Despite being the NBA’s top seed and winning a league-leading 64 games, the Phoenix Suns looked less like themselves during their first-round playoff matchup. Devin Booker’s absence for three games had a lot to do with it, but the New Orleans Pelicans tested them in that six-game series. Heading into the Western Conference semifinals, the Dallas Mavericks may be a...

NEW ORLEANS — It was far more competitive than anyone expected, but the top-seeded Phoenix Suns closed out the New Orleans Pelicans with a 115-109 win in Game 6 on Thursday. Despite trailing by 10 points at halftime and playing in front of another roaring crowd at the Smoothie King Center, the reigning Western Conference finalists put away a scrappy...

First things first: The Phoenix Suns aren’t winning a championship this year without a healthy Devin Booker. That much has become clear during their hard-fought first-round playoff series with the New Orleans Pelicans, which isn’t over yet by any means. But as the clock wound down in Game 5, with back-to-back dunks sending the Footprint Center into a frenzy, Mikal Bridges provided a nice reminder of this team’s championship ceiling when he plays like that. https://twitter.com/akaSD/status/1519192558261260288?s=20&t=ub0tQNzPvQ4OVCDOzd97Fg To be clear, no one is expecting the type of historically dominant two-way performance Bridges submitted Tuesday on a nightly basis. Still, finishing with a game- and playoff career-high 31 points, the Defensive Player of the Year runner-up showed yet again why he’s far…

The Phoenix Suns are in a dogfight now, and as impossible as it seemed a week ago, their title aspirations are in serious jeopardy of being dashed in the first round. With Devin Booker sidelined by a hamstring injury since the third quarter of Game 2, the NBA’s top seed is quickly running short on viable options. They’ve lost two...

NEW ORLEANS — It wasn’t as convincing as the fan base probably hoped to see from the NBA’s No. 1 seed, but the Phoenix Suns took back control of their first-round playoff series Friday night. With a 114-111 road win over the New Orleans Pelicans, the Suns regrouped from their disappointing Game 2 loss that saw Devin Booker leave with...

NEW ORLEANS — The Phoenix Suns have dealt with injuries to key players all season long, but that didn’t stop them from winning a league-best 64 games. Without a concrete timetable for Devin Booker’s return from a Grade 1 right hamstring strain, they’ll be relying on what they learned during that time to get them through the first round of...

Tuesday night was a reminder of how fast a playoff series can change. Game 2 of their first-round series put the Phoenix Suns through the whole gamut of emotions. There was ecstasy, as Devin Booker singlehandedly carried the Suns with a masterful first-half performance. His 31 points on 12-of-18 shooting, including 7-of-10 from 3-point range, turned an 8-point deficit into a 5-point lead at the break. Throw in the baby dap, and even as the Pelicans made a third-quarter charge, there was reason to believe Booker would not let Phoenix lose that game. As has been the case so many times this season, it felt inevitable that it would ultimately be the Suns’ night. But then came the agony, when…

As you may have heard, the Phoenix Suns struggled with keeping the New Orleans Pelicans off the offensive glass in Game 1 of their first-round series. This is not a new area of concern for the Suns, being that it’s one of their few Achilles heels. This isn’t a new issue in this particular matchup either; as we covered in...

It’s one down, 15 to go for the Phoenix Suns. Phoenix took care of business in Game 1 of their first-round series against the 8-seeded New Orleans Pelicans, dismantling their opponent 110-99 at home. In a game where the Suns never trailed and led by as many as 23 points, they looked every bit the part of a title contender....