Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, center, drives as Washington Wizards forward Deni Avdija (9) and guard Russell Westbrook (4) defend the first half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday April 10, 2021, in Phoenix. (AP Photo / Matt York)
PHOENIX – At the start of Saturday night’s game against the Washington Wizards, the Phoenix Suns came out with a 10-2 lead. After the Wizards called a time-out, they reacted with a 15-4 run and kept the game close for the entire first two quarters.
At the start of the second half, the Suns went 9-3 and led eight. Washington went with a timeout again, but this time the Suns kept rolling. Phoenix surpassed its opposition 44-24 in the third quarter and climbed from there to a 134-106 victory.
The 44 points were the highest points the Suns have scored in a quarter this season.
Devin Booker had 17 of his 27 in that third. He started hitting pull-up 3s, a sign that he is cooking.
“I can usually tell when he’s got it, just look at the way he lets the ball go, his balance on his shot,” said head coach Monty Williams. “And I think the team realized that too and everyone wanted to give him the ball so he could continue.”
Booker also found Mikal Bridges for the second time in the match on a cross-court lead bounce pass in the transition, one he couldn’t help but smile when replicating.
Booker liked that one more than the first because of Bridges’ difficult finish and Bridges agreed. (Me too, if you’re curious.)
The Suns had 22 assists in the two middle quarters and finished with 36 on the night to just three turnovers. That was great to see after back-to-back 20-assist outputs in the last two games, albeit against stellar competition.
Williams liked how much the Suns moved away from the ball, noting that he puts as much emphasis on body movement as ball movement in the .5 elements of the attack.
During half time, he emphasized the 36 points in the paint for his team for the Wizards. In what has proven to be the key ingredient of the Suns’ attacking success, they were able to stop and take offense at those chances of fleeing.
“Once we stopped, we flew all over the floor,” said Williams.
The Suns converted at 17 three-pointers and got 134 runs with only seven free throws.
All five Suns starters were in double digits: Booker, Bridges (15), Deandre Ayton (14), Jae Crowder (11) and Chris Paul (13), who added 10 assists and five rebounds.
The game had a certain amount of lethargic energy in the first half, but it was encouraging to see the Suns turn it on and then shut the door without slowly crawling an inferior team back into the game, as they have been. susceptible to this season.