The Suns Can't Rise in Atlanta
- Matt Elvy
- May 6, 2021
- 3 min read
Suns lose to the Hawks 103 - 135.
Coming off of an overtime game the night before and facing an Atlanta team that hadn't lost in 6 games at home (now 7), this was always going to be a tough game - I had in fact predicted a loss here.
When asked whether the night before was the reason for this performance, Coach Monty Williams said, "It’s not a recipe for a lot of energy, I can tell you that.” He also commented, that they arrived in to Atlanta around 2am, then had to be tested 3 hours before a 12pm meeting - I'll let you do the maths on how much sleep they had.
Enough of the excuses though, the team lacked energy and Atlanta shot the lights out, shooting 50% from 3 and 63% overall for the night. Both teams started out hot, however, with both teams shooting 68% in the period. It ended with the Hawks up 42 - 38. Things got a bit messier in the 2nd quarter for the Suns though, as they struggled to get the ball in the hoop, seeing it fall only 8 times. Atlanta, however continued to shoot over 55%.
Former Suns' draft pick, Bogdan Bogdanovic, paced Atlanta in the 1st half, scoring 13 of his 16 points and hit 3 of 4 from downtown. Devin Booker would keep the Suns in the game throughout the 1st half, with 20 points and Bridges also helped out with 11. Going in to half-time the scores sat at 67-65 in Atlanta's favour.
As the 2nd half started, the Suns had clearly run out of gas, whereas Atlanta had plenty left and kept their foot to the floor. This continued through to the end of the game.
By the end of the 3rd quarter the Hawks had an 11-point lead and didn't play any of their starters in the 4th at all. With 8 minutes left in the game and Atlanta ahead by 25, Monty Williams called it a night and let the bottom of the bench guys get a run.
Game Flow from Viziball
Booker finished the game with 30 points, doing all his damage in 3 quarters. The only other played in double-digits was Mikal Bridges, with 18. It was poor night for the rest of the team. Chris Paul couldn't get his, usually automatic, mid-range jumper to fall and Ayton struggled to keep Capela in check, though they did connect on a could of nice pick n roll plays early on in the game.
Lack of energy has hindered us a few times in the past. This season's schedule is so gruelling and it's impacting all teams throughout the league, so losses like this make you feel pretty bluh! A silver lining is that our key guys were able to get some rest at the end, with no one playing more than 32 minutes. Booker saw the most floor time, playing 31 and a half minutes.
The loss puts us back in to 2nd place in the West, 1 game behind Utah again.
Time to put this one in the back pocket and move on to the next one, which is at home in Phoenix against the New York Knicks on Friday.
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