Worn-out Suns fade late in the game
No Devin Booker all 58 minutes of play.
No Deandre Ayton or Cam Johnson late in the game.
No quit in the Phoenix Suns, but they faded late in a 120-112 doubleovertime loss Saturday night to Denver in the second of a home back-to-back at Phoenix Suns Arena.
“Our guy were just battling, they were running on fumes,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “I was just unbelievably proud of how they competed. We could’ve mailed it in coming off a tough one last night. We just gave everything we had.”
The Nuggets (9-7) needed overtime to beat Phoenix on Friday night as Booker left the game late in overtime with a left hamstring strain.
Less than 24 hours later, the Suns pushed the Nuggets to two overtimes as Johnson left the game with 3:42 left in the first overtime due to leg cramps and didn’t return while Ayton fouled out with 1:38 left in the first extra session.
“I tried to keep them at bay, keep hydrating, but sometimes it happens,” said Johnson, who finished with 19 points.
Phoenix was 3-0 in the second of back-to-backs going into Saturday’s game, but came up short this time as Suns continue to stumble in close games.
Three of their last five losses have come in overtime.
“It’s two we should’ve won,” Johnson said. “Everybody thinks it’s two we should’ve won, but we got to be better in these late-game situations. We’ve got to close teams out and we’re going to improve on it.”
Denver wins the season series, 2-1, as they needed an total of three overtimes to extinguish the short-handed Suns.
“I’m going to feel it tomorrow, those extra 10 minutes,” Nuggets All-Star center Nikola Jokic said after Saturday’s double-overtime victory.
Chris Paul and Jae Crowder each scored a team-high 21 points for Phoenix (8-7), which has lost four of its last five games. Getting the start in Booker’s absence, Crowder forced the second OT with a 3 with 1.3 seconds left in the first OT.
Jokic paced the Nuggets with a game-high 29 points and 22 rebounds while Jamal Murray, who forced overtime with a desperation 3 over Deandre Ayton at the buzzer, racked up 26 points, six rebounds and five assists.
“Yeah, this one hurts,” Johnson said.
Murray’s clutch 3 didn’t set well with Williams for two major reasons.
One, he’d like to take a foul as Denver started the play 12.2 seconds left in regulation.
“The plan was to foul,” Williams said.
Murray was initially being guarded by Crowder, but Ayton, who had five fouls, switched on him after Murray took a dribble handoff from Jokic.
“The only thing I can think of in hindsight is not to have (Ayton) in the game, but he’s one of our best defenders,” Williams said.
Two, Williams thinks the Nuggets star guard traveled as Murray hit a stepback 3 in which he appeared to shuffle his feet before rising up to shoot.
“I saw four steps,” Williams said. “I just looked at it. I saw four steps. I saw a stepback and then a bump bump bump. So it looked like four. It was at least three.”
However, Ayton could’ve been easily called for his sixth foul as Murray drew contact in fading left on the shot.