I’ll tell you that, at the break, I sent a message to a friend who hoped he would never see the combination of Frank Kaminsky and Abdel Nader in the Suns lineup again.
The pair had missed nine of their 10 shots in the first half and almost replicated the terrible 10-point quarter that sentenced the team against Thunder the night before. Frank and “Dulie” (his name is pronounced “Abdul”, although the spelling is different) got minutes recently in the Suns rotation due to a combination of injury (Devin Booker, Cameron Payne) and COVID (Dario Saric, Damian Jones, Jalen Smith), going through a three-game losing streak with the rest of us.
But then the second half happened.
Frank took the place of Deandre Ayton (who scored his fourth foul) with the Suns winning 72-63 at 4:49 of the third. I started to sweat a little, recalling Suns in 69-61 about Thunder around that time the night before, leading to the collapse of Suns.
Nader joined Kaminsky at the 2:44 mark with the Suns still winning 79-67 after a rare attempt by Langston Galloway in a three-point play.
They didn’t lose the lead! He didn’t build on it, but he didn’t lose it either.
Then Frank-Nado hit the continent. Still taking 91-81 at the 8:18 mark of the 4th period, with the game still close by, the Suns exploded in a 17-2 run in just over three minutes to take 25 points, 108-83, leading with just 5:05 left in the regulation. Frank Kaminsky scored or helped 13 of the Suns’ 17 points during the race.
In the second half, Kaminsky and Nader combined to hit 8 of 14 shots, including 3-5 three, grab 12 boards and give 7 assists.
Final statistics lines for the game:
- Frank: 12 points (high of the season), 14 rebounds (high of his career), 8 assists (high of his career)
- Dulie: 16 points (high of the season), 5 rebounds (high of the season), 3 assists (tied – career high)
The Suns desperately needed their unique type of contribution as well, including Nader’s hard drives for the rim and Frank’s high beam, dispensing with dribbling to maintain the attack.
Frank made it this close for a double triple, falling short of two assists, and joked about it later: “Well, when you have teammates like Mikal losing layups when they should be diving, and Dulie smoking layups,” he told the media laughing.
“I love playing with Frank,” said Mikal Bridges, citing Kaminsky to make the game easier with his willingness to find cutters to the edge of the highest rank.
Nader’s throws to the ledge were a breath of fresh air from a team that is the last in the league in draw kicks and consistently exceeded each night in the painted area near the ledge.
“I’m just trying to read the game,” he said later. “If I think I have a slower defender, I will try to take him to the basket.”
Nader also started to take control of the left corner for three to catch and shoot, forming a pair following the fourth period that the Suns really needed.
Don’t be fooled by this story: the Suns holders were also very good in this game, giving the bank a 10 point advantage at the end of the third period. All five holders finished with double digits, Ayton double-doubled (12/13) in just 23 minutes and Jae Crowder almost did the same (9/16) in 29 minutes. But only one starter played in the fourth (Cameron Johnson, then Mikal Bridges), while the rest of them spent time rooting for their teammates.
The team as a whole had 34 assists in 41 baskets made, returning to their way of making great kicks when passing the ball “from good to great”, as Monty puts it.
“What [bench] group really solidified what we were trying to do, ”said Williams. “I thought the starters came with great purpose and shared the ball. And then the second group came in, and the body movement was taken to another level. “
Here are all the post-game interviews …
This was just a win, against a team probably outdone at Golden State, after a streak of three devastating defeats. The Suns have not yet solved all their problems. They can’t count on Frank-Nado in every game. They need Booker, Saric and Payne back.
But a victory is a victory. And Suns is over 0.500 again at 9-8, so life is good.
Next
Suns plays against the Mavericks twice in Dallas starting this weekend, on Saturday and Monday.