Suns Give Up 24 Point Lead to Lose by 4
- Matt Elvy
- Feb 17, 2021
- 2 min read
The ghosts of Suns' past come back to haunt Phoenix.
It was all going so well. The Suns had a 24 point lead in the 2nd quarter and went in to the half up by 22. They led the whole game, until they didn't.
Phoenix gave up the lead on a James Harden 3 pointer with 29 seconds to go and never regained it. I feel like I've stepped back to last year, writing about a blown lead.
It was certainly a game of 2 halves. Phoenix were playing the kind of basketball we've become used to over the recent stretch of games. In the 2nd half, the team completely took their foot off the gas and let the Nets take it.
This was Steve Nash, Mike D'Antoni and Amare Stoudemire's first return to Phoenix as coaches of the Brooklyn Nets, so you can guarantee this win was ever so sweet for them. Former Sun Tyler Johnson also got his first start of the season, with Kyrie Irving out with a sore back.
Since acquiring James Harden, Brooklyn have been the best 4th quarter team in the NBA and it showed in this game. They had 40 points in this 4th quarter, as the Suns struggled to get any stops down the stretch.
The Nets attacked Deandre Ayton throughout their comeback, taking advantage of the Suns' switching defense, to allow former MVP James Harden to go one on one with the big man. Ayton is usually capable of keeping up with guards out on the wing, but potentially the greatest one on one scorer in NBA history was too much for the big man.
Brooklyn were also switching on the defensive end. There were multiple occasions in the 4th quarter that Ayton had a mis-match down low, but the Suns ignored this favouring the mid and outside game of our guards and wings. Deandre finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds.
The Suns' offense came mostly from the usual suspects. Chris Paul led the team with 29 points, including an incredible 7 of 9 shooting for 17 in the 4th quarter. Booker was hot to open the game with 16 in the 1st quarter. He finished with 22 overall, but was limited to only 4 points and 2 of 10 in the 2nd half. They both shared the ball well with 7 assists each.
The loss snapped a season best 6 game winning streak for the Suns and ends a 7 game homestand for them. They are now 17-10, good for 5th in the Western Conference.
The Suns start a small road trip Friday in New Orleans, ending Sunday in Memphis.
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