Suns playing for now, Jazz for the future in Saturday meeting
The short-handed Phoenix Suns continue to hold out hope for a top-six finish in the Western Conference as they host the Utah Jazz -- a team that wins for losing -- on Saturday.
The Suns (40-33) have lost six of seven while playing without injured key contributors Dillon Brooks (hand) and Mark Williams (foot), and they are four games behind the Houston Rockets with nine to play in the race to stay out of the play-in round.
"We're just trying to get over the hump," said Suns guard Devin Booker, whose team has lost three its past four games by margins of games by one, three and two points
The Suns fell to the Denver Nuggets 125-123 their last time out on Tuesday, when Nikola Jokic hit a short jumper with 11.5 seconds left and Booker's long three bounced off the rim in the closing seconds.
"The majority of our losses in this stretch have been like that," Booker said. "Close game in the fourth quarter. We just have to keep growing, keep building. I think we're competing hard. We just haven't gotten over that hump."
The Jazz (21-53) are on a longer skid, having lost 16 of 19 after giving up the final six points in a 135-129 defeat at Denver on Friday despite 34 assists, 10 steals and 84 points in the paint. That's the highest total for points in the paint for the franchise in the play-by-play era (which began in 1996-97), according to NBA.com.
"I'm so proud of this group," Utah coach Will Hardy said. "The way they compete and stay together and show a ton of resilience, toughness. Fight every single night, no matter what the lineups are. We have a real team in our locker room."
The Jazz cannot lose fast enough. Their 2026 first-round draft pick is top-eight protected with the Oklahoma City Thunder, meaning they lose it if they fall to ninth in the standings. They have the fifth-worst record in the league, and the current odds of losing the pick are 0.6%, according to Tankathon.
On Friday, the Jazz led the Nuggets 120-107 on a three-point play from Elijah Harkless with 6:49 remaining. Denver went on a 22-6 run to take a 129-126 lead, but Utah tied it at 129 on a Harkless 3-pointer with 1:07 left before Cam Johnson and Jamal Murray made 3-pointers to send the Jazz to their fourth straight loss.
Kyle Filipowski returned to the lineup after sitting out a loss to the Washington Wizards on Wednesday due to illness and led the Jazz with 25 points and added eight rebounds and five assists against the Nuggets.
He and Brice Sensabaugh (13 points, six assists) each played 25 minutes.
Ace Bailey, the fifth player taken in the 2025 draft, had 15 points and seven rebounds Friday. He has picked up steam in March, averaging 20.2 points per game. His average on the season is 13.5.
The Jazz certainly have young players to build around. Filipowski and Sensabaugh are 22, and Bailey is only 19.
As for the Suns, Booker (25.5 points per game) and Jalen Green have carried much of the scoring load without Brooks, who is averaging 20.9. Green is averaging 22.2 points in 13 games in March, besting his season average of 17.7.
The Suns have been out-rebounded in five of the last seven games without the solidifying paint presence of Williams, who was averaging 11.6 points and 8.1 rebounds before the injury.
"It would be nice to be healthy," Green said, "but as soon as that ball gets tossed in the air we aren't thinking about it. Roll the ball out, whoever's in the rotation, whoever's out there, let's get it."
The Suns begin a four-game, seven-day trip in Memphis on Monday that includes stops in Orlando and Charlotte and will go a long way in determining their postseason seed.