Suns blow 23-point lead in road defeat
The Phoenix Suns started hot in building a 23-point lead, slumped through the middle and melted down in their 110-105 overtime loss Friday night at Detroit.
“Upset and disappointed we didn’t pull that one out,” Suns guard Langston Galloway said. “That’s one you got to have. We’re going to look back and kick ourselves on that one.”
The Pistons (2-7) began overtime on a 9-0 run in taking a 102-93 lead as Jerami Grant scored a career-high 31 points. Devin Booker led the Suns with 23 as Phoenix shot 17-of-52 from 3 in setting a franchise record for most 3-point attempts in a game.
This is after Phoenix started 7of-10 from 3. So the Suns went 10of-42 after that.
“We got comfortable with where we were at, especially with the hot start that we had,” Booker said. “Instead of putting them away, we gave them life.”
In addition, Phoenix (6-3) turned the ball over 20 times as Detroit’s zone in the second half befuddled the Suns. The Pistons scored 23 points off the turnovers.
“I thought it kind of gave us a different look and reset everything,” Pistons forward Blake Griffin said. “We got a little bit of confidence. Once we started hitting shots offensively, now they’re having to take the ball out of the net and it gives us
more time to get back and set up and get matched up and figure out what we’re doing.”
Suns coach Monty Williams expressed frustration when saying Sacramento played the same matchup zone and his Suns “chewed that up and got them out of it” in a win.
“Tonight, we didn’t make enough shots to get them out of it and it was a way to make them play big,” Williams said. “If you go zone with big guys like that, you can keep them in the game. It takes away our space a little bit. What it boils down to is getting stops. You get stops and get a rebound, teams can’t get into a zone.”
Then to make matters worse, Phoenix surrendered nine offensive rebounds that led to 18 second-chance points for the Pistons.
Trailing by as many as 23 points in the first half, Detroit forced overtime as Booker misfired on a shot over Grant to end regulation.
“I was just really proud of the way that guys fought tonight,” said Griffin, who finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. “To get down by that much early, to slowly walk them back. That’s a good team over there. They’ve beaten some good teams and never felt like we were out of it. Walked them all the way back, tied it up and did it in overtime. That’s a win that moves the needle and builds confidence.”
Phoenix had a four-point lead, 93-89, with 1:29 left in regulation, but Grant hit two free throws and created a dunk for Mason Plumlee that tied the game with 9.6 left in regulation.
Then Booker missed a shot at the buzzer that would’ve won the game. With momentum, Detroit opened overtime hitting four of its first five shots that 9-0 run.
“It’s big for us, it’s big for us,” Grant said. “We had a lot of close games thus far, but to pull it out was definitely big for us. It means we’re learning.”
Detroit erased an eight-point halftime lead to tie the game at 70, but Phoenix went into fourth quarter leading by four, 76-72, despite shooting 2of-11 from 3 in the third.
Phoenix led 56-48 at halftime with Galloway scoring all 17 of his points in the first half against his former team. He
hit his first five 3s in shooting 5-of-6 from distance as Phoenix had 29 bench points at the half. He finished 5-of-8 from 3.
Down 54-31 midway through the second quarter, Detroit closed the half on a 17-2 run to cut Phoenix’s lead to single digits.
“This is the second game when we’ve come out and played decent offense and teams have thrown somewhat of a change up on defense at us and we haven’t been able to either hit shots or execute properly,” Williams said “That’s something that I have to figure out help our guys do better.”
In turn, Phoenix misfired on seven 3s during that stretch. The Suns also missed all six of their free throws in the first half as they came into the game second in the league in free throwing shooting percentage at 83.7%.
The Suns were 6-of-13 from the line while the Pistons went 25-of-29. Phoenix was called for 25 fouls to Detroit’s 14.
“I’m not going to get a fine on silliness like that,” Williams said. “It is what it is. It’s 25 to 14 in a physical game like with that many bigs that they play with, they only had 14.”
Former Suns wing Josh Jackson scored just five points on 2-of-11 in his first game against Phoenix. After Phoenix traded him to Memphis before last season, Jackson was with the Grizzlies’ G League team for all four Phoenix-Memphis games.
‘Prayerful for that’
Rookie big Jalen Smith was unavailable Friday as he’s out due to NBA health and safety protocols.
Team officials confirmed Thursday that Smith didn‘t make the three-game road trip that began Friday in Detroit and continues Saturday at Indiana and concludes Monday at Washington.
Everyone else was active and available Friday.
The 10th overall pick out of Maryland is averaging two points and 2.5 rebounds in his two NBA games. He hasn’t played since Dec. 26 at Sacramento.
Smith sprained his left ankle during a workout before Phoenix played the Kings in the second of a road-back-toback Dec. 27. He was later listed questionable for Wednesday’s game against Toronto, but didn’t play.
Smith was in the bench area with the team wearing a mask as the NBA required players to wear masks in the bench area. The next day, Phoenix listed him out for Friday’s game due to health and safety protocols.
The NBA and National Basketball Players Association announced Thursday of the 498 players tested for COVID-19 since Dec. 30, four new players returned confirmed positive tests.
Smith is the second Suns player out due to health and safety protocols. Frank Kaminsky III wasn’t available for the season opener Dec. 23 against Dallas. Phoenix re-signed him after Sacramento waived the power forward/center after the preseason.
“It’s really just testing,” Kaminsky said Christmas Eve when asked what protocols he had to go through to play. “You’ve got to get a couple of negative tests in a row. If I would’ve known I was going to get picked up that fast, I would’ve just kept testing those couple of extra days in between, but I didn’t. So I had to prove a couple of negative tests.”
NAZ Suns bypass G League season
Phoenix has already sold the Northern Arizona Suns to the Detroit Pistons as the decision was announced in July of last year.
They had one season remaining with the Phoenix Suns that they initially planned to play in Phoenix before moving to Detroit for the 2021-22.
Now the NAZ Suns aren’t participating in the 2020-21 G League season, the team announced, as the league gave teams options to play in its version of the bubble at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando.
A total of 18 teams with one being the G League Ignite will begin the season next month.
It has “elite NBA Draft-eligible players” coached by former NBA player and head coach, Brian Shaw.
The top eight teams will advance to a single-elimination playoff.
Back in July of last year, Suns General Manager James Jones provided a statement with specific details as to why they no longer needed a G League team.
● The Suns’ team priorities drive our decision-making which in this case is the development of the youngest roster in the NBA.
● Roster positions 11-15 is the focus of the organization’s developmental time and efforts.
● The teaching experience of the Suns coaching staff operating within a shared set of guidelines creates an effective learning environment and growth opportunities for our players.
● The value of daily practice and the competition against NBA players provides significant improvement opportunities for developing players.
● We will maintain our emphasis on evaluating/scouting NBA G League players for future roster consideration.