Phoenix Suns continue adjusting without Chris Paul, stumble vs. Pelicans

PHOENIX — Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams mid-answer after Thursday’s win over the Oklahoma City Thunder wanted to make it clear that he understood the uphill battle ahead of his team as they play without Chris Paul for an extended period of time.

While Williams has stated the Suns have enough talent offensively to still get the job done, the undeniable fact is that the absence of Paul drastically reduces the Suns’ margin of error.

Down guards Cam Payne (right wrist sprain) and Aaron Holiday (right ankle soreness) too? Second game of a back-to-back after traveling from Oklahoma City the night before? A below average defensive performance?

These are the types of circumstances the Suns have won through all year but it’s a brand new challenge to do it now and those factors stacked up on Friday toward a 117-102 loss the New Orleans Pelicans.

Through all of that, the Suns have to get better at playing without Paul, something they haven’t had a chance to even seriously explore in the regular season since his arrival.

“I think every game is going to be a new learning experience for us and figuring things out,” guard Devin Booker said. “I’m sure we’re going to see a bunch of different defenses. I think we just have to keep improving.”

In the rare instances when Phoenix’s offense managed enough momentum to create a quick scoring spurt, it came from its defense. That defense to offense transition is even more imperative than it has been since the start of last season, and the Suns were too reliant on it Friday.

Pelicans head coach Willie Green, Williams’ assistant for his first two years in Phoenix, deployed a variety of defensive looks against Booker’s effort running the offense through blitzing and switching. This mucked up the game enough to seemingly throw everyone on the Suns out of rhythm, and not at the fault of Booker.

There were numerous times, especially when Elfrid Payton or Landry Shamet were in, that it felt like Booker had to do everything. When he wasn’t, he’d suddenly have the ball thrown to him with 10 seconds or less on the shot clock as an ask to bail them out.

Williams also mentioned their spacing being out of whack at times, including a lack of quick-hitting execution on the traps when Booker had a big switched onto him that required everyone else to move fast so the ball rotations punish that. Booker said he thought he had to get rid of the ball in a more rapid fashion too.

“The spacing out of that was a bit inconsistent tonight. … We know that teams are going to try to go after him with Chris and all of our guys out,” Williams said of those situations. “We just have to respond a bit better.”

The open looks Booker set up for his teammates weren’t going down, either, and Green’s pressure put the assisting onus on Booker’s supporting cast in situations where he’s picking up hockey assists. Mikal Bridges, for example, led the team in assists with six and Phoenix shot 12-for-40 (30.0%) from 3 on mostly good shots.

Phoenix’s defense was a step slow against New Orleans (24-36) most of the night, and that plus great Pelicans shotmaking, second-chance points and points off turnovers squeezed the life out of that aforementioned margin for error.

The Suns managed to be down just three at the half before a 42-31 Pelicans third quarter put Phoenix down 14. In the front portion of that quarter, the Suns scored on five straight possessions but failed to get any stops as well, resulting in an 11-11 trade-off. From that point on in the quarter with the Suns down six, it was a 19-11 finish by the Pelicans.

Booker needed a rest to start the fourth quarter, and even though he returned with the Suns making up two points, there wasn’t enough going offensively to make up that kind of ground in eight minutes.

New Orleans’ C.J. McCollum (32 points) and Brandon Ingram (28) hit tough shots all game, which the Suns can just take on the chin. They cannot, however, give up 17 points off 14 turnovers and 15 second-chance points. That and New Orleans’ 41 free throw attempts where it took advantage of a tight whistle was the story of the game.

Booker finished with 30 points, three rebounds, five assists, a steal, two blocks and four turnovers while shooting 10-of-24 from the floor. It wasn’t one of those games where he was knocking down all these difficult looks or unleashing some scoring flurries. That plus his teammates not consistently hitting open jumpers he set up is where the Point Book formula didn’t add up to a good offensive night.

Lineups with Payton or Torrey Craig in really struggled to maintain the right level of spacing, as Green was ready to sell out on those guys to beat his team and he was smart for doing so.

Booker played 37 minutes after 38 against the Thunder last night, and that was a heavy 37 minutes where it was an overbearing offensive workload while he was picked up full court. There were moments where it looked like his full burst was at more like 90% instead of 100%, a new sight this season.

Phoenix (49-11) is smart and knows its numbers with the training staff but it is playing with fire every time Booker’s minute totals go in that direction with this new primary role. If the Suns have to take losses because of leads dwindling or deficits growing while Booker rests, so be it. The return of Payne and Holiday will make it easier to lessen the weight of those minutes.

It was not a conducive environment for Payton or Shamet to snap out of their season-long inconsistencies. Payton was tentative and so was Shamet, whose complacency as a dribbler continues to be a problem, beyond his shooting percentages.

The defeat puts the Suns in a position they’ve rarely been in this year. There is sizable room for improvement when it comes to playing without Paul, a reality of the situation we all knew in the first place. You could make a case they haven’t been in this spot since the 1-3 start to the season.

Is it a reason to worry? Nah. Williams oftentimes after losses in the 2019-20 season would mention his excitement to watch the film and get better in the next practice or game. It’s back to that mindset on a road over the next few weeks that could get bumpy through growing pains, one the team will be better from trekking through.

“It’s a different team for us, so it’s a great opportunity for us to learn a different way to play,” Williams said. “That’s exciting. And then you think about playing a back-to-back right out of All-Star break, that’s a tough one but that’s just part of the season.

“We’ve won 49 games with 22 to go for a reason, because we’ve responded to different situations and we’ve overcome in different situations. We just couldn’t manufacture enough tonight to overcome what they did.”

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