This summer, the Phoenix Suns ended a 10-year playoff drought, made the Finals, revitalized Phoenix as a basketball town, helped Chris Paul make his first Finals, and saw Devin Booker finally silence his critics. The run included countless iconic moments — “Suns in 4,” the “Valley-Oop,” beating the Lakers — and while it didn’t end in a championship, everyone is loving the Suns.
- Gerald Bourguet
Lead Suns Writer for PHNX Sports
What we’ll remember about this fandom a decade from now
For a fanbase that hadn't seen its team reach the playoffs in 11 years, the Suns' Finals run was downright magical. Injuries helped the stars align, but none shone brighter than the Suns. From Devin Booker closing out the defending champion Lakers with 47 points and a career-high eight 3s, to Jae Crowder salsa dancing in LA, to Chris Paul securing his first Finals appearance with a masterful 41-point performance, to Deandre Ayton's “Valley-Oop,“ to the look on Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon's faces when it happened, that 2021 playoffs run was chock-full of iconic moments for a tortured fanbase. It brought a basketball town like Phoenix to life again, endearing the Valley Boyz to a new generation of fans and making the Suns cool again for the first time since the days of Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire.
What was the icon or totem for this fandom this year?
Love him or hate him, it's “Suns in 4“ guy. While we'd never condone fighting over a basketball game, the guy did get beer poured on him first, and there's something to be said for defending yourself...especially when it's in such iconic fashion, in enemy territory, and perfectly representative of the whupping his team was giving the Denver Nuggets in that second-round sweep. The fact that it happened in Game 3 — and that the Suns closed it out in Game 4 — makes those four fingers an image perfectly preserved in time. Phoenix's season ended with “Bucks in 6,“ but no one will ever forget “Suns in 4”