Phoenix Suns off to best start since 2004

The Phoenix Suns (4-2) have outscored their six opponents by 55 points this season, or 9.2 per game. Even more impressive to some, the Suns have led by double digits almost 30% of the time.

The 2019 start

The Suns second largest scoring margin (9.2 per game) after six games in the entire NBA. They have comfortably beaten three bad teams, including building the second-largest lead on the road after the first quarter (43-14) since the shot clock was introduced, while going toe-to-toe against three of the West’s best.

Forgive Phoenix Suns fans if they don’t know what to do with themselves these days.

The last time a Suns team blew through their first six opponents in such fashion was all the way back in 2004. Yes, that 2004. When point guard Steve Nash stepped in to run and gun with the pups that had lost 53 games the year before without such point guardy help.

That 2004 Suns team — also 4-2 after six games — outscored their first six opponents by 75 points that year, putting the rest of the NBA on notice that a new dynasty was forming. That team went on to win 62 of 82 games and appeared in the Conference Finals in three of six seasons from 2005-2010 before the wheels came off.

That 2004 start

That point guard won consecutive Most Valuable Player awards and three teammates became staples at the All-Star game and on All-NBA teams for those magical Seven Seconds or Less years.

Of course, this current Suns team is NOT a budding dynasty.

And don’t mistake my hyperbolic opening to infer that I suggest as such.

What’s entirely mind-bottling though is that none of the rest of those SSOL teams started the season anywhere close to the +55 that this 2019-20 team has begun.

Not the 54-win team in 2005-06.

Not the 61-win team that got jobbed by Tim Donaghy and his band of merry men in 2006-07.

Not the 2009-10 team that got their surprising hopes dashed by the ghost of Ron Artest.

Not the 2013-14 team that jumped out of the gate on their way to a completely unexpected 48-win season that fell just short of the playoff, leaving the Suns as one of only two franchises in NBA history with 48+ wins without a playoff berth.

None of those teams boasted a +55 after six games since the 2004 team that blew the doors off the NBA.

Savor this moment, Suns fans.

I implore you not to look into the future if you can help it. Just enjoy today. Enjoy this moment. Enjoy this feeling of a potentially playoff-caliber Suns team for the first time in half a decade.

Because tomorrow could devastate your fandom all over again. Remember how excited you were for the future in 2014? Or how excited Kings fans were, just two weeks ago?

Enjoy it. Enjoy these moments, right here right now.

Watch some Devin Booker...

Or some Kelly Oubre Jr.

Or, check out a video made by our latest contributor Sam Cooper in honor of Aron Baynes, our bruising center having the greatest start to his career.

Next Up

The Suns start a six-game homestand on Monday against the Philadelphia 76ers at 7:00PM Phoenix time.

Get your tickets!