Suns find consistency vs. Hawks with much more work still to do

PHOENIX — It was as if the basketball gods were testing the Phoenix Suns, wanting them to prove they are worthy of winning a regular season basketball game.

They shot 60.5% in the first half against the Atlanta Hawks and trailed by four, still sitting near 60% toward the end of the third quarter in a one-possession game. It was less about a defensive response at that point and more if the Suns could remain consistent enough in any area of their game to be a victor.

They were on Thursday in a 123-115 final, which makes this the best win Phoenix has had in weeks.

Atlanta (19-19) missed four straight shots just prior to the midway point of the fourth quarter, which felt like a record for the game, an opportunity the Suns took to extend their lead to 10. The Hawks later started answering, cutting it to six with over five minutes remaining before a Kevin Durant 3, Grayson Allen hustle play to tip a 50-50 ball around a Hawks player and a Tyus Jones 3 got ’em up a dozen with 4:03 to go.

There were still turnovers and botched defensive rotations leading to open 3s and shots around the rim. The conclusion was not clean, either. Atlanta went on a 10-0 run in 109 seconds to get within five at 1:22 remaining, and after Bradley Beal’s corner 3 went in-and-out, Trae Young missed a deep pull-up 3 in semi-transition that could have fully shifted momentum. But he missed, Allen scored at the rim and that was that.

The difference is the consistency in effort was there, made apparent by a 12-8 edge on the offensive glass. Rookie Ryan Dunn dove into the stands at one point and several members of the Suns got up close and personal with the hardwood.

“Just the energy and effort,” Booker said of the consistency that was present on Thursday. “Gameplan is one thing but once we have that set and we all know what we’re doing, we gotta go out there and do it at a high level.”

Durant was also asked about the consistency being something to build off.

“We can try to build off it but it’s on us to have that transfer over to the next game,” he told Arizona Sports. “We can talk about it as much as we want. But I think we went out there and did what we wanted to do out there tonight. Yeah, that’s a good talking point to say we’ll build off this but let’s just wait and see what happens.”

And that quote sums up where we’re at. While this was a great win, the energy of a season that has gone south is still emanating off this team and some variation of “we’ll see” is always going to be the response. Even from some of the players.

Beal scored a game-high 25 points off the bench and Allen added a season-high 23 as a reserve.

While Beal played through a bothersome left hip contusion in Saturday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers, he’s now at 11 straight games played, his highest streak of the year. And for Allen, perhaps this is the performance that propels him after an injury-riddled start for his year as well. It’a easy to forget he cracked 20-plus points 14 times last season.

Beal is trying like hell to not make his new role a thing. He was asked several questions about it, and while answering honestly that “everything” is different when it comes to not starting, he didn’t come anywhere close to saying or even insinuating he has a problem with it. His response to head coach Mike Budenholzer when told the news was, “I literally looked at coach and said ‘OK.'”

It has to be a weird feeling to hear the public address announcer reading off names and stand there in the line giving out high fives instead of waiting on the bench to hear his. Or being a part of the dap-up line awaiting guys walking on the floor instead of walking through it. Or seeing the opening tip from the bench.

What’s the weirdest part?

“Every moment,” Beal said. “But again, I’m not gonna be a distraction, I’m not gonna be an [expletive], I’m not gonna be unprofessional — I’m gonna do my job. Do what I’m gonna do.”

Booker was 9-of-13 on 2s and 0-for-8 on 3s for 20 points with 12 assists and two turnovers. It’s not like his minutes are getting directly staggered with Beal but the lineup change has clearly allowed Booker to embrace playmaking more prominently. This was his third straight game reaching 10 assists, a first in his career, according to Stathead.

Budenholzer described it as “more organic and natural” for Booker while Durant credited the way Booker is controlling the defense with his handle and making the correct reads.

Booker is now shooting 32.5% from 3-point range. Among the 38 players who attempt at least seven a game, Booker’s percentage would now sit 36th, per Stathead. Pointing at Budenholzer’s desire to get 3s up as the cause is incorrect, since Booker has twice cracked seven a night over his career, and in each season checked in at 38.3%.

When asked about it, Booker’s responded, “Just gotta keep shooting.”

Durant provided 23 points, seven assists, three blocks and three turnovers. It was the most active his overall defense has looked in a handful of games.

Phoenix rookie center Oso Ighodaro got the first nod off the bench as Mason Plumlee’s backup, a move that didn’t totally signal Jusuf Nurkic’s exit from the rotation since a three-center look has been used. But Nurkic indeed received the dreaded DNP-CD.

Nurkic told Arizona Sports after the game that Budenholzer did not have a conversation with him about not playing, which seems fairly significant given Nurkic has gone the majority of his career without an instance of not earning minutes. When asked about embracing his role still, Nurkic cut off the question and said, “No comment, man. Just being a pro and get ready. That’s all.”

Some of Ighodaro’s minutes were on the floor against Atlanta big Clint Capela, a veteran who holds some of the characteristics that will give Ighodaro trouble early in his NBA career. Capela has legit center size with tremendous length, and while his offensive game is only about finishing, he’s been one of the NBA’s premier offensive rebounders since he entered the league.

Ighodaro only got six minutes in the loss to Charlotte for that exact reason, so it’ll be interesting to see if this was just a one-time thing or he’s now in for games like Saturday against the Utah Jazz or versus Charlotte again on Sunday. Utah’s got Walker Kessler, who has 21 offensive rebounds in his last three contests. Budenholzer did not confirm this as strictly a choice based on matchups.

Atlanta was without star fourth-year wing Jalen Johnson, a legit 20-10 guy who has become the Hawks’ most reliable piece in the offense to complement Young. Even still, the Hawks were scoring enough thanks to 54 bench points.

It was a noticeably less charged atmosphere in the arena, both before and during the game. The Suns have been great about keeping every seat full for a handful of years since their rise at the start of the decade but there were distinct patches of empty seats in sections of both decks. For all the anger from the fanbase online, those are actually the tangible things you can observe when belief locally begins to fade in the team. We’ll see if that picks up again if the Suns prove capable of building off Thursday’s result.

Suns wing Royce O’Neale (left ankle sprain) remained out and reached his 10-day timeline on Friday. He came out for some individual court work before the game, a good sign that he is progressing on pace to potentially play this weekend. Budenholzer did not confirm if O’Neale could play on Saturday or Sunday.

Phoenix attempted only 33 3s, continuing the recent run of low volume from deep. Budenholzer was asked if that is intentional and his full response was, “No.”

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