Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton (22) dunks against Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. (3) during the third quarter of an NBA basketball game in Houston, Monday, April 5, 2021. (Troy Taormina / Pool photo via AP)
After Monday’s 133-130 win for the Phoenix Suns over the Houston Rockets, they have a back-to-back against the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers, two of the best teams in the Western Conference.
That’s a good thing for the Suns for several reasons, including their insistence on locking up bad teams lately before things get unnecessarily chaotic in crunch time.
Despite the Rockets losing 26 of their last 28 games starting on Monday and without some key players such as John Wall and Eric Gordon, they were 15 points behind in the third quarter to a three point lead by 7:22. to go.
From then on, Devin Booker went 10-0 on his own in 71 seconds and was instrumental in the elimination of the match.
But after it was 117-109 Suns with 4:20 to go, it was run 5-0 by Houston to get possession of the ball. And even after a quick 8-0 sprint from Phoenix to reply, finally to be nine with 1:04 going, the Rockets cut the lead back to three 21 seconds later on a turn-over in Jae Crowder’s backcourt.
The Suns made enough free throws to make sure they didn’t really risk losing the game, but Sheesh. It’s like there is a hex hanging over these games and it keeps triggering. Regardless, that’s now six wins in a row and a record of 35-14.
Booker finished with 36 points, six rebounds, and six assists. That fourth-quarter outburst of Booker that he turned into a signature at the bubble was fun to watch after his recent last-frame struggles.
Deandre Ayton had one of his best matches of the year. He finished on 27 points and 11 rebounds on 10-of-14 shots.
Mikal Bridges added 20 points and it was a ho-hum 19 points, five rebounds, 11 assists and four steals from Chris Paul in just nine shot attempts.
Enjoy this delicious fake pass / yo-yo dribbling out of Paul to set up Booker at an important point in the game so we don’t get off him too quickly and immerse yourself in that greatness of Point God for a moment.
The Rockets played great on the night, especially considering the names they were looking for. Christian Wood (23 points), Kelly Olynyk (21), Kevin Porter Jr. (20), Jae’Sean Tate (18), Sterling Brown (16), Kevin Martin Jr. (13) and DJ Augustin (11) were the seven rockets in double digits. The team as a whole shot 17 of 33 (51.5%) from three-point range.
Houston is a team that shifts a lot defensively, so when the Suns did that themselves, it played in what the Rockets do well. That’s fine because Phoenix has to work on it and the way Houston made basic ball spins to exploit it showed the growth the suns still need in that area.
That put the Rockets evenly in play until the middle of the second quarter, where the Suns clearly increased the intensity of the defense.
On the other hand, when Ayton returned in the second quarter, the Suns ran their attack around the third-year center, which head coach Monty Williams described as “intentional.”
Some fans have been clamoring for this since the big guy arrived in the Valley, and it’s understandable given the decent percentage of teams in the league that don’t have a big one to match Ayton. But his inconsistencies with an aggressive mindset, not just in the post with the ball, but also in determining their position for it, have failed to allow the Suns to take full advantage of the advantage.
Specifically this year, entries for Ayton have become more challenging than before due to defenders’ ability to get a hand on the ball and hit it away. And with the lack of consistency, this led to a lack of chemistry built up with Ayton and the players who gave him passes.
All this to emphasize what it can look like when everything clicks together, because that was Monday.
“I thought his balance was at a high level when he hit the post,” said Williams.
Ayton with a listed 250 pounds weighs over 30 pounds heavier than Houston’s starting 5 Wood (listed at 214 pounds), so there’s a definite size mismatch. Ayton behaved like that and forced Wood to make a mistake in the hit on the block and Ayton was assertive in Wood’s scoring.
“If teams try to keep him a bit smaller, more of a pick and pop man like Wood, then we have to exploit that mismatch,” Booker said. “We played through him and he did not shy away from contact. He went right through it to the brim. “
Wouldn’t you know that led to forays into the free throw line. Ayton equaled his season high with eight tries there and came to seven.
When Ayton confidently plays that offensive, it is like getting a cold glass of water in your face. It’s a different player than we’ve seen most of the season, one that has found a groove and is in full rhythm.
Ayton liked to go to Wood he knew Wood couldn’t stop him. Check out Wood’s body language below when this recording arrives in the late third quarter.
That imposes your will on the opposition. As Booker himself stated, it came during a match in which Ayton missed two rabbits early, but Ayton did not let him down for the rest of the night.
“He’s just a force down when he wants to be and I think he feeds the confidence we give him,” Williams said.
Ayton had all 27 points in the first three quarters, 15 of them only in the third and another 10 in the second. The Suns didn’t get the ball to him in fourth or run a lot in front of him, a testament to both things they need to get better at and have also rightly seldom felt the need to do most of the season.
Williams echoed much of what we’ve heard on Ayton since his rookie year.
“It has been a trial with him. I don’t think he understands how big and strong he is and how much he can use it to his advantage, ”said Williams. “I think it can build confidence for him by putting him in those situations and having success, but I don’t think he really knows how dominant he can be in the paint.”