Suns keep rising, maybe now you’ll notice

So, you look up one day, and the Phoenix Suns have won 16 straight games.

They’re only the defending Western Conference champions, having been 51-21 last season, and have phenomenal young talent in Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges, and Deandre Ayton, around the future Hall of Famer Chris Paul.

On Saturday night, Booker scored 30 points and Paul had 22 in Brooklyn as the Suns never trailed in a 113-107 win over the Nets that was not at all as close as that sounds.

The Suns have been overshadowed by the antics of their racist owner and the dominance of Steph Curry, whose Golden State team still is atop the West at 17-2, half a game ahead of 17-3 Phoenix.

But, like, Saturday night was one month from the Suns’ last loss, and the end of a four-game road trip before their homecoming on Tuesday night against Golden State.

The Suns are about to get a bit more attention, then.

Artemi Panarin got a $5,000 fine for throwing a glove at Brad Marchand, which as the NHL always points out in the releases about $5,000 fines, is the maximum amount allowed for a fine under the CBA.

Usually, it’s laughable because the actions leading to a $5,000 fine are egregious and $5,000 chump change to the offending player. For example, Tom Wilson doing Tom Wilson bullshit gets a $5,000 fine. And now so does Panarin for throwing a glove.

Former Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky raises a good point: since there’s a cap on the fine, but a long way between throwing a glove and something that would warrant more than a fine… you’ve gotta do more to get your money’s worth.

Really, if it only costs $5,000 to throw stuff at Marchand, the NHL might have a real fundraising opportunity here.