{"id":518894,"date":"2026-01-05T21:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/518894\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T21:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T21:43:14","slug":"the-suns-delivered-a-reminder-against-the-nbas-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/518894\/","title":{"rendered":"The Suns delivered a reminder against the NBA\u2019s best"},"content":{"rendered":"

Signature win? You could call it that. It was game 35 of the season, sure, and the calendar still says there is a lot of road left. We are creeping toward the halfway mark though, and the Suns are playing like a team that belongs in real conversations.<\/p>\n

Up to this point, outside of that wild comeback against Minnesota earlier in the year when they erased an 8-point deficit in the final minute, there have not been many moments the casual fan could circle and say, \u201cYeah, that is the Suns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Against the best team in the NBA, Phoenix did more than win. Devin Booker delivered a moment. The kind that lives on timelines, gets replayed on phones the next morning, and forces people to ask the right questions. \u201cPhoenix did what?\u201d \u201cBooker did what?\u201d<\/p>\n

These moments are not a requirement. Nobody hands out extra wins for style points. Yet they matter inside the larger NBA ecosystem. They shape perception. They stick. For a team plenty of people dismissed early, Phoenix keeps stacking proof.<\/p>\n

Owning the glass against Oklahoma City, winning the rebounding battle 49-29. Watching role players turn in career nights against elite competition. All of it counts. This one sits at the top of the list so far. They have beaten good teams. They have competed night after night. Taking down the defending champs carries weight, and for a group that keeps showing exactly who they are, this one felt heavier than the rest.<\/p>\n

Every win goes in the same column, sure. Some of them land differently.<\/p>\n

Bright Side Baller Season Standings<\/p>\n

Devin Booker poured in 33 points against the Sacramento Kings and walked away with the Bright Side Baller without much debate. That makes it an even 10 on the season for him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bright Side Baller Nominees<\/p>\n

Game 35 against the Thunder. Here are your nominees:<\/p>\n

Jordan Goodwin
26 points (9-of-16, 8-of-13 3PT), 4 rebounds, 0 assists, 1 turnover, +8 +\/-<\/p>\n

Devin Booker
24 points (5-of-11, 1-of-4 3PT), 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 1 turnover, +11 +\/-<\/p>\n

Dillon Brooks
22 points (8-of-17, 2-of-5 3PT), 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 turnovers, -8 +\/-<\/p>\n

Ryan Dunn
9 points (3-of-8, 3-of-7 3PT), 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 turnover, +2 +\/-<\/p>\n

Oso Ighodaro
5 points (2-of-3), 8 rebounds, 0 assists, 1 turnover, +14 +\/-<\/p>\n

Collin Gillespie
8 points (3-of-10, 1-of-7 3PT), 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 turnover, +9 +\/-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Signature win? You could call it that. It was game 35 of the season, sure, and the calendar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,62461],"class_list":{"0":"post-518894","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-bright-side-baller"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115844678258293174","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}