Five-year-old Phoenix Suns Jae Crowder # 99 Deandre Ayton # 22, Chris Paul # 3, Devin Booker # 1 and Jevon Carter # 4 after fouling on a three-point shot during the first half of the NBA game against Oklahoma City Thunder at the Phoenix Suns Arena on April 2, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
PHOENIX: The Phoenix Suns played as if they remembered what happened the last time they played the Oklahoma City Thunder.
A loss in late January put the Suns at 8-8 and sparked a subsequent dispute over coach Monty Williams in his media session.
The Suns this season have had the inability to pull away far inferior teams, but Friday night was not one of those nights. They destroyed the Thunder 140-103.
Phoenix led 43-13 during the first quarter. It was a maximum season for points and a low season for points allowed in the first quarter. It was the first 30-point differential during a quarter of the franchise’s history, by basketball-reference, and the 13th time in league history, a team climbed at least 30 after the first 12 minutes.
After tying the game 5-5, the Suns continued with a 38-8 run to close out the fourth. At one point it was a 19-0 outbreak.
The defense extended to a Thunder team (20-28) that really had no bodies, as they were without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, Darius Bazley and Mike Muescala. But even with those key names missing Wednesday, the Thunder beat the Toronto Raptors, which surely stood out in preparation.
OKC shot 4 of 25 (16.0%) from the field in that first quarter with six rotations.
Offensively, the tone was immediately set by the two All-Stars of the Suns. Chris Paul had an uncommon opening in which he sought to consolidate as a scorer, shooting 3-on-3 from the field, while Devin Booker had 16 points in the opening period.
Although some plots would come from the Thunder, Phoenix (34-14) did a good job of re-establishing it as long as it was. Oklahoma City reduced the deficit to 18 in the second and third quarters, but in the third, Williams called time-out and his team responded with a 21-12 run to extend the lead to 27.
“I liked the response in the confusion,” Williams said. “Our guys have a lot of remorse when things don’t go right or when we know we can play better. When we get that kind of reaction or response to what’s going on on the floor, we usually have a good production in our favor when we get back to school. clue “.
It was a full quarter of garbage, and that’s not something Phoenix Suns Arena has been accustomed to celebrating for the past decade.
Booker scored 32 points, two rebounds, five assists and zero changes in 30 minutes. Paul added 17 points, five rebounds, 12 assists and three steals in a perfect 8-of-8 shot in 22 minutes.
Paul in his last play of the fourth quarter had a strange collision with former Suns, Ty Jerome. Coming around a screen, Paul stuck his head into Jerome’s shoulder. After the blow, Paul immediately grabbed his right shoulder and left the game. The coach was desperate to reverse his team’s fortunes in the game, and ordered his team to change strategy.
– Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) April 3, 2021
These are certainly discouraging moments in the second half of the Suns season and it will be worth keeping an eye on his name in the injury report prior to Monday’s clash against the Houston Rockets.
Second-year striker Cam Johnson played just one minute in the first quarter before coming off due to a cut above his left eye. Johnson scored points in the locker room and then returned to the second half to score 17 points. He said it was weird to be live at a game and then look at him in the back, which included coaches telling him what was going on on TV while keeping his eyes closed during certain stitches.
Booker has talked about the Suns needing to learn through experience to grow in certain areas. Wednesday against an exhausted Chicago Bulls team, the first-quarter score was 39-37 Suns. This time on Friday, the offensive production was back there, but this time the defense as well.
“I think that’s the most important part right now, it’s improving, continuing to improve to achieve our goals for later,” he said. “We always say we don’t play against our rival, we play against ourselves and in which we can improve. Even after the first quarter has passed 30 years, going on the bench everyone (is) conveying the message of” We keep improving and we keep working on our things. “