The Suns get a win on Dave King’s Bright Side Night.
The Suns WIN!
I’ll keep this quick:
Bright Side fans, thank you for your passion and support for John Voita and the crew. I am Trevor Booth. You might know me from the team’s run to the 2021 NBA Finals and in my opinion, a not-so-hot take (or now … cool ) that Devin Booker is a top-3 player in our league we love. Looks like I’m eating crow (come on Book)!
I know it’s been a while, but I hope you enjoy my deep love and desire to deliver news about the Phoenix Suns. So without further adieu, let’s recap.
Phoenix’s 115-104 loss to the lowly Charlotte Hornets sent the Suns in a tailspin. Thankfully, they were able to get out of it in time to win Thursday’s game at Footprint Center over the Trae-Young-led Atlanta Hawks, 123-115. The Suns improved to 17-19.
Top Performers
- Bradley Beal: 25 PTS (11-of-16 FG, 2-of-5 3-point FG), 7 REB, 3 STL, 2 AST, 1 BLK
- Kevin Durant: 23 PTS (9-of-15, 2-of-7), 7 AST, 3 BLK, 2 REB
- Devin Booker: 20 PTS (9-of-21, 0-of-8), 12 AST, 3 REB
- Per Suns, Beal and Allen became the first pair of Suns bench players to score 20-plus points in the same game since 2022.
I won’t ever tell people what to do, but meditating on positive words has kept my blood from boiling over. The Suns are the main cause of my stress. So here’s a good one!
“What you’re trying to do is take the other guy’s will to win away.” – the late, great Bill Russell.
Transparency Time!
As an eight-year reporter, it’s an important value for me to be fully accountable for my words and actions. I also should share with you whenever I am adding some juice to my analysis, so let me be clear:
I’ve considered the reset button being pressed since last November. Bradley Beal’s move to the bench seemed to me to be a sign of negligence to its “Big 3” tenure. Beal, who some consider to have the NBA’s worst contract, is a true professional, through and through, and I think his agent Mark Bartelstein’s comments indicated that he is focused on winning as a Sun.
Unfortunately, there has been a lack of just that, winning. But I was encouraged by this win over the Hawks.
So let’s go recap.
Game Recap
First Half
Some of you may be wondering why the Suns had 68 points, shot 60% from the field, had KD, Book and Brad ALL in double-digit scoring and they still trailed at halftime. In case you missed the game, I was as stunned as you are when I went to build this recap.
Let’s get the negative out of the way. The Suns allowed the Hawks to make 12-of-18 threes. Trae Young led Atlanta with 13 points, but it was the hot shooting from estranged former Sun David Roddy (3 3-pointers), Bogdan Bogdanovic (3 3-pointers), who was questionable to play with right knee inflammation), and Vit Krejci (2 3-pointers) that kept the Hawks in front with 72 first-half points. Why, can’t, the Suns, guard, the 3!?
But Kevin Durant was there to save us. The 36-year-old legend who has carried the Suns through what I’ve said is a failure of a two-year stretch of play led us with 16 points, making 6-of-6 shots from two. He also had four rebounds – second-most behind Book, who had seven – and two turnovers. Gotta limit those takeaways for the opponents.
I thought Book and our glorious king to me was better than he’s been for most, not all, of his up-and-down, career-turning year. I’ve read comments from Suns fans who believe Book has regressed, but he has had good games this year. He had 13 points and seven assists, like I said, against one turnover.
Here’s the good news: The Suns trailed by four, and they had a much better chance to pull out a second-half win. They are a much older, experienced group than the Hawks (the Suns’ average age is 28.4 and Atlanta’s is the youngest at 25.1), so in a barn-burner I thought the Suns would come away with a win.
Curious as to some other key stats? Look no further! (Author’s note: Once NBA.com updates its advanced stats, I will have this article updated with some of those numbers for tomorrow’s early bird reading).
- Suns: 26-of-43 FG, 7 offensive boards, 18 assists on 26 shots, 8 personal fouls, 3 blocked shots.
- Tyus Jones, who I have said is the most consistent Sun: 10 PTS (4-of-7 FG, 2-of-3 3-point FG), 2 AST, 2 TO
- Ryan Dunn, who I will be writing a story on this weekend, played just 4:55, finishing with 3 first-half fouls. No good, Dunn.
- NO JUSUF NURKIC? Yes, our Bosnian Beast did not play at ALL. Oso Ighodaro was our backup center, playing just under 11 minutes.
- No Bol Bol, either. Sorry, Bolievers.
Mason Plumlee is one of my favorite players as a former big man myself in high school, but he needs to be better. He had just two points. Our managing editor, John Voita, points out on X the Suns’ centers contribute the lowest PPG in the NBA. Ouch.
To the second half, fans!
Second Half
The third-quarter Phoenix Suns have sent my heart rate into a flurry. Yes, even though my objectivity remains king in my heart, my childhood attachment to this franchise makes me want to hurl in nervousness at times.
Not tonight!
Suns win the third, 30-20. Here are some notable statistics:
- 14-of-24 FG
- 4 forced TOs to 8 pts
That carried over to a fourth quarter that … didn’t make sense as I was putting this together.
Why do the Suns do this!
It looked like all was on its way to a blowout win. But, in my writing block of a game recap, I looked up and saw the Hawks went on a 10-0 run and were down just 120-115 with 1:22 left.
Thank the Lord Jesus for Mr. Grayson. 2-point shot, Suns lead, and Trevor can write his recap peacefully, as the Suns go on to win 123-115.
Suns notes, from the media team:
– Durant has now scored 20+ points in 12 consecutive game. With his 20 points, he now needs 372 more points to reach 30,000 for his career. He’d become the 8th player in NBA history to reach the milestone.
Tonight marks Beal’s 11th 20+ point performance of the season, while his season high for scoring is 28 (done twice).
– Reaching a double-double, tonight marks Booker’s sixth double-double of the season, his 60th all-time and his third-straight. His three-straight double-doubles tie as his longest streak of double-doubles, having also done so during the 2018-19 season. This marks the first time in his career that he has dished 10+ assists in three-straight games. Booker’s season high for assists is 12 (done two times). With his 20 points tonight, he now needs 381 points to surpass Walter Davis as the Suns all-time leading scorer.
I want to credit the Suns’ 3-point defense. It’s been bad. Suns are No. 21 in the NBA in that mark. But three second-half threes? We’ll go with that and have a good night’s sleep.
Fourth-quarter stats that will make you happy:
- 12 to 4 rebounding! Woo!
- Hawks: 2-of-7 3-point FG
- Suns: 9-of-18 FG, 4-of-7 3-point FG
- Grayson: 10 PTS (3-of-3 FG, 2-of-2 3-point FG)
Seven Suns turnovers led to eight Hawks points, so goes to show why the Suns let the game let closer than it should.
Up Next
Suns will look to continue their winning ways on Saturday against the Utah Jazz.
I want to thank you, Suns fans, for putting me in a position to write for John, Matthew and Co. Dave King, who was honored tonight, is a meaningful man in my career. I wouldn’t be here posting without his belief in a 21-year-old journalism student who just wanted to show his heart for people to love his storytelling.
Until next time.