There’s nothing I enjoy watching more in sports than when a shooter gets on a heater in basketball.
On Monday night, Grayson Allen of the Suns provided all the heat anyone would need on a balmy November night in downtown Phoenix. Allen became the first player ever in Suns history to hit 10 three-pointers in a single game, leading his team to a 121-98 romp over the shorthanded New Orleans Pelicans.
Allen hit one from deep in the first quarter, three more in the second, all five of his attempts in the third and the record-breaker about a minute into the fourth. The sellout crowd of 17,071 chanted his name in the moments between achieving his statistical feat and leaving the game for good with 8:40 to go.
Allen’s hot streak was another reminder of how much the NBA has evolved since the three-point shot was controversially introduced to the NBA in 1979. That season, Don Buse of the Suns hit a three-pointer in a road loss to the San Diego Clippers. That was the Suns’ 10th three-point make all season — and it came in the 20th game of the year and broke a 12-game streak where no Phoenix player hit from long range.
But enough history. Let’s move into the now. The Suns’ Monday win lifted them over .500 on the season at 6-5. They’ve won 5 of their first six home games, matching a franchise record in that category.
And let’s just call it like it is: this team is a lot of fun to watch.
They’ve got a top-tier scorer in Devin Booker, two of the most prolific three-point shooters in the game right now in Allen and Royce O’Neale, an agitator in Dillon Brooks, a reserve guard who makes everyone better in Collin Gillespie and a difference-making center in the paint in Mark Williams. They’ve subscribed to the much talked-about ideal identity put forth by the higher-ups during a franchise-altering offseason.
I don’t know how this season will end, and right now I don’t really care, because I’m having a lot of fun just watching this team play basketball on a game-to-game basis and that represents real progress.