Suns Strokes: Frye, Green pace Phoenix to comfortable win over Milwaukee
Jan 5, 2014, 5:51 AM | Updated: 3:18 pm
PHOENIX — Channing Frye and Gerald Green combined to hit 10 of the Suns 12 three pointers as Phoenix cruised past the Bucks 116-100 at the US Airways Center Saturday night.
Frye knocked down 6-of-9 from deep on his way to 22 points, while Green connected on 4-7 tallying a season-high 24 points.
The Suns answered a loss with a victory for the sixth time this season improving to 20-12 and sit a game behind the Clippers and trail the Warriors by a half game in the Pacific Division.
The Good
Phoenix was able to grab a win without guard Eric Bledsoe. They are 3-4 when Bledsoe sits on the season.
Ish Smith played 19 minutes in his absence and put up eight points and eight assists.
Against the Grizzlies on Thursday night Bledsoe was not missed in the starting lineup with four out of five starters ending as a positive for the night, but all five-bench players were a negative.
Saturday, the bench contributed in a positive fashion, especially the above-mentioned Smith and forward Markieff Morris. Morris managed 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting with five rebounds.
The Bad
The Suns struggled to close out quarters. In the last two minutes of the first, second and third Phoenix was outscored 34-10.
Stat of the night
Phoenix scored 38 points off of 26 Bucks’ turnovers. It was the most from a Suns opponent since 2010 and in that game it took two overtimes.
He Said It
“We knew he could push the ball, we knew he could pass it, very good ball handler, so we expected that if we needed for him to go in our style what he would work well,” said head coach Jeff Hornacek on guard Ish Smith.
“He did a good job of not jumping in the air and making passes like he did the last couple games but the more Eric (Bledsoe) is out I think the extended minutes will help to calm that down a little bit and we just want him to run the team and he did a great job of that tonight.”
Noted
After the loss it wasn’t all happy-go-lucky in the Bucks’ locker room. Center Larry Sanders and guard Gary Neal got into it as reporters were entering. Milwaukee has the worst record in the NBA at 7-26.
The Suns head out on a five-game road trip. It starts Tuesday night against the Bulls, then heads to Minnesota, Memphis, Detroit and New York to take on the Knicks. Tuesday’s game tips off at 6:00 p.m. with the pre-game show starting at 5:30 on Arizona Sports 620.
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