Phoenix Suns handle business without their All-Stars vs. depleted Blazers

PHOENIX — Who knows where expectations should be set for the Phoenix Suns while Devin Booker (health and safety protocols) and Chris Paul (right thumb avulsion fracture) remain out.

The bottom line is that wins will be tough to come by, so even if it isn’t pretty, they’ll take it. I’ve shared a sentiment of the Suns needing to improve over the course of the season, something they’ve achieved to this point, but this stretch is different and puts them in a challenging position to keep doing so.

It’s about doing what they can until Booker exits the protocols, so Wednesday’s 120-90 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers will do just fine, a solid effort to simply take care of business.

“For me, as a coach, we saw a high level of carryover from the practice and the shootaround into the game, and that’s what you want to see from your team, especially after you lose two games in a row,” head coach Monty Williams said.

In terms of an opponent during this misfortune, the Suns couldn’t have gotten more, well, fortunate. The Blazers overhauled their roster prior to the trade deadline and also have a lengthy injury report, giving them a group on Wednesday with little to no continuity and severely lacking in overall talent.

Only three of Portland’s top 11 players in games played were active: Anfrenee Simons, Ben McLemore and C.J. Elleby. Half of Portland’s 10-man rotation has appeared in five games or less for the team, including names like Drew Eubanks, Elijah Hughes and Brandon Williams.

Taking that into consideration, Wednesday was at least a test for Phoenix to show its chemistry and an ability to execute Monty Williams’ principles without two of its leaders.

They passed.

While the defense allowed more open buckets than we’ve grown accustomed to, it also forced 19 turnovers for 22 points. Everyone on the floor for the Suns was ready to use active hands and capitalize on the lack of a floor general for Portland. After Simons got 11 points early, Phoenix mixed in traps on Blazers ball-handlers to create that havoc when they could, something the Suns don’t do much of. The results, as Williams said himself, got better as the game went along.

Offensively, the question was if the Suns would be able to start the initial breakdown of the defense off the dribble. From there, its ball movement would take care of the rest against a terrible defense, but that initial start of the sequence is where Paul and particularly Booker will dominate games.

Cam Payne came back after a 16-game absence (right wrist sprain) and was that guy. He understood the assignment, picking up on the weak points of where the Blazers were leaving holes, more often than not on the second side in the weak-side corner.

Payne plays with a high level of pace and that can be his downfall sometimes but on Wednesday he was composed and made sure to play at a proper tempo as the starting point guard.

He credited that to experience, picking some things up while he was out and having consistent conversations with Paul.

“He was telling me find an in-between,” Payne said of Paul. “It ain’t always gotta be at 100 miles per hour. You can slow it down, you can get to 50 sometimes. Tonight, I just kind of slowed it down sometimes and called some plays and we actually executed and got some big-time buckets.”

Paul has shared with Payne how he should be analyzing the floor, with his answer really standing out based on how he played against Portland.

“He always told me, ‘I don’t really care about our offense. I just look at the defense.’ A younger me, I was worried about all that,” Payne said.

His effort helped pave the way toward 32 Suns assists and it definitely was aided by a good 3-point shooting night (14-of-36, 38.9%) too.

“It was one of the keys we talked about in the locker room. … I thought we played in 0.5 well tonight,” Williams said of the 32 assists.

“Playing out of our secondary breaks and getting into our actions with pace and everybody moving — that’s big for this group without Chris and Devin,” forward Cam Johnson said.

The first half had a summer league vibe of sorts, with both teams performing in a disjointed manner that didn’t lend to the Suns creating separation. Phoenix had its own turnover problems as well, ending up with 16, and fastbreak points were 23-18 Suns.

The offense was figuring out how it felt without Booker and Paul, something Payne joked about.

“Kinda weird, cuz it’s like, who gonna shoot all the shots?” Payne said.

In the last 4:21 of the second quarter, though, a breakthrough via a 20-10 Phoenix run tripled its lead from five to 15.

The Suns were energized enough defensively against a Portland team lacking any semblance of firepower outside of Simons to only increase the advantage from there, going up 30 at 10 minutes remaining to coast.

Payne finished with five points, two rebounds, eight assists and two turnovers in 20 minutes, a box score that did not do his impact justice. Williams said he wanted to avoid longer shifts for Payne after the long layoff.

He started alongside Landry Shamet, meaning Johnson went back to the bench after starting the three games without Paul.

Shamet’s performance wasn’t a revelation by any means but a solid 12 points was a step in the right direction for an inconsistent player this year.

Johnson’s scoring output was there once again. His 20 points follow outings of 21, 15 and 23 since the All-Star break.

Mikal Bridges and Jae Crowder each scored 15 points and Crowder was a game-high +28, as the starters did their job to massively outperform Portland’s like Simons (-31) and Elleby (-33) to not leave it to the bench. Crowder added five rebounds, four assists and five steals as well. He has been sneaky good the last couple weeks, even with his shooting percentages down.

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