{"id":621817,"date":"2026-02-24T12:15:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/621817\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T12:15:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T12:15:25","slug":"bright-side-wonders-week-18-navigating-the-injury-bug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/621817\/","title":{"rendered":"Bright Side Wonders, Week 18: Navigating the injury bug"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Coming out of the All-Star break, the Phoenix Suns had three games in four nights, going 1-2 with a dramatic win over the Orlando Magic and tough losses where the offense struggled against the San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trailblazers. While it was a short week, the team lost multiple key players due to injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Here are the main questions for Week 18 that we want your thoughts on:<\/p>\n<p>Getting Through the Injury Bug\/Jalen Green\u2019s big shot<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Two questions in one block here. In the Suns\u2019 three games this week, Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks and Jordan Goodwin all went down with injuries and missed the next game. Booker will be re-evaluated later this week, Brooks broke his hand and is out without a timeline, and Goodwin strained his calf and is also without a timeline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Phoenix has now played 14 games this year without Booker and are en route to play at least two more. On a side note, if Booker misses four more games, he\u2019ll be ineligible for All-NBA awards this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">With the Suns\u2019 top scorers likely out for an extended period, look for Jalen Green to get more into a rhythm with his new teammates. He played 30 minutes for the first time as a Sun on Saturday in the team\u2019s double-overtime win that ended with him hitting a buzzer-beating three, green has been inefficient so far in his first ten games as a Sun, shooting 38% from the field and 31% from three. His shooting splits are the lowest of any season of his career. Averaging over 20 points per game in his previous three seasons combined, he has the potential to lead the team in scoring amid the injuries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Is the answer to the Suns\u2019 injury issues getting Jalen Green more acclimated into the offense? Who else needs to step up for the time being?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Suns didn\u2019t shoot over 40% from the field once this week. Their win against Orlando was the first time since 2023 a team won while shooting under 35% from the field, and their 77 points against Portland was the least points they\u2019ve scored in a game all year, and is tied for the second-least points a team has scored in a game this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">To win games, independent of whose in the lineup, the Suns need to hit more shots. While Grayson Allen missed Sunday\u2019s contest due to injury management, he should be back in the lineup Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">What is wrong with the Phoenix offense? How can it improve?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">For more questions on the Suns follow @HoldenSherman1 on X for content after every game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coming out of the All-Star break, the Phoenix Suns had three games in four nights, going 1-2 with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,6,2065,472,4045,604,57677],"class_list":{"0":"post-621817","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-phoenix","11":"tag-phoenix-suns","12":"tag-phoenixsuns","13":"tag-suns","14":"tag-suns-weekly"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116125560352123347","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621817","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=621817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}