Recap: Suns Close In 12-5 Points, Beat Hawks 117-110

After a week of struggling to shut down an opponent with a lead, the Suns scored 12 points in the final 3.5 minutes behind Chris Paul’s outburst on the shutdown.

After the Hawks tied the game at 103-103 with just over 3 minutes left, the Suns closed on a 14-7 run to beat the Hawks at home.

Dario Saric had a good game with 20 7/8 shooting points, and Jae Crowder had 19 points to help the team win when it counted.

Devin Booker had 21 points, and Deandre Ayton had 13 and 14, and one of the biggest defensive saves of the night on Trae Young with less than a minute left.

The suns win! They are now 32-14 years old on the season.

Isn’t it nice to watch the suns at a normal time? I’m not complaining about their Sunday morning affair against the Charlotte Hornets, or the plethora of 8:00 p.m. start times before the rest of the country settles and sets the clocks rolling. I’m just saying that the 7:00 p.m. departures are so nice and comfortable.

Either way, you didn’t come here to hear my take on the Suns’ scheduled start times, you came here to get a taste of what happened on Tuesday night when the Hawks went on. visited PHX Arena.

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Game flow

First half

The Suns took an early 1-0 (then 3-0) lead after a blatant foul on Clint Capela as he did not allow Jae Crowder to land on a three-point attempt. It looks like the crisis Jae found himself in during Charlotte’s game was over. He scored 9 of the Suns’ first 17 points.

A 10-point lead at the start dissipated to three points as the Suns’ first team struggled to generate an attack outside of Ayton (7) and Crowder (9). Monty made the decision to replace all unnamed Devin Booker starters with 4:16 left in the first, while the Hawks kept their starters.

Phoenix’s affinity for the three-ball continued into the first quarter, and after shooting 3-13 deep in the fourth quarter / OT on Sunday, they shot 4-13 to start on Tuesday. It’s a nice clip at 26.9%. Luckily for the Suns, they had 15 second chance points and left the first with a 30-27 lead.

Torrey Craig continued to impress as the cash counterpart sat on the bench in Milwaukee tonight. He had a nice little base dunk and first 6 points as the Suns bench outscored the Hawks’ second unit.

And Dario Saric has arrived.

Saric has been in a crisis since I put together an article on his case for Sixth Man’s review. I’m sorry Dario. I personally jinxed you for five games while doing it. Please forgive me. Saric had 13 bench points on 4-5 shots, including three that was part of an 18-2 run by Phoenix in the second quarter. The funny thing is that it all started when he accidentally rocked into a rebound. For Atlanta.

The Suns topped their Charlotte bench production before halftime, scoring 25 (turning 21 on Sunday against the Hornets). The Hawks, a 28th team in the league with 31.5 bench points, had 14.

Mika Bridges has been tasked with keeping Trae Young, the explosive keeper of the Pint, though you’ll never take out someone so talented, you can put them to work for an inch. And the manager made Trae work. He shot 3-10 in the first half and had 4 free throw attempts (good enough for a baiter who averages 8.9 per game … 3rd most in the league). HIs 8 assists is a credit for how he adjusted to what the Suns were offering him.

Phoenix found the distance from deepest in the second quarter, shooting 4-10, and took a 12-point lead at halftime. The Suns had 19 halftime assists.

Second part

News broke at halftime that due to a sprained ankle John Collins would not return to the game. Collins 9 points on 4-6 shots, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in the first half. His ability to reach the edge as a target for Young would be missed in the second half.

Devin Booker looked to score early and often in the third, creating space for midrange jumpers and hitting threes with a high arc. He went 4-for-6 in the period for 11 points.

Trae Young made three fouls in the third quarter, two of which were aimed at avoiding quick breaks. The Hawks shot him with 7:02 in the third, which put him at 4 on the game. He wouldn’t reenter the game until 9:13 left in the game.

Surprisingly, the Hawks closed the gap while Young was on the pin. Atlanta started hitting long shots, and after back-to-back super shots they closed the lead to six points with 3 minutes left in the third. Danilo Gallinari, the prized offseason acquisition, carried the Hawks through a 14-6 run to finish the quarter on 4 of 6 deep.

Phoenix got the Hawks in trouble in the third, getting the bonus with 6 minutes remaining. They did not attempt a free throw to finish the quarter.

Atlanta beat the Suns 33-25.

It was recently noted how the Suns struggled in the 4th quarter. The team started on a 9-5 run and pushed the lead to 8 with 9:13 left on a weak side dunk from Torrey Craig.

Enter Trae Young.

It turned out that this game was meant for “clutch time” moments because the Suns couldn’t shake the Hawks. Bogdan Bogdanovic and Gallinari pulled off a big line and kept their team within reach of the Suns.

The turnovers started to kick in again when Chris Paul dribbled the ball from his leg. Booker wanted to play the “Booker Ball” iso-game just like the last clutch time games and the Suns found themselves taking some cheap shots. Meanwhile, the Hawks attacked the rim and hit the line. With 3:31 to go, the game was tied.

Deandre Ayton hit a clutch flip jumper over Clint Capela to put the Suns to 2 with under 2 minutes. Mikal Bridges, after a timeout, faked a transfer and slammed a house to put the Suns in place of four. But Bogdanovic pocketed a tough three on Booker. Suns by 1.

Booker drove on the left and missed one on the window, but Ayton was there to clean up the misfire and put it home. Phoenix leads by 3 with 48.8 seconds left.

Young drove to the hoop and returned the ball into Deandrea Ayton’s hand, and after a clean pass from Chris Paul, Jae Crowder converted a four-point play as he finished the night as he started: a foul on a three pointers.

Phoenix ends in a 12-5 run, wins by 7 and moves up to 32-14 this season.

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next

It’s back tomorrow night as the Phoenix Suns host the Nikola Vucevic and Chicago Bulls. Do you remember this guy? He went for 27-14 in a one-point win for the Orlando Magic last Wednesday night. And then the Magic dealt with him (and what looks like half the team) the next day.

So Vuce twice a week. Yay! See you tomorrow!