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Suns seek 12th straight win, visit Trae Young’s Hawks

Phoenix will march into Atlanta looking to keep the winning streak alive



The Phoenix Suns are on an 11-game win streak. They are 14-1 in the year 2022. They hold the best road record in the NBA at 19-4, and of course, lead the NBA at 41-9

What stands in their way of securing their 12th straight victory? His name is Trae Young and he’s been an offensive juggernaut this season, averaging 27.7 PPG (5th in NBA) to go with 9.3 APG (3rd in NBA) on 45% shooting from the field.

The first time these two squads met back in early November, the Suns pulled off a massive comeback victory by the count of 121-to-117. They outscored the Hawks 35-to-19 in the 4th quarter led by 38 points from star guard Devin Booker.

What to Watch

1. First Quarter Booker

Devin Booker leads all NBA players in 1st quarter points this season, with 383 total. The next closest to him is Karl Anthony-Towns at 339. At this point, everyone knows Devin Booker loves the first quarter. He’s been the best in the association at getting off to a hot start this season, so now the question for Atlanta will be... who’s going to stop him?

2. Closeout hard on the shooters

It’s no secret that defending the three-point line against Atlanta is important. Trae Young’s gravity is where that all starts, but it spreads throughout with a combination of excellent spot-up shooters and streaky shooters as well.

Atlanta is third in the league in three-point percent at 37.7% as a team, which is quite remarkable. Phoenix is right there with them at 36.6% sitting in 5th place in the NBA, so I guess you could say the same for Atlanta. Whichever team defends the three better will likely come out on top, plain and simple.

3. The Twins’ Aggression

Mikal Bridges has had back-to-back 25+ point outings and Cam Johnson is playing the best basketball of his young career. The aggressive nature of these two on the offensive end has been thrilling.

Cam Johnson is shooting 43.3% from three on nearly 6 attempts per game. He needs to be in the NBA 3 Point Contest along with Devin Booker, no excuses. Since both Payne and Shamet are out and there will be a ton of Elfrid Payton, Phoenix will need these two to pick up the lack of scoring off the bench and provide buckets off their own creation.

Ghost of Kleine wrote:Just stopped by to say congratulations on a great victory! You guys really played amazing. You have a young juggernaut of a team when fully healthy. Very fun to watch you guys play so well. Anyways congrats guys!

D21 wrote:Great game! fun to watch, each team responding to each other after one increased a lead,...
A bit stressful at the end after John got injured and PHX full court pression, but they didn't enter panic mode.
And once again like in the last 10 games or so, they were good will the bench guys. Should keep the rotations like that

Ghost of Kleine wrote:Just stopped by to say congratulations on a great victory! You guys really played amazing. You have a young juggernaut of a team when fully healthy. Very fun to watch you guys play so well. Anyways congrats guys!

Thanks!
We were not so far from having Suns-Hawks Finals last season, maybe it will come one day