Suns Strokes: Suns come out flat at home, get blown out by Jazz

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns never gave themselves a chance.

Looking to win back-to-back games for the first time since the calendar flipped to 2018, the Suns instead lost for the sixth time in seven games, dropping a 129-97 decision to the Utah Jazz on Friday.

And really, it wasn’t even that close.

The Suns (18-35) scored the first two points of the game and then were dismantled by a Jazz team that was coming off a 30-point win over the defending champion Golden State Warriors.

It took the Jazz only minutes to build a double-digit lead. They were ahead by 22 at halftime and by as much as 36 and 41 points in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.

Their 129 total points tied a season-high.

Six different Jazz players scored in double figures, including all five starters. Donovan Mitchell led the way with 40 points. He shot 14-of-19 from the field, 7-of-9 from 3-point range and 5-of-5 from the foul line to help extend the Jazz (23-28) winning streak to four straight games.

Mitchell’s seven 3s were both a career-best and Jazz rookie record.

The Jazz shot 51.7 percent from 3-point range (15-of-29) and 56.7 percent from the field overall (51-of-90).

Meanwhile, the Suns struggled in that area. None more so than Devin Booker, who is still dealing with sore ribs. And it showed. Booker missed 17 of his 24 shot attempts. He finished with 18 points, 14 in the third quarter.

T.J. Warren never found his shot, and the Suns’ second-leading scorer, tied a season-low with four points.

When those two don’t play well, the Suns don’t play well.

Josh Jackson (20 points), Dragan Bender (16) and Tyler Ulis (14) joined Booker in double figures.

Bender added a season-high nine rebounds and a career-high five assists.

THE GOOD

Coming off the bench, Bender ignited the offense in the first quarter. He scored eight points — hitting two 3s and a driving layup — and grabbed two rebounds in his first four minutes on the floor. His strong play helped the Suns close the period on a 12-2 run. Bender contributed five points.

Held to five points on 2-of-8 shooting in the first half, Jackson exploded for nine in the third quarter. All within less than 90 seconds. Twice he dunked, including an alley-oop feed from Booker, recorded an and-1 and hit two free throws. Jackson also had a rebound and a steal in the period.

Though he struggled from the field, Booker did hit all of his free throws. All four of them. Dating back to Jan. 7, Booker has now made a career-high 60 consecutive free throws, setting the Suns’ single-season franchise record. The previous mark of 57 was shared by Kevin Johnson and Mike Bratz.

This marked Jackson’s third straight game scoring 20 or more points and sixth overall this season. He is the first Suns rookie to score 20+ in three straight games since Booker did so twice in 2015-16; prior to Booker, no Suns rookie had done so since Richard Dumas back in 1993.

THE BAD

Led by Mitchell, the Jazz made 10 of their first 14 shot attempts to take a 24-8 lead at the 4:47 mark of the first quarter. Mitchell’s second 3-pointer of the period capped a 12-0 run as the Suns went 3:18 without a basket. They missed five shots and turned the ball over once. Mitchell was the high-point man in the quarter, scoring nine on 3-of-3 shooting.

It was Mitchell again in the second quarter. Twice he recorded and-1s including a four-point play after Booker fouled him on a made 3. Mitchell made 3-of-4 shots in the period for 12 points, nine of which came during a 12-0 run that put the Jazz ahead 53-33 at the 3:13 mark. They would lead by as many as 22. Mitchell had a game-high 21 points at halftime.

There was that Mitchell kid — the 13th overall pick in last year’s draft — once more in the third quarter. He made his fifth and sixth 3-pointers of the game; the latter of which made it 84-48 as the Jazz outscored the Suns 22-8 in the first five-plus minutes to open the second half. At that point of the game, the Jazz had made 13 of their 21 3-point attempts.

STAT OF THE GAME

32: The 34-point win marked only the third time in Jazz history they have won consecutive games by 30 or more points and first since Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 1995, when they beat Minnesota (115-80) and Denver (129-88).

HE SAID IT

“Defensive end, the stuff that we did against Dallas and were successful, we didn’t do tonight. It’s not hard. We play two games and one game you do it, you get rewarded, one game you don’t, you’re going to be in a situation like you were tonight,” said interim head coach Jay Triano, who suffered his worst loss since taking over three games into the season.

NOTED

Booker and Warren shot a combined 3-of-14 for a total of six points in the first half.

Warren had scored 20 or more points in a career-high tying four consecutive games.

Josh Gray made his NBA debut scoring seven points in nine fourth-quarter minutes.

Booker-Jackson-Warren-Chriss-Chandler started for the second consecutive game.

Alex Len (ankle) was inactive, the fifth time in the last six games he has not played.

UP NEXT

The three-game homestand wraps up with a visit by Kemba Walker, Dwight Howard and the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday, Feb. 4. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

The Suns and Hornets split two meetings last season with the home team winning each time. In fact, they’ve split the season series in three straight seasons.

Overall, the Suns have won eight of the last 11 matchups.

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