NBA 2020-2021 season: A deep dive into the ascension of the Phoenix Suns

Chris Paul, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns dominate the NBA 2020-2021 season

Phoenix Suns centre court
Phoenix Suns cheerleaders on NBA centre court. Credit: Dr.coop (Flickr.com)

The Phoenix Suns have been an impressive team to watch throughout the entirety of the 2020-2021 NBA season, and their run throughout the playoffs.

Fans of the basketball team knew that something was brewing in Arizona after being just short of contention in last year’s NBA playoffs in the Orlando bubble, losing their spot to the Memphis Grizzlies. It’s clear that their off season signing of the 16-year veteran Chris Paul has been the difference maker.

This year, the Chris Paul-led Phoenix Suns, beside Devin Booker and the rest of the supporting cast, shocked the entire league after securing the second seed in the western conference standings.

Their run became even more impressive after defeating the defending champions Los Angeles Lakers in six games.

It could be argued that their success against them was large in part due to the injury of their power forward Anthony Davis, who injured his groin in game four.

But Suns fans would argue that the shoulder injury to their point guard Chris Paul who went down in the second quarter of game one, made this a fair contest.

Chris Paul continued to play the rest of the series, but more for moral support after averaging a measly 9.2 points per game after reaggravating the injury in game five.

The point guard seemed to be completely healthy when facing off against this year’s MVP Nikola Jokić and the Denver Nuggets, averaging his regular numbers of 19.8 points per game.

This series included some of Chris Paul’s most impressive performances, including a 17-point game with 15 assists and zero turnovers and a 37-point explosion to knock their opponents out of the second round.

Other stars have taken the challenge and have been putting up stellar numbers.

One of those people being Deandre Ayton, who is currently averaging 15.2 points per game with an efficient field goal percentage of 71.6%.

Other unexpected contributors include Jae Crowder, who is averaging 11.7 points per game and Cameron Payne, averaging 10.2 points per game.

Who could forget about Devin Booker?

The All-Star guard is wreaking havoc on the court with averages of 27.9 points per game, on 48.7% shooting from the field, and 37.7% from three.

Unfortunately for Phoenix Suns, Chris Paul has entered the NBA’s Health and Safety Protocol and is out indefinitely.

This news could be detrimental to the Phoenix Suns and their hopes of reaching the NBA finals.

Since beating the Denver Nuggets, they have an extended break over their opponents – Los Angeles Clippers – as they were able to defeat the Nuggets in just four games.

The western conference is known to be the considerably better and more competitive conference, so this matchup against the Clippers becomes a difficult one when looking at the fact that this team have never reached the playoffs since the Steve Nash led 2010 team, let alone the conference finals.

It’s unclear how Devin Booker when the lights shine the brightest, but it seems like he has put the team on his back to deliver a tremendous 40-point triple-double against Paul George and the Clippers in a game one win.

The Suns took a commanding 2-0 lead against their opponents last night after defeating the Clippers by just one point.

However, this is the first playoff appearance in 11 years so only time will tell how this team handles the pressure.

It seems like this team has all the confidence in the world in themselves, and they should.

This franchise and their fans should be extremely proud of the historic run they are going on, from the outstanding role players, to the excellent coaching from Monty Williams.

Whatever the result, this team has proven that they are here to stay.