Allen team MVP? Takeaways from Suns’ win over 76ers
The Phoenix Suns looked ugly early, continued to turn the ball over at an alarming rate and one of their Big 3 had just three points on 1-of-6 shooting, but they still won.
The Suns bounced back from giving up 82 points in the first half of Sunday’s loss at Milwaukee to end a four-game road trip to top Philadelphia, 115-102, Wednesday night before a sellout crowd of 17,071 at Footprint Center.
The Suns (40-29) overcame shooting 25% percent to start the game and scored just 12 points in the game’s first 8 minutes and 30 seconds to top the 76ers, who remain without injured reigning MVP Joel Embiid (knee).
Phoenix also committed 23 turnovers that led to 29 Philadelphia points and Bradley Beal struggled offensively, but Grayson Allen helped cover up those ills with a game-high 32 points to tie a season-high, hitting 9-of-15 from deep to tie his career high for most made 3s in a game.
Kevin Durant added 22 points in passing Shaquille O’Neal for eighth on the NBA’s all-time scoring list while Devin Booker nearly posted a triple-double of 18 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds.
Kelly Oubre Jr. led the 76ers (38-31) with 18 points against Phoenix, where he played and averaged 18.7 points in the 2019-20 season. Philadelphia only got a six-point effort out of first-time All-Star Tyrese Maxey, who came into the game averaging a career-best 26.1 points a game.
Beal had something to do with Maxey’s performance.
The Suns face the Hawks (30-38) on Thursday. Atlanta hasn’t played since Monday’s 136-105 loss to the Lakers on their five-game road trip that ends in Phoenix. Trae Young has been out with a left fifth finger torn ligament as he last played on Feb. 23 against Toronto coming out of the All-Star break.
This will be the third straight game the Suns have faced an opponent without its best player. The Bucks didn’t have Giannis Antetokounmpo due to a hamstring injury and Embiid missed Wednesday’s game for Philadelphia. Here are several takeaways from Wednesday’s game.
Allen the team MVP?
Durant is the team’s best player and has been its top guy on both ends.
Booker is having a season worthy of All-NBA consideration and Beal has battled through injuries to show beyond flashes of what he can bring in his first season in Phoenix, but Allen has been the team’s MVP this season.
He was the best player the Suns acquired in the three-team trade before training camp with Milwaukee and Portland. Allen came over from the Bucks.
He’s earned the fifth starting spot with the Big 3 — and 7-footer Jusuf Nurkic.
He’s leading the NBA in 3-point shooting, has become one of the Suns’ best players and someone they can’t afford to move forward without this offseason. Phoenix has his Bird rights and can offer him a deal near the end of this month. He spaces the floor for the Big 3, takes on the challenge of guarding the opponent’s better perimeter players and plays hard. Who knows where the Suns would be without him.
Vogel on turnovers: ‘Hacking’ all night
Suns coach Frank Vogel acknowledged the 76ers force turnovers. Philadelphia is top five in that category at 14.6 a game.
He continued by saying the 76ers gamble defensively. Can’t really generate those numbers without doing so.
Vogel didn’t stop there.
“They grab and hold,” he said. “Quite frankly, they foul. They foul all night long and the refs didn’t call it all night long. We can look at our passing. which can be better, but they’re hacking us across the arm all night.”
Vogel wasn’t done yet.
“Freedom of movement rules that are in place don’t apply to Kevin Durant, apparently because he can’t take two steps without getting rerouted off his spot, which is a freaking joke,” he continued. “That’s what I’ll say about the turnovers.”
Alrighty then, Coach. He should expect call from the league after this latest
rant about the officiating, but here’s the deal. Teams are going to continue to play the Suns physical, particularly Durant, who had four turnovers as did Nurkic. Beal led the Suns in TOs with five while Eric Gordon, Bol Bol, Booker and Allen each had two.
23 turnovers led to 29 Philly points
First off, the Suns not only turn it over, but they often have ball turnovers that lead to transition opportunities for the opponent. Philadelphia scored 29 points off 23 Phoenix turnovers. Sounds crazy, but this continues a trend for the Suns, it’s not something new.
Phoenix doesn’t handle pressure defenses from teams that rally back after falling behind. That’s a huge reason why the Suns struggle to close in the fourth quarter.
They tend to overpass when looking to make the extra pass that Vogel has preached all season, but also make bad decisions with some of those looks.
It’s multiple issues. Add not having a primary ball handler. Being careless. The foul component has some validity to it, but it’s like a defensive back in football. If he holds the receiver five times in seven plays, he’ll get called for pass interference once, maybe twice, but won’t see a flag for the remaining three and one of those could lead to a turnover.
Phoenix can keep complaining about the officiating, but playing through it, being more careful with the ball and actually taking the shot when it’s there are ways to address the turnover problem. The Suns sometimes dribble in the lane and have a short floater or jumper, but aren’t even looking at the rim.
They’re trying to find shooters for 3s to raise that number of 3-point attempts Vogel wants.