Phoenix Suns center player Deandre Ayton (22) celebrates with point guard Chris Paul (3) after making a basket against the Toronto Raptors during the second half of an NBA basketball game on Friday, March 26, 2021 , in Tampa, Florida. (AP Photo / Chris O’Meara)
The Phoenix Suns made important moves when it was necessary on Friday night, but they were fortunate not to have an extra minute or two on the clock.
They managed a 104-100 defeat against the Toronto Raptors thanks to clutch moments like Deandre Ayton’s block, Chris Paul and Devin Booker’s free throws and Mikal Bridges’ offensive rebound to ensure victory.
“Just a lot of gigantic games tonight,” said coach Monty Williams.
Phoenix needed this, though, because after Paul’s medium jump with 6:18 left to put Suns in 98-88 with 6:18 left, Suns scored six points for the rest of the game and had only one field goal. Paul and Booker agreed to make 4 of 4 in the foul range at the last minute.
Game after defeat to the Orlando Magic in which the Suns scored 20 points in the fourth period, it was 21 on Friday.
“I enjoyed everything until the fourth period,” said Williams of the offensive execution. “We scored 21 points, but [Toronto] scored only 23. ”
Williams went on to describe a playoff basketball brand that broke out in that fourth period that he called “slugfest”.
One of the factors that contributed was Booker’s fear in the last 12 minutes.
In a comeback that we haven’t seen in his young career so far, Booker has 3 of 18 pitches in the fourth quarter of his last seven games. He had 0 of 4 against the Raptors and missed two shots with the Suns for two and less than 70 seconds remaining.
That last flaw was the one that Bridges grabbed with six seconds remaining and the Suns called for a timeout. The entry went to Booker, who, to his credit, hit both free throws to seal it.
Booker is now shooting at 39.9% at the last frame of the season and 30.4% at the clutch, also known as the last five minutes of a game when the score is within five points. He proved his worth in Phoenix over six years as a clutch player, and when asked if he noticed anything in particular in his film in recent games, Booker said he hadn’t even noticed.
“Victories are coming,” he said. “This is the main goal every night. I have shown many years of scoring basketball, so all I have to do to win: If it is defensively, offensively, leading by example, leading by voice. We have a selfless team. We can win by one point, we can win by 20 – I will be happy anyway. “
And he has been a very happy man this year, as the Suns improved to 30-14 with the win.
Booker finished with 16 points, six rebounds and two assists in 6 of 14 shots. Combining Booker’s shooting attempts and assists to 16, it is the lowest in 24 games, a testament to coach Nick Nurse’s game plan of limiting its impact on training.
At that point, the nurse cast a variety of defensive looks at the Suns. The basic principles strongly helped Booker in penetrating the dribble to force the Phoenix pitchers to make plays and collapse in the touches of Ayton’s crossbar, as he dribbled the ball to force him to make decisions.
The Raptors won a championship because of their ability to do things like that as a defense, like having the most distant defenders of the action in the right places to help and then having the ability to fight and recover from there. They are far from a championship-quality defense, however, and the Suns have been able to routinely open holes in it.
With that in mind, Suns still shot only 9 out of 36 (25.0%) in the three-point range, so this part of the Nurse’s plan was also successful.
But Ayton wasn’t too bothered, as he was assertive and was acting like the biggest guy on the court, which he was. With Toronto getting small and putting the long, strong 6-foot-7 OG Anunoby in it, Ayton made 9 of 12 with 19 points and nine rebounds.
His defense continues to trend upwards in the last half-dozen games and back to the same level he played last year. That block mentioned in Toronto’s Pascal Siakam was a big move with less than two minutes left:
Ayton credited his technique with his hands and feet by saying that Williams is after him about it.
A strong first part of Paul and contributions from the entire bank helped Suns to be in a position to win.
Paul ended the night with 19 points, six rebounds, eight assists and two steals. Langston Galloway (eight points), Cam Johnson (seven), Cam Payne (four) and Dario Saric (eight) scored at least two field goals while Johnson (three assists), Payne (two) and Torrey Craig (three) combined to eight of Suns’ 26 assists.
The Raptors’ biggest advantage in the match was four points and they were losing throughout the second half. Siakam had a good performance with 26 points and 11 rebounds, in addition to six assists.
As the Suns near the end of their four-game trip with a Sunday matinee in Charlotte against the Hornets, avoiding a losing streak in the last two and a half months again, even with the way the victory came Friday, it is always positive.
“I prefer an ugly victory to a beautiful loss,” said Williams.