Booker scores 30, but Phoenix fades late in defeat to Atlanta
The game wasn’t officially over.
Still had 8:02 left on the clock at State Farm Arena, but considering Phoenix was down 25 points in the second of a back-to-back at Atlanta after an overtime win at Cleveland in concluding a three-game road trip, Monty Williams took out the starters.
Yep. It was a wrap.
The Hawks tore through the NBA’s fifth-rated defense in handing Phoenix its worst loss of the season and snapping its five-game winning streak, 135103, Wednesday night.
“We lost a tough game to a good opponent,” Suns coach Monty Williams said. “They shot the heck out of the ball. We were a little tired. They got off to a really good start and we fought like heck until I pulled the plug, but that’s the deal. Not really anything deep about tonight. We just played our butts off, played hard and we couldn’t make shots when they presented themselves.”
It’s the most points Phoenix has allowed this season.
“We felt like we wore them down the second half and things started to open up for us,” Atlanta Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “It was really a team effort. I thought the guys tonight did a great job of executing the game plan.”
With Phoenix (47-19) losing and Utah battering San Antonio, 126-94, Wednesday, the Suns fall a full game behind the Jazz (48-18) for the top seed in the West.
The Suns own the tiebreaker over the Jazz, but four of Utah’s final six opponents are either .500 or worse while four of Phoenix’s last six games are against teams with .500 or better records starting Friday against New York at Phoenix Suns Arena.
Phoenix then goes back on the road to take on the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday and Golden State on Tuesday.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier, but Williams sees the other side of that equation.
“It doesn’t get any easier for our opponents, either,” Williams said. “That’s the way we look at it. They’ve got to play against the Phoenix Suns and I’ll put my money on my team every day. I love my team. I love the guys in our locker room. Yes, we’ve been dealt a tough schedule, but everybody has been dealt a tough schedule and our guys will be ready to play in the next game.”
Arriving in Atlanta at 2 a.m. after Tuesday’s overtime win over the Cavaliers, the Suns had COVID-19 testing three hours before an afternoon meeting.
Teams have been dealing with this throughout the shortened 72-game regular season filled with back-to-backs and three games in four days.
So Devin Booker isn’t trying to hear how those circumstances impacted Wednesday’s loss despite this being Phoenix’s eighth back-to-back in the second half of the season.
“It depends, it varies from person to person,” Booker said as he scored a game-high 30 points while Mikal Bridges added 18 for the Suns.
“I’m young and blessed to be in this situation. I’m 24 years old so I kind of look past it and don’t try to think about it because to me personally, I think it’s more mental than anything, but the season’s a grind. Seventy-two games this year and it can build up. We’re coming down that final stretch, but I think this is the most important stretch for us to be playing high-level basketball. So you have to put the excuses aside.”