Good morning. Let’s basketball.

Chris Paul has now officially played in less than half of the Phoenix Suns’ 21 games. Opening day starter Cam Johnson played in even fewer before suffering a fairly serious injury. Jae Crowder, who demanded a trade in training camp, has been absent completely.

And yet, the Phoenix Suns are 15-6, No. 1 in the West; holders of a league-best 6-game winning streak; holders of the No. 2 offense, No. 6 defense and No. 2 net rating in the league; statisically every bit as good as they were last year, when they won 64 games, eight more than any other NBA team.

No one will ever forget the Game 7 beatdown they took at the hands of Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks. I feel certain that those Suns involved will remember it better than any of us. But it strikes me that presentation of that performance — the Suns’ collapse in that series after a rather shaky first round against the Pelicans — as the true incarnation of this Phoenix core and everything else as an illusion might simply be the inverse of the truth.

What if everything else — the 64 wins last season, the Finals run the season prior, the excellence at the quarter-mark of this campaign — is the real Suns and the Mavericks series broadly and Game 7 specifically were the illusion?

Isn’t that a more reasonable, rational read of the circumstances here? That the large pile of evidence that the Suns are awesome is more salient than the small pile of evidence that the Suns are fake good?

Sports have never been reasonable or rational, often for the better. It’s entertainment; we should feel free to get a little irresponsible in our opinions here. But no one wants to look like a fool, and continuing to doubt the Suns’ true excellence and thus ability to win a championship with this core has real potential to look foolish in the end.

If you attributed the Suns’ regular season success to Chris Paul running a tight on-court system drained of glee and filled with proper, joyless execution, how do you explain how well the team is performing under the leadership of point guard Cam Payne, who once upon a time nearly dapped himself out of the NBA?

If you argue that Devin Booker’s rise in reputation is due to the Suns’ success rubbing off on him — that he’s not truly one of the best players in the NBA — and not that the Suns’ success is largely due to Devin Booker’s excellence, how do you square your theory with the lived reality of right now?

How do you square your theory with the 51 points he dropped on the Chicago Bulls in three quarters on Wednesday night?

That’s Devin Booker putting Alex Caruso in the torture rack. That’s Devin Booker confounding long, quick Patrick Williams. That’s Devin Booker lighting trap attempts from Nikola Vucevic on fire. That’s Devin Booker in the post taking Derrick Jones Jr. to church. Booker gave the business to Ayo Dosunmu, he gave it to Zach LaVine, he gave it to Coby White. He basically gave it to everyone Billy Donovan put on the court with the exception of DeMar DeRozan; DeMar DeRozan knows better.

Booker was a god, and the second best player on the court was Deandre Ayton — sorry, Reigning Western Conference Player of the Week Deandre Ayton — who put up 30-14 on a former All-Star center opponent.

Booker isn’t riding on Chris Paul’s mystical coattails. He’s really, really good. Ayton is really good, too. Mikal Bridges is really good. Monty Williams is a great coach. This is all too real. That doesn’t mean they aren’t susceptible to certain types of opponents, that doesn’t mean they are infallible. But there’s shrinkingly little evidence that this is a paper tiger, and increasing evidence that this is legitimately one of the best teams in the NBA and a legitimate title contender.

Doubt if you want; it’s just entertainment, there are no stakes in being wrong unless you make the stakes yourself. But the off vibes from the preseason have been solved by success, Booker, Bridges and Ayton are hitting new levels of excellence, and we’re seeing what life after CP3 could look like. The Suns are here and it looks like they will be here. Believe in them or not, but you should definitely get used to at the top of the standings. This isn’t going away.

Scores

Sixers 85, Cavaliers 113

Hawks 125, Magic 108

Heat 121, Celtics 134 — We might be watching a Jayson Tatum MVP season unfold here. And we might be watching a 65-win season for the Celtics, too. (They are on pace for 67 wins.) For Tatum against the familiar Heat, who are still missing Jimmy Butler: 49 points on 81% True Shooting.

In other news, Prince William and Princess Kate are in New England (lovely time to visit) and sat courtside for the game. I’m a little worried that Prince William is coming for my content corner, to be honest.

Will Manso @WillManso

Prince William after another Jayson Tatum 3. “He’s very good.” 😂😂

2:36 AM ∙ Dec 1, 2022

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I tend to roll my eyes at the professional coach trope that all but ignores knowledge of anything other than [insert sport here] and the Bible, but the circumstances of the “anything other than [insert sport here]” in this case — some posh British cosplayers using their made-up names — make me appreciate this purposely oblivious quote from C’s coach Joe Mazzulla all the more.

Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA

Joe Mazzulla asked if he got to meet with the royal family: "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph? I’m only familiar with one royal family. I don’t know too much about them. But hopefully, they’re Celtics fans."

