Phoenix Suns - Weekly Roundup - Week 11
- Matt Elvy
- Jan 3, 2022
- 6 min read
Join us as we review the highs and lows of the last week, as well as previewing the week ahead.
Week 11: 27 December 2021 - 2 January 2022
Week Record: 2-2
Overall Record: 28-8. 2nd in Western Conference & NBA.
Games Played and Results:
L - 113 - 114 Vs Memphis Grizzlies
W - 113 - 101 Vs OKC Thunder
L - 108 - 123 Vs Boston Celtics
W - 133 - 99 Vs Charlotte Hornets
Heading in to the week we found out that Jae Crowder & Elfrid Payton had been placed in to the NBA's Health and Safety protocols. Then, a few hours before the Memphis game Monty Williams and Deandre Ayton are placed in the protocols as well.
I'll put it out there straight away - the Grizzlies deserved this win. With Deandre Ayton out and them sporting Adams and Jackson Jr up front we were destined to lose the rebounding battle. Adams alone had 16 rebounds, with 9 of them coming on the offensive end.
Memphis led by 18 points in the 3rd quarter, but the Suns wouldn't allow this to be a blow out. The fought back in the 4th and took a 1 point lead with 5 seconds remaining in the game off a brilliant play and 3-point make by Booker. It looked like the Suns had made the comeback.
Enter Ja Morant, who blew by CP3 and drove to the rim. Despite Bridges and Booker contesting the shot, he was still able to make the bucket, with .5 of a second remaining.
Booker finished with 30 points and only 4 from hitting 10,000 for his career.
It didn't take long for Booker to get those 4 points against the Thunder. He passed the 10,000 point mark in the 1st quarter and finished with 38 for the game, a season high. His scoring was needed in this one, because although shooting for the team wasn't bad, no one had a huge night. The next highest scorers were McGee and Payne with 16.
As we've come to expect from the Thunder, they played hard all game. Phoenix used a big 4th quarter to secure the victory in this one.
The win marked Assistant Coach Kevin Young's 1st NBA win, as he covers Head Coaching duties in Monty Williams' absence.
We then hit the road for our last game of the year, with our 1st stop in Boston aaaand it didn't go quite as we planned. The team came out flat with no energy and a lack of focus on the defensive end. With the game not going to plan, we saw a bit of old school, head down Book, where he tried forcing shots to try and get the Suns back in the game.
Nothing went our way, with Boston being locked in, following a historically bad shooting game, in their previous outing they were definitely focused on hitting their shots. Going in to the half we were down 28, thanks to our huge lack of rebounding, allowing 2nd chance points. We tried fighting back in the 2nd half, but the closest we got was 11 points. We move on.
This Suns team is great at reflecting and getting back on track and that was certainly the case for the poor Hornets. Like our last meeting it was a complete blowout with us winning by 34, but they'd actually ballooned the lead to 41 in the 4th.
Booker exploded out the gate, scoring 14 of his 24 points in the 1st quarter. Apart from a slight comeback in the 2nd, the Hornets were out for the count.
We had a new addition in this game. Addressing our lack of size with DA and McGee out, the Suns signed former Hornet, Bismack Biyombo to a 10-day contract. He fit in perfectly, playing solid defence and doing some great rim-running in the pick n roll.
It was an up & down week, losing 2 of our 4, but the biggest takeaway is that Jalen Smith is proving he can be a solid NBA player.
Superstar Watch (Season stats):
Booker - 23.6 Points, 5.2 Rebounds, 4.6 Assists, 1.0 Steals, 44.9 FG%, 41.7 3PT FG%, 2.6 Turnovers
Chris Paul - 14.2 Points, 4.2 Rebounds, 9.9 Assists, 1.9 Steals 48.0 FG%, 31.5 3PT FG%, 2.3 Turnovers
Scorching Suns:
Cameron Johnson
Cam is continuing his hot streak and is therefore 1 of my scorching Suns for the 2nd week in a row. He's currently on a streak of 16 games in a row scoring in double digits.
With Jae Crowder out due to health & safety protocols, Johnson has been starting in his place and hasn't disappointed.
His stats for the week:
16.3 Points, 5.0 Rebounds, 1.3 Assists, 1.0 Steal, 51.1 FG% & 43.3 3PT FG%.
Jalen Smith
Going in to this season I was unsure whether Smith was an NBA level talent. With Ayton & then McGee out due to health & safety protocols, he's had big minutes and even 2 starts thrust upon him. Though he still looks lost at some points in games, he's used his athleticism to throw down dunks, block shots and pull in rebounds.
As our only true big-man until the Biyombo signing, we'd have been completely lost without him and he's proved he can be a decent NBA player.
His stats for the week:
16.0 Points, 10.5 Rebounds, 1.3 Blocks & 56.1 FG%.
Struggling Suns:
The whole team against Boston. We absolutely stank. Apart from that, no one particular player sticks out.
Stat Line of the Week:
Devin Booker Vs OKC Thunder
Game stat line:
38 Points, 7 Rebounds, 5 Assists, 2 Blocks, 12/24 FGs (50%), 6/12 3Pt FGs (50%).
Honourable mentions:
Landry Shamet Vs Charlotte Hornets
Game stat line:
17 Points, 3 Assists 4 Steals, 6/9 FGs (66.7%) & 5/8 3PT FGs (62.5%)
Upcoming Games:
We have 3 games this week.
The Pelicans are in the midst of another terrible season with many players missing time. I don't see this being a tough one, despite being in New Orleans - Suns for an easy win here.
Back home we'll have the Clippers visit. They are also missing multiple players to injury, but as demonstrated in their win against the Nets, they can still be a tough match-up. If my maths is right, we could have Crowder and Ayton back for this game and I see a Suns win again here.
Saturday against the Heat is also at home. Bam Adebayo is currently out with an injury and I don't think Lowry will be available either. With Butler leading the way and sharp shooter Robinson and Herro, you can't count them out, but I see us winning here as well.
Predictions:
3 games against injury depleted teams. I'm going to say 3 wins for the Suns, especially if we get our guys back from health & safety protocols against the Clippers.
Predictions League:
Any Other Business:
Covid Protocols
As mentioned above, Crowder, Monty Williams and Ayton all missed games due to the health and safety protocols. Strangely Elfrid Payton, after retesting was cleared to play just before the Memphis game, however missed the Thunder game for that reason, according to the injury report. He was back for the Boston and Charlotte games. Though out with a knee injury, Abdel Nader was also marked as out, due to the protocols.
Signings
To make for all the players we're missing, the Suns have signed a few players to 10-day contracts, they are:
Emanuel Terry
M.J. Walker
Paris Bass
Bismack Biyombo
Biyombo is a name to look out for. The 29year old has played over 700 NBA games and has started over 300 of those. I wouldn't be surprised if we kept hold of him for the rest of the season. I see it as a bit like the Payton situation - take a player that started most games last season and add him to strengthen an already strong bench.
Booker - 10,000
After scoring 30 points against Memphis, Book was only 4 from hitting 10,000 for his career going in to the Thunder. He hit that milestone in the 1st quarter, becoming the 7th youngest player to reach the milestone.
Fittingly for Book, the 10,000th point came on a mid-range jump shot.
Bridges 1,000 rebounds (Thunder game)
Congrats to Mikal for reaching 1,000 career rebounds. He reached the milestone during the Thunder game.
Ayton Shoe Deal
Nick DePaula (follow him if you like NBA sneaker news) announced that DA has signed a new multi-year deal with Puma. Ayton re-tweeted DePaula, confirming the news.
Go On My Suns!
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