Booker ‘looking forward’ to showdown
Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel forecast success for Phoenix before the 2020-21 regular season.
“They’re a team that’s going to be a force in the Western Conference,” Vogel said before a preseason game against the Suns in Phoenix.
Vogel thought the Suns gained momentum from their amazing 8-0 bubble run.
He saw the additions of All-Star point guard Chris Paul and veteran Jae Crowder to go with the returning cast led by AllStar Devin Booker and thought the Suns had something special cooking.
“I expect them to be a great team this year,” he concluded.
Thirty-three games later, Phoenix (22-11) is playing like a great team.
Winners of 14 of their last 17 games, the Suns stood in fourth place in the West just a half game behind the Los Angeles Clippers and trailing the Lakers by only a game heading into Monday night’s games.
Not so sure Vogel saw that coming, but without injured All-Star Anthony Davis (calf strain), the Lakers (24-11) will more than have their hands full against the Suns when the teams meet Tuesday night.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Booker about the 8 p.m. game at STAPLES Center on TNT.
Before taking a deeper dive into this much-anticipated matchup against the defending NBA champions, here’s a look back at Phoenix’s 118-99 win Sunday in Minnesota.
Player of Sunday’s game: Devin Booker
Exploding for a season-high 43 points sure made the NBA’s job to pick Booker for a second Western Conference Player of the Week (Feb. 22-28) this season easier.
Booker scored 21 points in the third quarter of his first 40-point game of the season as he had his way with the hapless Timberwolves, (7-28), losers of eight straight.
“Devin just took over the game,” new T-Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “We just had a hard time staying in front of him, got to the free throw line and that was really it.”
While Booker’s numbers were impressive, the fact that Phoenix needed him to go into takeover mode against the worst team in the NBA is cause for alarm.
Booker, even after a stellar performance, knows that.
“Once we got it going, we got it going,” he said. “Obviously we want it to be sooner than later and step on our opponent, but we didn’t do that to start the game.”
Deandre Ayton and Paul once again had double-doubles in helping the Suns improve to 2-0 on this three-game road trip. Ayton went for 22 points and 10 rebounds while Paul added 11 points and a game-high 15 assists.
Dario Saric returned after missing a game with a right ankle sprain to score 13 off the bench as Phoenix won despite a second consecutive poor shooting effort from 3. After going 6-of-22 on 3s in Friday’s 106-97 win at Chicago, Phoenix made only 7-of-27 against the T-Wolves.
The Suns still won both games, something they’ll gladly take going into their showdown against perennial All-Star LeBron James and the Lakers.
‘When you lose a mega piece like AD’
Davis has missed the Lakers’ last seven games with an injury he suffered in an 122-105 Valentine’s Day loss at Denver.
They’ve gone 3-4 since, but won their last two over Portland and Golden State.
“When you lose a mega piece like AD, it’s going to take some time, both offensively and defensively in how we want to play and what’s going to be our rhythm and how we get into our rhythm,” James said after Sunday’s 117-91 home win over the Warriors.
Not having Davis is certainly a huge void. Like James, he’s one of the top five players in the NBA, but the Lakers do have point guard Dennis Schroder back after he missed four games under the NBA’s health and safety protocols.
Schroder said he never tested positive for COVID-19, but had to quarantine for seven days after it was determined “somebody in my house” violated contact tracing protocols.
The Lakers went 0-for-4 without Schroder with the losses coming against Brooklyn, Miami, Washington in overtime and at Utah, but are 2-0 with him back on the floor.
“We hit that stretch just then with Anthony and then Dennis goes down,” said Vogel after Sunday’s game. “Get into a little bit of an adjustment period, but we keep grinding. Stick to our principles. Make subtle tweaks, and obviously getting Dennis back has really helped us.”
‘He’s got a shot to be here’
The Lakers also added another big in Damian Jones, who signed a 10-day contract with them after Phoenix waived him last week.
Jones only scored 22 points in his 14 games with the Suns after signing a twoyear deal with them. He missed four games under the league’s health and safety protocols.
“As far as depth, he wasn’t going to play a lot,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “Obviously you want to help guys find better opportunities, especially a young guy like that, if he’s not going to play a lot.”
