PHOENIX — Look at it short term or look at it long term — Friday’s 122-106 Phoenix Suns win over the Sacramento Kings was one they needed badly.
In terms of consistent play, it was the best the Suns have been since the beginning of February, when they really began plummeting down the standings.
Phoenix (31-36) led for nearly the entire game, increased its advantage in the second half and did not trip over itself across the fourth quarter so it could go out into the cold night comfortably.
This was not perfect basketball by any means, but the Suns used white-hot shooting via a season-high 24 3s (24-for-43, 55.8%) and an absurd season-high 38 points off of Sacramento’s 19 turnovers to hold a cushion for most of the evening. The Kings (33-33), meanwhile, were 8-of-32 (25%) from deep and were less efficient in capitalizing on mistakes, with 14 Suns turnovers turning into 16 Kings points.
“That’s usually what bites us some nights, so to be able to turn that and use it against our opponents is good, seeing how easy the game is when we get deflections and help each other out on defense,” Suns forward Kevin Durant said.
Phoenix managed that decent point total with the joint-high scorers being Devin Booker and Durant with 22 points, and the duo didn’t even combine to shoot 50% (15-for-32, 48.7%). That is what getting so much offense from your defense can do.
While basketball is rarely as simple as rotation choices deciding how well a team plays or not, this winning effort was clearly via a long overdue youth movement bringing energy.
“We definitely can feel (it) — you feel that throughout the game. … Those energy plays make a difference and flip it,” Suns guard Tyus Jones said.
Make way for the Suns rookies
Phoenix was again without Grayson Allen (left foot strain) and Nick Richards (right ankle sprain) for the second straight game. The lack of Allen allowed for rookie Ryan Dunn to log 17 minutes in Wednesday’s loss after undeservingly logging a few DNP-CD’s in March. Richards’ absence paved the way for rookie Oso Ighodaro to get his first legit minutes since Richards was acquired. Those increased both contests when Mason Plumlee was ejected (more on that in a minute).
There has understandably been an outcry from the fanbase for both first-year players to get more playing time, particularly Dunn.
While they’ll screw stuff up and have their own faults that hurt the Suns, their energy alone would be an upgrade over any other positives the more proven choices bring. The Suns are not primarily in this position because of a lack of talent or because pieces don’t fit. Most of it is commitment to the details and consistent engagement/effort, which is what you’ll always get from the guys with something to prove.
Dunn got a starting nod in place of Bol Bol. Bol has quietly been a key factor in Phoenix’s inability to find Dunn minutes, and it’s fair to say his up-and-down nature over the last few weeks gave the Suns a decent look at him in a rotation role, enough to look elsewhere after he did not get that role on Friday.
The changes went as far as two-way guard Collin Gillespie checking in ahead of Jones, a deserved (and late) move for how Gillespie affected Phoenix’s win of the season earlier this month.
Dunn played 33 minutes and contributed 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals while Ighodaro added 11 points, six rebounds and an assist, steal and block in 32 minutes. Gillespie wound up at only 11 minutes while Jones had a strong night of 20 points in 24 minutes.
The first quarter was another bizarre blip of great defensive disposition, one of a handful we’ve seen over the last few months that quickly fades. A 36-22 Suns first quarter was countered by a 35-26 Kings second quarter, cutting Phoenix’s lead that grew to as many as 19 down to just five at halftime.
The Suns crucially got a few 3s to fall to begin the second half, reaching 15 knockdowns less than three minutes in compared to just three for Sacramento. A lot of these were off Kings turnovers.
A clear inflection point arrived that would seemingly work against the Suns.
Plumlee ejected (again)
Plumlee was ejected for the second straight game, with this one being far more warranted. As a shot went up in the mid-third quarter with the Suns up nine, Plumlee turned around and put a forearm right into Kings center Domantas Sabonis’ upper chest and neck. After a review, he was tossed. Phoenix has clearly needed some type of reaction to getting pushed around, but Plumlee is 0-for-2 so far on doing so in a way that keeps him on the floor, and has done it when the Suns are shorthanded at the 5.
This spelled trouble given how Ighodaro would have to defend Sabonis, who will overpower some of the strongest bigs around. But the Suns just kept drilling 3s and Sabonis oddly wasn’t receiving the ball that much. Phoenix extended its lead to 15 entering the fourth quarter before it grew to 22 shortly into the frame.
Sacramento cut it to 15 with 5:26 remaining before Durant and Booker converted on triples to seal it.
The Kings, who are now 8-9 since Zach LaVine made his debut following the De’Aaron Fox trade, had all five starters in double figures but only 18 bench points.
Cody Martin finally available, team debut still awaits
Suns wing Cody Martin, who was part of the return in the Jusuf Nurkic trade, was available for the first time since the Feb. 6 trade due to a sports hernia. Martin is one of the best overall perimeter defenders on the roster, giving the Suns a good reason to find him minutes. In addition, Martin has an additional non-guaranteed year left on his deal for $8.6 million. Assuming that the Nurkic was not just an all-out salary dump and Phoenix is interested in Martin’s skill set, this is a valuable month of evaluation to make that decision.
Decreasing a few minutes from the heavy Booker/Durant/Bradley Beal workloads, plus the development the last month of taking down Jones’ minutes, and that’s enough wiggle room to go to 10 guys when healthy for both Dunn and Martin to play. Friday showed how extra athleticism and defensive intensity can change for Phoenix. Martin brings even more.
The race for the 10th seed in the West features all four teams at a crawl. The Dallas Mavericks (33-35) lost by 37 in Houston while the San Antonio Spurs (27-38) gave up 145 points to Charlotte.
