Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton, 22, celebrates with guard Chris Paul (3) after making a basket against the Toronto Raptors during the second half of an NBA basketball game Friday, March 26, 2021, Tampa, Florida (AP Photo / Chris O’Meara)
The Phoenix Suns made key plays when they had to make it Friday night, but were lucky not to have a minute or two on the clock.
They got a 104-100 against the Toronto Raptors thanks to clear moments like Deandre Ayton’s block, Chris Paul and Devin Booker’s free throws and Mikal Bridges ’offensive rebound to get the win.
“There’s just a lot of huge, extravagant plays tonight,” head coach Monty Williams said.
Phoenix, however, needed it, because after Paul’s average jumper at 6:18 left the Suns at 98-88 with 6:18 left, the Suns scored six points for the rest of the game and only had one goal from rural area. Paul and Booker teamed up to finish the 4 of 4 from the last minute foul.
A game after a loss to the Orlando Magic in which the Suns recorded 20 points in the fourth quarter, was 21 Friday.
“I liked everything until the fourth quarter,” Williams said of the offensive run. “We got 21 points, though [Toronto] he only scored 23 ”.
Williams went on to describe a playoff basketball brand that exploded in that fourth quarter he called “slugfest.”
One of the contributing factors was Booker funk at the end of the last 12 minutes.
In a turn of events we haven’t seen of him so far in his young career, Booker is 3-of-18 off the field in the fourth quarter of the last seven games. He was 0 for 4 against the Raptors and missed two shots with the Suns in two and less than 70 seconds.
This last foul was the one that snatched Bridges with six seconds left and then the Suns called the timeout. The entrance went to Booker, who, in his favor, sank the two free throws to seal him.
Booker now shoots 39.9% in the season finale and 30.4% in the clutch, also known as the last five minutes of a game when the score is within five points. He proved himself in Phoenix for six years as a clutch player, and when asked if he noticed anything in particular in his film in recent games, Booker said he hadn’t even noticed it. adonat.
“Victories are coming,” he said. “This is the main goal every night. I’ve shown many years scoring basketball, so I have to do whatever it takes to win: whether it’s defensive, offensive, leading by example, leading by voice. We have a selfless team. We can win by one point, we can win by 20: I will be happy regardless ”.
And this year has been very happy this year as the Suns improved to 30-14 with the win.
Booker finished with 16 points, six rebounds and two assists in 6 of 14 shots. When Booker’s attempts and assists are combined with a total of 16, this is the lowest he has been in 24 games, a witness of Toronto head coach Nick Nurse’s game plan to limit his impact.
Until then, Nurse took a defensive look at the Suns. The basics greatly helped Booker penetrate the dribble to force the Phoenix shooters to play and collapse Ayton’s stick touches once he dribbled the ball to force him to make decisions.
The Raptors won a championship for their ability to do things like this as a defense, like having the defenders farthest from the action in the right places to help them and then having the ability to fight and recover from there. They are still far from being a championship-quality defense, and the Suns were able to make holes with enough routine.
With that in mind, the Suns still shot 9-of-36 (25.0%) from three points, so part of the nursing plan was also successful.
But Ayton wasn’t that annoying, as he was assertive and acted like the biggest guy on the track. As Toronto stayed small and put up the long, strong 6-foot-7 Oun Anunoby, Ayton was 9 for 12 with 19 points and nine rebounds.
His defense continues to rise in the last half-dozen games and returns to the court with the level he played last year. That block mentioned to Toronto player Pascal Siakam was an important play with less than two minutes left:
Ayton credited his technique with his hands and feet while saying Williams has been on top of it.
A strong first half from Paul and contributions from all over the bench helped the Suns be in a position to win.
Paul finished the night with 19 points, six rebounds, eight assists and two steals. Langston Galloway (eight points), Cam Johnson (seven), Cam Payne (four) and Dario Saric (eight) scored at least two field goals, while Johnson (three assists), Payne (two) and Torrey Craig (three) they combined for eight of the Suns ’26 assists.
The biggest advantage of the Raptors game was four points and they were at the end for the entirety of the second half. Siakam had a good performance with a maximum of 26 points and 11 rebounds, plus six assists.
As the Suns approached the end of their four-game trip with a Sunday morning game in Charlotte against the Hornets, avoiding a streak of losses over the past two-and-a-half months once again, even with the form in what he won on Friday, is always positive.
“I’d rather win ugly than lose enough,” Williams said.