Suns remain in Dallas for rematch as Devin Booker keeps progressing

Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams will catch himself laughing sometimes right before saying that an injured player is progressing and getting better day by day.

It’s probably funny to him because it’s the honest truth of what’s happening, but it can obviously get a bit repetitive as the usual update on the health of someone sidelined.

That’s the latest we’ve heard on his All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker, who has been out with a left hamstring strain the past four games.

“He has done more and more each day,” Williams said Sunday. “In his shooting and drills today, he looked pretty good. What that means in relation to playing, I can’t speak on that, because that’s something for our training staff and him.”

Now, Williams went on to say that Booker is a guy that will say he’s ready and good to play even when that’s not the case. Williams emphasized that if there’s any remainder on the percentage and Booker is not quite at 100%, they will remain patient.

“We have to be really careful with him,” Williams said.

The coach also said on Thursday that Booker had yet to move in a dynamic fashion, and that’s something that was coming soon.

The Suns, though, did not get a full practice in Sunday during their day in-between games against the Dallas Mavericks on the road, so no chance for Booker to do that just yet. The compact elements of the schedule make it important to choose wisely on when to do that.

After the 111-105 win over the Mavs on Saturday, the Suns are expecting Dallas big man Kristaps Porzingis to play in Monday’s rematch after Porzingis sat out on Saturday. Porzingis played the first game of Dallas’ back-to-back on Friday and the Mavs are limiting him when they feel the need to after a few leg injuries over his young career.

The Mavericks are on quite the five-game skid, shooting the worst three-point percentage in the league. It got to the point after Friday’s loss where All-NBA guard Luka Doncic said it looks like the team doesn’t care sometimes.

The Suns will not let that affect their mentality.

“Our guys know that we focus on the team with a great deal of respect for what they can do and their potential,” Williams said. “We understand this is a team that is not just dangerous, but they’re pretty good. We’re playing in the West. The West is a beast.

IN THE ZONE

In Saturday’s win, a run in the back-half of the third quarter by the Suns’ reserves was a key part of a close victory. A group led by E’Twaun Moore, Langston Galloway and Abdel Nader got the game back within reach for the starters and then Chris Paul and company handled it from there.

During some of that was a 9-2 run in which the Suns implemented a zone look defensively.

The use of zone defense has expanded greatly over the past few years, used in small spurts of games by a good majority of teams now. It offers a change of pace and a new look for the opposition to solve, usually slowing the game down and making it a little more ugly. If a team goes zone for too long it’ll eventually get burned, but it’s nice for a few minutes here and there.

It was effective for the Suns on Saturday. Check out Galloway and Moore doing work at the head of the snake here before the Suns match up back to man to close the possession out.

During that crucial 3rd quarter run the Suns went zone a bit. Check out the vets Galloway and Moore workin’ pic.twitter.com/QvfETTaMGk

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) January 31, 2021

Doncic takes the bait (if you want to call it that) and drives right into the heart of the zone, where Deandre Ayton is residing. From there, the shot clock is already at seven seconds and the job is pretty much done.

Mavericks wing James Johnson tried to dribble through it later and that did not go well for him.

Moore’s a savvy player and that’s a good job of not letting that weak pick do much to deter him.

Williams deployed the zone some last season and has continued to do so this year. Here are his thoughts on it:

“We’ve tweaked it some. I thought it helped us last night,” he said. “Langston and E’Twaun did a pretty good job of locating the ball but holding their position and recognizing where the shooters were. The key to it, to me, is if you can force a miss, (to) get the rebound. Because a lot of times you’re not locked up on your man because you’re guarding an area.

“If we can continue to get stops and rebound it and throw it in at the right time, I think it can be a weapon for us.”

It’s a fun little wrinkle to keep an eye on while you’re watching. When does Williams go with it? Why? How successful was it?

Sometimes, it can be a big deal in changing momentum, like on Saturday.

Follow @KellanOlson