Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, center, leads while Washington Wizards vanguard Deni Avdija (9) and defender Russell Westbrook (4) defend during the first half of an NBA basketball game, the Saturday, April 10, 2021 in Phoenix. (Photo by AP / Matt York)
PHOENIX: At the start of Saturday night’s game against the Washington Wizards, the Phoenix Suns got a 10-2 lead. After the Wizards called time-out, they responded with a 15-4 run and kept the game closed for the first two quarters.
At the start of the second half, the Suns went on a 9-3 run and advanced by eight. Washington came back with a timeout, but this time, the Suns kept rolling. Phoenix beat its opposition 44-24 in the third quarter and won 134-106.
The 44 points were the highest the Suns have achieved in a quarter this season.
Devin Booker had 17 of his 27 in that third. He started hitting 3s pull-up, a sign that he is cooking.
“I can usually tell when he gets it, just by looking at how he drops the ball, his balance on the shot,” head coach Monty Williams said. “And I think the team noticed that too and everyone wanted to feed him the ball so he could continue it.”
Booker also found Mikal Bridges for the second time in the game on a transitional cross-lead rebound pass, one he couldn’t help but smile as he played it.
Booker liked it more than the first one because of Bridges ’difficult ending and Bridges agreed. (Me too, if you’re curious.)
The Suns had 22 assists in the middle two quarters and finished with 36 at night with just three losses. It was great to see him after 20 consecutive assists in the last two games, albeit against stellar competition.
Williams liked how much the Suns moved away from the ball, noting that he emphasizes body movement just like the movement of the ball in the 0.5 elements of the attack.
In the half he highlighted to his team the 36 points of the paint for the Wizards. In what has been shown to be the No. 1 key ingredient in the Suns ’offensive success, they were able to stop and create offense for these running opportunities.
“Once we stopped, we flew over the ground,” Williams said.
The Suns converted 17 triples and scored 134 points with just seven free throws.
The five Suns starters had double figures: Booker, Bridges (15), Deandre Ayton (14), Jae Crowder (11) and Chris Paul (13), who added 10 assists and five rebounds.
The game had some lethargic energy in the first half, but it was encouraging to see the Suns light it up and then close the door without allowing a lower team to slowly enter the game, as they have been prone to do this. season.