Washington Wizards guard Raul Neto (19) goes to the basket ahead of Phoenix Suns striker Mikal Bridges (25) and guard Devin Booker (1) during the second half of a basketball game of the NBA, on Monday, January 11, 2021, in Washington. The center of the wizards Robin Lopez (15) looks. (Photo by AP / Nick Wass)
The Phoenix Suns ended up burning for their offensive ineptitude, particularly early in the games.
He burned them in Friday’s loss to the very bad Detroit Pistons, and burned them again in Monday’s 128-107 loss at the hands of the very bad Washington Wizards.
The Suns (7-4) went into action Monday night minus-21 in the first quarter through 10 games. Due to a remarkable mark of plus-64 in the second quarter, they have been able to make up for it. They can’t trust him, though, and on Monday he showed them why.
Phoenix scored 15 points in the first quarter and fell just 20-15 with 2:00 to go. The offense could not get a regatta penetration nor did it show any real urgency to create it. These plus the poor jump numbers got them there. So when the defense was wacky, he was really playing with fire against an explosive offensive team like Washington.
The Wizards (3-8) caught up with them ever since.
To highlight how quickly this happened, there was only a 15-point lead left by the Wizards with 8:42 left in the second quarter. That increased to 32 in less than four minutes, making him a 37-10 mage in 10 minutes of play.
The Suns scored just 42 points in the first half against a porous Wizards defense that yielded 65.7 points for the first half before Monday’s game. In the half they finished 68-42 and could not win any ground, with the margin closest to the second half the final result. The Suns shot 4 of 27 from three points.
“This is just one of those stinks you want to wash and hurry up and get back on the floor,” head coach Monty Williams said.
“Our level of defense was not where it needed to be,” he added.
This was a very detached effort on the part of the Suns, but the lack of offensive pace was there again and now it’s a bit surprising.
One of the trends in this regard is Chris Paul’s insistence on getting Deandre Ayton to go soon. Paul almost apparently refuses to go out looking for his own shot until he looks good.
The chemistry that is there is still going on.
Paul, in general, has never been the type of player who has started laughing, and that has been even more so at the twilight of his career. Even in the tremendous season he had at Oklahoma City last year, which earned him the All-NBA Second Team distinction, he only attempted 12.7 shots per game.
In the first quarter of the first ten games, Paul made 27 field goal attempts against Ayton’s 25. This figure for Paul overall has been remarkably consistent, staying below three shots per quarter over the four periods.
Paul makes his teammates participate in the same way he is part of what makes him a great man of all time. A lot of this is becoming familiar and will surely be a little more aggressive once the group starts clicking.
But in anticipation of this, the team specifically needs to be more of a scoring threat right now, especially at the start of games and especially when most of their energy has been offensively aimed at getting something to do. Ayton.
This is because Ayton’s decision around the ball with the ball has gone back to his rookie season and is perhaps the worst it has ever been. He continues to catch the ball near the basket and without trying to finish, and on Monday he tripped over it as he did so, spinning the ball twice in the first half.
The Magicians ’starting center, Robin Lopez, replacing the injured Thomas Bryant, was fine with giving Ayton plenty of space.
This screenshot, out of a mid-range conversion of Ayton, illustrates how much real estate Ayton could work with to get to the basket if he was more assertive.
Ayton has always been more of a finer player and his athletic limitations have never made him an incredibly explosive player around the edge. His first and second jumps have never been fantastic, and it’s the same for his vertical when he jumps from one foot in motion.
Sometimes it doesn’t sink. It drives people crazy and sometimes it’s okay. It is what it is. He is who he is. As long as the layer is not a detriment to the final product, safe. Don’t get hooked.
The numbers, however, have a striking difference and a potential correlation with what has just been discussed.
An alley in 11 games, in particular, is mind-boggling when considering passers-by on the ground (like Paul).
The offensive problems of the initial five are not entirely in Ayton, but the effort to involve him and give him energy is certain to play a role.
Ayton started the game 1 of 6 and finished with eight points and six rebounds in 25 minutes. His counterpart Lopez scored 11 points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes. Seven of those 11 rebounds were in the offensive cup.
Paul recorded four points and eight assists in the first half, finishing with 14 points and 11 assists.
Devin Booker added 33 points in the loss.
Bradley Beal scored a maximum of 34 points for Washington in the win.
There are now 11 games of the season and the group of Paul, Booker, Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder and Ayton has not yet frozen.
When asked about the bad starts, Williams said he attributes some of them to familiarity, but said the group doesn’t play well. Booker said it is obvious and obvious, going so far as to say that they have been led by their bench in most of their victories.
Williams said he owes it to his team to “deeply” examine possible changes in initial training.
The question, of course, is what this change might be.
Paul, Booker and Bridges obviously go nowhere.
Fans have already been putting pressure on Cam Johnson and while Johnson is a better shooter than Crowder, Crowder has also proven to be the best game creator and the best defender. Crowder and Paul’s know-how to be on team rotations 99 times out of 100 has made a big difference in the team’s defense, which has been the team’s number one strength. This is also the easiest move to make if Williams just wants to stir things up a bit.
Ayton gives the Suns a defensive presence and on the glass that no one else on the team’s big rotation can be about to produce. Even when Ayton plays like he did on Monday, that’s still true inside.
He has also been the lowest in the group. Dario Saric helps stream the offense and, with what Ayton has shown this year, Saric is the best offensive player right now. When the headlines returned to the fourth quarter, it was Saric for Ayton for a few minutes before the No. 1 general election played his last round of the night.
There are obvious concerns about what he could do on the bench for Ayton, 22, but it hasn’t worked for him with the headlines, outside of a fantastic two-game stretch. The other nine have not been up to par, and this team is not in a position to wait for it with the expectations of what they are.
Now, the interesting wrinkle is that Williams has played Saric with Ayton the last three games after not having done so all season. Saric showed in the bubble that his best role is five, but he does provide a bit of what Crowder does as a smart team defender who can play by playing offensively.
This, however, is playing Saric out of position, where his speed at both ends is exposed against 4s. It also puts Damian Jones or Frank Kaminsky in the backup center, which is problematic.
It is a difficult decision and not an obvious one. Are the Suns ready for a shake-up? A 7-4 start doesn’t call for despair, but the disparity between the bench and the starting five lets it start coming in.