Strong, balanced effort from Suns comes up short in OT against Clippers

PHOENIX — The winning formula for the Phoenix Suns without their leading scorers was on display Monday night against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Play with energy, limit mental mistakes on both ends and have a balanced scoring effort from nearly all of the rotation.

The problem was the Suns being such a young team, failing to execute late in a game they worked so hard to be close in. De’Anthony Melton played very well in his second career start, but the rookie point guard was relied upon a bit too much to create offense and it showed where the Suns really, really missed Devin Booker.

On top of that, they didn’t have anyone who could stop Tobias Harris or Danilo Gallinari, who combined for 58 points on 31 shots in a 123-119 Suns overtime loss.

“In a way, the effort was there,” head coach Igor Kokoskov said after the game. “Very pleased with the way we played, the way we’re competing. We give ourselves a chance to win this game.”

The Suns had seven players score in double figures, including three off a bench that did not include the injured Jamal Crawford.

Backup center Richaun Holmes scored a season-high 19, Josh Jackson tied a season-high with 18 and Troy Daniels’ 10 points do not portray how well he played, especially on the defensive end.

Mikal Bridges added a career-high 19 as well.

Deandre Ayton had a strong showing, scoring 20 points, adding 12 rebounds and outplaying what the box score showed in one of his better overall games of the season. It was an excellent response to his last game against the Clippers in which he had four points and couldn’t keep up with Boban Marjanovic.

The Suns’ team effort was reflected in a stat Kokoskov provided. They captured 20 of the 26 50/50 balls on the night, a stat the Suns track internally that can help with measuring where their intensity is at.

“Win or loss, felt like we won, to be honest,” Ayton said after the game. “Everybody stepped up.”

While Booker was once again out because of his left hamstring, T.J. Warren played for the first time in six games after his right ankle gave him trouble.

He didn’t play much, though, getting ejected in the second quarter complaining to officials and playing only 12 minutes. It’s the second time Warren has been ejected this season — a strange tidbit given how quiet of a person he is — and both came in the first half.

In the first quarter, it was Ayton’s show. Ayton had seven points and five rebounds, which might sound ho-hum to most given his production this year, but he played with the energy everyone has been desperate to see out of him. For the first time in a while, Ayton looked like the No. 1 overall pick.

He was contesting shots defensively and playing with a sense of purpose, as shown by a block he made in transition.

Reject:
[verb ri-jekt; noun ree-jekt]
verb (used with object)

1. to refuse to have, take, recognize, etc.

Used in a sentence: Deandre rejected that ball HARD. pic.twitter.com/nIkOvJLL5S

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) December 11, 2018

Ayton, along with a strong defensive first quarter by the Suns, put Phoenix ahead 29-21 through one quarter.

In the second quarter, Jackson scored 12 points and overall, had one of his best games in a Suns uniform.

The jumper was going down for him and that’s always going to make Jackson look better but the rim attacks were great and most importantly, he took care of the ball and was efficient.

Jackson had only one turnover, a career-high eight assists and shot 8-of-15 from the floor.

While the Suns would give up 67 points in the middle quarters, the offense kept up and only trailed by two entering the fourth.

That’s when it got weird.

A three-guard lineup of Elie Okobo, Melton, Daniels, Jackson and Holmes started the fourth and led to a 9-3 run at the start of the last quarter.

The hot stretch continued, with Holmes scoring eight points and Melton providing four of his eight total assists in the quarter.

For the exception of Bridges checking in for Okobo, Kokoskov rode that unit for nearly seven minutes until he put the starters and Jackson back in with a 104-95 lead, an 18-7 overall advantage in the quarter.

At that point, though, the group’s limitations in creating offense eventually showed.

An Ayton turnover, Jackson missed mid-range jumper, Bridges missed step-back three-pointer and Holmes turnover on four straight possessions occurred during a stretch in which the Clippers went on a 10-1 run to tie the game at 105 with 2:44 to go.

It’s worth noting Jackson and Ayton would exit at that timeout for Daniels and Holmes, leaving the team’s last two top-5 picks on the bench in crunch time. Kokoskov said the decision to sit Ayton was to match up better with the Clippers’ small lineup and the lack of domination from Ayton in the key.

“I didn’t like what I saw and I pulled him out, put Richaun (Holmes) back in so we could have more and better containing,” he said. “[Ayton] has to dominate the game so they have to adjust and put Boban Marjanovic in crunch time.

“He’s gotta use the free-throw line more which proves he’s more aggressive.”

Ayton was not one to pout. He spoke on the team’s overall effort after the game and what the game came down to.

“One word, one word, one word for ya — it was trust,” he said of the game. “Trust is a big thing in tonight’s game and energy, everything was there.”

Ayton was right there with all the Suns going wild on the bench, showing tons of emotion for every big play.

He also spoke highly of Holmes’ play and credited his consistent motor throughout the losing streak for tonight’s buzz.

“He had his head down at the end of the game I had to scream his name and say, ‘Yo, you, you were the man. You brought us here,'” he said. “His energy and him being consistent every game just doing what he had to do to help the team win is insane and it’s contagious.”

As it did when the Clippers got back in the game, the Suns’ lack of a point guard and Melton being shoved into the creator role continued to hurt them all the way up until the Suns were down two with 24.1 seconds left.

Melton cleared out the left side of the court and got a switch from Holmes’ second screen.

He then took a tough mid-range step-back and drilled it to tie the game.

Melton ties it up pic.twitter.com/9ujKilhLhJ

— Max Carlin (@mcarlinwustl) December 11, 2018

A miss by Gallinari brought the game to overtime.

The Clippers didn’t roll with a center in crunch time and it continued in overtime. With Holmes fouling out, Ayton returned and notched four big bully-ball points in the post, scoring quickly with decisiveness.

DA TAKING OVER! pic.twitter.com/eqhNmCDHLr

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) December 11, 2018

After some back-and-forth overtime play, the Suns were down two with a chance to tie or take the lead. Melton missed a layup and Ayton grabbed the offensive rebound at 16.2 seconds remaining.

As we’ve seen a handful of times with Ayton this season, his instinct to kick the ball out overruled what was the best decision — shooting the ball from that close out at 7-foot-1.

pic.twitter.com/OyjFhEAF2S

— Matt Petersen (@TheMattPetersen) December 11, 2018

The ball moved around to Melton again, who missed an open 3-pointer from the corner and the Clippers made both free throws, sealing the game.

From the sound of it, the Suns are not down in the dumps.

At least the big fella isn’t. The second game of a back-to-back against the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night? Sounds grueling after what the Suns went through against the Clippers, but Ayton is pumped after the way his team played.

“I’m glad we have a back-to-back,” he said. “It’s a test. To see if we can do the same thing against another great team. We’re all-in and ready to go.”

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