just 1.5 games out of the 10th spot and would own the tiebreaker against Dallas for the season series.
All of the Suns/Mavs games this season have either featured former Maverick Luka Dončić or Irving. With both not playing today and Davis sidelined, Phoenix is an 8-point favorite on DraftKings to win at the American Airlines Center today. The Valley’s Big Three is all expected to play today.
Since storming back from down 23 against the Los Angeles Clippers in the second half of Tuesday’s nationally televised performance, the team played with more consistent energy on Friday night, despite losing 149-141 to the Denver Nuggets; Nikola Jokić had the first ever 30-20-20 game in NBA history.
Phoenix has almost every advantage over Dallas today, outside of home court.
Not only is Dončić not employed by them anymore, and Irving and Davis are both hurt, but the team’s frontcourt is severely shorthanded. P.J. Washington, Daniel Gafford, and Dereck Lively II, all important parts of the team’s Finals run from a year ago, are all out today, and even their new addition, Kai Jones, who gave them 21 points on 9-10 shooting in his first game for the team, is out with a quadriceps injury.
The team’s best and most reliable player for the contest today is Klay Thompson, who has had an inconsistent year at best in his first year playing away from the Bay.
The writing is on the wall for the Suns to blow the game. It wouldn’t be an abnormality from what they’ve done all year. But with the opportunity to play a depleted roster and win the season series in a close standings race today, the intensity is likely to be heightened for the matchup in this must-win game for the team’s Play In hopes.
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