It wasn’t necessarily the best response from the Phoenix Suns, given how they last performed against a depleted tanking unit, but that’s when it’s good to get season highs from both Devin Booker and Jalen Green, the fuel for a 123-108 win over the Indiana Pacers.
Booker posted 43 points on 14-of-31 shooting with seven rebounds, five assists, two turnovers, a steal and a block in 35 minutes. This followed up his 62-point bonanza in Indiana two years ago.
Green contributed 36 points on 14-of-23 shooting with three rebounds, four assists, five turnovers and three steals in 34 minutes. He’s now had his best game as a Sun in back-to-back appearances.
This was a whole lot of leaning on those two being productive inside individual spaces and that sort of spoke to the lack of energy in the game as a whole. The Suns only had 21 assists, improving their record to 14-22 when they fail to reach 25 assists. When they do reach 25, they are 25-5.
Despite the Pacers dropping to a league-worst 15-51, this was not in the bag as early as it should have been. Flashbacks to Phoenix’s terrible loss to a pickup squad Chicago Bulls team a week prior ensued. Indiana closed the first half on a 15-7 run to only trail by six.
Hit the tank button!
Indiana only gets its first-round pick if it lands 1-4 or 10-30, so the Pacers are incentivized to lose more than just about anyone. On top of T.J. McConnell (right hamstring soreness), Aaron Nesmith (right ankle injury management) and Pascal Siakam (right knee sprain) not playing, both Ivica Zubac in his Pacers debut and Andrew Nembhard sat out the second half after a strong first two quarters. Nembhard scored 23 points in 17 minutes.
The Suns responded by extending their lead to 16 in the middle of the third quarter before Indiana quickly got back within four. The Suns were too lethargic against a team that plays fast no matter who is in there. Booker said afterward he didn’t think the Suns created enough separation throughout.
That’s when Booker kept going in a 19-point third quarter to keep Phoenix in moderate control. Jordan Goodwin tried to spark the team on a sleepy evening to begin the fourth quarter, with a few energy plays doing enough to set up Green for a few more buckets that got the lead as high as 16 once more.
Booker’s now averaging 31.8 points per game in his last five contests. He was due for this type of spurt and it comes at the usual time. His monthly splits always show the numbers start to surge in January and hit a peak in March.
Green’s largest point of improvement over the last two games has been his decision-making on drives, where he’s clearly dialing down the tempo to let the shape of the floor come together easier. And if nothing stands out, he’s doing a good job of just moving the ball out for a reset instead of forcing up a bad shot or unnecessary pass. The turnovers just have to stop popping up in bunches.
The pull-up jumpers, which for four years running have yielded low efficiency for Green, are just a make-or-miss nightly outcome at this point and it’s more about limiting the unneeded ones that go up with a healthy shot clock. He shot 7-for-8 from the midrange on Thursday.
Grayson Allen did not play due to right knee injury management and presumably will be good to go for Friday’s matchup in Toronto. While Haywood Highsmith (right knee injury management) was available, he did not get in the game, and that also presumably had to do with the back-to-back. Ryan Dunn was the first wing off the bench, a slight surprise, but rookie Rasheer Fleming topped him in minutes 23-16 and had a pair of highlight blocks.
The Suns have now won six of their last seven games. Anyone on the team would agree they are not playing their best basketball at the moment but all playoff teams have to have a sequence of the season when they’re able to win through a bit of a funk. Check that box for Phoenix.
Speaking of the playoffs, Phoenix (39-27) in seventh has a chance to end the night tied in the loss column if the Denver Nuggets (40-26) lose to the San Antonio Spurs. The Minnesota Timberwolves also sit at 26 losses, while the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers each have 25, setting up quite the final month for the regular season playoff picture in the Western Conference.
