{"id":530532,"date":"2026-01-12T00:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T00:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/530532\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T00:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T00:12:19","slug":"game-preview-suns-aim-to-keep-momentum-rolling-against-washington-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/530532\/","title":{"rendered":"Game Preview: Suns aim to keep momentum rolling against Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who: Phoenix Suns (23\u201315) vs. Washington Wizards (10\u201327)
When: 6:00pm Arizona Time
Where: Mortgage Matchup Center \u2014 Phoenix, Arizona
Watch: Arizona\u2019s Family 3TV, Arizona\u2019s Family Sports, NBATV
Listen: KMVP 98.7<\/p>\n

Last night at home before packing the bags. One final breath in the desert before two weeks of wear and tear, cold arenas, and hostile crowds on the East Coast. And for now, everything feels right: the Suns enter this matchup with the quiet confidence of a team that has found its rhythm. Eight wins in their last ten games, a defense smothering everything in its path, an offense climbing into the league\u2019s top tier. Phoenix is playing clean, Phoenix is playing strong.<\/p>\n

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This momentum didn\u2019t appear out of nowhere. The Suns have already shown they can go toe\u2011to\u2011toe with the league\u2019s best: a controlled battle against the Knicks, a collective statement versus OKC, and even in the recent loss to the Rockets, the impression of a team that knows exactly where it\u2019s headed.<\/p>\n

So naturally, the hope is to close out this strong week the same way it began. With focus, intensity, and a win to seal the deal before hitting the road. One last home game, one last chance to refill the confidence tank\u2026before a road trip that will say a lot about the Suns\u2019 ambitions for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

Be wary of the trap game. The Wizards, a team the Suns beat 115-101 in Washington<\/a> on December 29. Sure, they\u2019ve lost their last 2, but they are fiesty. And with a road trip ahead, the Suns need to focus on the task at hand.<\/p>\n

Probable Starters\"\"Injury ReportSuns<\/p>\n

Jalen Green \u2014 OUT (Right Hamstring Strain)<\/p>\n

Jamaree Bouyea \u2014 OUT (Concussion Protocol)<\/p>\n

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Wizards<\/p>\n

Cam Whitmore \u2014 OUT (Right Shoulder Thrombosis)<\/p>\n

Trae Young \u2014 OUT (Right Knee Sprain)<\/p>\n

What to Watch For\"\"<\/p>\n

The Wizards might have one of the highest collective ceilings in the league. Their youth is an asset, and the roster is loaded with talent. The profiles are varied, complementary, and genuinely fascinating to break down. Defensively, they can be a real headache: with endless wingspans like Alex Sarr and Bilal Coulibaly, the two French prospects already look like the foundation of a fortress in the making.<\/p>\n

Offensively, it\u2019s mostly the lack of shared experience that shows \u2014 because the talent is absolutely there. Kyshawn George brings structure, Middleton steadies the ship, Sarr and Tre Johnson can score on all three levels, and Bub Carrington injects real energy off the bench.<\/p>\n

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Against a team like Washington, the Suns will face a legitimate test. The Wizards can surprise you if they find their spots and rhythm early. From three, they sit right at league average, with a clear preference for 45\u2011degree and corner looks. From mid\u2011range, they can be sneaky (47% beyond 14 feet). Inside the paint, though, it\u2019s a weakness: 21st in frequency, 20th in efficiency.<\/p>\n

This is exactly the kind of team that can make your life complicated if you start the game too passively. A win here could bring Phoenix closer to the top six. The stakes are real.<\/p>\n

Key to a Suns Win\"\"<\/p>\n

No need to reinvent anything: Phoenix is the better team, and they need to impose their style, both in the halfcourt and in transition. The Suns must dictate the pace from the opening tip, avoid sluggish starts, and settle into their halfcourt identity. That begins with winning the rebounding battle against a team sitting right next to them statistically: 42.8 vs. 43 boards per game.<\/p>\n

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Then comes attacking the paint, testing Sarr\u2019s discipline, and forcing rotations. Booker and Gillespie need to draw doubles, open passing lanes for Brooks, O\u2019Neale, or Williams, and establish the kind of halfcourt pressure that overwhelms young teams still learning to execute.<\/p>\n

And above all: shut down the 45s \u2014 the zones Washington loves for their three\u2011point attempts. The Wizards thrive on runs, on sequences where everything snowballs. Cutting off their oxygen from deep is cutting off their momentum.<\/p>\n

Prediction<\/p>\n

I expect Phoenix to take care of business without much drama in a controlled game from start to finish, enough to manage rotations and keep the starters under 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

Suns 121, Wizards 103<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who: Phoenix Suns (23\u201315) vs. Washington Wizards (10\u201327)When: 6:00pm Arizona TimeWhere: Mortgage Matchup Center \u2014 Phoenix, ArizonaWatch: Arizona\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[979,7,1257,2644,4836,861,26456,304,6333,6,2065,472,211,6445,494,952,468],"class_list":{"0":"post-530532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-alex-sarr","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-bilal-coulibaly","11":"tag-bub-carrington","12":"tag-cam-whitmore","13":"tag-jalen-green","14":"tag-jamaree-bouyea","15":"tag-knicks","16":"tag-kyshawn-george","17":"tag-nba","18":"tag-phoenix","19":"tag-phoenix-suns","20":"tag-rockets","21":"tag-the-suns","22":"tag-trae-young","23":"tag-tre-johnson","24":"tag-washington-wizards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115879238067266455","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530532","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=530532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}