After the Phoenix Suns’ loss on Christmas took their poor basketball of the last few weeks to a major level, they responded and easily had their best game of the month with a 129-113 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.
Much of the discourse surrounding the team’s poor form doesn’t necessarily have to lead to anything complex or unique in terms of observations about what needed to change or what turned out to be a fatal flaw. All of these things could not be properly addressed or evaluated until the Suns showed some consistency in terms of effort, energy, focus, pace, physicality, etc. Nothing beats that and Phoenix (15-15) couldn’t even do it for an entire quarter, let alone an entire game. When the Suns finally found out Wednesday that they had an 18-point lead throughout the first half and had scored 73 points, it was no coincidence that Devin Booker and Kevin Durant didn’t. contributed only 10 each to the cause. Basketball is easy.A little shot from Eric Gordon helped. In his first game against the Rockets in seven seasons with Houston, he delivered one of the best revenge games we’ve seen from a Sun in a long time. He scored 21 of his 27 points in the first half, and at the end of the half he found himself in the hot zone back from behind. Phoenix shot 16 of 21 (76.2%) in the first two quarters. Coming together with all the little things done is a good reminder of how often this falls apart, not that the Suns should even need it.The intention of the offensive process, which really lacked fluidity and organization, was the best in several weeks. The alignment of Grayson Allen and Gordon alongside the star duo and Jusuf Nurkic poses some problems in the 1-on-1 defense, but really jump-started the offense, which is the side of the ball Phoenix had in December actually was worse. Once Bradley Beal returns in the next few games, Allen will certainly continue to be a part of the starting lineup. He was Phoenix’s third-best player, and what he does for offensive rhythm (along with his efforts elsewhere) is more important right now than what the best ball handlers defend in the playoffs. Houston had a great night with Jalen Green (23 points), but was unable to generate a ton of beauty and make enough shots to get into a shootout.The Rockets trailed by 20 entering the fourth quarter, a 12-minute stretch that saw Phoenix rank last in net scoring on the night, and were outscored by -14.9 points per 100 possessions, according to NBA statistics. The night before, Houston hosted the speedy Indiana Pacers in a close loss, so there wasn’t much energy for such a big comeback. He chose to play a supporting cast for most of the fourth quarter, a group that cut the deficit to 13 with just over five minutes remaining before Durant took over to ensure there was no drama.How much does this have to do with the low expectations we currently have for this team? Don’t get me wrong, it’s really something!But seeing the bench really involved in this game, how some of this energy came through two-way signings, created the first real building block for the Suns to get back on track.Durant was there along with everyone else to stay connected and be involved on both ends of the floor on every possession, setting the tone right from the start. After his turnovers increased in the last three games, he responded with just three balls to play and a career-high 16 assists. Ten of those came in the first half, the most for him in either half of his career, according to Stathead. He added 27 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and a block for his 18th career triple-double. Houston had a big night with Jalen Green (23 points), but she wasn’t able to generate much good looks and knock down enough shots to hold her own in a shootout.The Rockets trailed by 20 points early in the fourth quarter, a 12-minute period. Phoenix entered the night last in net rating and was outscored -14.9 points per 100 possessions, per NBA Stats. Houston hosted the speedy Indiana Pacers the night before in a narrow loss, so they wouldn’t have much juice for such a big comeback. He chose to play a supporting cast for most of the fourth quarter, a group that cut the deficit to 13 with just over five minutes remaining before Durant took over to ensure there was no drama.How much does this have to do with the low expectations we currently have for this team? Don’t get me wrong, it’s really something!But seeing the bench really involved in this game, how some of this energy came through two-way signings, created the first real building block for the Suns to get back on track.Durant was there along with everyone else to stay connected and be involved on both ends of the floor on every possession, setting the tone right from the start. After his turnovers increased in the last three games, he responded with just three balls to play and a career-high 16 assists. Ten of them came in the first half, the most for him in either halves of his career, according to Stathead. He added 27 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and a block, giving him his 18th career triple-double. The bottom line was that the center position was always going to be difficult for the Suns, as their groups performed well compared to the rest of the league. And that was before these recent developments, so kudos to the Phoenix coaching staff for getting things under control and even going to the end of the bench to help the process along.The little juggling continues. Two-way guard Saben Lee took another look at Jordan Goodwin, who has been good for the team as a whole but is shooting 32 percent from the field and 17 percent from 3-point range in December. Here too, Josh Okogie’s return from injury took away playing time.Lee scored nine points while Azubuike had 11, five rebounds and two blocks in 19 minutes.
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