Cam Payne, Landry Shamet continue stepping up in Suns’ win over Magic

We’ve gone over this before and it won’t be the last time we talk about how the Phoenix Suns can use this time down key players to get other guys going through increased opportunities.

Cam Payne and Landry Shamet have started in place of Chris Paul (right thumb avulsion fracture) and Devin Booker (health and safety protocols) the last four games and have played their best basketball of the season over that week. The highest peak yet was in Tuesday’s 102-99 victory against the Orlando Magic on the road.

Both players went through their own level of inconsistencies in the first half of the season, but if they can take these extra minutes to get right, the Suns will be a different team in the playoffs.

“I think that develops a capacity for us to grow as a team,” head coach Monty Williams said of it. “Guys are in situations that they have not been in for this kind of team playing what we’re playing for. That’s new for all of us with the guys that we have. So I think Landry knocking down shots like that, Cam having to manage the game in those situations — that’s new for those guys. … That’s something that could pay off for us later on.

“And the stress of it all is good if you can learn from it. And that’s something that we can obviously add to the portfolio of Suns basketball. I really feel like it’s going to help us become a better team.”

Payne had 12 assists and only one turnover to go with 18 points while Shamet contributed season-highs of 21 points and six three-pointers.

“I just want to keep it going, even when C and Book get back,” Payne said. “Us on that bench, we gotta bring this same thing when our guys get back.”

In the Suns’ seven games since the All-Star break, Shamet has had at least a pair of 3s in six of them after knocking down two or more in just three of his last 17 games prior to the break.

Williams reinforced a theme this year for Shamet that they are always on Shamet to shoot more and what Williams liked the most on Tuesday was Shamet’s willingness to take those shots.

Payne returned from a right wrist sprain in the March 2 win over the Portland Trail Blazers and is averaging 15.8 points and 11.0 assists per game across those contests. His 44 total assists in these four games are far and away his best four-game stretch of assists in his career, besting the previous mark of 28, per Stathead.

Williams credited Payne for doing a better job this year letting things breathe and develop a bit more, an aspect he still wants to see Payne improve at in crunch time.

“It’s certainly something that we have to get better at down the stretch, recognizing what teams are doing and then executing it and just not pre-determining what we’re going to do,” Williams said. “But let the game tell you what to do. It’s a bit more efficient.”

Offense was a struggle for both teams Tuesday. They each shot under 39% and lacked the high-end shotmaking or sustainable flow to create any serious distance.

That made the production of Payne and Shamet massive because a big-time 21-point, 19-rebound effort from Deandre Ayton still needed some help. And those three were the ones to get it done in winning time too.

Phoenix’s (53-13) execution, as you would expect against a young Orlando (16-50) team, was better throughout, so they led by eight going into the fourth quarter.

In the opening five minutes of the quarter, a Payne 3 assisted by Shamet and pair of Shamet 3s set up by Payne accounted for all of the Suns’ first nine points.

After forward Jae Crowder missed nine of his first 10 shots, he nailed two straight big ones that kept the edge at nine with 6:31 left.

The Suns were in a crawl offensively the rest of the way, though, and that allowed the Magic to go on a 9-0 run over three minutes and change to tie the game.

Phoenix got three big free throws from Shamet, and after the Magic scored four straight, Ayton had his 18th rebound on a tip-in off a Crowder miss to put Phoenix back up one.

Ayton then locked up Orlando’s Wendell Carter Jr. on a post touch that ended in a bad jumper attempt before recovering back to where Magic center Mo Bamba got the offensive rebound to contest his putback and force a shot that went out of bounds.

An empty possession for each squad later and Payne made the biggest play of the game, finding a window to pass to Ayton on the roll for an easy finish and 3-point Suns edge that cemented a Phoenix win after a game-sealing block by Mikal Bridges.

This is CLUTCH basketball. #ValleyProud pic.twitter.com/KFDcEVPfdr

— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) March 9, 2022

Mikal Bridges for the win. First team that man pic.twitter.com/jAPC8nJc2k

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) March 9, 2022

Crowder (3-for-15) and Bridges (3-of-11) combined to shoot 6-of-26, which particularly stings while Cam Johnson (right quad contusion) remains sidelined. Those two, however, still impacted the game plenty. Crowder snagged 11 rebounds while Bridges had three steals and that ginormous block.

Crowder’s quick trigger might rub some fans the wrong way but the decisiveness he has been playing with as a shot-taker while Paul and Booker are away is necessary. That’s what Williams wants out of him and everyone else with the ball in these times. It didn’t work out on Tuesday but Crowder is coming off a 12-of-24 (50.0%) shooting in his last two games and that’s the type of juice off the bounce Phoenix needs right now.

Ayton’s monster evening, a performance Williams called an “adult game,” comes after a lot of hubbub was made about his low rebounding totals after the All-Star break. Those are numbers that particularly stick out when the Suns get outrebounded like they did in their last two games prior to Orlando.

He spoke on it after Sunday’s loss to Milwaukee and brought it up again on Tuesday.

“I needed one of those games,” Ayton said. “I was not doing a good job on securing boards and closing out possessions correctly. … I just put it on myself just to get back to the norm a little bit.”

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