Deandre Ayton (22), pivot of the Phoenix Suns, plays 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 / Photo of the pool via AP)
After the Phoenix Suns’ 133-130 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday, they faced the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers, two of the best teams in the Western Conference.
This is a good thing for Suns for a variety of reasons, one of which is his insistence, lately, on eliminating bad teams before it gets unnecessarily chaotic in times of crisis.
Despite the Rockets losing 26 of their last 28 games on Monday and without several major players like John Wall and Eric Gordon, they had a 15-point disadvantage in the third quarter to a three-point advantage with 7:22 to go.
From there, Devin Booker made his own 10-0 run in 71 seconds and played an important role in ending the game.
But after 117-109 Suns, with 4:20 to go, Houston lost 5-0 to take possession of the ball. And even after a quick 8-0 attack from Phoenix to answer that, eventually with nine down with 1:04 of the remainder, the Rockets narrowed the lead to three again 21 seconds later, after a turn in Jae’s backcourt. Crowder.
The Suns made enough free throws to not be really threatened to lose the game, but damn it. It is as if there is a spell that hangs over these games and continues to fire. Regardless, it is now six consecutive wins and a record of 35-14.
Booker finished with 36 points, six rebounds and six assists. That fourth quarter explosion by Booker that turned into a bubble signature was good to see after his recent fights in the finals.
Deandre Ayton had one of his best games of the year. He finished with 27 points and 11 rebounds on 10 of 14 shots.
Mikal Bridges scored 20 points and was a ho-hum 19 points, five rebounds, 11 assists and four steals from Chris Paul in just nine shots.
Take advantage of this delicious fake pass / yo-yo dribble from Paul to set Booker at a key point in the game so that we don’t move too quickly out of it, absorbing the greatness of Point God for just a moment.
The Rockets played very well that night, especially considering the names they chose. 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 two digits. The team as a whole got 17 out of 33 (51.5%) in the three-point range.
Houston is a team that changes a lot on the defensive, so when the Suns did that, they played what the Rockets do well. This is good because Phoenix needs to work on it and the way Houston was doing elementary rotations of the ball to explore it showed the growth that Suns still needs in that area.
This allowed the Rockets to be right in the game until the middle of the second half, when the Suns clearly increased the intensity in defense.
On the other hand, when Ayton returned in the second quarter, the Suns ran their attack around the third-year pivot, which coach Monty Williams called “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 across the league that don’t have a big one that can match Ayton’s. But his inconsistencies with an aggressive mentality not only in the post with the ball, but in the establishment of position before that, have not seen Suns manage to take the maximum advantage possible.
Specifically this year, post entries have become more challenging for Ayton than before because of the defenders’ ability to get their hands on the ball and keep it away. And with the lack of consistency, this led to a lack of chemistry built up with Ayton and the players who hand him passes.
All this to emphasize how it can be when everything fits together, because that was on Monday.
“I thought his posture was at a high level when he hit the ball on the post,” said Williams.
Ayton listed at 250 pounds outweighs the initial weight of Houston’s 5 Wood (listed at 214 pounds) by more than 30 pounds, so there is an obvious size mismatch here. Ayton did so, forcing Wood to miss him in the battle on the block and Ayton was being assertive in scoring over Wood.
“If the teams try to maintain a slightly less confrontation with him, more like a pick-and-pop guy like Wood, we will have to explore this incompatibility,” said Booker. “We were playing with him and he was not shying away from the contact. He was going through this, getting to the edge. “
You wouldn’t know, it brought trips to the free throw line. Ayton tied his record for the season with eight attempts there, making it seven.
When Ayton confidently plays on the offensive, it is like a glass of cold water splashing on his face. He is a different player than we have seen almost the entire season, who has found a rhythm and is fully in the rhythm.
Ayton was going to Wood as he knew Wood was unable to stop him. Check out Wood’s body language below when this scene is released at the end of the third quarter.
This is to impose your will on the opposition. As Booker himself pointed out, it happened during a game in which Ayton missed two rabbits earlier, but Ayton did not let that bring him down for the rest of the night.
“He’s just a force when he wants to and I think he feeds on the trust we give him,” said Williams.
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 take the ball to him on Wednesday or ran a lot for him, a test of something they need to improve and they also rarely felt the need to do most of the season.
Williams has repeated much of what we’ve heard about Ayton since his debut year.
“It has been a process with him. I don’t think he understands how big and strong he is and how much he can use that to his advantage, ”said Williams. “I think putting him in those situations and being successful can boost his confidence, but I don’t think he really knows how dominant he can be in painting.”