Effort is the secret to the Suns’ recent success

Wrote about the hottest team in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns. An excerpt:

Less than a week into the season, it looked like things were already beyond repair. It’s one thing for a team to get blown out, but it’s another for them to look as listless and uninterested as the Suns did during their first few games of the year. As individuals and as a group, it simply looked like they didn’t want to be on the floor. And while zeroing in on effort as the reason for a team’s struggles is something that happens far too often, with the Suns it was accurate.

Something’s changed since Triano took over. The Suns were already playing at a breakneck pace under Watson, but there’s considerably more zip to every offensive action over the last week-plus than there was early on, and the change in give-a-[expletive] on defense is night and day. More than anything else, it’s that which both Triano and Suns players say is what’s led to this recent streak of four wins in five games, including victories over playoff contenders like the Jazz and Wizards.

“Nothing’s changed system-wise,” rookie forward Josh Jackson told The Step Back after a recent win in Brooklyn. “We’re just focused more and trying harder. It was just — really — effort. Our first few games, I don’t think we really gave too much effort.”

Read the full story at The Step Back.