The Phoenix Suns are a very weird basketball team. They have their triplet of stars go through the motions on offense, put up 39 points on 27 shots — generally have things go their way — and still found themselves down 15 at the half to the Toronto Raptors – one of the poorer teams in the NBA. The Suns are a wholly listless, uninspiring, and feckless defense. It was no surprise to see RJ Barrett getting to the rim early and often, but most teams do a decent job of making him work for it. The Suns on the other hand, did a fantastic job of opening up lanes to the rim for Barrett.
The defense looked closer to what I expect to see tomorrow at the media game.
No curved drives, just direct lines. Not to mention once the Suns finally coordinated together double teams or more aggressive at the level coverages, Barrett started dishing out assists to his rollers. All of this was ongoing, and the Raptors got 9 quick points from Gradey Dick to start the game — as he unleashed hellfire in quick succession from downtown — and Immanuel Quickley helped pace the Raptors offense as well. Also, a fun little note, Quickley is currently the NBA’s #1 pull-up 3-point shooter. He has less volume than a lot of the top names, but when he’s been healthy he has been flamethrowing.
Easy going hoops for the Raptors that allowed their star, Scottie Barnes, to operate in a fairly simplified offensive role — catching and making jumpers, throwing high-low passes — and letting him focus a lot of his attention on his deny defense against Kevin Durant on the other end – who was relatively quiet as Barnes operated as a weighted blanket.
Hell, even Orlando Robinson got to play a vaunted role in the Raptors offense as a finisher. The Suns just didn’t have the defenders available to pressure the Raptors relative lack of dribbling prowess, and they didn’t have the overall care necessary to chase them around their screens and to get into the middle of passes. The ball got moved around, and a whole heap of Raptors went up into double-figure scoring. Even as Barrett hit a bit of a wall — some missed shots, some turnovers — and the Suns got a bit of a hot stretch from Devin Booker, the Raptors just steamrolled their way ahead and kept the Suns at arms reach anyway. A Robinson dump-off, a Jamal Shead C&S triple, a Ja’Kobe Walter sprinting layup – it didn’t matter, it just happened.
To start the fourth quarter, Barnes and Quickley were doing the stiff-arming. Barnes with a nice turnaround jumper, a spot up triple, and Quickley with a couple nice plays (scoring and playmaking) out of the pick n’ roll. The two of them also combined to smother Durant for a block and a run out on the other end. Good, quality stuff from two of their best players. Still, the Suns continued their climb. They got the first 30-point performance of Bradley Beal’s season. Booker was still pouring it in. It wasn’t that the Suns defense could close the gap, but a few missed shots by the Raptors and the Suns found themselves back within 5. Then, professional villain Grayson Allen and professional hero Chris Boucher exchanged triples.
The Raptors had something in store for the Suns. That something? An insane sequence of 3-point shooting. A Dick-Quickley pitch play created a triple. The next play Quickley backpedaled across the arc until the Suns defense dissolved away from him, then the NBA’s best pull-up triplesman (?) banged one. Then Barrett hit back-to-back-to-back triples with a 4-point play added onto the last. A Raptors avalanche unfolded rapidly before us. The Suns had no recourse to withstand any of it. The lead ballooned to 15, then Barrett made a read to Boucher in the corner for a triple and that put a nail in it – Boucher scored 23, by the way. A runaway train. The Suns emptied their bench, the Raptors emptied theirs.
89 combined points between Barnes, Barrett, Quickley, and Boucher. Their big 4 went up against the Suns’ big 3 and came out on top. Good riddance.
Have a blessed day.
