PHOENIX — When Marcin Gortat was summoned into the office on the Friday before the start of the regular season, he knew why. “The first question when I walked into the room, I started smiling and laughing. I’m like, ‘OK, where am I going,'” he said looking back on the day he was traded, Oct. […]
Like all teams, the Phoenix Suns had goals coming into the 2013-14 season. By most accounts, they’ve already reached or surpassed even the most modest of hopes, winning 24 of their first 41 games and nearly equaling the win total the team had all of last season. But while the wins are nice, head coach […]
The biggest surprise and one of the best stories of the 2013-14 NBA season has been the unexpected resurgence of the Phoenix Suns. Led by first-year head coach Jeff Hornacek, the Suns put a big cherry on the delicious sundae that was the season’s first half by routing the league’s best team, the Indiana Pacers, […]
PHOENIX — Throw together a new general manager, a new head coach and 10 new faces and what do you get? You get an NBA team that is one of the bigger surprises of 2013-14. That team, the Phoenix Suns, has hit the midway point of its season with 24 wins, a total many predicted […]
It’s safe to say the Phoenix Suns came to play Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers. Indiana came into the game with the league’s best record and the game was being aired on ESPN, so the stage was bright. The Suns stepped up with a dominant 124-100 victory. Phoenix shot 54.2 percent from the field […]
The 41st game of the Phoenix Suns’ 2012-13 season was a 98-94 loss that, in part, led to the team’s decision to fire head coach Alvin Gentry. At the time, the Suns were a dismal 13-28 and heading nowhere. It was a bad time for the organization, and it was only going to get worse. […]
Since being selected with the 13th pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, Markieff Morris has slowly, steadily improved as a pro. Primarily coming off the bench for the Phoenix Suns, Morris has played well enough to earn regular minutes, but has not been good enough to be thought of as someone who could be a […]
To the victor goes the spoils, and the more the Phoenix Suns win, the more likely they are to be recognized for their efforts. As the 2013-14 season reaches its midway point, many publications are handing out their “midseason awards,” and SI.com is no different. Their list, released Thursday, has a few of Suns on […]
PHOENIX — Six Phoenix Suns’ rotation players, including three-fifths of the starting lineup, have NBA Development League experience. It’s part of the road they traveled to get to where they are today, integral pieces in one of the bigger surprise stories through the first half of the season. Now it’s a road Archie Goodwin will […]
What just happened? How did it happen? The Phoenix Suns are the best team in the NBA! OK, that might not be the correct answer, but something special just happened. We’re all smart enough to know the Suns are not 24 points better than the Indiana Pacers. Even the most delusional Suns fan is not […]
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns put an exclamation mark on the first half of the season with a decisive victory over the NBA’s top team, beating the Indiana Pacers, 124-100 before a crowd of 16,465 at US Airways Center Wednesday. Ex-Pacer Gerald Green scored 18 of his team-high 23 points in the first half when […]
If the Phoenix Suns were looking at Wednesday’s matchup with the league-leading Indiana Pacers as some sort of midterm, consider the test passed with flying colors. The Suns blew past the Pacers en route to a 124-100 blowout win Wednesday at U.S. Airways Center, a game in which the outcome was never really in doubt. […]
When Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee were traded to the Phoenix Suns last offseason, they seemed like throw-ins to help offset the Indiana Pacers’ acquisition of Luis Scola from the Suns for a first-round pick. But that certainly didn’t appear to be the case Wednesday, as Phoenix routed Indiana 124-100 at U.S. Airways Center behind […]
Alex Len has appeared in just 12 games for the Phoenix Suns and played a total of 83 minutes, so it’s fair to say no one has had a real good look at the number five pick out of Maryland. Sidelined the entire offseason and then for the majority of his rookie season thus far […]
PHOENIX — Luis Scola was willing to stick around and help try to make things better, just as he tried to do each and every day of his one-year tenure with the Phoenix Suns. “I was trying. I was trying to make it work. I was really trying to make it work,” he said. “I […]