In his Lakers debut Sunday, Jones scored a season-high eight points on 3of-3 shooting as his finished a Schroder lob pass for a dunk. The 6-11 center also grabbed three rebounds and had two blocks in just eight minutes of play.
“I think he’s got a shot to be here if he can just do what he did out there,” Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma said after Sunday’s game.
Now Jones will get a chance to play against his latest former team Tuesday. He started his NBA career with Golden State and was with Atlanta last season.
“We certainly wish him well,” Williams said. “He’s a good kid. He works his tail off and I hope he does well except against us.”
Jones was favoring his back Sunday. After the game, Jones said there was stiffness, but felt his back would be good ‘in a couple of days” and it wasn’t anything “too major.”
Tuesday will mark a “couple of days.” Considering Jones is trying to turn that 10-day into a deal for the rest of the season and Phoenix waiving him, hard to believe he’s going to miss that game.
‘They’re the standard’
With or without Jones, the Lakers still are a championship contender.
Without Davis, they’re not nearly as formidable, but Williams understands what the Suns still are facing.
“Right now, they’re the standard,” Williams said. “They’re the champions. So we know we have to bring a great effort and execution.”
Looking at the Lakers’ latest starting lineup, Phoenix may start Crowder instead of Frank Kaminsky III. Crowder guarded James in the 2020 finals in the Orlando bubble.
Mikal Bridges is Phoenix’s top perimeter defender, but would be giving up a minimum 50 pounds trying to guard James. He may be better suited checking Markieff Morris.
The 2021 Arizona Interscholastic Association’s high school girls basketball regular season has entered its final week. The 1A and 2A conference state playoffs begin March 6 and 10, respectively, and March 9 for 3A through 6A.
Several 6A teams Phoenix Xavier Prep, Gilbert Perry and Chandler Hamilton, Gilbert Highland and the defending state champion Surprise Valley Vista have sustained their powerhouse status and are in this week’s top 10 for the AIA 6A power rankings, per its AZPreps365 website.
But the small ball, guard-oriented 6A East Valley region’s Mesa-area high school teams, including Dobson (11-2), Mesa (10-4), Westwood (14-1), are at eye-level with those 6A giants’ records in The Republic’s weekly conference rankings and AIA power rankings.
Despite most of those Mesa teams’ starting lineups being undersized, they boast consistent offensive players and efficient defensive backcourts, with the likes of Westwood senior Mya Johnson and junior Nikkianna Kinsel, Dobson senior Rachel Early and junior Jaden Leslie, and the 6A conference’s top two scorers in Mesa sophomore Ashiian Hunter (21.2 points per game) and junior Mackenzie Shivers (15.9).
Early, Johnson, and Shivers each reached their 1,000th career point in February.
“We’ve just been playing together for awhile now since about seventh and eighth grade and we just know each other,” Shivers said about her on-court chemistry with Hunter. “We share the ball and we just know where each other is, and we’re just looking to get each other the ball all the time.”
The rise of these Mesa teams is attributed to three things: Their small ball-style offense, their passionate fan bases and their best upperclass players staying at their schools instead of opting for prep programs to increase their college recruitment prospects.
“I think it’s because we’re keeping our kids in boundary,” Mesa coach Katie Fonseca said. “We’re keeping our kids at Mesa. We’re not losing our kids to some prep schools. We preach Mesa Pride, team above self, and we get the kids to buy into what we’re selling at Mesa. Our school has a lot of tradition. Kids all want that.”
Early wanted to keep her legacy at Dobson and pass the torch to her younger teammates.
“I stayed and didn’t go play prep because I truthfully love Dobson,” Early said. “There’s something about the
atmosphere of the school and the excitement for each game that I just could not wrap my head around giving up. Looking at all the banners in our gym, there is absolutely nothing I want more than to put up one of our own. In addition, I have such an opportunity to be a mentor and role model for the younger girl on my team, and I wanted to stay so that I could help them reach their goals, too.”
