Deandre Ayton remains productive in Suns’ close win over Breakers

PHOENIX — No matter how high or low his quality of play is each night, Phoenix Suns No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton is going to be productive, and he proved that point Wednesday night against the New Zealand Breakers in preseason play.

When it comes to the eye test, he was more impressive in Monday’s loss to the Kings than in Wednesday’s 91-86 win, but then a quick scan of the box score shows he had 13 points, 10 rebounds and two assists in only 17 first-half minutes.

Ayton finished with 21 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and three blocks on the night.

Veteran forward Trevor Ariza made it clear the standards Ayton holds with his talent level.

“Impressed? Not really, that’s what’s expected of him,” he said, joking he didn’t want to pump up the rookie standing close by too much. “I’ll be impressed when he has a 20 and 20 game. That’s impressive, which he has the capability to do.”

Beyond Ayton’s strong night, the lack of intensity shown by the Suns compared to Monday was noticeable and the biggest takeaway from the game.

Rotations weren’t crisp, closeouts were weak and there were plenty of lethargic attempts at creating offense.

Perhaps, that’s to be expected against a team outside the NBA in preseason play, but it was a concerning quality of basketball.

That was backed up by the final score and only a six-point win. For reference, the Perth Wildcats play in the same league as the Breakers and lost by 58 to the Jazz on Saturday.

Head coach Igor Kokoskov credited the defense’s lack of matching up for some of the troubles.

“It worries me that we have 20 uncontested shots,” he said.

“Regardless of the game plan, regardless of the level of basketball that you’re playing, you have to do a better job of communicating.”

The Suns had to squeak out the win late. New Zealand was only down four with under two minutes left.

“We have to do a better job in every aspect of the game,” Kokoskov said.

One of those aspects is the team’s assist-to-turnover ratio, which Kokoskov pointed out after Monday’s loss as a problem and it wasn’t any better on Wednesday. The Suns had 22 turnovers and assists each, including seven turnovers by Josh Jackson.

“When the game is on the line we have to make aggressive, sharp decisions and the right decisions,” Kokoskov said.

In Wednesday’s game, it was easy to see where the Suns can run into trouble with their point guard rotation.

The Breakers were, rightfully so, frightened of Ayton on rolls to the basket, with the gravity of his presence in the key creating open shooters on the weak-side for ball-handlers to find.

Those ball-handlers rarely found those players despite the Suns having quality shooters on that side.

When asked about the shooting woes for the Suns through two games, power forward Ryan Anderson referred to the guards having to do a better job of probing and “[figuring] out good passing opportunities.”

The point guard rotation of Shaquille Harrison, De’Anthony Melton and Elie Okobo had four assists and four turnovers combined.

At one moment in the third quarter, Harrison’s drive on the left wing was denied and he quickly passed the ball to Ariza on the other wing. Ariza then dribbled and shrugged, as if to say he didn’t realize what should come next and why he had the ball. After a timeout, Harrison was taken out of the game.

Speaking of Ariza, he was one of the few Suns who consistently executed on Wednesday night. He had 15 points and six assists.

As a guy who doesn’t handle the ball a whole lot, Ariza’s six assists showed Kokoskov’s system was working in some ways, as the coach noted after the game.

Elsewhere, after an incredibly shaky preseason debut on Monday in which he had two points and missed all five of his field goal attempts, third-year forward Dragan Bender did not crack the rotation in the first three quarters.

He played in the fourth quarter and was just as poor, missing both his shots, going scoreless and fouling three times.

For a player that dealt with confidence and aggression issues last season, Bender looks like a player without any at all entering this season.

Despite the obvious shakiness in Bender’s performance thus far, Kokoskov wasn’t willing to go to any dramatic lengths in his comments on Bender after the game, a nod to the team’s performance as a whole in preseason play being something they will address but not overreact to.

“He didn’t have an impressive performance by any means but he’s gotta fight through and we’re gonna find out if he’s — we still believe that he’s a good player with two bad games,” he said.

With that in mind, the coach still made it clear what basic fundamentals plagued the Suns in the closely-contested game.

“Any level that you play you have to do (a) better job when it comes to communication and effort,” he said. “We don’t coach effort.”

NOTES

— Devin Booker (right hand), Isaiah Canaan (right thumb) and Darrell Arthur (not with team) were all out for the second straight preseason game.

— Booker was seen pregame working with his right hand.

The Athletic’s Gina Mizell reported at shootaround on Wednesday that Booker no longer has the splint on his right hand and was now using “buddy tape” and plastic. Booker told reporters he had a checkup with his surgeon.

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