PHOENIX – Their former employer has won five in a row — the longest current winning streak in the NBA — and owns the best record in the league. Still, Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee refuse look back and think, “what if?” What if they hadn’t been traded by the Indiana Pacers, a team that […]
PHOENIX — Consistent with how the team has approached the subject, Eric Bledsoe offered up very few details about his recent right knee surgery and subsequent rehab. He was even more vague about a comeback this season. “If it’s possible,” he said in his first comments since the surgery was performed eleven days ago. “I’m […]
The Phoenix Suns recently returned home from a tough Eastern road trip that featured travel delays, five games in seven nights and four losses by a combined 14 points. Another common theme of the trip was the struggle of third-year power forward Markieff Morris, who shot just 29 percent from the floor and averaged 6.6 […]
PHOENIX — Most NBA teams, at least the good ones, do not have to rely on strong bench play to be successful. It’s not needed. The combined talent among the starters is more than enough to make up for a lack of production by the reserves. The Suns are not one of those teams. To […]
It took a second 10-day contract and a few extra days on the sideline recovering from a right shoulder injury, but Leandro Barbosa finally made his long-awaited homecoming at US Airways Center Sunday night. Barbosa, who was a fan favorite during his first stint with Phoenix from 2003-10, didn’t disappoint either. In the Suns’ 117-103 […]
Exactly one year ago, the Phoenix Suns named player development coordinator Lindsey Hunter as the team’s interim head coach, electing to pass over veteran assistants Dan Majerle and Elston Turner in the process. The move came just 48 hours after the organization parted ways with Alvin Gentry, who served as the Suns’ coach for four-plus […]
One game after not having had a lead against Dallas, the Suns never lost the lead against Denver, going wire-to-wire (for the second time this season) in a 117-103 victory in front of 16,211 at US Airways Center Sunday. Channing Frye scored 18 first-half points on his way to a 30-point night, the seventh of […]
It’s no secret that the Phoenix Suns have struggled in the absence of injured guard Eric Bledsoe. Loser of six of its last nine entering Sunday’s game against the Denver Nuggets, Phoenix found itself in its worst rut of the season. And with Bledsoe’s loss combined with a shoulder injury that kept Leandro Barbosa out […]
PHOENIX — Despite spending the last four days of his 10-day contract nursing a sprained right shoulder, missing two games in the process, Leandro Barbosa was re-signed to a second 10-day contract by the Suns Saturday. “It was a pretty easy decision,” GM Ryan McDonough said. “We’ll give him another 10 days, and the plan […]
The Phoenix Suns announced Saturday morning have signed Leandro Barbosa to a second 10-day contract. Barbosa was signed Jan. 8 before the Suns took on the Minnesota Timberwolves. The 31-year-old guard played in four contests of a five-game road trip, averaging 9.3 points and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 37.8 percent from the floor. […]
The rule of thumb this season has been: As the Morris brothers excel, so do the Phoenix Suns. Friday’s loss at home to the Dallas Mavericks was a rare exception. Markieff Morris put up 23 points and his brother, Marcus, finished with 13, but a missed P.J. Tucker 3-pointer with six seconds to go left […]
PHOENIX — Blame it on the sleeves, if you must; the orange-sleeved jerseys that made their season debut. The Suns won’t. They blamed themselves. “I felt we got three-happy,” head coach Jeff Hornacek said. “We settled too much for threes,” Goran Dragic added. The Suns missed 15 of 22 three-point attempts, including 10 misses in […]
PHOENIX — It would be easy to look at the Phoenix Suns’ recent struggles and attribute them to being without guard Eric Bledsoe. After all, they are 3-6 since he was hurt in a win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 30. However, that would be a little unfair to a group that has […]
Two days removed from an impressive 121-114 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, the Phoenix Suns reverted back to their recent ways — ones that led to a 1-4 road trip — in a 110-107 loss to the Dallas Mavericks Friday night. With the three-point loss, Phoenix dropped to a game behind Dallas in the […]
PHOENIX — True to his word, Gerald Green will provide some financial assistance to his teammate who was fined by the NBA for their role in the dustup with the Lakers earlier in the week. The teammate, however, isn’t Alex Len. “He said (he would) before he knew how much the fine was,” Len joked. […]
