The Suns’ season could hardly have begun in uglier fashion. Phoenix went on the road Wednesday night and got thumped by the Portland Trail Blazers, 124-83, in a opener that looked out of control from the start and ended with Kevin Ray and Rex Chapman calling it “an avalanche."
It was Phoenix’s worst season-opening loss since Earl Watson was coaching the team, and the box score offered plenty of reasons for concern. Only three Suns finished in double figures.
Miles Bridges had a rough regular-season debut in a Phoenix uniform. The team was beaten on both ends of the floor and never looked close to matching a retooled Portland group that seems set to finish ahead of the Suns in the Western Conference standings again.
The biggest problem, though, was one that can sink a team fast: rebounding.
Phoenix was hammered on the glass 56-39 overall, and the defensive rebounding gap was even uglier at 40-26. Bridges was supposed to help fill the void left by injured Mark Williams, who led the Suns in rebounds a season ago, but he came away with just four boards in 29 minutes. Two of those came in the final two minutes, after the game had already long since been decided.
That kind of effort won’t come close to replacing Williams’ eight rebounds per game from last season. And even with Williams available, the Suns ranked second-to-last in defensive rebounding a year ago, with only the Brooklyn Nets behind them. Khaman Maluach led Phoenix with six rebounds in 17 minutes, but the size disadvantage showed early and often, and the team may need to rebound by committee just to keep the damage from piling up.
There was one encouraging stretch in the frontcourt before it got worse. Oso Ighodaro came off the bench and gave Phoenix a solid spark behind surprise starter Khaman Maluach, finishing with eight points, three rebounds, three assists, and no turnovers in 15 minutes. Then came the bad news: Ighodaro was sent back to the locker room with an apparent hip injury and did not return.
That could become a major problem if the injury costs him significant time. The Suns were already short-handed in the frontcourt, which is why they made late signings of Duop Reath and Drew Timme. Depending on how serious Ighodaro’s injury is, those two may have to get up to speed quickly in Jordan Ott’s system.
Phoenix also felt the absence of its perimeter firepower. Luke Kennard did not play because of a knee injury, and the loss of Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale in the Bridges trade was obvious. The two sharpshooters took their 371 made 3-pointers from last season with them, and the Suns looked every bit the team trying to patch together its spacing on the fly.
The result was a miserable 6-of-31 night from deep. Collin Gillespie went 0-for-8.
Bridges missed all five of his attempts. Rasheer Fleming bricked all three of his late triples.
Jalen Green was the only Sun to make more than one 3-pointer, finishing 2-of-6.
Gillespie’s night was especially rough. A season after a breakout campaign, he was re-signed in free agency, but this opener went off the rails in a hurry.
He scored zero points in 21 minutes, missed his only free throw, committed four turnovers, picked up three fouls, and went 0-for-8 from beyond the arc. He did manage four steals and handed out two assists, but it was still a sharp falloff.
On the same night, former Suns guard Ty Jerome exploded for the Memphis Grizzlies with 45 points, seven rebounds, and six assists against the Utah Jazz. Gillespie’s outing was the opposite kind of performance, and if opponents start keying on him as a real scoring threat, Phoenix’s offense could have another problem to solve.
In Other News...
Bookers Rough Suns Opener Already Has Fans Fired Up
The Suns did not get the kind of opening night they wanted, with Portland jumping out to a big lead after the first quarter and the early tone of the game turning chippy fast. Devin Booker was right in the middle of it, and so was Ja Morant, whose first game with the Trail Blazers after the trade from Memphis brought plenty of extra attention to a matchup that already had a lot riding on it for Phoenix.
What followed was less about rhythm and more about edge, with multiple on-court confrontations between Booker and Morant that included a physical brush and verbal back-and-forths. The situation escalated enough to bring double technical fouls, and for Suns fans trying to size up what this team looks like in a new season, the night already carried the kind of tension that can linger long after the final buzzer. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Fans Already Have A Brutal New Reason To Hate This Trade
The first night of the season did not give Suns fans much reason for optimism, and Miles Bridges only added to the unease. Acquired in a trade that cost Phoenix an unprotected first-round pick, he managed just eight points on rough shooting in the opening loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, a debut that landed far short of what the team needed from him right away.
For a franchise already under pressure to prove its roster can hold together, the problem is bigger than one bad box score. The deal not only put more attention on how the Suns are building around the current core, it also tied a valuable future draft asset to a performance that left plenty of questions hanging early. [Read more 🡒]
Suns May Be Better But The West Just Got Tougher
The Suns head into the new season with a familiar core and a few additions that should help on both ends of the floor, which gives them a reasonable case for being better than they were a year ago. Continuity matters in the NBA, especially for a team trying to stack wins in a conference where every edge can matter, and Phoenix is banking on its returning pieces settling in quickly.
The problem is the rest of the West did not sit still. Several rivals made major moves, and others are getting key players back from injury, which means the path for Phoenix could be steeper even if the roster itself is improved. For a team with bigger ambitions, the question is not only whether the Suns got better, but whether that will be enough in a conference that suddenly feels even more crowded. [Read more 🡒]