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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nDuane Rankin and Bob McManaman discuss the Phoenix Suns’ win over the Warriors to take the eighth playoff seed and their next opponent, the Thunder.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Phoenix Suns<\/a> guard Jordan Goodwin stole a Draymond Green pass, flew up the court and came in for a thundering dunk to put his team ahead, 107-91, with 1:44 left against the Golden State Warriors<\/a> in the NBA Play-In Tournament on Friday, April 14.<\/p>\n Then, 20 seconds later, Goodwin hit another 3-pointer \u2013 his fourth of the game \u2013 to put the Suns ahead 110-94.\u00a0<\/p>\n That 3-pointer sent any remaining Golden State fans still left in Mortgage Matchup Center heading for the exits. It was the exclamation point on an incredible evening for Goodwin, who finished with 19 points, a team-leading nine rebounds and six steals in a 111-96 win over the Warriors.<\/p>\n Goodwin shot 7-for-11 from the field, including 4-for-7 from 3-point range. Goodwin started the game off with three steals in the first four minutes, then helped end it.<\/p>\n The NBA Play-In game victory kept the Suns\u2019 season alive and sends them into the first round of the playoffs against No. 1-seed Oklahoma City starting Sunday, April 19.<\/p>\n Goodwin, who is typically reserved in front of the media, a stark contrast to his exuberant behavior with his teammates, opened up after the game.<\/p>\n \u201cTonight, I was just super locked in,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t like how that last game went, Portland, with Deni (Avdija) scoring on me on that last shot. I was kind of in a funk for the past two days, so I just wanted to stay locked in. It was a battle tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n Goodwin said he and the team felt like they \u201clet down\u201d the city of Phoenix after the loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on April 14. The Suns were trying to avoid becoming the first No. 7 seed to miss the playoffs in the play-in era.<\/p>\n There was no letdown this time around.<\/p>\n Coach Jordan Ott made sure to single out Goodwin in the post-game locker room. The fourth-year, undrafted player out of Saint Louis is making the most of his second stint in Phoenix.<\/p>\n \u201cMan. Unbelievable,\u201d guard Devin Booker said, when asked about Goodwin.<\/p>\n \u201cCoach made it a point to give him big ups after the game. You know, his career\u2019s been up and down. People have quit on him, people have given up on him. It\u2019s a true test to hard work. We\u2019ve been teammates before and the work\u2019s been consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n For a player like Goodwin, on his fourth team in five years and with no contract guaranteed beyond this season, a game like Friday night could impact his future.<\/p>\n Just how important is it?<\/p>\n \u201cReally big. Really big,\u201d Booker said. \u201cHe should make some money this summer. He\u2019s going to let all the other hoopers that don\u2019t get drafted, or are in the same situation, give them hope.\u201d<\/p>\n Goodwin originally was acquired from the Washington Wizards by Phoenix along with Bradley Beal in June 2023. He played 40 games for the Suns in the 2023-24 season before being traded to the Brooklyn Nets, where he was waived. The Memphis Grizzlies picked him up, signing him to a 10-day contract and then making him a two-way player.<\/p>\n He spent the 2024-25 season with the Los Angeles Lakers on an Exhibit-10 contract and then a two-way contract. After that season, Goodwin was placed on waivers on July 20 and claimed by the Suns on July 23.<\/p>\n Now, Goodwin is helping send the Suns to the playoffs. His defense on Warriors’ star Stephen Curry was key all evening Friday, as he hounded Curry on the perimeter. Curry finished 4-for-16 from the field, going 3-for-10 from 3-point range and scoring 17 points.<\/p>\n Ott has said repeatedly this season that Goodwin \u201cbrings the juice\u201d and that was clear Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cMassive, at both ends,\u201d Ott said. \u201cCan\u2019t overstate his shot-making. But to hold a guy like that, and then four offensive rebounds, six steals. Where he started the season to now, speaks volumes about who he is and what he\u2019s becoming as a basketball player. I\u2019m super excited and happy he\u2019s on our team.\u201d<\/p>\n Goodwin is the first Suns guard with at least six steals and four offensive rebounds in a game since Jason Kidd in 2000.<\/p>\n As Ott exited the podium following his postgame press conference Friday night, he exclaimed, \u201cGoodie!\u201d dapping up Goodwin as the two passed each other.<\/p>\n Guard Jalen Green, who popped off for the second game in a row, this time with 36 points, ended his post-game press conference praising Goodwin.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s a killer,\u201d Green said. \u201cHe\u2019s a game changer. He does a million things that every team needs. For him to be out there, guarding the best player, hitting threes, getting steals is big for us to be ourselves. Shoutout to Goods.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Republic analyzes the Suns’ play-in win, what’s next Duane Rankin and Bob McManaman discuss the Phoenix Suns’ win over the Warriors to take the eighth playoff seed and their next opponent, the Thunder. Phoenix Suns guard Jordan Goodwin stole a Draymond Green pass, flew up the court and came in for a thundering dunk … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Jordan-Goodwin-big-impact-in-Phoenix-Suns-vs-Golden-State.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27956"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27958,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27956\/revisions\/27958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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