The Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA) is full of exceptional talent this season, with 11 teams holding records at or above .500. One of those teams, often overlooked, is turning out to be the league’s biggest surprise of the year—the young squad of the Phoenix Suns. This franchise, which only won 25 games throughout last season, has boasted a 28-18 record and are currently ranked sixth in the West. Jeff Hornacek, the Phoenix head coach, has done an outstanding job with turning this team around.
Throughout this 2013-14 season, the Phoenix Suns have strived to prove who they are, and what they are capable of. They took a large step towards that on January 22, 2014, as the Indiana Pacers came to town. To everyone’s surprise, the Suns destroyed the Pacers 124-100. With the best record in the league at the time, Indiana dropped to 33-8 as they were stunned by the fast-break, explosive play by Phoenix.
On January 30, 2014, Hornacek’s squad did it again—this time, on the road. Indiana holds the best home court record in the NBA at 21-1. However, after the Suns paid their visit to Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, the Pacers fell to 21-2 at home, and 35-10 overall as they couldn’t take the lead all night. The Suns shone the whole time and took the game 102-94.
While this team includes a lot of talent, the duo of Goran Dragic and Gerald Green run most of the show. Dragic leads the team with 19.7 Points Per Game (PPG) and 6.1 Assists Per Game (APG), while Green puts up 14.1 PPG and 1.6 APG. These two have helped Phoenix make its big statement by sweeping their regular-season series with Indiana, thus proving the Suns will be a legitimate playoff contender in the Western Conference.