A BAD LOSS
Suns’ preseason defeat cannot be dismissed
Monty Williams thought Adelaide 36ers played “the game of their lives” Sunday, but said his Phoenix Suns didn’t give the NBL team out of Australia “the respect they deserved as a pro team.”
Chris Paul begs to differ.
“I know I definitely respected them, and I think the guys did,” the Suns 12-time All-Star said.
The level of respect can be debated, but the 36ers earned that to the fullest in stunning the Suns, 134124, at Footprint Center.
“Just to see how those dudes did not take this opportunity for granted,” Suns center Deandre Ayton said. “Those boys came out to play and they listened to their coach. They had their head on their shoulders and that’s what’s you expect out of a team coming to
play an NBA team.”
Ayton was a rookie when the New Zealand Breakers nearly beat the Suns in preseason before losing, 91-86, at home.
Phoenix proceeded to win only 19 games that season.
The Suns have won many, many more since then, but fell to the 36ers in their first game since that Game 7 flop against Dallas in the Western Conference semifinals.
“They played a heck of a game,” Paul said. “It’s a preseason game. Our first time playing together, not all of us, but some of us. We lost. Got to get ready for the next one.”
The “next one” is Wednesday in Las Vegas against the Los Angeles Lakers.
If the Suns come out flat again, don’t defend at a higher level and lack energy, then they not only didn’t learn from Sunday’s upset, but something is wrong with them as a group.
“Flush it quickly and move on,” Ayton said. “This is preseason. We’re still learning at the end of the day. It’s unacceptable, but at the same time, we’re just getting back and we’re just trying to polish up some things to get ourselves better.”
‘Principles were messed up’
When the usually happy Mikal Bridges looks upset all night because of how the Suns were playing against an opponent they should’ve beaten, that’s cause for concern.
The Suns went 0-4 in the 2020 preseason, but reached the 2021 NBA Finals. So all isn’t lost, but just flushing Sunday’s stunner may not be in their best interest, either.
“Just our habits, our principles were messed up and stuff,” Bridges said. “We’ve got to be better. Just frustration on when we were out there and when the second unit was out there, it was just things that we were messing up on. Just trying to teach guys, but you want to win every time you’re out there and play at our best and our way.”
This is after having what Williams called a great week of training camp.
So that further begs the question of how can the Suns follow that up with a dud performance after an open practice the day before that saw 12,000 fans come out to support them?
The Suns certainly have distractions. The backlash from the Robert Sarver investigation findings led the majority owner to announce he will sell the team.
Jae Crowder wants out as the Suns have been trying to trade him.
Ayton said last week he and Williams hadn’t talked since that Game 7 flop.
Despite all of that, Williams said he’ll take the team where it is right now, believes they’re in a good place and will be in a better place.
Then they lose a preseason game to an NBL team.
Phoenix not only trailed by as many as 16 points, they lost despite scoring 32 points off 24 Adelaide turnovers.
What the Suns possibly could’ve taken for granted was the 36ers have several “imports,” or American players looking to prove they can play in the NBA.
Craig Randall II, Robert Franks and Antonius Cleveland showed and proved plenty Sunday. They combined for 89 points and drained 18-of-31 3s.
Randall scored a game-high 35, Franks went for 32 and Cleveland added 22.
They all know the NBA. Franks and Cleveland both played in the league while Randall spent time in the G League.
Randall may have even more incentive as he played at Shadow Mountain.
Whatever the motivation, they cooked the Suns. Period.
“We have a lot of firepower,” 36ers coach C.J. Bruton said. “Putting the team together, I thought that with our competition like the NBA, you have to be able to stretch the floor and make threes.”
Randall, Franks and Cleveland played between 30 and 42 minutes while the Suns starters each played 22.
Had the Suns starters played more, this is probably a different outcome, but that just means the reserves failed to make up the difference. Williams, who
said he rarely looks at the plus/minus, took time to point out how all the reserves had a minus.
New Suns guard Damion Lee, Torrey Craig and Cameron Payne, who scored a team-high 23 points, each had minus-21.
Sunday’s game was won and lost at the 3-point line.
The 36ers were unconscious in hitting 24-of-43 from deep while the Suns struggled to an 9-of-34 effort, with Johnson, their best 3-point shooter, missing all four of his 3s.
“I felt like they all should’ve gone in,” said Johnson about his 3s. “It happens.”
Backup questions, some bright spots
The outcome might be more acceptable if Phoenix didn’t know anything about Adelaide — but it did.
The Suns had film on the 36ers. Williams said they knew the 36ers could shoot the ball, but the Suns still didn’t run them off the 3-point line to force a two attempt after a hot start.
“They didn’t feel the pressure,” Bridges said. “They were comfortable and once they were comfortable, they were confident and they’re all hoopers at the end of the day. Just because they’re not in the league doesn’t mean that they can’t hoop.”
The NBL team even played a game Friday against Overtime Elite and won by just five points, 86-81, at The PHHACILTY in Phoenix.
So, a team that barely beat an upstart program was able to soundly defeat an NBA championship contender who had the league’s best record last season.
Williams can say he only played the starters 22 minutes. His goal was to play the starters in seven-minute spurts the first three quarters and sit them the entire fourth.
He can call out the team for having a lack of respect for the opponent and give the 36ers credit for playing harder and knocking down shots.
He’s not offline with any of that, but one can take the following away from Sunday’s loss.
Phoenix wasn’t prepared from the start, didn’t adjust to Adelaide’s hot shooting and the bench needs work. Major work.
Williams has some decisions to make on whether to keep Craig as the backup four or move Dario Saric into that role because new Suns big Jock Landale looks like he’ll be the backup five to Ayton.
Landry Shamet shot 2-of-8 at shooting guard while Payne took a game-high 19 shots to score 23.
“Everybody is trying to figure it out is what I saw,” said Johnson about the second unit. “Everybody is trying to figure out where their shots are coming from, where their activity comes from. How the ball moves and it’s time you have to go through that every year.”
In a regular season NBA game, Booker is taking the most shots most of the time and playing 35-plus minutes.
Bridges, Ayton and Paul are all playing 30-plus as is Johnson as a starter, but the Suns need their bench to come together so the starters don’t have to log major minutes for the team to win.
Phoenix had strong individual performances Sunday.
Ayton and Bridges each scored 22 points and showed new elements to their game.
Bridges handled the ball more in the open court and half-court and Ayton used the bounce to take the ball to the basket after facing up on the defense.
Paul had a team-high 12 assists as he and Ayton looked on the same pick-androll page.
Booker scored just 13, but made 5of-8 shots and four assists to just one turnover.
Payne had just two turnovers and finished a team-high 6-of-6 from the line by getting to the rim.
Even Landale, who missed all four of his 3s, was active in posting 12 points and six rebounds.
There were positive, but not enough to erase losing by 10 at home to the 36ers. Had Adelaide not committed so many turnovers, this could’ve been even worse.
Up next, the Lakers.
Respect shouldn’t be a problem.
If it is, the Suns have an even bigger problem.