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<\/p>\nPHOENIX \u2014 With the regular season entering its final stretch, the Phoenix Suns find themselves in a familiar place: in the thick of the NBA playoff race with little margin for error.<\/p>\n
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Dec 27, 2025; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) dribbles against New Orleans Pelicans guard\/forward Micah Peavy (14) during the second half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
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The Suns sit seventh in the Western Conference, a position that would place them in the NBA\u2019s play-in tournament if the season were to end today \u2014 but the standings are tightly packed. The gap between the middle seeds is only a few games, leaving Phoenix within striking distance of a guaranteed playoff spot but also vulnerable to slipping further down.<\/p>\n
With 18 games remaining, plus a grueling six-game road trip, the Suns now must decide whether to let the games flow and come to them or play with more urgency \u2014 which star Devin Booker says is the latter.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, there\u2019s definitely a sense of urgency,\u201d Booker said on Sunday, after the team\u2019s win over the Charlotte Hornets. \u201cI mean, if you ask anybody, you know, from three to seven, they\u2019ll say the same thing. So we\u2019re buttoned up, we\u2019re ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Western Conference race has been one of the NBA\u2019s most prominent storylines this season, particularly among the lower seeds, which have been occupied by different teams at various points throughout the year. The Suns are among the teams in that crowded tier of the standings, where even short losing streaks can cause significant movement.<\/p>\n
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Phoenix\u2019s latest homestand ended with a 2-1 record \u2014 though the loss came to the Chicago Bulls stunningly after Chicago played without many of its star players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, we\u2019ve moved on, but, you know, that Chicago loss hurt us,\u201d said Booker. \u201cAnd, you know, I\u2019m proud of the response that we\u2019ve done these past two games.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Mar 6, 2026; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns bench player applaud during the second half of the game against the New Orleans Pelicans at Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Those last two games against the New Orleans Pelicans and Hornets served as a reminder that the team converts frustration into momentum rather than letting it spiral. Urgency and execution are now more important than ever, with a swing of two or three games potentially determining whether Phoenix secures a top-six seed.<\/p>\n
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Booker\u2019s comments indicate that the Suns aren\u2019t waiting for the season to unfold, but rather approaching every game from here on out as a must-win.<\/p>\n
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Mar 3, 2026; Sacramento, California, USA; Phoenix Suns forward Oso Ighodaro (11) and Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) high five during the second quarter against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Justine Willard-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Booker and the Suns start their roadtrip against the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, March 10, at 5 p.m.<\/p>\n
*Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, and exclusive content. SIGN UP HERE to unlock our premium content!*Wendy Lopez is a reporter for Burn City Sports. You can follow her on her X account, @wlopezde<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 With the regular season entering its final stretch, the Phoenix Suns find themselves in a familiar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,160,473,329,2292,84148,4164,3539,121,6,478,470,11328,2065,472,4045,986,477,604,6445,3209],"class_list":["post-650536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix-suns","tag-basketball","tag-california","tag-charlotte-hornets","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-devin-booker","tag-justine-willard-imagn","tag-mandatory-credit","tag-micah-peavy","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-nba","tag-new-orleans","tag-new-orleans-pelicans","tag-oso-ighodaro","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-suns","tag-phoenixsuns","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-kings","tag-suns","tag-the-suns","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116204063269454930","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650536","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=650536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}