Suns work to ditch their no-defense reputation
The Suns’ defensive reputation disintegrated with annual failure.
For years, the Suns were prisoners of that reputation to the point this season’s defensive improvement will not allow them to break out from it.
To most, the Suns’ revival is about a return to their fleet-footed, deep-shooting past. It has been significant, but it would be irrelevant if the Suns defense still looked like the ones that ranked in the league’s bottom 10 in four of the past five years.
This season, the Suns are allowing the NBA’s ninth-lowest opponent field-goal percentage (44.6), giving them a chance of being a top-10 defense for the first time since Jason Kidd and Cliff Robinson led the effort 13 years ago.
“It’s interesting how teams get thought of over long periods of time,” Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. “Phoenix has always been the high-scoring team that doesn’t play a lot of defense. We want to be the high-scoring team, but let’s play some defense.”
The Suns have been a better defense throughout the season but had a 1-3 slide before the All-Star break in which they allowed 48.9 percent shooting. They have won three consecutive games out of the break, holding opponents to 37.5 percent shooting.
It is only the second time in six seasons that the Suns have held three consecutive opponents to less than 40 percent shooting. That will be a tough task tonight against Houston, the NBA’s No. 5 shooting team, but it would make Phoenix this season’s only team to do it in four consecutive games besides Indiana, Golden State and Orlando.
“Nobody says nothing about de- fense,” Suns top defender P.J. Tucker said. “That’s the hilarious part. Nobody thinks about the defense. It’s so important for our team. When we play defense, we are hard to guard because we get stops and then we’re one of the best fastbreak teams.”
The defensive culture change began in training camp with Hornacek’s message that defense would earn playing time amid an open competition for jobs. New Suns assistant coach Mike Longabardi designed a defensive system that fit the talent and holds players accountable even in good times.
Tucker and Goran Dragic set the tone for effort with Dragic looking like an improved on-ball defender, surprisingly holding up in the absence of Eric Bledsoe, an elite onball defender. Gerald Green went from benched defender in Indiana to a starter wanting to change his reputation.
Center Miles Plumlee has learned on the job to be a back-line rim protector with shot-blocking ability. Channing Frye, an underrated defender because of his length and guile, and Plumlee are the biggest reasons for the Suns’ No. 7 ranking in opponent field-goal percentage inside 5 feet (56.8). When Frye and/or Plumlee are within that range, opponents make a shade less than 50 percent. Meanwhile, perimeter defenders are working hard to get over the top of screens more often and be alert as help defenders.
San Antonio was missing Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker in Friday’s loss at Phoenix but ranked second in field-goal shooting. The Spurs, finishing a nine-game trip, shot 34.9 percent.
“We contested all the shots,” Hornacek said. “There weren’t many that were wide open. If we can get that consistent effort where we are challenging every shot, it’ll keep teams to a decent percentage.
“They don’t give up on things. If they get screened, they continue to come and make challenges.”
The Suns rarely let an offense get behind them and are allowing the second-lowest 3-point percentage (32.8). They focus on denying corner 3s, which only three teams have allowed fewer than the Suns.
It would not matter much if the Suns had continued being one of the poorer defensive-rebounding teams. This has been the Suns’ best defensive-rebounding percentage month at 76.8, which would rank third-best in the NBA for a season.
“We have a goal to get to the playoffs, so we know we have to lock in,” Suns forward Marcus Morris said.
“At times, we go smaller, but by going smaller, it sometimes makes us more aggressive on ‘D’ with rotations. Coach Mike (Longabardi) does a great job of breaking everything down to a ‘T’ so we know what’s going on and where we need to be at.”
Free throw
Bledsoe’s knee rehabilitation progressed into more on-court movement and some one-on-one work against Suns player-development coach Corey Gaines.