Rubio returning, Oubre Jr. out
Suns look to rebound in New York after loss
QUEENS, N.Y. – Monty Williams didn’t want to make excuses after Phoenix lost Tuesday night at Atlanta, which has the NBA's worst record.
However, the Suns managed just 20 assists without starting point guard Ricky Rubio, who was out for family reasons as he awaited the birth of his child.
“The ball movement was deflating,” Williams said. “It was something you could feel. It was tangible. That wasn’t us. Now you can say Ricky wasn’t out there and that hurt us, but any five guys on the floor knows how to play the way that we play. So, it’s something we should expect.”
The Suns (16-24) are expecting Rubio to rejoin them for Thursday’s game at New York (11-30). Phoenix beat New York, 120-112, to open their recent fivegame homestand.
“His composure and the way he handles the game, time, score and possession, is something that nobody can replace,” Suns guard Devin Booker said.
As Rubio returns, Phoenix won't have Kelly Oubre Jr., who is listed out on a concussion protocol. He fouled out of Tuesday’s game with 40 seconds remaining.
Mikal Bridges
Oubre’s place.
“We got to share the ball a little bit more,” said Bridges, after scoring 15 points off the bench Tuesday.
The Suns are second in the NBA in assists at 27.6 per game, largely because of Rubio, who is second in the league in assists (9.3 a game) behind LeBron James.
Without Rubio on Tuesday, they nearly matched their season low of 19 assists set in last week’s 98-94 victory over Orlando.
“That’s not who we’ve been,” Williams said. “Certainly not having Ricky on the floor hurt.”
Elie Okobo started in Rubio’s place and didn’t score on 0-of-4 shooting in nearly 21 minutes of action. The secondyear guard had three assists and no turnovers.
“He controls the pace of the game,” said Bridges about Rubio. “Has the ball in his hands. He makes so many plays. likely will start in
Helps Book go without the ball in his hands and gives him a little bit of a rest as well. It's another ball handler out there that's out there that can create and shoot and make a play. He was really missed.”
Phoenix will reach the midway point of the season Thursday in the postseason picture.
The Suns are 21⁄2 games out of the eighth and final playoff spot held by Memphis, winners of its last six games. Coming off a 121-110 upset win Tuesday over Houston, the Grizzlies (19-22) are 2-1 against the Suns with both wins coming in Phoenix.
Phoenix looked to be trending upward as well after going 3-2 on a fivegame homestand, winning the last two over Orlando and Charlotte. The Suns held both teams under 100 points and were confident going into Tuesday’s game at Atlanta.
“Feeling good,” Booker said after Monday night’s practice. “We want to use this momentum from the past two games and carry it on this road trip. I think this will be a good way for us to open it up. Come out ready to play. Like I said, we can’t control whether we make or miss the shot, but we control our energy and effort. If we have that tomorrow, I think we’ll be in good shape.”
Twenty-four hours later, the Suns fell to the Hawks (9-32) to open a threegame road trip as they yielded 39 points in the fourth quarter.
“A little lack of focus closing out the game,” Suns center Deandre Ayton said. “I think we got away from playing the right way. That just tells (the story of) the game. Only 20 assists. We weren't sharing the ball enough. We just weren't playing our game."
Down 117-108 with 1:35 remaining, Booker was ejected after receiving his second technical of the night for taunting DeAndre’ Bembry after driving by him for a dunk.
“I'm not getting fined,” said Williams minutes after Tuesdays’ game. “I'm keeping my money. It's silly. I'm not even going to do it. There's taunting going on the whole game and we decide to call a taunting tech that late in the game, it makes no sense to me. There's taunting going on all game. If you're going to call that, you have to be consistent and that's exactly what I told the officials.”
Booker and Bembry drew double
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technical fouls in the first half.
“The first technical was because he was under the impression that I flipped off (Bembry) when I was simply pointing at the scoreboard,” Booker explained. “When the defender said, 'I'm locking that up,' I just pointed up at the scoreboard and the ref thought I flipped him off. The second one, dunk, I looked back and said, 'I can do that every time.'”
This was a carryover from the first meeting Phoenix won last November at home. Bembry was ejected from that one after getting two technical fouls in the third quarter.
Trae Young led the Hawks with 36 points and 10 assists as Atlanta had three players score at least 22 points. Kevin Huerter nearly posted a tripledouble of 23 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists and John Collins finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
“Always good to come together and get a nice team win and have some of our young core pieces get going like we did,” Collins said.” Seeing everybody get in the flow of the offense is calming a little bit and hopefully we can build off this."
Ayton supplied 20 points on 10-of-14 shooting and 10 rebounds in just his ninth game of the season as he came off the bench for a third straight game since returning from the ankle injury. Ayton earlier missed 25 games after the opener due to a suspension.
“We didn’t win,” Ayton said. “My job is to make sure we win. I don’t really go for the stats. Just win. Dominance on both ends of the court. That’s the only thing I go for.”