The Suns beat Magic, which had only eight active players, in a 109-90 explosion.
Despite losing his first two strokes – both three – Devin Booker started the game for the Suns when he scored eight starting points, including some easy transition buckets. Orlando also made it a lot easier for them, starting 1-13 on the field and leaving Suns free on the counterattack.
It was particularly ugly for Michael Carter-Williams, who missed some jumpers and then was so hesitant that he missed a rabbit shot in the painting. The game plan probably called for Terrence Ross and Nikola Vucevic to take most of the shots, but none of them managed to do anything ahead of time, meaning that the other guys had to try to do more than they should.
While Magic crackled with almost no game assets, Booker went to an early death, scoring 17 before Monty Williams asked for a timeout with 2:51 left.
At that point, Suns was in the air, 23-9. They kept their foot on the gas and went up, 28-16, entering the second period.
At the 6:10 mark of the second, Magic coach Steve Clifford gave another break after a collision between Ross and Mikal Bridges, but Ross returned to the game. The injury appeared to be just a hard blow to his gut.
Orlando failed to score 20 points in either of the first two periods and went down 52-35.
In the 230250814059 part of the referees not knowing how to arbitrate Mikal Bridges, the third quarter started with a beautiful Bridges drive in which Gary Clark was thrown on top of him and there was an audible slap, but no calls. Bridges raised his arms in frustration and Chris Paul even gave up on a foul to make a statement to the referees.
A moment later, Booker fouled Dwayne Bacon on a three point, which seemed to act like karma. Booker hit the three free throws.
Orlando’s goal was probably just to gradually decrease the lead and try to get it with just one digit. You know what to do. There were a series of similar explosions in this building going in the opposite direction. But Magic just didn’t have the juice.
The Suns had an 8-0 streak at the end of the third, which forced Clifford to a further time, this time after an absurd three by Jae Crowder, the second in a row.
Clifford’s time limit came after the Suns lead grew to 25 at the Crowder bomb.
He stayed there for most of the rest of the game, with Suns keeping his foot on the gas and continuing to play his basketball style, despite the big advantage. Crowder continued a classic game of three that looks ugly in box scoring, but good in real time, and the bank overall has improved.
For some reason, Williams brought the starters back to their usual race in the fourth period, despite the big advantage and being on the second consecutive night, but the minutes of most players were still limited and at the beginning of the season, there is a lot to build on. habit to be done.
Everyone except Bridges left the room at 2:09 am to finish, the job done.