SUNS’ 8-0 FINISH OR CARDINALS’ 5-2 START?
Larry Fitzgerald was hoping the Arizona Cardinals could continue the momentum the Phoenix Suns built in their unbeaten bubble run.
“Not the outcome our city was hoping for tonight, but it’s been truly special watching this Suns team go to work over these last eight games,” Fitzgerald tweeted back in August after Phoenix came up short of the play-in tournament for the final playoff spot.
“Something special brewing here in the Valley. Hopefully we can bring some of that same magic to the gridiron.”
The Cardinals are having a magical start to their 2020 season.
Winners of its last three games, Arizona enters the bye week 5-2 after rallying to beat Seattle 37-34 in overtime Sunday night at State Farm Stadium.
The Suns’ finish under first-year coach Monty Williams was impressive as they posted their longest win streak since winning 10 in a row since the 2009-10 season when Phoenix last made the playoffs.
The Cardinals have already matched their win total from a season ago under second-year coach Kliff Kingsbury as they’re having their best start since 2015 when they opened 5-2 en route to having a 13-3 season.
Both are impressive, but which one is more impressive?
Here’s a case for both teams.
Unbeaten Bubble Boyz
Historic finish: 8-0.
Biggest wins: 117-115 vs. Dallas, 117-115 vs. Los Angeles Clippers, 119-112 vs. Miami.
Easiest win: 125-112 vs. Washington. Losses: None.
Argument for the Suns: Wins over Mavericks and Clippers came down to the final play as Devin Booker hit a gamewinner over Paul George, and Kawhi Leonard at the buzzer to beat Los Angeles.
The Heat were without Jimmy Butler, but wound up reaching the NBA Finals before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Suns had to win every “seeding” game to stay in contention for the play-in tournament and did so without Kelly
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Oubre Jr. (knee) and Aron Baynes (knee).
Phoenix also played in a bubble environment that wasn’t ideal, but still won.
Argument against the Suns: The Wizards had the worst record of 22 teams in bubble and played without injured Bradley Beal, the league’s second-leading scorer.
Oklahoma City and Philadelphia rested several key players in their losses to the Suns, too. Then Dallas rested Luka Doncic in the second half of their rematch, which Phoenix won to close out
the 8-0 run.
Cardinals making early NFL statement
Fast start: 5-2.
Biggest wins: 24-20 at San Francisco, 38-10 at Dallas, 37-34 (OT) vs. Seattle. Easiest win: 30-10 at New York Jets. Losses: 26-23 vs. Detroit, 31-21 at Carolina.
Argument for the Cardinals: Beating Seattle after trailing all game until tying the game with two seconds left to force overtime. Kyler Murray outplayed Russell Wilson as the Cardinals intercepted the leading MVP candidate three times and sacked him twice.
Being able to win three in a row after an embarrassing loss to the Panthers in a game in which they showed no energy is impressive. They’ve also won their last two without All-Pro linebacker Chandler Jones, who had a season-ending biceps injury Oct. 11 against the Jets.
DeAndre Hopkins has lived up to the hype as he leads the NFL in receiving yards (704) and receptions (57), while Budda Baker is looking like an All-Pro safety.
Beyond that, Kingsbury is looking more and more like he can coach and win in the NFL.
Argument against the Cardinals: Seattle and San Francisco are the only teams with winning records that Arizona has beaten.
The Jets are the NFL’s only winless team at 0-7 while Washington and Dallas are each 2-5. Four of Arizona’s first seven games have been on the road, but having either none or limited fans due to COVID-19 takes away the homefield advantage.
Final verdict
While their start has been impressive to put themselves in a good position, the Cardinals have yet to play games with playoff implications.
That’s going to start up next week against Miami.
The Suns came back from having not played in months and won 10 of the 11 games they played in the bubble counting the exhibition games. Washington was the only team out of that group of 10 that didn’t make the playoffs as Phoenix faced Dallas twice.
They were without Ricky Rubio and Baynes early as both tested positive for COVID-19, but managed to come together and play their best basketball in years.
The Cardinals are playing their best football in recent years, too, but have played some really bad teams that don’t stand a chance in hell of making the playoffs.
Edge: Suns.
They didn’t lose. The Cardinals have twice.