The Philadelphia 76ers were trying to recover after a difficult loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in the second game of the trip, but they found a Phoenix Suns team that was playing good basketball when they entered the game. Their defense failed because they dropped 120-111 and are 1-2 on the trip.
The main culprit was Suns’ Devin Booker, who scored 36 points to lead the game. He was efficient, shooting 14 against 23 from the ground and knocking down three 3s, including a late logo dagger.
He fought from the start, as Ben Simmons did an excellent job against him, but as soon as he got some switches, he was able to get into the rhythm. Once Booker enters a zone, he is basically unstoppable.
“Most of the time, we just didn’t have the ability to be square,” said coach Doc Rivers. “Booker makes difficult plays, and you will always live with them. Overall, I thought Ben did a really good job, especially in the first half. The moments Booker scored, for the most part, were when Ben was out of it and someone changed. “
There were a few times when Danny Green called Booker and Sun took advantage.
“We let it get hot,” said Green. “Partly my fault. I let him reach the basket and get some easy ones. We had them under control a lot, so we had them in a good place to start, he was not very comfortable. Once he managed to knock down a pair to reach the free throw line. So he made a couple warm, they put some good screens for him, we didn’t get into the bodies as we should. We weren’t physical enough with those guys. “
Simmons felt that the team started well, but it wasn’t his night after the first quarter.
“I think the coverage, overall, was good to start the game,” said Simmons. “We had some blitzes in progress, which led to changes in the transition. We had no pace in the second half. We had a lot of deflections, we didn’t get a lot of stops. It’s hard to keep that pace when the guys are hitting and you have to get the ball out. You can’t just take the rebound and get out, which was part of it. “
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