Can the Suns’ ‘Big 3’ round into shape for the postseason?

PHOENIX — On the morning of the much-needed Suns-Rockets reunion in the desert, the scene at Verizon 5G Performance Center largely mirrored the current state of affairs. Jalen Green was stationed at the far east corner of the gym, working on live reads with the help of a teammate and assistant. Superstar guard Devin Booker could be seen at the opposite end of the floor, operating out of the mid-post with another assistant. Dillon Brooks, who recently returned from a broken left hand, had already left for the day.

It was a brief but adequate depiction of the Suns’ stop-start season, an injury-riddled campaign that has limited Phoenix’s three best players to just 102 minutes together heading into Tuesday night. With just three games remaining in the regular season, the lack of continuity hasn’t exactly been a deterrent — Suns head coach Jordan Ott has done a quality job making lemonade out of an assortment of lemons — but there are still wrinkles to iron out ahead of the postseason.

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“Game reps are obviously the most important piece to it all,” Ott said following Phoenix’s 119-105 loss to Houston on Tuesday night. “Thankfully Dillon and Jalen have played together, and at times, two of the three have played together. I think that’s the unique challenge, all three of them out there at the same time. But we’ve talked about it, we’ve practiced as much as we can practice. We always try to keep those guys [together] just to get the extra reps together. Continue to look at it and we gotta speed it up.”

(Tuesday night was basketball’s version of Inglourious Basterds, equal parts aggression and comedy. It’s clear that there’s no love lost between the two franchises, but between Green’s and Amen Thompson’s brotherly tension, Brooks’ and Kevin Durant’s enjoyable back-and-forth, and the sheer physicality from both sides, it was a necessary game. The Rockets needed a reminder of the brand of ball they used to brandish, and the Suns needed a wake-up call as to what’s in store. Houston had 24 offensive rebounds for goodness sake, scoring 37 points off said second-chance…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/can-the-suns-big-3-round-into-shape-for-the-postseason-082240078.html

Author : Kelly Iko

Publish date : 2026-04-08 08:22:00

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