Suns provide relief with much-needed blowout win vs. Magic, force 25 Orlando turnovers

PHOENIX — Perspective is funny.

When the Phoenix Suns got their first win of the season 13 days ago against a Golden State Warriors team missing six of their best seven players, you left the game with plenty to be critical of and not a good feeling on how the Suns were trending to begin the year.

Less than two weeks later, after a struggling Orlando Magic squad was without Paolo Banchero (right ankle sprain), Jalen Suggs (right knee contusion) and Jonathan Isaac (left knee injury management) in a 117-104 Suns win on Thursday, the energy felt far more different coming into the night.

The Suns (2-5) just needed a win. Against anyone. In any way, shape or form. And this was a comfortable blowout, so it was as refreshing as it was needed to see a good overall team performance like Thursday provided instead of more of what we had seen before then.

Phoenix’s largest point of improvement was playing with more consistency, more so in a way where it prevented the opponent from building up a large surge of momentum. This was the first game out of seven that did not have one of those runs.

Phoenix got back to business in two other facets: forcing turnovers and winning the 3-point line.

Orlando (2-6) at the 7:39 mark of the third quarter was up to 16 giveaways. The Suns were in full-court pressure on the ball-handler for most of the night, and while some of the Magic’s giveaways were bad choices, Phoenix put in the energy to be in the right spot when those mistakes were made.

“We were pressuring the ball, we were getting hands on passes and we kind of knew what their gameplan was even though if we had a short turnaround,” Dillon Brooks said. “We know we can do it, even with a short turnaround. Just gotta figure out how to replicate it every single game.”

At that same point in the game, the Suns were 13 of 22 (59%) from deep, compared to Orlando’s 5 of 18 (28%). A Brooks triple was what forced the timeout at that mark in the contest, a 3 that put the Suns up 18, their largest lead of the season to that point.

The next roughly 20 minutes would be interesting, because the Magic were shooting close to 50% at that time. When they didn’t turn it over, they were doing well offensively, and Phoenix’s slippage was still present at times.

Three more Magic turnovers later, however, and the Suns lead ballooned to 25, clinching what had to be some level of relief for the team.

This was Devin Booker’s best game of the year so far. His downhill pressure as a driver was more direct and it did so many good things for the offense. The basketball terminology of getting ball and player movement going is “starting the blender,” with the dribble-driver making the opposing defense shift in a way to open up space. Booker at his best can be a one-man blender.

“That balance of scoring the ball and getting other people involved,” Booker said of it. “I learned that the more aggressive I am, the easier the reads are on the back side and applying that pressure to the defense [forces them to open up easier shots for my teammates].”

It was also another pristine shot-making night for him, one in which even the pull-up 3s were falling. He was 4 of 8 from 3 and 11 of 22 from the field overall for 30 points with eight assists and three turnovers. The best news for the Suns on the night? Booker was a game-high +16.

Brooks added some of that scoring juice too with 24 points, while Miles Bridges had another well-rounded evening with 18 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and one turnover.

Ryan Dunn is playing his best basketball since the start of last season. He went from a trusted short roller as a screener in college to a trusted decision-maker attacking closeouts on a dribble or two from the perimeter. It is vital for Phoenix’s role players to be “0.5” guys and Dunn has now certified himself as one, whether it’s as a small-ball 5 or at the 4. He understands how much pace he has to play with in those situations.

The next step for Dunn is relocating his game-changing defensive potential from Virginia. The general thought was that if Dunn could find a way to stay on the floor enough offensively that he would be a true difference-maker as an overall defender. This year has been better than last year but he’s still got so much upside on that end.

Six Suns players had two-plus steals: Booker and Collin Gillespie each had three while it was two apiece for Brooks, Bridges, Jalen Green and Khaman Maluach.

Orlando ended the night at 25 turnovers, which would have tied the most the Suns had forced last year. That was also against the Magic.

The Suns ended up at 17 of 34 (50%) on 3s.

Oso Ighodaro started ahead of Maluach.

Maluach is simply not ready for legitimate minutes right now, and perhaps sitting between 8-16 minutes in smaller stints off the bench will make things easier for him with a unit that has far more chemistry. The Suns have far more pressing matters in the present to attend to right now, but his development is still a large part of the future, and the first impressions have not been good. It’s not fair to pin all of that on him given how poorly the team is clicking together around him. With that said, it’s important for him to start to show real promise at some point this season.

After Wednesday was a tough night for Maluach, so too was Thursday. Orlando picked up where Portland left off and was constantly going at him in ball screens, generating lots of success, while finding even more crashing the offensive glass while he was in. The Suns were fortunate that their offense was still in a solid rhythm in the mid-second quarter, because the defense was cratering across Maluach’s second stint of the half.

Ighodaro picked up his fourth foul shortly before halftime and that could have made things real tricky, but those 3s and turnovers kept us from arriving there.

The first thing Booker brought up when asked how he found a rhythm early was Ighodaro’s screening, and he also mentioned how it creates a different pace for the offense. Ighodaro is indispensable, one of the three most important players on the team.

Offensive rebounding was 15-6 Magic, so one prevailing problem still remained. Free-throw attempts were also 24-13 Orlando.

Jordan Goodwin (right calf soreness) and Rasheer Fleming (left ankle sprain) remained out for Phoenix.

First-round pick Koa Peat didn’t get in the initial rotation on Thursday, as Phoenix held it to nine guys, but Ott agreed pregame Peat’s skillset is exactly the type of player the Suns need right now. Peat’s size, rebounding, downhill driving and playmaking on offense with his traits on defense apply to every top weakness for the roster. Ott referred to Peat as “on the cusp” of getting in the rotation, and this is backed up by how it appears he’s not on the G League radar yet for a Valley Suns season about to get underway.

With a stretch of five games in seven days, this would be a good time to see if the kid can spark something.

In a small note to end on and saying this as someone who still has notable tones of old-school thought to how they see basketball, this is now three straight games where a Suns center has either been dragged or thrown to the ground without direct retaliation.

Draymond Green did his nonsense with Khaman Maluach before Ighodaro was pulled down by his jersey via Donovan Clingan, and with this game pretty out of hand, Franz Wagner tossed Ighodaro down again. This was after Ighodaro in the first half was lightly bear-hugged by Wendell Carter Jr. off the ball in a way that forced Ighodaro to fall.

The closest anyone came to a confrontation with the opposing player was when Brooks got in Green’s face, only for Green to wrap up the top of Brooks’ jersey with both hands while Brooks calmly stood there (as he should). I’m not calling for someone to return the favor or dramatically escalate the situation. I’m just saying sometimes a response is necessary, like at least a shove or something, and we’re just about at that point now.

It is quite relevant that the ultra-physical Houston Rockets are next on the docket on Saturday, armed with a roster full of pot-stirrers, and one in particular Brooks can’t wait to see. Keep an eye out.

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