Deep hole on deep shots is fatal
After barrage of 3s builds 24-point deficit, comeback falls short
The Suns poured in 3pointers, one after another until the blowout seemed certain. When it wasn’t, the Suns moved 24 feet closer to the basket and finished off the Rockets there.
After building a nearly insurmountable lead from deep, the Suns delivered the knockout with Deandre Ayton at the rim, getting just enough to hold off the Rockets 126-120 Monday night at Phoenix to complete the third of three losses on the road trip.
The Rockets had rallied from down 24 to within seven before
Kelly Olynyk and John Wall missed open 3s to end the rally. But the Rockets had made a move with Armoni Brooks, in his first extended playing time since signing last week, scoring 14 points in 14 minutes and Kevin Porter Jr. scoring 22 points with a career-high 14 assists.
Christian Wood had 25 points with 15 rebounds. But the Suns had more firepower than the Rockets could match.
The Suns torched the Rockets in the first half until the only questions left seemed to be how many lines in how many record books would be rewritten.
They matched one record in the first half by sinking 18 3s on just 24 attempts to tie the NBA record for made 3-pointers in a half. Jae Crowder especially found himself lonesome at the 3-point line and shot as if taking aim at a hula hoop, making 8 of 9 3-pointers in the first half, scoring a season-high 26 points in the half, four points shy of his career high.
That put Phoenix in range for the Rockets opponent, Suns franchise and all-time NBA record for 3s in a game.
They got two of the three, making 25 of 45 3-pointers for the most 3s a Suns team or Rockets opponent has ever made.
Crowder did not score in the second half as the Suns made 7 of 21 3-pointers, opening the door for the Rockets’ rally.
The Suns did just enough to hold off the comeback, much as they had last week in a threepoint win in Toyota Center when Devin Booker took over late. This time, Ayton scored eight of his 18 points in a brief fourth-quarter burst. Booker finished with 24 points. Another Rockets rally from blowout territory to a chance fell short.
Trailing by as much as 24 in the second half, the Rockets made their usual run. It helped that they slowed the Suns’ 3-point barrage just a bit and finally cut down on their own turnovers in the fourth quarter. When Brooks — playing with D.J. Augustin going out with a sprained ankle in the first half and Sterling Brown hurt in San Francisco on Saturday — sank three 3s, the Rockets got on a run.
A D.J. Wilson 3-pointer brought the Rockets within nine. After Ayton scored inside, Brooks hit another 3 before Wilson finished a three-point play to bring the Rockets within five with 5:45 still left. The rally, however, ended there.
It was stunning they had come that close. Having been lit up by the Suns last week, the Rockets adjusted. They helped in the paint and were lit up an entirely different way.
They might not have suspected the Suns could shoot quite as they would in Monday’s first half. Teams don’t shoot that well in pregame warmups when there is no defense, which generally approximated the Rockets’ defense on the 3-point line.
With the Suns using screens to get even just a hint of penetration, the Rockets helped off a shooter, the ball moved and 3s poured in.
The Rockets had scored reasonably well when they were not turning the ball over. They made 9 of 21 3s. Wood had 19 points, making 8 of 11 shots. But none of that seemed to matter with the Suns leading by as much as 24 and by 81-58 at halftime.
Even when the Rockets scored the first five points of the second half, Booker missed an open mid-range jumper and then drained a contested 3 as if he had felt left out when he was the only Suns player — other than the center, Ayton — who had not put in a 3 in the first half.
Having spent the road trip falling behind by 20 or more and rallying, the Rockets made their customary move to a longshot chance, closing from down 24 to within 11 in the third quarter. If ever there was a game that a longshot seemed to have a chance, Monday’s would be it.