Suns top NBA-leading Jazz in overtime
This wasn’t just another game. Phoenix and Utah laid it on the line like the top two teams in the NBA should when facing each other.
The fans were more than into it Wednesday night and left Phoenix Suns Arena having seen their home team show why they are for real in a primetime matchup on ESPN.
Responding to every Utah surge, Phoenix pulled out another close one, 117113, before a crowd of 5,110 as the Suns increased their fan limit to “5,500-plus” amid the COVID-19 pandemic to take the season series and now own the tiebreaker over the Jazz.
“It was real intense,” Suns All-Star Devin Booker said. “Both teams played very hard. Defended very well. Just a battle throughout. It was really fun to be a part of it. Probably the closest to a playofftype atmosphere I think we’ve faced this year, but it was fun.”
The Suns will complete the second half of a pivotal back-to-back Thursday night at the Los Angeles Clippers (34-18), who can win the season series and own the tiebreaker over Phoenix with a win at STAPLES Center.
“Let’s get it,” Booker said. “That’s Let’s just get it.”
Winners of seven straight, Phoenix (36-14) is now just 1-1/2 games behind the NBA-leading Jazz in the Western Conference. Chris Paul hit two free throws with 7.8 seconds Wednesday night left to finally put away the Jazz (38-13), losers of two straight.
“We treated this game like a playoff game,” Suns center Deandre Ayton said. “We did everything we wanted to do. We made them feel uncomfortable and we stuck to our game. No matter how the game went, we stuck together and we
it.
keep positivity and energy in the air. That’s what teams struggle with, our energy. We don’t really get down too much when adversity hits. That’s when we really play our best.”
Booker finished with a team-high 35 while Paul posted 29 points and nine assists.
“We did a good job of just weathering the storm,” Paul said.
“We were in the locker room talking about it. We needed a game like that where guys had to play heavy minutes.”
Booker played a game-high 44 minutes while Paul and Ayton clocked 43 and 41 minutes, respectively.
“The intensity of it,” Paul continued. “The crowd was great and just that energy. We haven’t played too many games like that. It’s good to get a few games like that under our belt going into this stretch
run before the playoffs.”
Fellow All-Star Donovan scored a game-high 41.
“That was playoff basketball,” Mitchell said.
Utah forced overtime on Mitchell’s transition 3 with 10.8 seconds left. This was after Phoenix went up four on Jae Crowder 3 with 2:05 left in regulation.
Booker missed a 3 contested by Mitchell at the buzzer in the fourth, but the Suns opened OT with a quick 5-0 burst capped by a Cam Johnson 3 off a Booker screen.
“There’s no deflation,” Johnson said. “We all live for games like this and it’s just part of the game. All of us have been playing this game for so long. We’ve seen crazier things. There was no deflation at all. Guys were ready to go in overtime, ready to get back after them. I think we
Mitchell carried that over into scored right off the tip.”
Booker and Paul combined to score 12 of Phoenix’s 15 points in overtime as those two alone outscored Utah in the extra session. Paul’s third and final 3 of the game gave the Suns a 114-108 lead with 62 seconds left.
“This is fun,” Paul said. “I’m excited about the things to come.”
In turn, the Jazz missed all four of their 3-point attempts in overtime with Mitchell going 0-for-3 from deep to complete an uncharacteristic effort on 3s.
Coming into the game second in the league in 3-point percentage at 39.5%, Utah shot a woeful 11-of-44 from distance Wednesday night.
“They’re a good defensive team and we weren’t as dialed in as we needed to be in order to attack them,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. “We had some shots, but sometimes made shots bail you out.”
The Suns outrebounded Utah, 61-45, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds that led to 18 second-chance points. The 61 rebounds was a season high for Phoenix.
“We all got to get the rebounds, especially me,” said Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic as he finished with one rebound in 40 minutes of play.
“Got to be more aggressive and help my teammates.”
While the Jazz gutted the Suns with 62 points in the paint, Phoenix raced out to 21 fast-break points.
“We did a very good job defensively for the most of the game, except a few times they got about six layups,” All-Star Jazz center Rudy Gobert said.
“Whether we took a bad shot or turned it over. we didn’t run back. We’ve got to clean those up.”
Before the game, Jazz forward Royce O’Neale said Utah was going to treat this matchup like a “playoff game” as he expected a “playoff atmosphere.”
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