Phoenix Suns keep looking out of sorts in loss to Celtics

To steal a thought from my podcast co-host Kevin Zimmerman, the months of December and January in the NBA are going to come down to who is the best at adapting to a unique situation.

Nearly every team is shorthanded due to COVID-19, filling out rosters with enough active bodies through 10-day contracts while some teams deal with having an acting head coach in place, too.

This timeframe is similar to the bubble, where a challenging mental environment of being isolated with just each other meant there could be a sink or swim factor. Some would go on to even benefit more from that situation, like the Phoenix Suns.

We are only three games now into the Suns’ foray of health and safety protocols shortcomings but they are not adjusting as well this time around, losing to the Boston Celtics 123-108. It’s Phoenix’s third loss in its last four games.

The Suns added JaVale McGee to the protocols on Thursday, where he joins Deandre Ayton, Jae Crowder, Abdel Nader and head coach Monty Williams. This left the Suns with only second-year big Jalen Smith and 10-day signing Emanuel Terry in the center rotation.

Still, Phoenix has most of its key players. Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Cam Payne and Landry Shamet are six of the nine guys who are expected to play the biggest roles come playoff time in April and beyond.

It’s unclear what factors are negatively impacting the Suns the most. Whether it’s Ayton and Crowder’s communication on defense, that hampered big man group, Williams’ presence or something else but the bottom line is that Phoenix is unrecognizable the last four games.

Booker and McGee both admitted after Wednesday’s win against Oklahoma City that it has been a weird week and they are off.

“Lineup change and people change. A little bit of everything,” Booker said of what has been off lately. “We still have a lot of players out there so we have to do better [with] leading and holding each other accountable.”

Their schedule change is another thing worth noting, with daily testing resuming in the morning and the team not holding shootarounds or practices during that time of day because of it. They also flew across the country the day before taking on Boston in the early afternoon.

All of this is not to make excuses for them. It’s just to try and explain what’s going on when a now 27-8 Suns team still led by Paul and Booker trails by as many as 30 points in the first half to a Celtics squad down five players of its own, including Jayson Tatum.

“We have a level that we play at, whether we making or missing,” Paul said. “Effort can never be a question. We just gotta pick it up a little bit.”

Phoenix’s All-Star backcourt never had it going and combined to shoot 13-of-41 (31.7%). Paul was 6-for-15 after starting 1-of-9 and Booker finished at 7-for-26.

The rhythm for those two and really all the Suns’ ball-handlers was off all afternoon. There wasn’t enough consistent dribble penetration, with lots of possessions having the initial action result in just one or two downhill dribbles before a kickout and reset.

When the Suns don’t do that and just keep it humming, that’s when the assist and three-point totals get high, something guys like Payne, Shamet, Bridges and Johnson are all capable of contributing to. For Friday, it was poor production of 20 team assists and 11-of-35 (31.4%) from deep. It was discouraging against Boston since the Celtics’ defense definitely had chinks in its armor once the Suns made ’em rotate a bit.

Paul, in particular, is now 14-for-37 (37.8%) in his last three games. It’s a stretch where the Suns could really use an extra scoring punch or more downhill drives getting into the lane from Paul, especially when the team’s secondary creators are not consistent.

“I definitely got to be better on both ends, especially offensively,” Paul said. “Could probably try to look to be a little bit more aggressive early. Get us going and figure it out.”

Paul came into the locker room with a text from his son waiting for him on what he needs to improve on, noting it hits him a little differently when it comes from home.

At two different points in the second half, Phoenix made a push to get back in the game, cutting the deficit down to 13 in the mid-third quarter and a dozen with five minutes remaining.

Boston was just hitting too many shots and the Suns’ defense didn’t make them uncomfortable enough through that to generate enough stops for a comeback.

In a game like that, it’s hard to garner much from it, but Smith started in place of McGee and brought the same amount of encouraging effort he has since coming into the rotation. He posted 19 points and seven rebounds while Cam Johnson added 20 points. Booker was the high scorer for Phoenix with 22 points.

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