Memphis Grizzlies guard Tim Frazier (12) kicks in front of the Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton (22) in the first half of an NBA basketball game on Monday, January 18, 2021, in Memphis, Tennessee. (AP Photo / Brandon Dill)
The Phoenix Suns will want to see one trend develop and another to disappear after Monday’s 108-104 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Deandre Ayton showed a new aggression around the edge, producing five dunks to almost equal his total of seven in the first 11 games. The Suns would love to see this continue.
Phoenix’s last three defeats have now been brutal: an overtime loss to the Detroit Pistons, an explosion at the hands of the Washington Wizards and a very viable game on Monday. The Suns would love for it not to continue.
We’ll start with the big guy.
When you think of “Dominayton”, naturally you go first to those games where Ayton, well, dominates. Putting 30 points and 20 rebounds. Nights like that.
But games like Monday’s are just as important as Ayton’s aggression has made up for some of his shortcomings elsewhere.
Ayton has received the most post touches he has had in a game so far, with mixed results. This was in an effort to capitalize on Grizzlies rookie Xavier Tillman.
Ayton was going a little way to the hopper, often while walking away from the basket through his feet.
A possession in the third quarter, however, sent shock waves through the Valley.
The maximum levels of strength that Ayton threw on some belongings is something we haven’t seen before. When Ayton is moving and standing, he can rise and explode.
“That’s how he should play,” said Suns coach Monty Williams. “He is able to do this every night … For him to play like that – they launched several defenses against him tonight and he still played with a great level of strength. Sinking the ball, being aggressive on the edge – that’s how he has to play every night … He was amazing tonight. “
In the defeat of the Wizards, Ayton had a remarkable play where he hesitated and only jumped in the middle despite having a lot of space at the top of the bracket.
It was exactly the contrast of how he took advantage of it against Memphis.
After a strong wave of criticism throughout the week that the Suns passed without playing, Ayton had 18 points, 16 rebounds, three assists, one block and three twists in 7 of 14 shots. Missed shots and turns are erased by his mentality in certain moves, adding to one of his best games overall in the year. Suns will definitely take the inconsistencies for four quarters, if those maxims are still reached as much as they were on Monday.
“Imma continues to challenge him to be like that,” said Suns owner Chris Paul. “Everyone on our team is very hard on him because we know what he’s capable of. To be one of the greats in your league, you just need consistency, and he’s more than capable of that. “
As for the loss, it’s time to put the rare on Devin Booker.
He hit 5 of 21 on the field, missing three consecutive shots at the decisive moment and hitting a defensive mission late, which would almost make up for his poor performance.
This defensive error was leaving Grayson Allen of Memphis, a great marksman, alone in the corner during a tied game with less than a minute to go, a move that Williams described as “a microcosm of the whole night”.
Booker or Paul being able to essentially steal a shuttle game like Monday’s is part of the value of having All-Stars throughout the regular season. The game’s biggest disadvantage in the second half was eight points and Phoenix moved up three with 6:33 to the end when Booker checked in.
The 24-year-old was on his way to close the door in Memphis, hitting a bucket, helping a Cam Payne three and then setting up two open 3s in the next three Suns possessions. Both were mistakes, so instead of Suns being on the rise, there were four.
With a 98-96 lead with 2:15 to go, Booker had an in-and-out touch shot, missed a dunk and then failed to convert a three-point ball.
Allen’s conversion at the 1: 9 mark gave the Grizzlies a three-point advantage, they would ride to victory.
Booker did not play to the high standard he deserves most of the season.
It loaded, and I mean loaded the Suns in the darkest times. And even in games when he played badly, those losses weren’t always his. It is disconcerting to see him so bored, clearly pressing in the first room and messing up the basics that he almost never does.
Eventually, this is with him 12 games in the season, but Booker has always been a pace-based player. That’s why we saw him at his best in the bubble. The Suns were reaching a peak of cohesion as a team and this allowed it to blossom.
Even after Williams added Cam Johnson to Jae Crowder on the starting lineup on Monday, the attack has not yet clicked.
“I’m more concerned with what we do in the flow of our attack,” said Williams of Booker’s nightly shooting. “I don’t think we have the movement of the ball and the body.”
Suns (7-5) made 30 assists, kicked 45.5% and scored 15 three points. It looks like a solid offensive night, but Phoenix failed to score 30 points in any of the four quarters. The 18 spins did not help.
The attack is capable of finding hiccups to play the right way, as Williams mentioned. The problem has been a consistent flow. The Suns forced the ball to Ayton many times against the Grizzlies (7-6), taking them out of their attack. In a strange twist, his ability to fight and make quick passes out of those looks was great, especially in the second half.
Williams mentioned that the Suns “finally” figured out how to win the Grizzlies swap, as various defenses and adjustments in the game continue to bother the Suns.
“We just haven’t figured out how to play our style consistently,” said Williams. “We see it gushing, but we haven’t seen it in a long time.”
That’s where Paul has been a master throughout his career, playing the role of puppeteer to control a game. But aside from his chemistry with Booker not getting there yet, it hasn’t happened to the team as a whole.
“I think that’s probably my part,” said Paul of the team’s lack of offensive pace. “This is my responsibility. Six turns, that shouldn’t happen, but I have to make sure that we’re getting quality photos along the way. “
This is a mark of turnover that Paul has achieved only eight times in the past three seasons.
The balance of the shot was more where you prefer, with Booker at 21, Ayton at 14 and Paul at 13. This was kind of a happy accident, however, if anything.
Paul also played well for stretches, scoring 16 points with seven assists and three steals. Like Booker, however, he did not reach the All-NBA level that we are used to seeing him.
“It’s a process of perception,” said Williams of Paul and Booker together. “From the coach’s point of view, I need the two to be just themselves. I think that sometimes Chris tries to involve everyone. He wants to touch DA, he wants to touch Book when he just has to play within the flow of our attack. “
After the Wizards’ COVID-19 spurt forced the Suns to postpone their next three games, the defeat was Phoenix’s first game in a week. Williams said a few times that this influenced him while also noticing what they did wrong to lose the game.
But, going back to trends, the season-long story for the Suns has been its ineffectively offensive bad enough on some nights to cancel its high energy and strong defensive performance.
This could easily be a 10-2 basketball team with just a hint of more offensive taste, but they don’t have it right now. They needed to find it before the losses continued to accumulate. They didn’t do that, and now they’ve lost three out of four frustratingly.