3:03 AM ∙ Dec 1, 2022

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DAMN. I think Prince Harry has a new favorite basketball team. I wonder of Will and Kate got to meet Batman while they were in town?

Wizards 107, Nets 113 — Big day for outrageous shooting displays. Kevin Durant with 39 points on 79% True Shooting. Brooklyn needed just about all of it, but now they sit a game above .500.

Bucks 109, Knicks 103 — Tight game and good effort from New York: neither team led by more than seven points. A big 37-13-7 performance for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Grizzlies 101, Timberwolves 109 — Karl-Anthony Towns will miss 4-6 weeks with a calf strain, so Minnesota needs to manufacture as many wins as possible during that span. Of course, unless the Anthony Edwards-D’Angelo Russell-Rudy Gobert core simply makes more sense without KAT right now.

Raptors 108, Pelicans 126 — We found a player type that the Raptors do not have an answer for. The player type is a ZION.

buckets @buckets

this picture of the raptors attempting to guard zion is INSANE 😭

1:38 AM ∙ Dec 1, 2022

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33-10-5 for Zion Williamson with C.J. McCollum and Brandon Ingram both out.

Spurs 111, Thunder 119 — No Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in this one, yet the Spurs still lost. That’s nine straight. Legitimately the worst team in the league, even though the Pistons and Rockets are below them in the standings still. We’re all on Poeltl Watch.

Rockets 100, Nuggets 120 — Denver has won 10 of its last 14 and sits No. 2 in the West. But its defense is still down in the bottom third (No. 24) and that’s the limiting factor in the team’s championship potential. The Nuggets need to hold better teams than the Rockets to bad offensive nights.

Anyway, do you dare tell me that wizards aren’t real?

Katy Winge @katywinge

YOU’RE KIDDING ME WITH THIS NIKOLA JOKIĆ

3:06 AM ∙ Dec 1, 2022

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Bulls 113, Suns 132

Clippers 112, Jazz 125

Pacers 114, Kings 137 — Sacramento wins the Haliburton Bowl in blowout fashion by pouring on the offense. Tyrese Haliburton finally committed a couple turnovers but had 10 assists, so for his last four games he’s at 50 assists and two turnovers. Unreal. Also, I know the Kings won, but heavens does Bennedict Mathurin look really, really good. And fun. I like Indiana’s young core.

Blazers 109, Lakers 128 — Things are starting to look up for the 13th place Lakers with LeBron back, Anthony Davis playing well and Russell Westbrook finding comfort in his role. (He hit two end-of-quarter buzzer beaters, including one from halfcourt. Always take the shot!) But we’re here for the Shaedon Sharpe dunk. Let’s see it.

Portland Trail Blazers @trailblazers

SHOWTIME SHAE ‼️ #RipCity | @ShaedonSharpe

4:41 AM ∙ Dec 1, 2022

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Dunk of the Year candidate, no question. The ball bounces like 12 feet high after the spike dunk! The bench reaction is priceless.

Orlando Sanchez @orlandokgw

Check the bench reaction after that Shaedon Sharpe dunk 😳 #RipCity

5:15 AM ∙ Dec 1, 2022

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Schedule

Just one game.

Mavericks at Pistons, 7 PM ET, NBA TV

Links

Big ol’ wonderful Marc Spears profile on Herb Jones.

Jones spent most of the offseason after his rookie campaign in New Orleans working out in the Pelicans practice facility. The slender 6-foot-8 forward, who will earn $1.7 million this season, did not want to pay for a vacation. Pelicans center Larry Nance Jr. offered to pay for Jones to go on vacation. Jones declined.

Jones’ father did recommend that his son take two days off. So, Jones got into his Charger and drove for four hours to his small hometown of Greensboro, Alabama, for his short vacation. No money of any note was spent as he slept one day and went fishing the next. Afterward, Jones drove back to New Orleans, returned to the Pelicans practice facility and got back to work.

Despite what my posting schedule over the past, uh, 15 years might indicate, I support vacations. But there is something beautiful about a vacation that consists of one day of sleep and one day of fishing. Normalize low-key vacations!

A timely Devin Booker piece from the great Sam Amick at The Athletic. ($)

It’s cool to see what programs and organizations the NBA Foundation, created in 2020 to boost economic power in Black communities, is supporting.

Rohan Nadkarni on Bam Adebayo’s steady season.

Chris Mannix on both teams winning the Haliburton-Domantas Sabonis trade. I continue to hold that trades aren’t competitions; as opposed to games, where all teams have the same goal (win), in the trade market teams have different objectives.

Brian Windhorst on the Clippers’ inescapable commitment to Kawhi Leonard.

Be excellent to each other.