Several of the Mesa high schools draw fans from the nearby Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community for home games, adding to the spirited atmosphere as more fans have been allowed at games recently. The community brings the ”Rezball” spirit to the gyms, a reference to ”reservation ball” and the competitive love of the game among Arizona’s Native American communities.
Last Thursday and Friday night had two of the top four Mesa-area teams face other in crosstown rivalry matchups that drew big turnouts. This resulted from the AIA’s new ruling on Feb. 16 that schools can decide their own numbers of fans to attend winter sports events for the remainder of the season.
Last week’s games saw Mesa Desert Ridge versus Westwood and Dobson versus Mesa, each with a playoff atmosphere with a raucous crowd.
“Just from the rezball, bringing what we kind of call an ‘extra hypeman’ because we hear it and it gets your vibes up. It really gets you going, especially the team,” Leslie said.
Westwood won at home, 49-36, and Dobson lost to Mesa at home, 41-38.
“This is actually the biggest crowd we’ve had all season,” said Dobson coach Henry Bribiescas. “I know the AIA changed their policy on who could come to games, so it has made a difference. I know how team’s travel well, our fans go to the games and they cheer, and it gets loud.”
Looking for playoffs
Mesa Desert Ridge (10-5) record has emerged from being a 6A basement dweller to a playoff contender after missing the postseason and producing just one winning season over the past 10 years.
The Jaguars could possibly have a first-round playoff home game as a higher seed.
“What’s difficult with the Mesa teams is their style of play is so different than anybody else,” Desert Ridge head coach Erin O’Bryan said. “They shoot the 3s from everywhere, so you gotta defend the 3-point line. They drive to pass, they don’t just drive to score. And when they drive, they lean into you. They really like to take advantage of teams that like to play pressure defense, and that’s what we like to do.”
Hamilton, Perry, and Valley Vista’s respective head coaches Trevor Neider, Andrew Curtis, and Rachel Matakas each told The Republic that they agree with O’Bryan’s assessment that size and speed can be an advantage or disadvantage for the playoffs, even though their own teams may have more depth on the bench.
“Seen a bunch
of Mesa and Westwood
on film and we played Dobson. All three (Westwood, Mesa and Dobson) have tremendous guard play, and in the playoffs you rely heavily on your guards,” Curtis said. “They are each a little different in their styles they play but all effective. The coaches for each of those teams are top notch and will put their teams in a good position to be successful.
“Westwood is the traditional runand-gun 3s and layups, pressure defense. Mesa runs a really good 1-3-1 (defense), let their two main guards go to work, (and their) role players are tough and completely bought in. Dobson mixes up its defense and presses, offense is more traditional with sets to get it to their best players.”
When the AIA revealed its 6A power rankings on Feb. 11 for the first time this season, Westwood was at the top, Dobson was fifth, and Desert Ridge was eighth. The rankings determine whether a team makes the playoffs and where they are seeded.
The majority of the The Republic’s top 10 teams in the 6A conference were in that poll and remain there.
Mesa was not in that poll yet moved up to No. 9 after its win over Dobson on Friday.
Desert Ridge has since fallen to No. 13, while Westwood and Dobson are third and fourth in the poll.
‘We can all hang with them’
It was a stark contrast from last season when Mesa finished on a 15-13 record and barely got into the playoffs as a 15th seed after winning in the play-in round. The Jackrabbits four-year coach Fonseca had a 29-53 record before this season.
Desert Ridge was at 6-21 last year, Dobson was at 21-8 and missed the postseason.
Westwood was a seventh seed at 24-5 after almost knocking out No. 2 Phoenix Pinnacle in overtime in the state quarterfinals, led by its former 6foot-7 top recruit Kennedy Basham.
“I feel like we can all hang with them, even if we’re all small or not their height. We’re still as skilled as them. I feel like anyone could win it this year,” Westwood’s Johnson said.
During this regular season, Westwood’s only loss was to Valley Vista, 5739, on Feb. 19 and Dobson’s first loss was to Westwood, 38-33, on Feb. 2.
Westwood coach Ron Campton knows his Warriors’ Tuesday game at Mesa will be another hard-fought test, readying his team for the playoffs like all their other matchups against 6A East Valley region teams.