Phoenix Suns show improvement but not enough to beat Utah Jazz

PHOENIX — Time to dial those expectations back a bit if you were expecting smooth sailing for the Phoenix Suns without Chris Paul (and, for the meantime, Cam Payne).

Even in a game on Sunday afternoon where they played fairly well against a very good Utah Jazz team, it just wasn’t enough, and that “enough” is a much higher bar in this situation. That brought on a 118-114 loss to Utah.

To rinse and repeat the theme from Friday, the wiggle room for a Paul-less Suns to come out with wins is cut off dramatically. The Suns can still execute to that level, and this is not to say the expectation should be .500 ball until Paul’s back, but there’s an obvious adjustment period they’re going through that we’re seeing.

Phoenix shot 51.2% from the field and 46.4% at 3-point range. But the Jazz decisively won the battles in second-chance (27-14) and bench points (43-11), putting the Suns back in an uphill journey despite the great shooting numbers.

Ultimately, Utah played slightly better, but not enough to make it a clear-cut case of who should win or be in control of the game. All it came down to was a 16-3 Jazz run in the last 3:10 of the third quarter that went from the Suns being up eight to down five.

As always, the Jazz made it an arduous task to create separation, which Phoenix finally achieved prior to that spurt. It was mostly a one-or-two possession game in those 1.75 quarters after the Suns’ 24-10 start to the game saw Utah finish the first quarter on a 22-8 surge to tie the game.

Suns guard Devin Booker did a more than fine job running the offense for the third straight game, finishing with 30 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, two steals and three turnovers on 12-of-24 shooting. When Booker was with the starting five, that lineup was +7, but in the rest of the minutes Booker spent with any reserves, he was -13.

The bench shot 4-for-19 (21.1%) and backup center JaVale Mcgee (2-for-6) was -22 while starting center Deandre Ayton registered a +16. Aaron Holiday tried his best on a bum right ankle that had him questionable coming into the afternoon but was 2-of-9 on field goal attempts, struggling with his midrange floater that is his go-to shot. Torrey Craig was 0-for-3 from deep and is now 4-for-19 since arriving in Phoenix. Landry Shamet took one shot in 11 minutes and missed it.

It was the Booker plus reserves group that was out there when Utah wrapped up the third quarter so strongly.

The Suns were persistent in climbing out of that five-point hole that got up to nine with 3:51 to go.

A Booker step-back trey ball at 59.7 on the clock put Phoenix within five again, and after Utah’s Rudy Gobert only converted on one of his two free throws at 41 ticks left, Williams called his second-to-last timeout available.

Out of that break, the designed look for an on-the-move Jae Crowder 3 was contested so Crowder passed out of it directly to his left, where Booker stood. He was immediately trapped, so Booker was able to get it back to Crowder a few seconds later for a triple that went down to cut the deficit to three with 31 seconds left.

Utah’s Donovan Mitchell dribbled the ball up the floor and killed almost all of the shot clock before heaving up his own triple that didn’t fall and was rebounded by Crowder at 5.2 seconds remaining.

Crowder looked to outlet the ball to his right, where Booker was while moving up the court himself. The Jazz’ Mike Conley, though, looked ready to get a hand on that pass, a presence Crowder confirmed after the game was the reason he didn’t throw it that way. From there, Crowder tossed the ball to the opposite side, where Cam Johnson was.

Johnson was trapped at half-court, which is the point where any chance of a solid look at a quick 3-pointer to avoid the Jazz fouling up three essentially ended. At that moment, it looked like Williams was calling for a timeout to the closest official. But by then, Crowder had gotten the ball back and floated a pass over Booker’s head into the stands.

pic.twitter.com/R2CPcwuFvE

— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) February 27, 2022

“I’m a veteran basketball player,” Crowder said of the play. “I should know what to do or not to do in that situation and I take that.”

Williams said his intent was to always call a timeout, and as the video above shows, Utah wanted to foul as well. It was just too much of a bang-bang situation in less than four seconds for the Suns to properly execute.

“That’s always the plan but that’s on me,” Williams said of wanting a timeout. “That’s not on the guys. I could run on the floor and call timeout. I was at half-court trying to call it but we just couldn’t get that done and that’s on me.”

It would have been especially challenging to get a decent look from 3-point range down three on a sideline out of bounds play where Utah would be denying everything on the perimeter. But Williams said their success with that type of inbounds play earlier in the game led to the thinking of going for a timeout.

Conley was fouled off Utah’s inbounds pass and made one of his free throws to put a bow on it.

Johnson had 23 points, one off his career-high. Crowder was great despite the brainfart, adding 16 points, three rebounds, three assists, two steals and that one turnover.

Deandre Ayton’s touch on hook shots and jumpers was present throughout, contributing to 23 points, seven rebounds, two assists, a steal and two blocks on 11-of-15 shooting.

Booker played 40 minutes, which is still too high for this stretch, but his workload was lightened slightly by Holiday’s presence in the rotation and more possessions of Crowder and Johnson bringing the ball up. Booker mentioned the latter when asked if he’s already seen improvement from the start of the three-game stretch to now.

“Yeah. 100%,” he said. “Guys are getting it and they’re attacking. I think you seen a lot of that tonight. … Everybody’s getting comfortable, everybody’s getting used to it and they’re trying to find ways to get me off the ball and not have to work so hard.”

Reigning Sixth Man of the Year Jordan Clarkson doubled the Suns’ bench points by himself for Utah, posting 22 with five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Mitchell was incredibly active, playing with an intensity that indicated he was sick of losing in Phoenix for the Jazz’s last three trips. His 26 points were a team-high while Gobert produced 16 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks.

Utah shot 17-for-40 (42.5%) on 3s and Williams didn’t like the amount the Jazz got on situations where the Suns’ defender shouldn’t have gone under a screen.

Overall, the Suns should treat this 1-2 beginning after the All-Star break as a positive. Ideally, they get a few practices in before rolling out a completely different type of team without Paul. Instead, Phoenix was tossed into the fire, playing in Oklahoma City Thursday before flying back home to play the next night, then facing a great team on Sunday afternoon.

The three games in basically three-and-a-half days as Williams pointed out was at least an opportunity to give them no choice but to adapt and improve rapidly, where the optimism should lie.

“That’s a tough scenario, especially without two of your top point guards,” Williams said. “I’m proud of our guys the way that we’ve battled. If we could have gone 2-1 in this scenario, it would have been a huge win for us. We went 1-2, not what we wanted, but I think we’re learning a lot about our team.”

Phoenix is not going to frame this as adversity.

“I wouldn’t even call it adversity,” Booker said. “Just learning. These are big moments for us, and I think later in the season and when it comes playoff time, all these moments are going to help us. We’re learning a lot. Close game situations, learning how to close a quarter, controlling the pace, controlling the ball without Chris in the game if teams ever try to take him out when he comes back.

“There’s a lot to learn and we’re gonna do that.”

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