With the final regular-season games coming to an end this weekend, it’s time to take a look back at one of the major surprises of the NBA Bubble: The Phoenix Suns. The Suns came into the bubble as the 13th seed in the Western Conference, posting a 26-39 record. Inside the bubble they went a perfect 8-0 en route to finishing tied for 9th place in the conference, narrowly missing out on playoffs due to a tiebreaker with the Memphis Grizzlies. As Head Coach Monty Williams said after the game, “This is special. Don’t let anybody take this away from you. You gained the respect of the league.”
That respect made the two favorites for the No. 8 seed, Memphis and the Portland Trail Blazers, sweat to the very end.
When the plans for a restart came to fruition in early June, many experts and analysts were curious as to why teams like the Suns would be asked to join the rest of the playoff-eligible teams in Orlando. Many power rankings pre-bubble had the Suns listed as the second-worst team, only behind the Washington Wizards of the Eastern Conference.
Phoenix was led by their young superstar Devin Booker, who is the preemptive favorite for Bubble MVP alongside the likes of Damian Lillard and T.J. Warren. Booker finished averaging over 30 points per game and over six assists during this eight-game stretch. His best performance came against the Clippers where he scored 35 points including a game-winning shot as time expired over Paul George for a 117-115 win.
