I don’t know how many times I’ve gone back and rewatched that Jalen Green shot, but against Orlando, it was magic. It sits right near the top of the season’s highlight reel, not only because of the difficulty and the moment, but because of everything it took for the Suns to even be in that position. That game was ugly. Borderline exhausting. It was the kind of night where offense feels like wading through wet cement and every possession takes effort to even generate a look.
Phoenix looked cooked offensively for long stretches, but Orlando looked the same, which makes sense when you remember who these teams are. They are defensive-minded, physical, stubborn, and committed to taking away your comfort. Neither side was interested in letting the other breathe. That is what makes that shot linger. It came out of chaos, out of a game that never flowed, out of a night where points were at a premium, and every basket felt like it had to be wrestled from the floor. How often do you see a double overtime game when the winning team has 113 points?
In a game that was more survival than beauty, Jalen Green found a moment of pure audacity, and sometimes that is all it takes to flip torture into memory.
The Suns allowed a 16-5 run and watched Orlando drag the game into overtime. They shot 29% from three on 55 attempts. They made 40 field goals on 117 shots. Only 20 assists all night. The box score is brutal.
Dillon Brooks leaves the game. Jordan Goodwin leaves the game. Bodies dropping, rotation shrinking, legs getting heavy. First night of a back-to-back, double overtime, wounded and worn down, everything was stacking against them in real time. At that point, style points are irrelevant. Efficiency does not matter. The only thing that mattered was whether they walked out of the building with a win.
They did. In dramatic fashion. And sometimes that is enough. Not because it was pretty or clean or sustainable, but because it kept the floor from caving in emotionally. In a game that tried to break them about five different ways, they survived.
Thankfully, the Suns pulled out that win. Because if they hadn’t, it would have landed heavier than a single loss ever should this early after the All-Star break. We are only two games back into this stretch, and you can already feel a bit of deflation creeping in. Not because the effort is gone, but because the injuries are piling up in a way that feels almost abstract.
That is the part that makes it so frustrating. Neither the Devin Booker hip strain nor the Dillon Brooks broken hand came with a clean moment you can circle and say, there it is, that is when it happened. These feel like shadow injuries, the kind that sneak up on you after weeks of accumulated contact and wear, leaving everyone asking the same questions. What actually happened, when did it start, and now the only question that really matters, when does it end?
In the meantime, the responsibility shifts, and it shifts hard. The Suns are going to lean on Jalen Green, whether that was the original plan or not. We wanted to see what he looked like as a number two this season, to evaluate how he fit, how he scaled, how his game translated alongside better talent. Instead, he is being handed the keys as a number one again, something we already watched unfold in Houston last year, with all the highs, all the inefficiency, and all the volatility that comes with it.
Now the question is not whether he can do it. Because we know he can shoulder volume and create moments, but how many of those moments can this team squeeze out while they wait to get whole again? How many nights can they survive on grit, timing, and a little bit of magic before the roster finally stops betraying them? Because right now, they are hanging on, and the margin is thin.
Bright Side Baller Season Standings
Green returned against the Spurs, and with Devin Booker departing early, earned his second Bright Side Baller of the season. He has the chance towin a few more of these…
Bright Side Baller Nominees
Game 57 against the Magic. Here are your nominees:
Grayson Allen
27 points (8-of-22, 4-of-14 3PT), 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, 0 +/−
Collin Gillespie
19 points (6-of-17, 3-of-10 3PT), 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, +8 +/−
Jordan Goodwin
17 points (6-of-10, 3-of-4 3PT), 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 0 turnovers, +6 +/−
Jalen Green
16 points (6-of-26, 2-of-11 3PT), 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 turnover, 0 +/−
Oso Ighodaro
11 points (5-of-7), 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 turnovers, +11 +/−
Mark Williams
9 points (4-of-10), 9 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 turnover, −8 +/−
Cast away.