Preview: It's Now-or-Never Week for Suns

It truly is now or never for the Suns moving into this week.

Feb 8, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns center Bol Bol (11) shoots against the Denver Nuggets during the second half at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- The 2024-25 Phoenix Suns season officially looks lost after the team backed up an awesome first half showing against the Minnesota Timberwolves with an equally abysmal performance in the second half of the contest.

The Suns now sit at 28-33 - which will necessitate a 21-0 finish to the season to match last season's 49-win output.

That seems especially unlikely - as the Suns face an absolute gauntlet in the final stretch of the year.

That stretch begins this week - here is a brief preview of the days ahead.

Tuesday: Los Angeles Clippers

The Clippers are one of the few teams that Phoenix has fared well against this season.

The Suns will look to complete the season sweep tomorrow night - although Kawhi Leonard will now be in the fold.

L.A. has struggled mightily lately despite boasting Leonard, James Harden, Norman Powell, and more - they are 1-4 in their last five games.

Something has to give here - a pair of underachieving squads with an abundance of high-end talent that have their backs against the wall should make for a hotly contested battle.

Friday: @ Denver Nuggets

The Suns and Nuggets wrap up their season series on Friday night as well.

Denver secured two convincing wins over Phoenix, including the most recent one on February 8 - the Suns earned a convincing victory on Christmas Day.

The Suns will be tested by Denver's balanced offense - including Nikola Jokic - as Phoenix finished February dead last in defensive rating.

This is as close to a must-win game as possible.

Sunday: @ Dallas Mavericks

Phoenix and Dallas are set to face-off on a Sunday afternoon primetime contest - although this isn't the Mavericks squad that was expected to be in place at this point.

Dallas famously shipped Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers last month - Anthony Davis suffered an injury in his debut for the franchise.

The Davis injury has just been one of many for the Mavericks in recent weeks - the Suns should be able to hold the upper hand going into this matchup, although Kyrie Irving has played high-level basketball over the recent stretch of action.

One thing is for sure - the Suns have to go 3-0 this week to have any hope to climb back into play-in position.