No amount of three-point shooting is going to help.
Stop the bleeding. For the love of basketball, grab some gauze, put pressure on the wound, and stop the damn bleeding! The Phoenix Suns are spiraling, and they can’t seem to get out of their own way. Week 10 of the NBA season was yet another grim chapter in the saga of the 2024-25 Suns, a team whose book title should now read: They Just Can’t Play a Complete Game. The subheading? Well, that’s practically writing itself: A Slow Fade Into Mediocrity.
The Suns are playing like an aging legend well past their prime. Flashes of brilliance here and there, but mostly a reminder of what used to be. Fitting, really, considering they boast the oldest roster in the league. Sure, there’s wisdom and experience, but what good is it if it can’t carry you past teams you’re supposed to beat?
Christmas Day gave us a rare gift: a win. It was the Suns’ first Christmas victory since the Nash Era, a glimmer of hope in a season increasingly devoid of it. It felt like unwrapping a present you didn’t think you’d get. A momentary joy that masked the harsh reality around it. Because that win was sandwiched between three losses. Three soul-crushing, momentum-killing losses to Western Conference opponents, all of whom were beatable.
The losses are stacking up like a Jenga tower ready to topple. A team that started the season 8-1 now sits at 15-16, their record crumbling faster than the illusions of a championship parade. They were once perched comfortably in the West’s second seed, a team with swagger and purpose. Now? They’ve fallen to 11th, looking up at a mountain they once thought they’d conquered.
What’s worse is the pattern. They’re not just losing; they’re finding inventive, maddening ways to shoot themselves in the foot. Turnovers. Defensive lapses. A complete inability to string together four solid quarters of basketball. And every time they try to regain their footing, they’re sucker-punched back into the reality of their inconsistencies.
This isn’t just a skid; it’s a free fall. And if the Suns don’t find a way to halt their descent, the bleeding will turn into a full-blown hemorrhage.
Week 10 Record: 1-3
Denver Nuggets, L, 117-90
- Suns 3PAr: 39.8%
- Suns 3PT%: 39.4%
It was a competitive game in Denver. Well, for a half. Then the third quarter happened, and the Suns collapsed, allowing the Nuggets to hang 45 points on them. Credit where it’s due: Denver was scorching, shooting 69.2% from the field and a sizzling 63.6% from deep (7-of-11). But let’s not let the Suns off the hook. They did little to slow the onslaught.
It marked the fourth time this season, and the second time in a week, that Phoenix surrendered 40+ points in a single quarter.
Sure, the Suns tightened the screws in the fourth, holding Denver to just 17 points. But what good is defense when your offense puts up a paltry 11?
Denver Nuggets, W, 133-125
- Suns 3PAr: 40.9%
- Suns 3PT%: 30.6%
Oooo. A win! I forgot what those felt like! Probably because the Suns have done it only three times in the past three weeks.
It was a solid outing for the Suns, and in a week without Devin Booker, Bradley Beal stepped up in a big way. Beal dropped 27 points on an efficient 11-of-21 shooting. Fun fact: since joining Phoenix, Beal has scored 27 or more just 10 times in 74 games. 13.5% of the time. Granted, that’s not his primary role with this team, but seeing him shift into attack mode, especially with Booker sidelined, is a rare treat we’d love to see more often.
So, why did Phoenix come out on top in this one? Defense. They carried over the intensity from the fourth quarter of their previous battle with Denver and made it their mission for the entire game.
Dallas Mavericks, L, 98-89
- Suns 3PAr: 42.2%
- Suns 3PT%: 37.1%
Oh, so you thought Monday was the rock bottom for the Suns’ offense? Cute. Friday rolled up like a smug showman, wagging its finger and saying, “Hold my beer.”
89. 14 points in the second quarter.
Yes, credit where it’s due. The defense showed up, laced up its work boots, and clocked in on time. But what’s the point of showing up to save the day if the other side of the ball is actively setting the house on fire? Offensively, Phoenix was a wasteland. A Sahara of shot-making. A barren expanse where hope goes to wither and die.
Except for Kevin Durant.
Kevin Durant: 11-of-19 (57.9%), 35 points
The Rest of the Suns: 21-of-64 (32.8%), 54 points— John Voita (@DarthVoita) December 28, 2024
Nurkic got tossed from this one for fighting and will miss the next three games as a result. Looks like anti-Nurk people will get their wish of seeing a Suns team without him.
Golden State Warriors, L, 109-105
- Suns 3PAr: 38.0%
- Suns 3PT%: 25.7%
Phoenix managed to blend two classic recipes for disaster: turning the ball over and shooting bricks from beyond the arc. Not exactly a winning formula. Shooting 25.7% from deep? That’s not going to cut it.
On the defensive end, the Suns stayed focused and scrappy, keeping themselves in the game. Still, defensive effort can only carry you so far when the offense keeps shooting itself in the foot. Time and again in the second half, Phoenix fumbled away opportunities, handing the Warriors a win instead of forcing them to earn it.
Sometimes, you don’t lose a game. You give it away. This was one of those nights.
Week 10: 40.2% 3PAr, 34.8 3PT%
First, the weekly graph, which matters less and less to me as the season progresses…
Why doesn’t it matter? Because what we’re learning is that three-point attempt rate isn’t the end-all, be-all. Coming into the season, I believed that increasing their three-point rate — especially for a team with solid shooters — would naturally lead to more wins. But here we are, and that theory hasn’t held up.
The Suns are 5th in three-point percentage this year, just as they were last season. A year ago, they ranked 21st in three-point rate; now, they’re 7th. Yet through 31 games, the team sits at 15-16, a game worst than a season ago.
Three-point shooting isn’t the magic solution for this team. The real issue runs deeper. When the defense shows up, they can’t shoot or hold onto the ball. When the shots are falling, the defense goes missing. It’s a maddening cycle. The truth is, this roster isn’t working. No amount of three-point attempts is going to paper over the cracks in the foundation.
Next week we turn the calendar year over. It was a promising start to 2024. The Suns, from January 1 to the end of the 2023-24 season, were 32-18. They showcased the ability to turn it around, although the 0-4 skid in the playoffs abruptly ended their season.
As they close out 2024, they’ll do so at home against the Grizzlies, and then they begin their New Year on Saturday against the Philadelphia 76ers. So two games in Week 11. Will we be over .500? Or sink lower into the abyss?