Bench cooks, starters need rest
Devin Booker closed the show amid foul trouble, but the Phoenix Suns bench received the game ball after Thursday’s 128-115 win over the short-handed Atlanta Hawks before a sellout crowd of 17,071 at Footprint Center.
The Phoenix reserves scored 47 to the Hawks’ 26 bench points. Eric Gordon generated 21 points off the bench while Royce O’Neale added 14 as each nailed 4of-6 from 3.
Drew Eubanks brought a level of energy and physicality in posting seven points, four rebounds and three blocks. Bol Bol added five points and three rebounds in 11 minutes.
Booker hit a trio of 3s in the game’s last 2:49 to keep the Hawks (30-39) at bay as he finished with a game-high 30 points to go along with five fouls, but the bench won this one for the Suns (41-29).
Dejounte Murray scored 29 points to lead the Hawks, but took 28 shots (made 11) as Bradley Beal played standout defense on him. De’Andre Hunter added 22.
In the second of a back-to-back, teams often need their reserves to come through. The Suns came up big in that area Thursday night.
Here are takeaways from Thursday’s win as the Suns are seventh in the West going into a five-game road trip starting Saturday in San Antonio (15-54). They have the same record as Dallas, but the Mavs own the head-to-head tiebreaker, 2-1, to put them sixth in the West.
Convincing wins hard to come by since All-Star break
The Hawks were without All-Star Trae Young (finger), Saddiq Bey (ankle) and AJ Griffin (ankle). This was the fourth straight game Phoenix played a team that was without its best player.
Atlanta had three days between Monday’s 136-105 loss to the Lakers with this being the final of a five-game road trip. So the Hawks were the fresher team and the Suns were on the second of a backto-back.
Still, Phoenix keeps making games interesting. The Suns’ last win by 15-plus points was Valentine’s Day, 116-100, over Detroit going into the All-Star break. The Pistons have the second-worst record in the league at 12-57.
At this point in the season, the easier wins in which the starters can rest the fourth quarter, the better. All five played at least 31 minutes with the 35-year-old Kevin Durant and Beal reaching 37.
The Suns will take a win any way they can, especially if they outscore their opponent, 32-22, in the fourth quarter. They’re 12 games over .500 for the first time this season. But when up 14 with 7:47 remaining in the game after a Bol 3
and Atlanta timeout, you’d like to extend that advanage to 20 instead of letting the Hawks pull within five with 5:24 left to make it a game at the end.
O’Neale on hot streak
So much for a right shoulder contusion.
O’Neale shot 4-of-4 from the field, going 3-of-3 from 3 in the first half Thursday after taking a knee from Cameron Payne to a muscle area in his shoulder in the second half of Wednesday’s win over the 76ers.
One of the bright spots from Sunday’s loss to Milwaukee was O’Neale found a rhythm on 3s in the fourth quarter. He went 4-of-5 in the fourth after going 2of-14 from distance in his previous four games. He’s gone 10-of-12 in a sevenquarter stretch.
Can’t expect him to keep that up based on his career and season percentages alone. He’s a career 38.1% shooter from 3, hitting 36.9% from deep this season.
However, O’Neale has given the Suns someone they need — a guy who can defend and hit 3s. Keita Bates-Diop didn’t deliver that before being traded right before the deadline.
Josh Okogie can defend, but he continues to struggle from 3 at 29.7% this season. He hasn’t played since March 2 due to a lower abdominal strain.
The Suns hope Okogie returns to start the five-game road trip Saturday at San Antonio. Finding a spot in the rotation will be tough for Okogie right now as Vogel is trying to figure out how to utilize Bol, Gordon and O’Neale in the rotation with certain lineups. O’Neale has certainly solidified his place in the rotation being a 3-and-D guy.
Shooting overcomes turnovers
Again, the Suns are who they are when it comes to turnovers. They’re 25th in the NBA in turnovers and show no signs of cutting down on the ill-advised passes. They can have good intentions, but many come off bad decision-making.
The Suns committed 17 turnovers that led to 21 Atlanta points a day after coughing it up 23 times and Philadelphia scoring 29 points off those. They at least scored 23 off just 11 Atlanta turnovers to offset their miscues, but the best way Phoenix has combated their mistakes is by doing what this team should do with its roster makeup.
Score. And score some more. They’ve got three of the game’s most prolific scorers, the game’s top 3-point shooter this season in Allen and two more guys who are on fire right now from 3 in Gordon and O’Neale.
Durant’s 19 points is still a head scratcher as he’s gone five straight games scoring fewer than 23 points.
This is after he averaged 33.4 points in a six-game stretch.
The Suns are 3-2 in their last five, but went 3-3 in that six-game stretch Durant was cooking.
The Suns are an offensive team that just happens to have a defensive-minded coach, but even coach Frank Vogel is living with who they are. His challenge is to get the Suns to play defense on more consecutive trips up the floor and guard the 3 better.
Better defense can lead to transition opportunities when they’re not facing a set defense, but this team is going to have to ride or die with its offense and hope they shoot it well enough to compensate for the turnovers.